This is the Kaderie Daily Podcast for Tuesday, May 28, 2024.

I'm Caleb Brown.

The Libertarian Party's biggest splash in many years was this weekend. It involved the inclusion

of both Donald Trump and RFK Jr. as headline speakers. Of course, neither is a

Libertarian and the episode reveals some of the creeping illiberalism in the Libertarian Party itself.

Following Cato President Peter Getler's Washington Post op-ed

discussing the less-than-libertarian speakers at a less-than-liber Libertarian Party Convention.

I spoke with Caters Aaron Steelman and Andy Craig. This may be supremely naive, but I will let you both comment on it.

What was or is the purpose of a having a libertarian party. It has long been my

understanding that the purpose of a party is to field candidates and do your best to win elections.

Aaron, go ahead.

I think that's correct. I mean, when the party was founded in 71 and ran a candidate in 72, John Hospers.

Hospers was on the ballot in only two states.

He did get an electoral vote, though, from Roger McBride, who was pledged to vote for Nixon but he wanted

voting for Hospers and then by the time 76 rolled around McBride became the

candidate and they were on the ballot in about 36 states, I think, then.

The idea was not to go toward a three-party system,

but for the libertarians to actually replace the Republicans

and have a two-party system with the libertarians and

Democrats. The high point really for the Libertarian Party for a long time was 1980

when Ed Clark ran and gathered about 1% of the vote.

And then it was a long period of the LP was in the wilderness

...