Where does the Libertarian Party fit in the global liberty movement?

I consider myself a world traveler. I lived in Germany for nearly four years, I was born in Saudi Arabia, I’ve lived or visited dozens of other countries. I would love to share innocuous stories like when I stumbled trying to communicate with Slavic speakers (Slavic languages are basically just random letters and symbols - joking!), or when I discovered Palm Springs California is actually not a beach but where the gates of hell are located and where lava is born (it was 115 degrees) or some of the other beautiful places I saw and fun situations I was in. This journey had a mission. The main goal of all this traveling was to represent Ladies of Liberty Alliance at various events while networking for the USA chapter. This was my first time traveling with the intended purpose of growing within the global liberty movement. I did exactly that. Interacting with Libertarians from various parts of the world, my perspective broadened.

As much as we’d like it not to be true, as much as we don’t deserve it - the world pays attention to US politics. More pointedly, the global liberty movement pays attention to the Libertarian Party of the United States. Even the libertarian faction of the political world looks to the US as an ideal. I don’t mean to slip into American exceptionalist cringe, but I saw so many privileges associated with being an American so clearly on this journey it actually embarrassed me.

The US Libertarian Party was founded in 1971, the first of its kind in the world. That is, a party explicitly for Libertarians. A party that had Libertarian in the name and sought out to run Libertarian candidates running on a Libertarian platform. There have been parties that held libertarian ideals prior to 1971 like the syndicalists in Sweden (1954-2011) or the classical liberals of India (1959-1974). There have also been and are parties that run candidates that identify as libertarians but run with more established parties. Slawomir Mentzen, the Polish presidential candidate who identified as a libertarian who ran with Poland’s Confederation Party or Javier Millei with La Libertad Avanza who relied on coalitions with other parties to get on the ballot and ultimately win. Globally, the U.S. Libertarian Party is the largest and most enduring Libertarian Party in the world. No one has matched the US Libertarian Party’s longevity, visibility, size, or influence. So why aren’t more Libertarian affiliated candidates elected to office? After formally organizing, it took Argentina only 5 years to get a Libertarian president and the Czech Republic to get a Libertarian in their parliament. What is the US Libertarian Party getting wrong?

The last day I was in Warsaw Poland, June 1st, was the last round of Poland’s presidential election. One thing I noticed as I was walking around was a lack of political advertisements. No signs, flags, supporters, protestors, flyers, street activists - not even on private property. When I asked the Poles I was with, they explained that there are no laws outright banning this speech, but it is regulated and generally not done. Additionally, people are pressured by landlords to not display political signs on their balconies or windows. In Poland, political campaigns are entitled to free airtime on public radios and TV stations during campaign season. Polish libertarians closely watch US politics and the US Libertarian Party. For example, influenced by the US constitution, Poland became the country with the second oldest codified constitution in history in 1791. A surprising number of libertarian Poles asked me about Chase Oliver, his campaign, and his election results.

One conversation that stuck with me, while having lunch at Galt’s Gulch in Austin, TX, was with a political campaign manager with the ACT Party of New Zealand. Campaign budgets were brought up and he asked what American Libertarian campaign budgets were like. He imagined our budgets would be in the millions just for our presidential candidate’s campaign, rivaling the Republican and Democrat presidential candidates. I laughed a little and said we don’t come close to the budgets of the two major parties. On a State and local level some candidates have budgets that don’t even meet the threshold to report, some have budgets of $0. He seemed surprised by this as his party nearly outspent all the other parties in New Zealand, nearly 3 million in 2024. While there are quantitative criteria on the amount, all registered political parties in New Zealand are eligible to receive public funds and have access to shared airtime for political ads. According to the Party Registration Handbook, all that is required to become a registered political party is filling out several forms, proving you have 500 paid memberships and paying a fee. By contrast, the New Jersey Libertarian Party, despite running candidates every year, currently having close to 25,000 registered Libertarians in the state and having existed with active memberships since its inception, is not a recognized party with ballot access.

Ok, so what is the US Libertarian Party getting wrong? The Libertarian Party is failing for a few reasons - internal fighting, lack of consistent messaging, affiliates with contradictory visions, and systemic barriers.

On the last day of Freedom Fest in Palm Springs I silently protested Angela McArdle’s “Negotiating Liberty” panel appearance. It was brought to my attention that Angela McArdle, former chair of the Libertarian Party, was given several guest appearances that were arranged well in advance and prior to the release of the LP Special Investigative Committee’s report, outlining Angela McArdle’s clear embezzlement. On the plane home, people stopped me at the gate and in the aisle to thank me for what I did. Conversely, there are members calling this libel and scrambling to justify her actions.

The Libertarian Party is currently in an internal war for control of the party. The Mises Caucus has a vision to use the party, leverage our members and barter our voters to steer Republican candidates and representation toward liberty.

“I think that in three years the Libertarian Party presidential candidate, whoever that is … should run with the intention of potentially dropping out and endorsing a candidate who is willing to make multiple concessions… if we can get one radical proposal every four years, we can just do it again and again and again,” said Angela McArdle, now chair of the Mises Caucus, during the aforementioned panel.

No, you can’t Angela, after the first time of betraying members and voters who put faith behind a candidate who sells out to make a singular deal, people will stop trusting our candidates and party. People join the Libertarian Party and vote for our candidates because we offer something different. We offer solutions that don’t rely on keeping the machine going. If we start acting like the two-party system, how are we different? How are we dismantling anything?

This isn’t the first caucus war the Libertarian Party has faced, and it probably won’t be the last. We are also not unique in that we have factional infighting. The problem is, the party uses its most vital and limited resource, passionate volunteers, to fight these internal battles. Leaving the actual work neglected. We simply do not have enough volunteers or enough donors to do both.

The Libertarian Party affiliates really need to recalibrate. What is the priority? What should we shift resources towards? What is the intended purpose of a political party? What would an outsider expect to see from a political party? Instead of asking what strategy spreads the most liberty, a question that sparks endless debates and perpetual faction formation, ask - what systemic barriers can we dismantle today?

This is what I believe the Libertarian Party and its affiliates should focus on. The structural barriers candidates have before, during and after elections. I would love for a Libertarian candidate to win a higher office. I would love to see a Libertarian president in my lifetime or a Libertarian representative, or three! We have to be realistic about what is stopping that from happening. Candidates can’t win if they aren’t even in the game. Is it our platform? Are Libertarians unlikable? Are we not serious enough? Is the libertarian solution to the issues impractical? Those of us who knock on doors and speak to voters know it’s none of those things.

The US does not have free elections. Why do countries like New Zealand and Poland understand that to have truly democratic elections, you need to make sure access to voters is equal. To make sure your elections are truly open, getting on the ballot should be as easy as registering to vote. Why does the US have a convoluted mess of campaign finance laws but none of them truly address the fact that our elections are won by whoever is donated the most money? Why do statewide and national debates have financial prerequisites to be invited? I know I don’t care what a candidate's bank account balance is. People want to hear from candidates.

One big thing affiliates should be fighting for, is to get NOTA (none of the above) to be an official option on all ballots across the nation. Voter suppression laws, ballot access requirements, campaign finance laws, fundraising thresholds, polling thresholds, petition filing fees, “sore loser” laws - these are things state affiliates should focus on. This is not a novel revelation either. Most people realize it’s a losing battle fairly quickly and when they do, one of four things happens. They give up, they get distracted by infighting, they sell out by trying to covertly spread libertarianism through another party or they delusionally believe they can make deals with the compliant wheels that keep the powers in place. They forget, libertarianism seeks to dismantle power structures not trade with it. This is where my focus will be moving forward, and I hope you will join me.

This isn’t just about saving the U.S. Libertarian Party, it’s about reestablishing it as a beacon for libertarians worldwide. The Libertarian Party of the United States was once a pioneer for libertarians, let’s get back to paving the path.

Lana Leguía

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This article was originally published on lanaleguia.com and has been republished here with permission. All rights reserved by the original author.

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