The Denver Delegates Go All In

It was mathematically obvious from the second ballot onward that the only way to stop Barr would be for Ruwart to endorse Root.  Chuck Moulton and I were sitting together speculating when it would happen, but it never did.  Barr would have never accepted a V.P. spot, so a Ruwart endorsement would have guaranteed either a Root/Ruwart ticket or a Root/Kubby ticket (depending on whether Mary wanted the veep slot).  Those would have been my preferred tickets, but Ruwart's insistence Sunday on a doomed last stand did more in three hours to make the LP potentially "Republican lite" than the Reform Caucus did in three years.  I hope Ruwart wasn't more interested in remaining the standard-bearer of anarcholibertarian purity than she was in the LP remaining the standard-bearer of political libertarianism.  Since our nominating process is like a microcosm of America's electoral system, this is an ironic little lesson about how keeping one's hands spotless is not always the choice that best serves the cause of liberty.

 

At least the Reform Caucus has given us a comprehensive libertarian Platform with which to bird-dog the positions that the Barr/Root ticket now takes.  The Reform and Radical Caucuses should work together for the rest of this campaign to make sure the Denver ticket runs on the Denver platform, rather than on any kind of "conservative" platform that might be dreamed up by a Russ Verney or Richard Viguerie. The delegates in Denver decided to play for very high stakes this year, and those of us who care about libertarian principles need to help mitigate the risks that they decided to take.