Watch Libertarian Party Presidential Candidates Justin Amash, Jacob Hornberger, Jim Gray, Jo Jorgensen, and Adam Kokesh Debate Tonight at 8 p.m. ET

Matt Welch moderates.

In less than one week, around 1,000 Libertarian delegates are scheduled to begin voting on the party's 2020 nominees for president and vice president. In the tentative lead for the former post is the last entrant into the race, Rep. Justin Amash (L–Mich.).

Amash thus far has appeared in just one of the party's nearly two dozen presidential debates and forums; tonight he makes it two. The Libertarian Parties of Kentucky and Missouri, along with the We Are Libertarians podcast, are hosting a debate from 8-10 p.m. ET featuring Amash, leading primary winner Jacob Hornberger, 1996 L.P. vice presidential nominee Jo Jorgensen, 2012 veep nominee Judge Jim Gray, and anarchist veteran Adam Kokesh. I will be moderating.

You can watch the debate live on the Facebook pages of Reason, the LPKY, and We Are Libertarians; or at this YouTube feed right here:

Comments

[Ra's al Gore]

leading primary winner Jacob Hornberger

Bumper!!

anarchist veteran Adam Kokesh

I watched the Waco miniseries. I thought he died.

[Emmma90]

I am making a good salary from home $1500-$2500/week , which is amazing, under a year earlier I was jobless in a horrible economy. I offer thanks toward God each day I was blessed with these instructions and now it’s my duty to pay it forward and share it with Everyone, Here is website where i started this……….Home Profit System

[Emmma90]

I am making a good salary from home $1500-$2500/week , which is amazing, under a year earlier I was jobless in a horrible economy. I offer thanks toward God each day I was blessed with these instructions and now it’s my duty to pay it forward and share it with Everyone.
Here is website where i started this……….Home Profit System

[OldGuy]

We want Vermin Supreme! Why is he locked out?

[Rich]

Perhaps he couldn't get a mask over his boot-hat?

[gay]

Seems a little odd that the party thats been whining about being left off the debate stage for 5 decades is LEAVING THE MOST IMPORTANT CANDIDATE IN POLITICAL HISTORY off of their debate stage.....

[Ken Shultz]

The only question that really matters to me at this point is whether it's in the best interest of libertarians like me to lodge a protest vote against both parties in this election by voting Libertarian--or whether it's in the best interests of libertarian capitalists like me to throw our support behind President Trump. Before I vote for any particular Libertarian nominee, you need to persuade me that it's in my best interests to vote Libertarian rather than for President Trump.

Yes, I'm aware that President Trump is substantially less libertarian than any of the Libertarian nominees. Unfortunately, the Democrats are not only less libertarian than President Trump but are also openly advocating socialism. There are only two things standing between the Democrats implementing the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, free college for everyone, and federal taxpayers effectively bailing out California, Illinois and New York's pension obligations. One of the things standing in the way of that is Mitch McConnell's principles (which aren't worth anything) and the only other thing is having President Trump in the White House.

Basic economics tells us that there's this thing called "opportunity cost". It's typically described as the highest valued foregone alternative. I wish we lived in a wold where the alternative to President Trump were the nominee of the Libertarian party, but the alternative to President Trump is so much worse than that. Because neither Trump nor Biden is libertarian means nothing when President Trump is the only thing standing between the status quo and so much worse. Who here thinks that Trump's bumpstock ban in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting is just as bad as Trudeau banning 1,500 different "assault weapons"--because neither policy is libertarian?

That's just one example of the larger principle, and the principle is this: Because of Duverger's Law, as the Democrats become increasingly authoritarian and socialist, libertarian capitalists should become increasingly Republican. Persuade me that this isn't true, that it's better for libertarian capitalists to support Libertarian candidates in this environment despite Duverger's Law, and then I'll start thinking about which nominee to support.

Justin Amash should be the first one to explain why kicking the one guy out of the White House who's holding back the authoritarian socialist tide is the smart thing for libertarian capitalists to do--since a) Amash is the guy that should have been leading the libertarian charge into the Republican party in such an important swing state, and b) Amash is the guy that's doing what he can to lead libertarians away from supporting the Republican candidate for president in an important swing state . Again, Biden winning probably means the most important stop against the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, Free College for Everyone, and other anti-capitalist atrocities. Why is that better than President Trump?

[Ken Shultz]

Oh, and before anyone starts piping up about false dichotomies, please get your head around Duverger's Law.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger%27s_law

The relationship between single member districts and the fate of third party candidates is clearly established and becomes truer over more election cycles.

[fingers]

Something is true or it isn't dumbass.

[Ken Shultz]

In response to a comment about false dichotomies, this is the unintentionally funniest thing I've seen in weeks!

Thank you.

[fingers]

no problem, I always enjoy correcting idiots

the word you wanted was "accurate"

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

Ken is fucking stupid. Good luck getting him to admit he was obviously wrong.

[fingers]

he already admitted it with his "I know you are but what am I" attempt at damage control

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

Ken is CONSTANTLY loud wrong, you'll know he's pissed about being shown up when he calls you a troll, or the big prize, accuses you of being me.

[Tank Fromas]

Nardz put Ken in his place and Ken lost his mind over it.

[BigT]

Something is true or it isn’t dumbass.

This statement is false.

[Squirrelloid]

Goedel's ghost is being invoked to haunt this thread, i see.

[Gray_Jay]

I couldn't agree more, except that I think Trump will also bailout the blue states' budgets. It'll be called something else, but that's what it'll amount to.

Trump isn't a libertarian, and LOL at the thought. He's not even a Goldwater Republican. But both parties have lurched so far towards authoritarian, pro-globalist socialism, that a pro-business populist that actually likes America and Americans is an astounding breath of fresh air.

[Ken Shultz]

He's been vocally obstinate about not doing that so far, and I don't see why he's likely to pay off New York and California with money from swing state voters in an election year.

[Ken Shultz]

I don't see why he's likely to pay off New York and California with money from swing state voters in an election year.

[creech]

Ken, you know better than to believe your one vote counts in the scheme of things. If your state went for Trump by just one vote, yours, the re-count demands, etc. etc. would make Florida 2000
look like child's play. For that reason, I always vote my conscience and principles rather than play the fool's game that my one vote means anything in a statewide race.

[Case of the Mondays]

Vote your conscience then. Especially if you live in NY or CA. But just a few thousand votes in swing states tips the balance in favor of a pro business president like Trump, and one that despises capitalism and dismisses the constitution as a nuisance.

[Ken Shultz]

It isn't about our one vote.

It's about whether 2% of the voters in Amash's home state of Michigan break Libertarian instead of Trump thus handing the state and the White House to the Democrats.

It's about persuading other people, but elections do have consequences--some more so than others.

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

And now Ken looks stupid again.

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

I have to be honest, I never expected Amash to accomplish anything, but by dropping out he made all of Ken's moronic bleating look retarded, and I love it.

[AlbertP]

Since the State in which I live went heavily for Clinton, I suspect it will go to Biden. I will watch the polls, but I will almost assuredly vote for whoever the Libertarians put up there. My vote won't matter, of course, so I may at least make a statement. If it somehow turns out to be close, I will vote for Trump. Similar to the last election, the Repubs idiot is less objectionable than the Dems idiot.

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

Right, but will they know you said you eat your own shit SQRLSY?

[AlbertP]

Hmm... WTH is a "SQRLSY?"

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

YOU bitch.

[AlbertP]

LOL. You are funny. Sadly, you are also rather boring. Have a good weekend.

[IceTrey]

That's only if the Dems also control both houses of Congress.

[Ken Shultz]

I see no good reason to believe that if the only thing standing in the way of the progressives' socialist agenda were the Senate, Mitch McConnell would fold like the worst hand of poker you've had in your life.

The Democrats can't get what they want because they can't override a presidential veto. If the Democrats had the White House, and that were no longer a problem, you'd have, what, a couple Senators standing in the way of "progress"?

We can't even count on Collins and Murkowski when we have the majority. They wouldn't vote to abolish ObamaCare, and they wouldn't stand in the way of Medicare for All either.

[StackOfCoins]

If me personally voting Trump were the only way to prevent Biden from getting the WH, I wouldn't vote. Because they are both fucking horrible.

No one's individual vote matters though, so I won't be voting, again. Probably never again. System is broken.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

Jonathan Turley really should be working for this outfit. Here he lays out a basic summation of the entire truth of Operation Crossfire Hurricane, including the most fundamental truth of all: the media were, and still are lying to us about all of it.

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/497711-the-unmasking-of-joe-biden

Too bad the frauds here at Reason will never acknowledge any of this.

[Gray_Jay]

Turley has been really good on national security issues for quite a long time. Wasn't he co-counsel on suits against the Air Force for various Area 51 shenanigans, including burning toxic waste on the property instead of disposing of it in a properly certified hazmat landfill?

[Brett Bellmore]

I wonder how much longer it's going to take for Turley to leave the left; They're already pushing him out due to his not letting politics dictate his legal conclusions.

[Case of the Mondays]

It's not just Biden that's a problem. His VP pick will be far worse. And has a good chance of taking power. We need to throw the courts to the right in order to restore constitutional protections.

There is no one else now to advocate for the bill of rights. We are this close to having all civil rights invalided by the democrat left wing progtards. The ACLU just sued the DoE to revoke students sixth amendment protections and the right to confront an accuser. A group founded to protect civil rights is actually a front for far left authoritarians. Libertarians might believe in what they say, but they have no chance of winning period. If the courts fall prey to the left even more, those protections disappear forever.

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

I'd rather watch Palin's Buttplug shit up a thread with his AmSoc soc because he lost on Flynn and got banned for kiddie porn, and then watch SQRLSY eat it.

[R Mac]

Should Welchie boy really be a moderator for a debate that his crush is one of the participants?

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

Based on his weak ass punking when his kid got treated like cattle by some hirelings, he shouldn't be in charge of anything ever again.

[R Mac]

Details?

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

https://reason.com/2019/09/17/is-everyone-who-opposes-a-new-school-zoning-plan-in-brooklyn-racist/

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

And then he did it again

https://reason.com/2020/01/30/n-y-schools-chief-richard-carranza-cant-quit-calling-parents-racist/

[Overt]

Are we sure Amash is going to be in the debate tonight?

Justin Amash
@justinamash
After much reflection, I’ve concluded that circumstances don’t lend themselves to my success as a candidate for president this year, and therefore I will not be a candidate.

[Overt]

^^ https://twitter.com/justinamash/status/1261714484479041537

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

AHAHAHAHAH HE STOOD THEM UP

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

AHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAH

Amash is self-important trash who hid behind a facade of morality when he was just protecting his Chinese business interests, and completely ineffectual and useless, but that's fabulous ahahahahahaahahha

[Golden American]

Wow! Very disappointed. Now there is nobody in the Presidential race worthy of voting for.

[DataDriven]

Reason dropping the ball, where's the article on Amash dropping out of the race?

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

They're trying to find out if the Limo and dress they paid for are refundable lololololol

[DataDriven]

I actually think Amash did himself and the LP a favor. He got both in the news cycle, won a popularity contest, and now he can go back to his district fight and being "the first LP member in congress".
Profiles raised.

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

"“the first LP member in congress”.

Except he isn't.

[Hattori Hanzo]

Amash was, or should have been, aware of all the issues he sited as as his reasons for withdrawing from the LP presidential nomination race. He should have focused on '24 from day one. Libertarians will not forget this.

Supreme 2020.

[Michael "hey Obama you missed" Flynn]

"Libertarians will not forget this."

Libertarians are the ENB's of politics.

[StackOfCoins]

He probably reads his twitter and saw a long proud line of Rs and Ds calling him a cuck and a retard for running.

Now he's out, which is really the best thing for any libertarian. Can't change the system; why play the game?

[Hattori Hanzo]

Enjoyed the debate. Vermin Supreme should have been included. Judge has grown an impressive turkey neck since Vegas.

[Think It Through]

Headline did not age well even on a 24-hour cycle.

[Guy Incognito]

Jacob Hornberger 2020! Jacob For Liberty! Hopefully Jacob Hornberger will pick Sam Robb as his running mate.