Happy New Year!
Might 2018 be the year
when the
Libertarian political party
finally
begins to make a real difference?
Many of us hoped last year's presidential race would be
the election where a Libertarian
finally broke through.
But
that was
not to be.
Sorry to keep you waiting.
If you didn't get close
last election
with two candidates lots of people hated,
what's the point?
The point is, John
we did do well
in 2016.
Nick Sarwark's the chairman
of the Libertarian Party.
We tripled all previous records
in the 45 year history of the Libertarian Party.
We've never had that kind of support
from the electorate.
And that's great, tripled to what?
Four percent?
About three and a half.
What's the point, if that's success?
Really, success is a long-term thing,
it's a process,
it's not a particular election.
More and more people are seeing
that when you elect Republicans,
you don't get this sort of small government they run on.
If you elect Democrats,
you don't get civil liberties,
you don't get any of the standing up for the little guy
that they say that they're all about.
Both parties
are fighting over the ability to take your tax money
and give it to their corporate special-interest friends.
And they're winning.
Somehow their message
is more compelling to more Americans.
But we're growing and they're dying.
Voter registration identity with
Republicans and Democrats is dropping.
Voter registration identity with Libertarians
is the only party that's growing.
In a few years, the Libertarians will again hold
an open to everyone convention
to pick a nominee for the presidential race.
Will that winner do
better than Gary Johnson did?
A lot of Libertarians say
it's Gary's fault.
He was too low-key.
He sounded like he was stoned.
People aren't perfect.
No one has the perfect combination of
credibility,
experience,
purity of message.
He was the best candidate
the delegates could have picked.
And we had
the best success that we've ever had.
Libertarians might have more success
if
Libertarian candidates were invited
to more of the TV debates.
The parties filed a lawsuit to
try to force that to happen.
The media tries to help the old party
politicians because it's simpler.
It's simpler to run a story
where it's just Republicans and Democrats,
it's red and blue,
it's team A and team B.
It's more complicated to say,
you know there are more political options out there.
So they try and make us look silly.
Gary Johnson looks silly on
MSNBC when he was
suddenly asked about Syria,
though he'd been talking about
domestic affairs.
And I think the Republican Party
has gotten really extreme in that category.
What would you do if you were elected
about Aleppo?
About?
Aleppo?
And what is Aleppo?
And he didn't know anything
about where Aleppo is.
He knew what Aleppo was.
Absolutely,
and this is a common trick
in courtrooms and interviews everywhere
is you hit someone with a gotcha moment
and you take advantage of their confusion.
It's a dirty trick,
but people pull it
and that's what the media did.
But now it's the new year,
another chance to show Americans
what Libertarians stand for.
The rights of the individual,
the right to free speech,
the right to keep and bear arms,
the limitations on the powers of government.
Republicans and Democrats
try to keep you off the ballot.
Absolutely they do.
They pass laws
specifically against Libertarians.
In my home state of Arizona,
the Republicans passed a law
to increase our signature requirements
to get on the ballot
by up to thirty times.
What do you mean,
specifically against Libertarians?
They can't do that.
The floor debate in the legislature had
Republican leaders saying,
this is to stop Libertarian candidates
from running against us.
We could lose our races if they run against us.
They hate competition.
And you're gonna be on the ballot in all 50 states?
That's the plan.
They're already on the ballot in the yellow states.
They're working on the gray states
Gary Johnson helped with that.
He absolutely did.
He brought a credibility to the party
and a popularity that we're building on now.
But it's not about any particular candidate.
That's the real difference between the Libertarian Party
and say,
Ross Perot.
When Ross Perot gets tired of running for office,
there's nothing there anymore.
The Libertarian Party
is millions of Americans
who have come together
and said
we want a right to live our life,
to pursue happiness any way we choose
as long as we don't hurt other people
and we don't take their stuff.
And the two old political parties,
that's not what they're about.
They're about taking power
and controlling you.
You