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VIDEO: Libertarian Presidential Hopefuls Clash in South Carolina Debate

Six candidates vying for the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination met in South Carolina this past November for a presidential debate. The debate was sponsored by the Libertarian Party of South Carolina as part of its recent state convention held earlier in the month.

Candidates participating in the debate included Chase Oliver, Joshua Smith, Jacob Hornberger, Lars Mapstead, Michael Rectenwald, and Mike ter Maat. The event was moderated by economist Antony Davies and political scientist James Harrigan, both of whom are also cohosts of the Words & Numbers Podcast.

The Libertarian Party of South Carolina has produced a video of the debate, which can be viewed in its entirety below:

Readers of Independent Political Report can also access a full transcript of the debate at the video’s original link here.

6 Comments

  1. Ryan December 10, 2023

    I see a path for Hornberger if the Mises people will not support Oliver, but Rectenwald completely lacks charisma they go for Hornberger who is not Mises but relatively close. Having a non-Mises presidential nominee also allows the Mises people to not fully own the result as they would with Rectenwald. What’s the response of saying Jo Jorgensen’s results are an embarassment and Rectenwald gets a third of her vote total? Which I think is plausible next year. Jorgensen got 1.2%, with all the third party alternatives out there (No Labels, RFK Jr.) that have more press and money, I can see the Libertarian falling back into the Bob Barr/Michael Badnarik/Harry Browne/Ron Paul zone of 0.4 to 0.5%.

  2. Rick December 9, 2023

    Oliver is too far left. He belongs in the Green Party.

  3. Rob December 6, 2023

    Lars seems like a nice guy but nobody knows him and he wouldn’t stand out. Ter Maat is very sharp but also don’t think he’d stand out either, and no way Libertarians are going to nominate a recent ex-cop for President.

    Of the candidates who may some type of chance, Hornberger is the best all-around and least controversial, and it’s a shame to see him getting mocked by MC people when he was the MC candidate in 2020 (and probably should have been again). He’s also been really fiery and passionate lately, which is great. Having said that, saying the reason the LP gets 1% is because it isn’t talking about open borders is way off base. Where’s the data to support this? But outside of MAGA types, most Americans don’t want a closed border, either. Ellis Island is the way to go. Hornberger should talk less about borders and more about economics and war.

    Oliver is a solid guy and definitely the most charismatic messenger, especially to younger voters, but some of his older social media content attacking the MC is going to backfire. He had a chance to be a unifying candidate but I don’t think that’s going to happen now. Also, Hornberger’s point that he had national attention in the Georgia race but failed to deliver the results is valid.

    Recentwald just doesn’t do it for me. He was positioned to do well serving liberty in academia but as a candidate, he doesn’t have the charisma. MAGA types are going to vote Trump, not Rec, and anti-MAGA types are going to hate Rec. So who is he really going to pick up? Some protest votes? Maybe, but with RFK and others on the ballot this is going to be a really wild election and we can’t assume the LP is just going to get those votes. Also his social media is an absolute mess. He’s trying to do the Javier Milei thing but the U.S. isn’t Argentina and his content just comes off as tone deaf and rude. I predict he’d be the least successful nominee.

    Josh Smith is sort of the right-libertarian Chase Oliver, but the votes he’ll get will just be disaffected MC voters who don’t want Rec. Also he’s a great speaker but his messaging may come too close to Trump, much like Rec.

    It’s really a shame that in the one year the LP may actually have a real chance to stand out due to a severe fracture in the duopoly, this is what’s happening. We need to see some unity. Something like an Oliver-Smith ticket or Hornberger-Oliver or even Hornberger-Smith may be the best chance we have. If these guys were smart about it they’d start putting together the delegate groundwork for that now.

  4. John Cummins December 6, 2023

    Parallel currencies, parallel economies… Etc. Is absurd!! Non-libertarian – We need competing currencies, competing medical alternatives, competing banking, competing agricultural…

    Breakup Blackrock, Vanguard, etc… Anti-Trust, Anti-Monopoly laws… Central Banks. Our largest export is US Dollars. If we must have a Central Bank and a Currency… We need to open it up to allow multiple Central Banks, and multiple US Currencies. Allow the people to choose which currency they want.

    Here’s an idea… The Government can issue Paper Bonds? Why can’t the Government issue Paper Currency? They can and they should. Bring back the Green Backs!!!

    Currency issued by the Central Banks and another currency issued by the the US Treasury.

  5. John Cummins December 6, 2023

    To save Social Security is simple – First Require the Government to restore, and fully fund Social Security. Second, Make Social Security and Medicare Voluntary NOT Compulsory. It is perfectly Libertarian for the Government to honor Contractual Obligations and for the Citizen’s to Contract with their Government. Eliminate and/or Cut Federal Acronym Agencies, Make it unlawful for the Federal Reserve, Nation States to Buy Bonds and/or Treasury Notes. Funding, US Bonds should be able to be floated as Bonds to the Citizens to underwrite Voluntarily Funding for Federal Programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

    Bonds are the only way the Individual Citizens support or oppose spending. programs and Takes this Power away from the Federal Reserve and Unlimited Spending of the Federal Government and Be able to save whatever program the people support.

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