Recently at Reason.tv: Libertarian Party Chairman William Redpath Tells All—Why Barr fizzled in 2008 and reasons to be cheerful about the future

At July's FreedomFest in Las Vegas, Reason magazine Editor in Chief Matt Welch sat down with the chairman of the Libertarian Party William Redpath to discuss what went right (and wrong) in the LP's 2008 electoral season, how the government's response to economic tumult is shaping policy, and the hopes for a freer, more individualistic society.

"Some people say, 'Don't you get kind of depressed sometimes,'" jokes Redpath, "and I say, "We'll have a libertarian society someday, when it's imposed on us by the Chinese government….Ultimately, if our politicians don't have the cojones to step up and make the tough decisions they need to make, our foreign creditors are going to make them for us."

Approximately 10 minutes. Shot and edited by Dan Hayes.

Click here for embed code and downloadable versions.

Comments

[Leonard Read]

Why hasn't this fucktard killed himself yet?

[filbert]

Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part III?

[hlm]

Bill may be a nice guy but he's allowed a coup to take place within the LP turning it away from libertarianism and into a conservative party. He sent out a list of "promises" on how the LP would never betray core principles. His list sounded like the platform of the Republican party. It said nothing about civil liberties and nothing about foreign policy. It was a poorly drafted manifesto for conservatives only. Apparently he was unwilling to promise to not betray those values which separate libertarians from conservatives. The net result is this life-long LP supporter (and former candidate) quite the party as did virtually all the libertarians I know. Instead the party gets conservatives like Barr and Root. Thanks Bill.

[Mike Laursen]

hlm, what you describe is just one symptom of an oxymoronic flaw at the heart of the Libertarian Party: the idea that there can be a libertarian political party. Well, at least when the idea is to have a political party with a top-down hierarchical power structure. I say this as former Libertarian activist and candidate.