by: Trevor Miles

In the 2024 election cycle, we’ve seen a plethora of interesting and intriguing candidates emerge from the Libertarian Party. However, there is one candidate that seems to be drawing a minority of Libertarian support, and it worries me that this is the case since this candidate is clearly antithetical to the Libertarian Party stance on several issues. That candidate is, of course, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

First issue, the minimum wage. It should be an automatic non-starter in LP circles to have any minimum wage at all, much less a $15 an hour minimum wage. The fact that any Libertarian would support a government imposed minimum wage is ridiculous. Second issue, student loans. His website clearly states that he would impose a 0% interest rate on student loans. What he is essentially saying with this is he would give out taxpayer money to individuals with absolutely no way to recoup any of the cost of giving out that money. Aside from using taxpayer money at all, from a basic financial standpoint this should be another non-starter.

Third issue, economic revitalization. Kennedy talks about increasing government involvement in the economy to levels not seen before, all in the name of "revitalization," severely missing the point that government involvement at any level is what contributed the most to the economic downturns we’ve seen since the late sixties, and that increasing government meddling is not what we need, nor should any Libertarian be advocating for it. Final issue, the 2nd Amendment. Mr. Kennedy has made several remarks at various points that leave his overall attitudes towards the 2nd Amendment ambiguous at best. This is a problem for any candidate for elected office, but especially for one who might seek the LP nomination. Any LP nominee should be resolute and clearly support the 2nd Amendment and civilian ownership of weapons of all kinds.

On several issues I will concede that Kennedy makes it halfway to arriving at a conclusion which could reasonably be supported by the LP. However, this is not enough to overcome the glaring problems with his positions on several issues that should be non-starters in all Libertarian circles. On top of that, the LP should not be compromising to support an outside candidate, especially when we have a slate of several candidates from within the LP who I believe demonstrate adherence to basic Libertarian principles better than RFK Jr. ever could.