“Get A Grip On Reality, Libertarians - Win Some Elections” exclaims the title of California gubernatorial candidate for the Libertarian Party, Zoltan Istvan in his new Op-Ed for The Daily Caller.
Due to his belief in the Scientific Method, Istvan states that he believes that he is “realistic” when it comes to his race, a claim which he backs up by his admmitance that he will lose.
“Some libertarians are angry that I publicly admit I won’t win. But this is the quintessential problem with the Libertarian Party—many members I’ve met are unrealistic. After a year of attending conferences, executive committee meetings, and party functions, I’ve come to realize a significant number of libertarians seem downright delusional when it comes to politics,” states the Transhumanist.
The LP’s devotion to principles holds the party back from evolving and the aspiring LP presidential candidate believes that, about LP members running for office, “many libertarians—especially the loudest ones—don’t have much education, managerial experience, or money. I suspect they don’t realize what it’s like to own a half-million dollar home with a mortgage, and then have one’s neighbor park an armed tank on the front lot, reducing the neighborhood’s entire value.”
Istvan ends the article by explaining how he feels the party shouldn’t run anyone who declares themselves a libertarian and that LP Chairman Nicholas Sarwark’s goal of running 2000 libertarians in 2018 will only highlight unqualified candidates and make the party a laughing stock.
“The Libertarian Party seems to think it matters that there is a libertarian candidate to check-off on in every election. They believe it’s good name recognition to be on every ballot—even the smallest political race across the country. Obviously, that’s correct to a degree, but far more important is to get a few dozen good candidates across the nation whose public personas stretch far outside the libertarian base, so as to actually help enlarge the party and is goals.”
For the past few years, I have limited my Libertarian activism to the following: 1) I try to get as many Libertarians as possible to read ‘The Campaign Manager” by Catherine Shaw. 2) I also try to get them to read “Fundraising for Dummies.” and 3) I put my local chapter on a monthly calendar of events and election deadlines that stretches out at least two years. That’s all I do. Anything else is a waste of time as long as our membership keeps endlessly debating the square root of Murray Rothbard from a monthly meeting that doesn’t get a quorum.
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