Justin Amash Announces His Candidacy for the Libertarian Presidential Nomination

Posted on by April 28, 2020

On April 28, Congressman Justin Amash announced he will seek the Libertarian presidential nomination. See this story. Thanks to Trent Pool for the news.

Comments

Justin Amash Announces His Candidacy for the Libertarian Presidential Nomination — 58 Comments

  1. How many $$$ billions/trillions will JA get from RED Donkey commies — to divide and conquer Trump ???

  4. Debido a la reciente crisis de salud, no he podido salir para recargar mis medicamentos.

  5. I’ve said for a long time that Amash would be the LP’s strongest candidate. The strongest ticket they could nominate, I think, would be Amash/Sharpe.

  9. @GS I don’t think Amash will be another turncoat who goes back to the GOP after this like Barr, Weld or Ron Paul. He seems more principled than them

  10. I agree with Tim. Amash would be a name that has some recognition outside of narrow LP circles and can draw attention to the party. He has all the strengths of Johnson, and none of the weaknesses in the form of verbal gaffes. However, to be inclusive toward long time LP activists who bristle at the notion of Ex-Republicans running for President, Larry Sharpe would provide them a voice and representation. In other words, exactly the opposite of Weld, who has proven to be unprincipled.

    In a highly polarized environment that we have in today’s politics, I’m not sure how well Amash can do and whether he would improve upon Johnson’s 2016 showing. However, the contrast the youthful Amash has against two old men, coupled with Sharpe’s accomplishments outside the political arena (has Pence accomplished anything other than as a politician), would be a good contrast to the two old parties.

    In 2016, running Weld proved to be a mistake. Sharpe would avoid a repetition of that mistake.

  11. Damn the stupidity of Biden-stanners is thick on Twitter tonight. All of them, and the Never Trumper GOPers, claiming Amash will take more votes from Biden than Trump, without one lick of proof.

    AND, if that IS true, that a Libertarian takes more votes from Biden than Trump, it shows how sad Biden really is.

  13. What a shame. This just proves the LP is just a minor league affiliate of the GOP.

  14. Ron Paul is not a turn coat, at least not on what is important. Sure, he went back to the Republican Party, but when he got reelected to Congress as a Republican, he maintained strong libertarian principles with his voting record, and bills he sponsored, plus, he ran two campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination where he espoused a strong libertarian message (more libertarian than the LP’s last 3 presidential tickets), and he inspired a lot of people to get active in the liberty movement.

    I value principles over party label.

    My beef with Bill Weld is not so much because he went back to the Republican Party, but rather because he’s an unprincipled lying two-faced anti-liberty scumbag.

  15. Will the LP Platform DEMAND MAJOR ELECTION reforms —

    (1) UNIFORM DEFINITION OF VOTER IN ALL OF USA.  USA Citizen, 18 plus years old.

    (2) EQUAL ballot access for INDIVIDUAL candidates.

    (3) PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION FOR ALL LEGISLATIVE BODY ELECTIONS.

    TOTAL VOTES / TOTAL MEMBERS = RATIO to elect each Member.
    Pre-election candidate rank order lists of other candidates. Surplus votes down. Loser votes up.
    Both Majority Rule [DEMOCRACY] and Minority Representation.

    (4) NONPARTISAN ELECTIONS FOR ALL ELECTED EXECUTIVE AND ALL JUDICIAL OFFICERS.
    Approval Voting – Vote for 1 or more. Highest win.

    (5) T-O-T-A-L SEPARATION OF POWERS.
    Each officer shall have only legislative, executive or judicial powers.

    OR

    same-olde complain more about various social-economic statist results of the system ROT.

  19. You can either defend Ron Paul or complain about the LP being a vehicle for “failed republicans” but you can’t logically do both and be intellectually consistant.

  20. I am NOT necessarily opposed to the Libertsrian Party running former Republicans, IF they have a strong libertarian track record. My problem is when they do not have a libertarian track record, or when they have an over-inflated libertarian track record.

    Also, if all the LP does is run former Republicans for high level offices, the party gives itself the image of being the home for washed up Republicans, and I do not think that is a very good image to have. The LP ought to focus more on creating its own stars rather than relying so much on stars from other parties.

    Amash has a pretty good track record, so I am not completely against him, but he is jumping in late, which I am not wild about, and if he wins, it would be the 4th presidential election in a row where the LP had somebody on its ticket who is heavily identified with the Republican Party. I will say Amash is better than any of the former Republicans on the last three LP presidential tickets, but even so, four presidential elections in a row with a candidate who is heavily identified just furthet entrenches the image of the LP as the home for washed up Republicans, or GOP Jr. or GOP Lite.

  21. Amash as the Libertarian Candidate plus Jesse Ventura as the Green Party candidate would for the first time give the 3rd and 4th parties a candidate most people know.

  22. LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL!
    Bob G. Doesn’t matter. The problem is Duverger’s Law.
    Name recognition is not a very significant factor.
    Perot had name recog. AND billions. He made a splash, but it would task a tidal wave to overcome Duverger’s Law.
    Teddy Roosevelt also.
    What is needed is a REMEDY to Duverger’s Law.
    That is Top Ten/Six. Level the Playing Field. All parties and votes would count.
    Or PLAS/CounterPLAS. PLAS would win for the Greens and Libertarians without Top Ten/Six.
    CounterPLAS would win for the Constitutions and Libertarians.
    But nobody listens to me.
    Have another go with your dime a dozen Republican retread.
    Jo Jorgensen, I told you so.
    Darcy, I am disappointed in you.

  23. Mark my words. Unless something radical happens, 2020 will turn out more or less just like 2016, 2012, 2008 etc.
    A dem or rep will win near 50/50.. Third parties, Independents, maybe a splash. Probably not.

  24. No Cody.
    TR was a splash. 1912. Lafollette a smaller splash 1924. Wallace an even smaller splash. 1948.
    Anderson 1980 small splash.
    Maybe meth AND steroids! And mega vitamins and gnc muscle builder complex.

  25. The LP should become the RRP- Reject Republican Party.

    Amash has this nomination sewn up. The party will continue to abandoned its principles. Only bright spot is he’s better than Chafee and Weld.

    Has Amash officially joined the party? Is that even a requirement to be nominated?

  26. I will believe Jesse Ventura is going to run when it happens.

    Also, while there are a lot of things I like about Jesse Ventura, he seems to lack ideological consistency. He was teasing running with the Libertarian Party several years ago, and now he’s a Green?!?!? Make up your mind, Jesse.

  29. Amash–2 million tops. Ventura (unless his first name is Ace)—-half a million.

  31. Just in terms of name recognition, Jesse Ventura is a bigger name than Justin Amash, but of course other factors could be at play.

  35. Unless you count Ron Paul having maintained his Life Membership in the Libertarian Party while being an elected Republican Congressman, but yeah, officially, Justin Amash is the first to be a Libertarian Party member and not a member of another party.

    Think of how much bigger this would have been if Justin Amash had switched to Libertarian Party last July instead of switching to independent, as opposed to him making the switch now. Amash could have been campaigning for the LP presidential nomination as a sitting US House member since then.

  36. Ron Paul was never a Libertarian in Congress and caucused with the Republicans. I don’t understand the reverence some people have for a person that turned their back on the party to go back to the racism and bigotry of the GOP, setting the liberty movement back decades. He refused to endorse any Libertarian running for president, even after retiring.

    Also, one thing that would really hurt Ventura are all of the conspiracy theories he ascribes too, which is actually one thing he and Ron Paul seem to share.

  38. Brandon, Ron Paul has done more for the Libertarian MO ement than anybody. There are more self identified libertarians today, both big “L” and small “l,” because of Ron Paul, than there are due to the efforts of anyone else.

  40. Oh geez, tbe old newsletter scandal from over 25 years ago. It came out awhile ago that Ron Paul did not write the offensive sounding passages. They were written by a guy named James B. Powell. This was exposed in a report from Ben Swann awhile. There were 9 issues of Ron Paul newsletters that contained the remarks in question. Also, note that no legislation was called for, and if you look at Ron Paul’s actual record, it is excellent, quite possibly the best ever fir a Congressman.

    The self proclaimed libertarians who attack Ron Paul are either out of touch with reality, or they have an agenda which is not really inline with advancing tbe cause of liberty.

  41. The fact that Jesse Ventura recognizes conspiracies in government is one of the reasons why lots of people like him.

  42. Please, Andy. They went out under Paul’s name. Second, Paul’s own story about them has changed more than once. Third, the “problematic” issues include support for the militia movement and other things.

    And, I’m not a Libertarian. So, on that, I’ll definitely disagree with the value of Paul’s Congressional record, starting with reproductive choice rights.

  43. These are the same people who loved Bob Barr and Bill Weld. What party are they in now?

  44. You know, it is really funny how the same people who bent over backwards to make excuses for the likes of Bob Barr, Gary Johnson, Bill Weld, and Lincoln Chafee, like to attack Ron Paul, who has a FAR better record from a libertarian perspective than any of the aforementioned.

  45. “Please, Andy. They went out under Paul’s name. Second, Paul’s own story about them has changed more than once.”

    Yes, the newsletters were under his name, but there was actually a byline in at least one of the 9 issues that listed the author of the statements in question as James B. Powell.

    Reality Check (with Ben Swann): Mystery Writer of the Ron Paul “racist” Newsletters

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-FTlZHpBWw

    There were something like 150-200 plus issues of the Ron Paul newsletters, which were put out over a number of years, and out of those issues, the offensive passages in question appeared in 9 issues. The Ron Paul newsletters hired several freelance writers over the years, one of which was this James B. Powell guy. They allowed the freelance writers to say pretty much whatever they wanted (as in not much oversight). Ron Paul was often busy doing other things, such as that he went back to his medical practice during this time period, so it was not like he was checking every little thing that happened with the newsletter. Yeah, in retrospect, they should have told the guy to clean up and tone down his language, but even so, no actual harm was done, and no bad legislation was put forth or called for. Also, this was a LONG time ago, close to 30 years now. It should be pretty obvious that the people who keep waving around the Ron Paul newsletters (people who probably never read anything from them other than the offending passages in the 9 issues in question), are doing so because they are grasping at straws to try to discredit Ron Paul for all of the great work he has done over the years. They have trouble looking for ways to smear him, because he’s such a clean guy, so they keep waving around these old newsletters.

    “Third, the ‘problematic’ issues include support for the militia movement and other this.”

    What is wrong with the militia movement? This country was FOUNDED in large part by militias, or have you not studied the American Revolution? Militias are a deterrent to a totalitarian takeover.

  46. “I like Ron Paul. And know plenty of GJ and Chafee fans that do too.”

    I don’t think there are that many Lincoln Chafee fans out there, at least not in the Libertarian Party or movement, but probably not much in general either.

  47. “Well they’re backing Amash now…
    In fact, aside from the pragmatic Libertarian camp -Amash has been picking up support among some in the Paleoconservative community as well.”

    I heard a bunch of people who were backing Chafee switched to backing Jim Gray. It was apparently Chafee’s campaign staff who recruited Jim Gray to run.

    I’m not sure about Justin Amash. I really did not like the fact that he parroted Democrat talking points during the Trump impeachment sham. This is not to say that I don’t think that there were legitimate reasons to impeach Trump, because there were, but the reasons the Democrats were trying to impeach him was not legitimate (this has also been pointed out by Jacob Hornberger and Jo Jorgensen, much to their credit, in my opinion). This was a Deep State internal power battle. Is Amash being used as a tool of the Deep State in some way? I don’t know.

    Another thing is Amash has apparently come out in favor of some kind of Universal Basic Income. UBI is New World Order agenda. Now in all fairness to Amash, maybe he is just supporting it while the Coronavirus scare is happening, but what if the Coronavirus scare, or something like it, were to go on for years? What if the Coronavirus scare was intentionally being over-hyped by the state in order to have a excuse for a massive bailout, and to increase the police state, and that implementing the Universal Basic Income was part of the plan? I don’t know, but this is enough to have me asking questions.

    This is from Dan “Taxation Is Theft” Behrman, who is also running for the LP’s presidential nomination.

    Justin Amash proposes UBI

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_YbJFll3UI

    Now in all fairness to Justin Amash, maybe he has reasonable explanations for these things. Like I said above, he’s got a good record overall, so I’m not completely against the guy, but the things I mentioned above are cause for concern.

    This is an example of why it is better for a candidate to jump into a race earlier, especially when they are brand new to a political party. If Justin Amash had been attending LP State Conventions for the last several months, and participating in debates, and fielding questions from convention attendees, we’d have had a better opportunity to hash out any questions people have about him.

  49. As David Bergland might have said: “Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good.” The fact that a potential candidate might have been, or even continues to be, or might revert to being a member or registered voter of any other party should not preclude that candidate from getting the Libertarian nomination, as long as that candidate represents the potential to advance the cause of liberty to a greater extent that any other potential candidate might.

    I have been involved with the Libertarian Party nearly since it’s inception. I cast a write-in vote for John Hospers in 1972 (which my town didn’t record because they thought that vote to be irrelevant). But I have always reminded myself and others that the Libertarian Party is a MEANS to an end, NOT an end in itself. The end is greater freedom for all. The Libertarian Party is NOT the sole Church thru which salvation is obtained.

  50. Cody, do you see an image problem with the Libertarian Party running people on its presidential ticket for the 4th election in a row, as in it makes the Libertarian Party look like the home for washed up Republicans, or GOP Jr.?

    Even if Amash is better than the former Republicans who were on the last three tickets, I still see an image problem.

    Why can’t the Libertarian Party create its own stars instead of this over-reliance on stars from another party?

  51. I meant 4th election in a row with candidates on its presidential ticket who are closely identified with the Republican Party.

  52. @Cody, I am unaware of any “constitutionalist” parties besides the “Constitution Party”. The closest I can come up with is NY’s Conservative party

  53. There’s the Life abd Liberty Party, but they are running JR Meyers for President.

  55. @ Andy:

    The Libertarian Party is a MEANS to an end, NOT an end in itself. It doesn’t matter if the party gets its candidates from within or outside the party. What matters is that the party runs the best available candidate from anywhere who can best advance the cause of liberty in that election. The party is NOT a holy church.

  56. What about public perception that the Libertarian Party is GOP Jr., or Republican Lite? Does this hurt the Libertarian brand?

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