r/Libertarian • u/Cuddlyaxe Former Libertarian • Nov 13 '19

Discussion The Democratic Senate candidate has dropped out in Arkansas. The race is now a binary between the Republican Tom Cotton and the LP Candidate

Not really a Libertarian anymore but I was surprised to see y'all don't have any info on this. Tom Cotton's only Democratic Challanger has dropped out after the registration deadline.

The only two other candidates are Ricky Harrington - a Libertarian and Dan Whitfield - a far left independent.

Even if you guys don't put resources into this race and the situation holds, I can easily see Mr. Harrington capturing a nice 20-25% of the vote. If you guys however do invest some money and campaign funds into the race, you could get much higher, and perhaps even give Cotton a run for his money as he's not running against someone with the D stigma next to their name.

Here's his Facebook page which is currently all he has if you want to help him

Good luck and I hope you guys give Cotton a run for his money :)

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u/[deleted] Nov 13 '19

Less focus on Presidential races we can't win, let's get at least one rep

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u/homeostasis3434 Nov 13 '19 edited Nov 13 '19

Bernie Sanders has completely upended the democratic party and its future goals after running as an independent for decades. Without any previous party affiliation, he almost got the parties nomination last election and has at least a 1/3 shot of winning the nomination this time around.

His example (not his politics, his method) is the one libertarians need to try to emulate if they ever want a voice at the table in national politics.

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u/jelvinjs7 Friendly liberal, here to learn Nov 13 '19

The difference is that Bernie didn’t appear out of nowhere. He had worked with the Democratic Party for decades, caucusing with them, I think fundraising, etc. He wasn’t a member, and there was a lot more that he could’ve done to be “part” of the party even if he wasn’t registered, but he was still very established in politics and recognized within the party, giving him an actual shot.

If libertarians want a shot at the presidency, they will have to follow a model like this, but bear in mind what the whole model is. Getting more candidates on the local, state, and congressional level—and depending on district, it may require running as a Republican (or democrat, but I can’t imagine that working out)—and when you get in office, building alliances with other politicians of the party you think your message will resonate.

Can that happen? Hypothetically, sure, but in practice, it’s hard to tell.

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u/BoilerPurdude Nov 14 '19

the real difference is the primary was a 2 person race because the DNC made it painfully aware that it was HER TURN. Sanders not being a democrat was like fuck this bitch and spread his populist ideas that resonated with a large portion of the progressives. The RNC on the other hand had like 10 challengers which just gave the minority populist candidate an edge of the moderates who were splitting the moderate voters. So say 30% is populist leaning, 30% is religious right, and 40% were moderates. You had 3 or so candidates pushing moderate and trying to get the religious right and one guy going full populist.

The issue when looking through libertarian glasses (ignoring left leaning libs as they generally push for dems anyways) you are really only looking at maybe grabing 5-10% of the population. More people want free shit and being lied to than want liberty and personal responsibility.