We don't actually have an editorial position.
------------------------------------------------------
I think I asked what people would think about this a strategy before Bill Weld even made his switcheroo announcement: what if Weld is planning to run in GOP primaries, like a science fiction space ship sweeping through an asteroid field, just to scoop up or attract #NeverTrump voters, who he will then attempt to convert to Libertarian Party voters when he doesn't receive the GOP nomination and instead seeks the Libertarian one?
-------------------------------------------------------
 |
| (photo - and art - credit: (Ms.) Jackie Mason) |
-------------------------------------------------------
My Statement on Bill Weld:
Well, it’s official. William Weld is launching a presidential primary challenge to Donald Trump, in the Republican Party.
For over three years now, I have been near-religiously defending Weld at every turn from all manner of relentless, vicious criticism from fellow libertarians. Where others saw a dishonest, untrustworthy, two-faced, disloyal career politician, I saw a man of great experience, knowledge, principle, and promise. I saw the future of our party, and the pathway for Libertarians to finally begin our journey to becoming a respected, credible, major third voice in the American political system. My defense of Weld has been so frequent and so impassioned that it has garnered me a degree of notoriety—mostly negative—online far beyond that which I imagine I would have accumulated without such actions. Through all the criticism, all the attacks, all the accusations that Weld, and by extension, I, am a false libertarian, I stayed the course, unwaveringly confident that Weld was the right choice for the Libertarian Party and liberty movement at large, and would lead us to greatness.
It is with utterly indescribable mental and emotional anguish that I now say: I was wrong.
For years now, Weld has been giving every assurance that he would be with the Libertarian Party for life. Countless times has he said this, in extremely explicit terms—and I believed him. He promised he could “feel” himself sinking deeper into the party, attended numerous party events and conventions, became a lifetime member, and made a solemn promise that he would only ever run for any office again holding the Libertarian banner. As it painfully turns out, every single word of these promises were lies. Empty, meaningless lies. In running as a Republican, Weld has broken every promise he has made this party, and showed he is not a man of any conviction, trust, or moral character. He made a fool of me, and every other libertarian who loyally steadfastly stood by his side while all the others doubted him. I can name few to no other occasions in my life I have ever felt so utterly betrayed by someone I trusted.
With Weld’s departure from the party, in my opinion, he took our future with him. There are exactly zero other remotely reputable, serious candidates in the Libertarian Party qualified to make a run for the presidency in 2020. Without Weld, the party will likely end up running some radical activist with no political experience or professional qualifications whatsoever, and receive far under 1% of the vote. We will lose automatic ballot access in dozens of states across the country, and become a laughing stock among the general public. All the immense, hard-fought progress we’ve made in recent years will be lost. The party will be set back decades, if it can ever hope to recover at all. That Weld would allow this to happen utterly disgusts me, as it shows that he never cared about us, and only used us for his own purposes.
I should clarify that I do still believe Weld holds libertarian positions and values. I do not take back the defense I have given of him in such a regard. Furthermore, I still fully believe that running a candidate similar to him is the correct strategy for the party to take, if at all possible now or ever again. I do not and will never think that running a fringe, radical candidate with no qualifications who acts like a drunken fraternity brother is the right choice for our party. Though I will no longer defend Weld’s character or trustworthiness, for sake of not contributing to a culture I think will rot the party to extinction, I will continue to defend the sort of pragmatic, moderate, experienced libertarian mold Weld was representative of before he betrayed our party.
With Weld out of the Libertarian race, I feel lost and rudderless. I would throw my support behind Justin Amash, but it seems highly unlikely he’ll be willing to make the jump to our party, much less run for its presidential ticket—and, even if such a thing were to somehow occur, we’d still have no credible vice presidential candidate. He would also fail to have the clesnsing effect on the party that I was so desperately hoping Weld would have, in driving out all the cryotofascist paleoconservatives. Even with his ultimately disgraceful decision in the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, I would still welcome now-former Senator Jeff Flake to run for the Libertarian Party presidential ticket as well, though his joining us seems even more unlikely than Amash’s.
Do I hope Weld’s primary challenge to Trump is successful? Sure I do. I will not support him in this effort, but sure. I welcome nearly anyone in the country to challenge Trump. Near anyone in all of government, save for Steve King, would be an improvement. It would be immature of me to not hope that a candidate with immensely better, and still ultimately libertarian, positions is able to oust a would-be white nationalist autocrat from the nomination. It will not happen, though. Not a chance. Trump is spectacularly popular among the Republican Party base. They want fascism, not libertarian liberal democracy like Weld offers. I fully believe Weld’s run is a complete waste of his, and everyone’s, time and money.
I simply cannot say yet what I will do in 2020. I see Trump as an existential threat to the United States and indeed the entire concept of freedom and liberal democracy worldwide. He is indescribably unfit for office or indeed any position of even relative authority. Were it not for the sake of some semblance of brevity, I could happily spend a dozen pages describing just how unqualified, inhumane, and dangerous I find him to be—from his bragging about committing sexual assault without consequence, to his war on democratic norms, to his support for racism and white nationalism, to his support for dictators worldwide, and infinitely more. I see it of the utmost importance that this fascist criminal is removed from office. Because of this, I cannot rule out voting Democratic, should they put up a ticket even remotely palatable. In a case of Trump/Pence for the R ticket, and a catastrophic L ticket of, for example, Kokesh/Coley, a Democratic ticket such as Booker/O’Rourke would be foolish to reject.
To conclude, let me reiterate once more that I was indeed wrong about Weld. I feel so used and betrayed by this disgusting backstabber that I’m finding it difficult to even put into words how upset I truly am. I fully expect my accrued peanut gallery of detractors to jeer and sneer and laugh at me and my misfortune, though I’m not sure what they think it will accomplish. I have admitted I was wrong, and don’t see what further mockery would achieve. Have you never been wrong about anything? Never felt betrayed by someone you trusted?
I’m just sick of feeling betrayed by Libertarians I once loved. Austin Petersen: changed to the Republican Party and is now a despicable reactionary alt-right conservative. Larry Sharpe: embraced a paleoconsrvative-leaning campaign staff, and plunged into the alt-right idea-laundering community that is the “intellectual dark web.” Now, Bill Weld, the single greatest hope, carelessly abandons the Libertarian Party for the Republicans. I am utterly morose.
-----------
-----------
Bill Weld scrubbed his twitter and started over he’s beyond pathetic
----------
No comments:
Post a Comment