You say Mises, I say Mises.
I'm a long-time member of the Libertarian Party, sitting across the table from the leader, and he misspelled the word „Mises“ for the third time in about an hour.He is not a scholar or someone I would expect to be deeply read. austrian economicsSo I politely said to him, „You know that's pronounced 'Mieses,'“ and he chuckled, smiled, nodded, and said, „You know what?“ I just like touching people's skin. ”
„Those people“ refer to the National Liberal Party's new leadership team, the so-called „Mises Caucus.“ The caucus took control of the party during the tumultuous 2022 national convention, then split the party.The Mises caucus chose the name in its honor famous economistBut also to identify with the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama. The institute was established after another conflict within the LP between the Murray Rothbard/Ron Paul and David Koch/Ed Crane factions of the party in the 1980s. And like today's conflicts, this conflict arose after an election. The two wings of the LP were at odds over whether to pursue electoral success at the expense of ideological purity.
In the 1980 election, Ed Clark and David Koch received just over 1% of the national vote, a record that was later broken by Johnson and Weld in 2016. But in both cases, more radical elements within the party derailed any potential momentum. Candidates like Bill Weld were especially incensed late in the 2016 campaign when he urged voters to support Hillary Clinton over President Trump. Members of the Mises caucus were dissatisfied with what they saw as the watering down of liberal principles in favor of short-term political opportunism.
My lunch companion and I start with spring rolls and iced tea. Over a hot crunchy starter, my friend explains what he thinks about the different tastes of libertarianism espoused by his two groups. Of course, he is more sympathetic to his own position. He said that while he is a „live and let live“ liberal who can spread his message to a wider audience, the Mises caucus is younger and more ideologically inflexible „Don't Tread on Me.“ ” I believe that I represent the group. In his view, this group has become needlessly hostile to any concessions that would make the party politically acceptable beyond a small group of fervent believers.
The Mises caucus is led by Michael Heise, and other notable celebrities include lightning rod Angela McArdle and noted comedian Dave Smith, who has a widespread social media presence. They cite longtime LP influences Ron Paul, Murray Rothbard, and historian Tom Woods as supporters and role models. In honor of the Austrian economist of the same name, the caucus' webpage calls on individuals to „take human action“ to promote freedom through the LP.
This member of the party has never been on an LP and is not a group that recently appeared on Johnny. In fact, the party has never been unified and has not been particularly consistent in the views it espouses or the issues it promotes. However, the party has been consistently successful in its organizational strategy of uniting diverse interests and keeping the party on the ballot in all 50 states in national elections.
LP is actually a collection of different groups, not just one group. Each state has its own state-level political party. And state institutions are now more or less on either side of this divide. So while New Hampshire is now run by die-hard supporters of the Mises caucus, Louisiana is still ruled by the Old Guard. A look at the social media accounts of both groups reveals such differences that, far from being from the same philosophical tradition, they sometimes seem to come from different planets. During Nikki Haley's latest blunder on the causes of the Civil War, her party's old guard reprimanded her and agreed that slavery was the root cause. The Mises caucus social media cited controversial research by historians that blamed Lincoln for the War of Consolidation. Academic discussions in libertarian circles are never boring.
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Why did the Mises family launch a hostile takeover and storm the Bastille?I reached out to understand Steven Nekaira Someone who has supported the caucus for the past several years. He has served as LP's national committee member since 2016 and was previously a member of the Florida party's board, so he has seen LP change and evolve at the national and local level. In his view, the Mises caucus was initially motivated by a more mercurial group of activists seeking to improve the party. He senses new energy and youth in the group of leaders and is excited about the influence of his media personality on Twitter/X, where he has more than 400,000 followers on social media like Dave Smith. I am.
Nekhaila believes LPs have always attracted a wide range of people. Because people on the left and right are finding a home there. In his view, the Mises caucus' current focus is on war and economics, which is attracting a group of younger supporters both to the party and to the writings of people like Rothbard, Paul and Mises. he believes. He sees these new young activists as energetic and enthusiastic but needing to assimilate into the political world.
In the wake of the Mises caucus victory, I asked him how the party can mend fences and move forward. He notes that as Florida chair he has seen many newcomers come in and earn respect from party veterans. Florida State's LPs are a mix of people from both the Old Guard and Mises, but they manage to mesh their personalities. He acknowledges that the situation was tense initially, but believes the party must put aside those differences and work together. Mr Nekaira wants a memorandum of understanding between the two groups on the process to help align goals and objectives. Coming from a business background, he says bluntly, „We don't have to love each other to get things done.“ This is certainly a laudable goal, given the relative levels of tension across the country.
A quick visit to Florida LP's Twitter/X account confirms that. It combines the positions of mainstream liberals, including recent retweets. reason Support article immigration It also includes more extreme tweets about January 6th and attacks on Bill Clinton's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Mr. Nekaira believes that ultimately all liberals, including Mises, are tired of losing, leading to the temptation to support pro-liberal Republicans to scratch that itch. ing. However, he rejects that approach by maintaining a more „orthodox“ liberalism and supporting some ideological boundaries. He's not worried about the LNC or anyone in the Mises caucus, but he is concerned about Colorado, which is aligned with Republicans.
I asked him if it was the party's job to field candidates to promote policy change and party ideals.He says you need to do both and explains the underlying philosophy and Build the infrastructure. Both are needed, he argues, because his experience in business and politics has led to a rise in self-identified libertarianism among younger workers, but little understanding of its philosophical underpinnings. How exactly the party can accomplish that is another question.
And he believes the Old Guard has lost sight of its philosophy, especially the writings of Ron Paul, who he credits with providing „broader perspective and energy.“ Nekaila said the influx of Mises supporters is overall a positive development and necessary. But the challenge now is to create a social movement that will attract voters. He argues that neither Democrats nor Republicans are currently doing that, and the LP can fill that gap with new converts. He is a businessman who employs many young people, and sees the popularity of these ideas among his generation. That's part of the reason he supports a more orthodox approach to political life.
Will Nekayla's optimism and professional experience be able to rebuild bridges with the Old Guard? I'll move on to that question next time.
G. Patrick Lynch is a senior fellow at Liberty Fund.