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Lincoln Chafee Formally Announces Presidential Candidacy Today at National Press Club — 36 Comments

  1. Going back one year ago, did anybody out there every consider Lincoln Chafee to be a libertarian, or consider him to be somebody they’d want as the Libertarian Party’s candidate for President in 2020?

    I have been involved in the Libertarian Party and movement since the 1990’s, and I’d never heard anyone in the party or movement ever mention Lincoln Chafee as being a amall “l” libertarian, or even a libertarian leaner, or as someone they’d want to back as a candidate for office.

    So why would anyone in the Libertarian Party support, or even consider, him as a candidate for the LP’s presidential nomination now? What has Lincoln Chafee done to make himself a libertarian? Sure, he showed up in the party, filled out a membership form, and sent in a donation, but how can this be considered to be enough to justify nominating somebody to be at the top of the Libertarian Party’s ticket in 2020, especially given that as an elected Governor and Senator, he violated multiple libertarian principles, and was never even considered to be a small “l” libertarian by anyone? Sure, he’s got a few things on his record that could be considered to be libertarian, or libertarian leaning, but he’s also go a lot of things on his record that a not libertarian at all. Since he’s been out of political office, he’s engaged in a grand total of ZERO libertarian activism. I am not even aware of him having donated money to any libertarian organization prior to him recently joining the Libertarian Party, nor am I aware of him ever endorsing any Libertarian Party candidates, or even anyone who could be considered to be a small “l” libertarian running under a different party label (like Ron Paul or Rand Paul or etc…).

    So given Lincoln Chafee’s track record, and lack of libertarian activism, why would anyone in the Libertarian Party take him seriously as a candidate? He deserves to be laughed, or booed, out of the room.

  2. Andy, every two years, there are 435 US House elections, 33 or 34 US Senate elections, and about 8,000 state legislative elections. Have you ever thought that the party platform, as presented to the public, can be expressed by the Libertarians who run for those offices? Why should the presidential nominee be the only face of the party? Have you ever tried to recruit people to run for other federal and state offices that present libertarianism the way you think it should be presented?

  4. Rhode Island is one of only six states in which the Libertarian Party has never been a qualified party. But if the party could ever get 5% for president in Rhode Island, it would then be a qualified party for the next two elections.

  7. Richard, I certainly agree that the Libertarian Party’s platform/philosophy can be represented by candidates at all levels, however, reality is that the highest percentage of the public pays attention to the presidential ticket, and in the minds of most of the public, the presidential ticket IS the public face/standard bearers for the party. If the candidates on the presidential ticket do not accurately represent the party’s platform and philosophy, or even come close to representing it, they are giving the public a false impression of what the party is about, and they make the party look bad, especially to anyone paying attention.

    What is the point of having a Libertarian Party if the party is going to run candidates who are not really libertarians?

  8. Also, who really cares about Lincoln Chafee anyway? He did poorly when he ran in the Democrat presidential primary in 2016, and there was no great demand to “draft” Lincoln Chafee for President, especially among the Libertarian Party and movement. I NEVER heard any Libertarians, or small “I” libertarians say anything like, “Gee, I sure wish we could get Lincoln Chafee as a presidential candidate.”

  9. Lincoln Chafee is the only person since 1875 (who was not a Dem or Rep nominee) to win a statewide election in Rhode Island. There was an independent elected Governor in 1875 also, Rowland Hazard.

  10. That is nice, but it does not make him a libertarian, nor does it invalidate my assertion that there was basically zero demand for him to run for President, particularly from libertarians.

  11. Richard- an independent can be anything philosophically. Do you believe Chafee is a libertarian?

  12. If Chafee is actually serious about promoting liberty, why doesn’t he just support one of the actual libertarian Libertarians that is already running, in Adam Kokesh, or Jacob Hornberger, or Arvin Vohara, or Kim Ruff, or Jo Jorgenson, or Dan Behrman? Why does he have to run himself when we already have several long time libertarian activist candidates in the race? Ego trip? Sabotage? Opportunity to make some money? Wants to run but knows he can’t win a major party primary, and knows it is to difficult to get on the ballot nationally as an independent, so he figures his best bet is to hijack the LP’s ballot access since it is the “third” party that has the most ballot access?

  13. How many folks look at the LP Platform due to the LP Prez candidate ???

    Abolish the EC.
    —
    PR – legis
    NONPARTISAN AppV – exec/judic
    TOTSOP

  14. Richard keeps dodging questions on his support of Chafee.

    Chafee is doing this for his ego. He knows the LP is easy to take over. When he fails either at convention or the general election, he’ll switch to either the Green or Consitution Party in time for 2024.

  16. Casual Observer,

    I don’t think Richard would answer this way, but in response to your question I think a libertarian philosophy is one that permits someone the freedom to change their mind and think differently on different issues. I don’t think Chafee is a libertarian in a strict sense. But his career suggests a determination not to be identified as a strict adherent to any particular ideology. I think he’s a libertarian in a rough sense. And that might be good enough to help the party achieve some kind of success.

  17. If a libertarian is one who wants less government involvement in virtually every issue and more individual choice then I don’t see Chafee (or Weld or even Johnson) as being libertarian. Having said that I can understand the desire by some party members to want to nominate a “big name” candidate and hope to increase vote totals and contributions. In the last three presidential election cycles that is exactly what the party has done. I haven’t seen any significant breakthrough.

  18. There was statistically no real increase in vote percent with Barr. There was a vote increase percent with Johnson, but a lot of it had to do with the highly favorable circumstances under which he ran, but in terms of party growth, dues paying membership numbers have been pretty stagnant. The last time I checked exact numbers, which was close to a year ago, the LP had around 15,100 dues paying members, which is less than half of what it had in 2000-2001, and around what it had back around 1994 or 1995, and keep in mind that US population has increased quite a bit since then. The number of elected Libertarians is less than half of what it was in 2003, and it has been about two decades since the LP elected anyone to a state legislature. Also, since the last three LP Prez tickets were so weak philosophically, the party’s image has been tarnished (Is a Libertarian Party that nominates the likes of Bob Barr and Bill Weld really “the party of principle” anymore? I think not.), and the party has failed to bring more people to adopt a hardcore libertarian philosophy than it could have otherwise.

    I just hope the LP does not throw away a fourth presidential election by nominating Lincoln Chafee, or anyone like him.

  19. According to the IPR-X article “did-gary-johnson-use-my-idea-to-win-votes” the reason for Gary Johnson’s increase in the vote share may be because he stole campaign ideas from Nathan Norman.

  20. Weld and Chafee are Modern Liberals. Not too long ago they fit comfortably in either of the major parties, depending on where they came down on a few issues. Now that the Republicans have shifted toward nationalism and the Democrats toward socialism, the Modern Liberals no longer feel comfortable in either place. The LP is the best fit for them. But not a perfect fit.

    We’re going to get a lot more of them. And there are a lot more of them than there are ancaps or minarchists. Maybe enough to win a plurality in a national election. Ancaps and minarchists are never going to win federal elections on their own, but by staying active in the party they might be able to influence the Modern Liberals while we wait on the cryptocurrency revolution to wreck havoc on the government’s tax confiscations.

  21. Chafee like weld is a Rockefeller Republican. A globalist who wants the LP’s ballot access to pull support away from Trump. This libertarian isn’t gung-ho to turn the POTUS over to these dangerous dimwitted socialist Dems.
    I continue to hold out hope the LP can nominate a TRUE Libertarian that can garner widespread support for the true libertarian principles not just another Republican Lite.

  22. These supposed “modern liberals” (as Jim describes them) like Lincoln Chafee and Bill Weld,
    should have no place in the Libertarian Party. They are not remotely libertarian. They come in to hijack ballot access, subvert the message, and turn the party into controlled opposition.

  23. I also hope the party is not overrun by “modern liberals”. The party just needs more “classical liberals” and everything will be just fine. BTW, the party does NOT need “compassionate conservatives” like G.W. Bush described himself, either. Perhaps “constitutional conservatives” like Rand Paul or Justin Amash are a closer fit to the party than politians that advocate gun control measures or eschew free markets.

  24. “Compassionate conservatives” who engage in acts of military aggression against people who never attacked attacked the country in which we live.

  26. @ Jim:

    You make a good point. Liberals are being forced out of both the Democratic and Republican Parties, and are looking for a new home. While the Libertarian Party looks like an opportunity, even they know it’s not the best option. This may sound a bit absurd, but IMO, it might be a good idea for the Libertarians to encourage the formation of a Liberal Party so these homeless liberals will stop squatting on the Libertarian Party.

  27. The GP and LP are SO GONE already, down the path of losing-AGAIN. Howie Hawkins is owned somehow and has been selected by the powers that be for a controlled loss in 2020. Vermin WAS selected but since I outed paulie here at BAN comments, he has withdrawn, taking Vermin with him. Now the replacement has materialized, Lincoln Chaffee with Richard himself as his de facto sponsor.
    We do not need legislation to have fair and representative debates and elections. The infrastructure is in place. Top Ten Plus PLAS. Once support for it is announced by EITHER GP or LP or BOTH ideally, game on. Support will immediately and vastly come from the left and right from people who realize they no longer have to hold their nose and chose between the lesser of two evils or throw away their vote to a losing third party or not vote at all.
    I think it is still not too late for 2020, but the die has been cast. The GP and LP conventions are rigged.
    I have called -again-for a Boycott!/Strike against the GP and LP until they announce that tey will give Top Ten Plus PLAS a fair try.
    Call or email the GP and LP that you are boycotting and striking. NOW!
    And have a nice day.

  28. BTW, I have decided to out William S. Saturn here at BAN comments. I think he exists as an online persona only. Run by the Israelis. He lives as a program in a supercomputer in Tel Aviv. Has anyone ever met him? I tried and failed. Is there a photo of him online anywhere? I do not think so.
    Also I have asked Kris Lesiak to interview alleged Pittsburgh Synagogue shooter Robert Bowers. I hope to champion his defense soon. I will simply put Israel on trial. An American jury will acquit him by reason of self defense of oneself and/or others.
    And I stand by what I have said throughout my life. Debarah Knapp tv anchor in Philadelphia and now San Antonio was not pregnant. Alicia is not her daughter by Henry Bonill, former Texas Congressman. She was reading psychoanalytic letters by me and developed neurotic symptoms. The FBI knows this.
    And I stand by my belief that Nancy McCusker Benson, PhD is not dead. She was kidnapped by the Israeli Mossad and given a fake funeral. So was Dr. Robert McFarland MD, also of Boulder.
    And also my father. I was the last person to leave the viewing room in the funeral parlor. I considered taking his photo then cutting off his face to find out if it was a mask over a wax dummy or mannequin. But I decided to not do that but rather be patient and find out what is going on some other way.
    My father, my uncle, Nancy and McFarland and others are being held somewhere. I do not know where.

  32. Again – how about a quite separate website for the many pre-skoool juveniles, agents, spies, con law morons, X-files types, etc. on this list ???

    — so that adults can deal with the zillion statist machinations reported by RW.

  34. Also such many pre-skoool juveniles, agents, spies, con law morons, X-files types, etc. on this list can get a cheap cable TV show at 4 AM on the Moon for their joint use — wearing their diapers and tin foil hats

    — aka like a NUTCASE ward in a mental hospital or Hollywood horror movie.
    —
    For adults —

    PR and Appv and TOTSOP

  36. Tom Knapp, sorry, I just thought of this moments ago.
    Evidently the fbi/dhs and mossad make use of a strategy of “whittling down” a potential adversary. Like me. Or maybe you. Slowly quietly attacking the target, finances, character, reputation, family, friends, political allies…you get the picture.
    I have been mentioning you. That we had an extensive email correspondence back in the 2000’s. And you were briefly my campaign manager. And I have endorsed Richardson/Knapp second to me for the GP 2020 nomination.
    Am I correct that your brother died days ago? And your father recently?
    You might want to take a closer look at those deaths.
    And maybe give Darcy a heads up?

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