My Guilty Pleasure: The 2016 Libertarian Party Convention

I'm delighted that the Libertarian Party choose two former moderate Republican governors as their presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

As far as I'm concerned the libertarian dystopia imagined by Ayn Rand is as immoral as it is impossible, as witnessed by the fact that no government in history, of any size or duration, ran according to the model of "Atlas Shrugged" - presuming we exclude failed states.

But these two candidates have assimilated libertarian ideas that influenced policies and programs in the real (as compared to the surreal) world and both led administrations in blue and purple (non-failed) states and are arguably at least minimally qualified to be president in the company of Perry, Walker, Kasich, Graham, and Bush.

They will certainly play the part of spoiler, drawing votes from Trump and all but ensuring that Hillary Clinton will begin the first of her likely two terms in office in January, 2017.

That's the guilty part: naked partisanship (not the only naked thing at the Libertarian convention, but I digress).

The less guilty part is that the libertarians, as devoted to ideological purity as only a Green or Sanders supporter can be, actually chose both of them as candidates.

And while they probably had a stiff drink and took a deep breath before doing that, they didn't exactly hold their nose either.

They chose to be players.

As a returning lifelong Republican, I may have booked passage just as the ship is ready to seek it's place on the ocean floor.

But if that happens, or if the surviving party's base looks like Donald Trump supporters, I'll need a new home.

Probably, that would be with the Democrats.

But I'd certainly give a look to a party that believes in fiscal restraint (as in smart, right-sized government rather than as help the makers, screw the takers government) and staying the hell out of people's wombs, gender identities, and sexual orientations and letting them live their personal lives as they see fit.

And whichever way I may go, I'm sure the Libertarians would pick up many of my ilk.

At least for the political moment, the Libertarians have become consequential for the Republican voters at least at the level that Sanders and his followers have become consequential to Democratic voters.

And I'm not the least bit guilty about that aspect of my motivation.

I hope Johnson / Weld hit that 15% target so that the debates have at least a prayer of a chance of being edifying.