“Mises” PAC

The “Mises” Caucus is a caucus of the “Libertarian” Party which it took over in May 2022 [1]. It is neither libertarian nor related to Ludwig von Mises in any way. It is more accurately described as the “Hoppe Caucus”.

Platform changes

Equality of the rights under law should not be denied or abridged by the United States, or any political subdivision thereof, on account of sex, race, color, creed, age, national origin, or sexual preference. We shall oppose any governmental attempts to regulate purely private discrimination. However, we condemn bigotry as irrational and unjust.

Libertarian Party National Platform, 1974

One of their first changes was the removal [2] of this plank from the party platform.

• “Racism is pretty much a non-issue in America. Libertarians suffer more oppression than black people.”

Statements and publications

https://twitter.com/SLibertarianism/status/1531642076848349184

https://lpmisescaucus.com/war/rethinking-the-good-war-laurence-m-vance/

https://twitter.com/GABrown4Liberty/status/1531798713873465344

https://twitter.com/LPNational/status/1532802789184872448

https://twitter.com/LPNational/status/1532802344190197762 https://twitter.com/LPNational/status/1533139402616078337

State parties

Even before the LP national takeover, they took control of state parties.

The US Government backs and arms Al Qaeda in Syria/Yemen and Nazis in Ukraine.

Which “freedom fighters” will they be funding and arming with US taxpayer’s dollars in Taiwan? #NoWarWithChina

May 24, 2022 Libertarian Party NH @LPNH

Foreign Libertarian parties are likely CIA operations.

Libertarian Party of Kentucky @lpky· May 24 https://twitter.com/lpky/status/1528955118607007745

Criticism

Libertarian criticism

Here’s my view of the libertarian to alt-right pipeline

First: It exists. Alt-right actors have quite literally hijacked the US Libertarian Party. A significant contingent of libertarians (or shall we say, former libertarians) have gone Trumpist.

Kyle Varner, MD @KBVMD

• How was the Libertarian Party taken over by a white nationalist group? Former LNC chairman @jbhenchman & CATO’s @AndrewRCraig join @JeremiahDJohns to discuss what’s gone wrong with the Libertarian Party, and what principled libertarians should do now.

• The Mises Caucus isn’t libertarian, but is instead a right-wing, nationalist, xenophobic, reactionary, fascist/fascism-adjacent movement. That they’re taking over the Libertarian Party means that the LP is no longer a libertarian party.

• The LPMC is made up more of people who seek the approval of ideological racists (and take it as a contrarian badge of honor when they get mistaken for ideological racists themselves) than it is of actual ideological racists. Arguably, that’s more pathetic.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mises_Caucus#Criticism

• Reason, “Mises Caucus Takes Control of Libertarian Party”

Suspicion of deliberate sabotage

• https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1564733950559502348.html

The Mises PAC is a GOP “infiltrate and neuter” operation aimed at ensuring there aren’t any libertarian alternatives to whatever authoritarians the Republican Party puts up for various offices. That’s its goal. That’s its purpose.

Thomas L. Knapp, “The Question Isn’t What You Did, It’s Will You Keep Doing It?”

This is corroborated by:

• Advisory Board Member Walter Block having explicitely, publicly and aggressively called for libertarians to vote for the Republican Party instead of the Libertarian Party: “Pardon me while I beat my head against the wall. How could libertarians in purple states be so stupid?” —Walter Block, “Libertarians Spoil the Election”, WSJ, November 8, 2020

• Suggestions to support Republican Party candidates instead of Libertarian Party candidates in state elections, for instance Ron DeSantis in Florida [3][4] (for the new “L”P, anti-covid mandates are bad https://twitter.com/angela4LNCChair/status/1546959845055614976, voluntary masking is bad [5][6], but pro-covid mandates are good [7]. that’s really pushing dumb contrarianism to the extreme.)

• Libertarian National Committee Spends 9K To Keep Conservatives on Ballot

Other criticisms

• Mises Caucus: Could It Sway the Libertarian Party to the Hard Right?

• https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/10/11/libertarian-party-loses-state-parties-donors-after-hard-right-turn

• The Libertarian Party Goes Alt-Right [8]

• https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/3680007-the-libertarian-party-is-collapsing-heres-why/

Advisory Board and “Heroes”

Advisory Board

https://twitter.com/LPNational/status/1532802789184872448

The Libertarian Party is now a home for @RonPaul supporters. We welcome you with open arms. We represent the tradition of Mises and Rothbard and are eternally grateful to @lewrockwell @jeffdeist and everyone at @mises for keeping their legacy alive. We do not throw our heroes under the bus to gain acceptance from the regime. We regard the regime as criminal.

• Walter Block, founder of Libertarians for Trump, considers stupid voting for the Libertarian Party: “Pardon me while I beat my head against the wall. How could libertarians in purple states be so stupid?” [9] [10]

• Tom Woods

• Ron Paul

• Lew Rockwell

• Jeff Deist

• Gene Epstein, another Kremlintarian [11]: "A)Russia’s Ukraine invasion is a war crime the civilized world must condemn.

B)Civilized world excludes the US gov’t: its war crimes are worse; its actions provoked the invasion & its aim is to further the carnage. Folks who believe A often find B an affront to their identity."

• “Mises” Caucus takeover of LP 🧵 [12] PDF

The same, however, cannot be said for their leadership. The amount of grift, ideological rot, nastiness and outright prejudice which I have seen in the higher ranks of the Mises Caucus simply cannot be ignored. I do not believe that these people have the best interests of the liberty movement at heart. To be blunt, I don’t think they care one iota about creating a world set free in our lifetime. To the contrary, their actions have established that they would burn the national and state parties to the ground if only to have dominion over the ashes and the opportunity to monetize every smoking ember. And I suspect they will soon get their wish.

Most distressingly, I question the extent to which the Mises Caucus and its leadership is actually committed to the Libertarian Party and its affiliates. The fact that leaders have consistently suggested an openness to not running candidates against Republican opponents, running farcical candidates (see New Hampshire), and taking steps which intentionally alienate older members and generous donors, leads me to honestly suspect that the end of the Libertarian Party as we know it is not just a danger of their stewardship, but a goal.

https://www.facebook.com/84401138/posts/10100238656248605/?d=n

https://theunpopulist.substack.com/p/how-the-libertarian-party-became

Reactions from other caucuses

• Road to Illiberalism: the Future of the Libertarian Party?

See also

• https://www.thedailybeast.com/libertarian-party-is-fighting-a-civil-war-over-its-right-wing-mises-caucus

• Kremlintarianism