Politics

What's the Libertarian Party's Problem with Isolationism and Ladies?

Matt Welch (and Austin Petersen) talk up the promise of L.P. politics on SoCal public radio

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Democracy in action in Orlando. ||| Matt Welch
Matt Welch

Yesterday I appeared on the venerable AirTalk program on KPCC-FM in Southern California, talking about why 2016 is likely to shape up as a historically interesting year for Libertarian Party presidential politics, and also responding to host Larry Mantle's queries about how Libertarians can get over their alleged isolationism/wimmenfolk problems. Also participating the 24-minute segment was presidential candidate Austin Petersen, of whom you can read more about here.

You can listen to the whole segment here.

Tonight in Orlando, down the street from where the Libertarian Party Convention is being held, I heard Petersen give a brief talk at a Happy Hour sponsored by the organizers of the annual Freedom Fest convention in Las Vegas. Among his biggest applause lines: "I think it's time for us to stop nominating failed Republicans, and start nominating successful Libertarians."

On a related note, my anecdotal experience of talking to a number of L.P. delegates tonight included a lot of comments like, "It's far from a done deal for Gary," and "His support is softening." There was a lot of sniping in particular about Johnson's selection of William Weld as a suggested running mate. Stay tuned to this space for more coverage!