With the latest revelations that the Libertarian Party is now deep in the red, perhaps it’s time libertarians join the Republican Party. Sure Republicans aren’t perfect. They’re militaristic and socially stifling, but they are the closest vessel to power liberty lovers can get – especially now, after the GOP’s electoral success. And if you don’t like the Republicans, then maybe form something akin to the Republican Liberty Caucus within the Democratic Party. The point is, there is nothing wrong with joining the two parties with the intent to advocate liberty. I think James Weinstein – giving advice to the Greens – sums up the perfect point about the modern party system:
… as quasi-state institutions they are no longer political parties in the European parliamentary sense. The Republican and Democratic parties are legally regulated structures with fixed times and places where anyone can register. Open to all, they have no ideological requirements for membership. To become a Republican or Democrat, you just register as such. In fact, these are not really parties at all, but coalitions of more or less compatible social forces in which various groups contest for influence under a common banner.
It used to be that political parties were stagnant. Political innovation came from stealing or merging ideas from challenging third parties, like the Populists. Thanks to the turn-of-the-century election reforms towards direct primary laws, however, the two parties have been reduced to Thomas Nast cartoons.