The Two Parties Are Not the Same

It’s a common mantra among diehard libertarians to say that the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are basically the same, that they are together the UniParty. To be sure, that perception is not entirely wrong. But there are two big problems with embracing that idea as a political worldview.

First, it neutralizes you. If you really think there is no difference at all between the major party candidates — the only candidates that actually have a chance at winning — then logically either you don’t bother to vote, or you vote (in protest) for someone who hasn’t got a real chance at winning. In both cases, you’ve given up any real influence.

Second, it’s not entirely correct. In some important respects there are real differences between the two major parties and they are not only non-trivial but the gap is widening, largely because Democrats are moving further left than ever before.

Happily, one state Libertarian Party — the most successful one in the US — has already shown the way to form alliances with Republicans while retaining not just independence but in some respects gaining the upper hand.

But first, let’s dispel the idea that there is no difference between the major parties.

The Only Libertarians in Congress are Republicans

Ron Paul — himself a Republican Congressman at one time — used to hold a weekly luncheon for libertarian members of Congress. He called the group the Liberty Caucus. It was eventually renamed the House Liberty Caucus. It’s a small group of just 9 members and 17 former members. All of them are Republican.

Additionally, the Republican Liberty Caucus, which “favors reduced government intrusion, lower taxes, elimination of federal agencies, less regulation, a strong national defense with fewer military bases abroad, and no foreign aid” is, of course, entirely Republican.

As for the Senate, there is really only one Senator who could reasonably be called libertarian, and that’s Republican Rand Paul. With luck, he might be joined next year by former Libertarian Party member Justin Amash, who served as Republican Congressman from 2011 to 2021 and who is running for the Senate in 2024…as a Republican.

The Democratic Party has no pro-liberty faction, and while a few of its members have occasionally favored particular libertarian positions, none are notable in that regard.

Republicans Twice as Likely to Identify as Libertarian

Pew Research did an authoritative poll of Americans in 2014. Among Republicans surveyed, 12% identified as libertarian — that’s one in every eight. Among Democrats that share was just 6%.

Other polling by Gallup confirms that Republicans are generally more skeptical of government power.

Freest States Are Republican, Least Free States Democrat

CATO annually ranks all fifty US states in terms of both personal and economic freedom. If you look at the top end of Cato’s ranking and compare it to the bottom end, it’s clear that free states lean heavily Republican and unfree states lean heavily Democrat.

Among the top ten freest states identified by Cato, 70% are red (Republican) states, 30% are purple states, and 0% are blue (Democrat) states (as red/blue rated by by Five-Thirty-Eight). Among the ten least free states, 80% are blue states, 20% are purple states, and 0% are red states.

Covid: A Political Party Litmus Test

The Covid pandemic was something of a litmus test for authoritarian tendencies in government. So, did Republican states or Democrat states have the most severe policies?

WalletHub did an analysis of “openness” by state, ranking states by such things as requiring citizens to wear a mask in public, travel restrictions, large gathering restrictions, early or late reopening of schools, early or late reopening of restaurants and businesses, strictness of shelter in place orders, etc.

Of the states with the lightest restrictions, 90% were red states and 10% purple. Of the states with the most severe restrictions, 70% were blue states, 20% were purple, and 10% red.

(By the way, As WalletHub’s analysis revealed, there was no correlation between severity of restrictions and Covid death rates. The restrictions, light or severe, made no difference.)

The Republican/Democrat Differences Are Widening

Several academic and polling studies have shown an increasing divide between the political right and political left in the US. The studies indicate that that the divide has expanded largely because the left-wing has moved much further left. Case in point: it would have been unthinkable in 1990 for Democrats to openly call themselves socialists or express admiration for communist dictatorships, but that’s all cool today.

What a Successful Alliance With Republicans Looks Like

New Hampshire is the freest state in the US at the moment and that is due in no small part to a successful, if informal, alliance between the state Libertarian Party and the state Republican Party.

The best source of information on this is actually Democrats, because they are naturally alarmed and constantly try to warn others. One Democrat posted a particularly good thread on this on Reddit. To quote from it:

“[Libertarian] Free Staters now run the Republican party, and have pushed the ‘free - state’ agenda of dismantling all government. Enormous cuts to education, enormous cuts to DHHS, bills to stop distributing menstrual products to girls, bills to prevent sexual harassment training, bills to control racial bias training, bills to prevent even DISCUSSING gun safety, bills to cut all taxes, bills to prevent states of emergency and mask-wearing mandates. I encourage everybody to take a good hard look at the free-state movement. They run as Republicans, are dishonest about their motives/intention/political party, and have some pretty extreme views….We used to think they were a funny non-issue. They're not so funny anymore, and they're in charge.”

What Snubbing Republicans Looks Like

I was initially pleased to hear that the Libertarian Party, at its recent convention, invited both major party presidential candidates to speak. It was something of a media coup and signaled the possibility that the LP might be seeking real influence.

Democrat Biden declined the invitation. Republican Donald Trump accepted.

As you have likely heard, despite being invited, Trump was not given the warmest welcome. He even offered some olive branches, including libertarians in his cabinet and a pledge to pardon and free Ross Ulbricht, but the core of the party was not moved, booed his speech and Trump left. Libertarians subsequently nominated Chase Oliver as the Libertarian Party Presidential candidate, a man best known for winning sufficient votes to be a spoiler in the 2020 Georgia Senate race, possibly thereby handing the Senate to the Democrats.

Politics: We’ve Been Doing It Wrong

It’s something of an irony, and tragedy as well, that the people most committed to liberty in this country — libertarians — have largely taken themselves out of the fight by trying to run a separate political effort outside the two major parties. That would be rational in a system that played fair, but ours doesn’t.

The Libertarian Party is now a half-century old. I was a member for decades before switching to Independent status. I am not, nor have I ever been, a member of the Republican Party. But I have come to realize that there is more to be gained for liberty — much more — through selective alliances that move major party candidates in a freer direction than by attempting a separate effort.

Because the contest between the Democratic and Republican parties is close on many fronts, the fate of our collective future will likely be decided at the margin, by a relative few. If you’re one of the many pro-liberty Americans who either vote a strict Libertarian Party ticket or don’t vote at all — you’re that few. If anything is to be done about our current decline, you will have to rejoin the fight in a way that matters. A great deal depends on it.