by: James Higgins, LPNC IT and LPMeck Secretary

Are you new to the party? Did you get sick of the uniparty and let social media memes lure you into believing you’re a Libertarian? Yeah, me too. Well not really, but it pushed me over the edge and gave me a name for my beliefs. I’m still sure I am a Libertarian but it brings me little comfort. I am working to change that. 

Being in a bastard third party is hard. It’s work. We are against two entrenched parties with billions at their disposal. That’s not a typo...Billions, with a B, and many times over. How much is legitimate or legal is debatable, but it’s of little consequence because the lawyers and judges we could petition share the same party loyalties as those taking potentially illegitimate monies and those verifying the legitimacy of said funds.

So, where does that leave third parties like us?

Not in a great starting block. We’re lucky to hear the starting pistol as the other parties gave us the wrong track, at the wrong field, in the wrong county, in the next state, on a different day, and that's before they paid off the refs. 

How does a party compete when they’re so obviously beset with roadblocks?

I wish I had all the answers, but I honestly don't know. 

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that I’m here to find out. I had kids young. I’m reinvigorating my career at the stage where my kids no longer need me. I have time to learn new things and money to spend to help me get there. I’m spending on travel, family, politics, and community, and I’m motivated. I’m trying to build a better future for my kids and (hopefully) future grandkids, and here I am, faced with the two worst candidates the Rs and Ds could possibly be stupid enough to run against each other again. I appreciate the value in life, in each of our lives, and I will give everything I can to give the people about whom I care a better future.

Not the Kumbaya steal all my money and government is going to fix everything future. Not the "inflation isn't coming," "oh wait, inflation is not that bad," " oh wait, inflation is actually a good thing" future. Not the 40 bombs a day for two decades future. Not the digital ID, thoughtcrime, total autocratic control future.

I am fighting for the “I got this” future.

• The “I understand economics more than the Fed chairman” future.
• The “I know stealing women’s luggage isn’t part of safely storing nuclear waste” future.
• The “Ignoring crime isn’t criminal justice” future.
• The “I will own everything and THEN I’ll be happy” future.

It seems a vast majority of the population is ready and yearning for a change, but how do we get there? How does the party with the right answers get a foothold? How do we grab the mic?

Altruistic Libertarian platitudes are everywhere. We have the widest set of the most deeply correct people on so many subjects; from human rights, to war, to economics, to foreign policy, and so on, and yet we can’t get any kind of groundswell. Maybe if we offered free stuff paid for by other people’s money? That surely works for pretty much all R and D causes.

But Libertarians can’t justify it, nor should we. We don’t take people’s stuff without consent, including their money, and we don’t hurt people, including our enemies, unless we are defending ourselves.

But this leaves a question that looms ever larger the more the uniparty tightens the clamps around us. How do we affect change, and how do we recruit?

I haven’t figured it out yet, but I’m new here. I won’t be new here forever, though. I have met so many great people dedicated to the cause of Liberty, and I am calling on everyone reading this to join the fight, or do a little more than you are already, if you can. We can figure it out together. The best-case scenario is we can get the folks that have felt the same in our party since the 70s to come out to the next meeting, the next event, the next election, and sit alongside the Ron Paul Libertarians who joined at the turn of the millennium, the members who were activated recently because of covid-related tyranny, and the new recruits who couldn't take the deliberate push by the uniparty to drive us apart, and everyone in between. Let’s share stories. Let’s build a community. Let’s volunteer together. Let's learn together and grow the next generation of Libertarian activists and politicians together.

Let’s grow the party.