The Libertarian Party Future, Perennially Out Of Reach

Where does political libertarianism go after the midterms?

- Matt Welch

“HE’S GOING TO finish certainly no worse than second, and maybe first,” Libertarian Party (L.P.) 2016 vice presidential nominee Bill Weld enthused about Massachusetts state auditor candidate Dan Fishman in mid-October. And once Fishman grabs all those votes, Weld declared, “[We’re going] to make a list of every campaign for whatever office this year that Libertarians fare no worse than second, and then we’re going to take that and publicize it strongly. I think that’s going to be a crevasse in the two-party monopoly.”

It looked like Weld might be onto something two weeks later when The Boston Globe took the highly unusual step of endorsing the L.P. candidate for a job that’s been held, in all living memory, by Democrats. “Fishman would bring a sorely needed independent streak to the office,” the region’s dominant newspaper proclaimed. “Give this Libertarian a shot.”

Massachusetts voters declined the advice. When the smoke cleared on November 6, the would-be Libertarian auditor for the government of Taxachusetts finished not first, not second, but a distant third place, with a desultory 4.2 percent of the vote. The effort was enough to give the party automatic statewide ballot access for 2020—no small achievement—but not enough to stave off the national wave of nausea that afflicted many libertarians on election day.