The speculation is running high that Austin Petersen, the former Libertarian Presidential candidate, will take a shot at the U.S. Senate seat in the great state of Missouri. Questions have been swirling in online forums concerning the party of choice for Austin, which was mostly spelled by the potential candidate himself. Should he run as a Libertarian or run as a Republican and increase his chances of getting elected.
We are here to offer advice for the potential Senate candidate and hope that he makes the correct decision in this matter if he decides to take on this campaign.
Do not run as a Republican and sell out everything you have been preaching over the past year.
Austin has been instrumental in growing the Libertarian Party and movement over the past few years and has been able to pull many into the fray that would not have ever considered it before. This hard work was based on key knowledge of Liberty and principles that shaped and guided his thinking and Presidential campaign last year. By abandoning this work he will be turning his back on a Freedom Ninja Army that fought hard for him to win the Libertarian nomination.
There is always this talk about ex-republicans like Gary Johnson and Bill Weld coming in and hijacking the Libertarian Party for their own political gain. How is it any different for somebody like Austin Petersen to leave the Libertarian Party to run as a Republican in the hopes that he actually might win?
While many will still argue with me that if he runs in the GOP he will have a shot at winning and affect real change. My argument back is that real change does not necessarily come about by holding an office, but rather advancing an idea that is more powerful than the nothing that takes place in cities like Washington.
Austin has grown his career as a Libertarian and has set up a future in the party that can make a real impact. By leaving and running as a Republican he becomes this tiny little fish in a sea of big fish that have been ruining the GOP for years. Just look at the Libertarians currently in that party. Rand Paul, Justin Amash, Ben Sasse, Thomas Massie. Yes, we all love them because they preach the principles of Liberty but they have been shunned by the GOP establishment for years. The same would happen to anyone that comes from the Libertarian movement and tries to capture their votes. It is a waste of time!
It is better to stay in the Libertarian Party and advance the agenda of a great movement and push forward ideas that actually make a difference. Convince the voters that our platform is the one that will do good for our country and one that can change the scope of the political establishment for the better. Don’t abandon the people and the movement that made you who you are for the slim possibility that you might get elected. Get elected as a Libertarian and make history instead. Leave a legacy for other to follow and not one that just throws away principles in the hopes of achieving power.
AP, I say go for it. Austin needs experience. He obviously wants to run for POTUS. He will never accomplish that goal without winning elected office, and finding access to donors. It may be wiser to run for State Senate, but what the hell? Technically, if he survives the primary, he will gain access to the funds on the GOP list.
LPers are typically not partisans, unlike the authoritarian parties. CONDUCT will be what I judge AP on, and I say making the move being suggested is helping the [small L] libertarian movement. He has my blessing and $100. Kevin O from Tampa.
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This article fails to persuade me. He shouldn’t run as a Republican because “establishment GOP”… yea..what? If elected it would be fantastic to have another articulate pro-freedom person in the US Senate. He may not even be as pro-freedom as Rand Paul, he may even disappoint. He isn’t likely to be worse than 98 of the current US Senators. In the end I find the labels to be largely irrelevant. Libertarian, Republican, so what. The person and his principles count.
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Ron Paul ran and won as a Republican, yet it didn’t change his core beliefs. The premise and argument of this article is foolish. Every time I speak with a Gary Johnson supporter THEY CAN’T HELP BUT BASH AUSTIN. Why in the world would HE want to be part of the LP after they rejected a nearly purist libertarian for goofy Gary and his CFR VP Bill Weld (who didn’t like guns but did love Hillary Clinton). No, the time to show Austin Peterson some love was in the 2016 nomination but the LP blew it. He should run as a Republican, 100%. That’s a party that actually WIN NATIONAL ELECTIONS while the LP nominates fools like Gary and runs around like keystone cops at the convention.
“It is better to stay in the Libertarian Party and advance the agenda of a great movement and push forward ideas that actually make a difference”
No it’s not. He can push libertarian ideas into the mainstream Republican platform and help transform that, just like Ron Paul did, Rand Paul, Amash, Massie, etc. The winning strategy is to infiltrate and change the Republican Party - a winning brand - and not try to convince an army of goofy Gary supporters that they have any importance on the political scene. They had their chance - they blew it.
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