The Libertarian Party wants to be clear: they reject white supremacy, bigotry, and racism.
Racists, White Nationalists Asked to Leave the Party
In a press release on August 15, 2017, in the wake of the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, the LP’s executive director Wes Benedict reiterated the party’s stance on bigotry:
“We condemn bigotry as irrational and repugnant. Government should neither deny or abridge an individual human right based on sex, wealth, ethnicity, creed, age, national origin, personal habits, political preference, or sexual orientation.”
The press release went further, and asked any members who identified as white nationalists to leave the party:
“There is no room for racists and bigots in the Libertarian Party. If there are white nationalists who — inappropriately — are members of the Libertarian Party, I ask them to submit their resignations today. We don’t want them to associate with the Libertarian Party, and we don’t want their money. I’m not expecting many resignations, because our membership already knows this well.”
Party Leaders Criticize Prominent Libertarian for “Blood and Soil, God and Nation” Blog
The press release might not have been a response just to the event in Charlottesville.
A controversy has been raging over a blog post, written by Jeff Diest — a prominent Libertarian thinker, Mises Institute president, and former chief of staff to Dr. Ron Paul.
There is no room for racists and bigots in the Libertarian Party.
The post was titled, “A New Libertarian.” It calls for rekindling the spirit of “Blood and Soil, God and Nation,” and suggests these should be virtues Libertarians should fight and die for.
Libertarian Party Vice Chair Arvin Vohra reacted on Facebook, calling the phrases central to Nazi, and nationalist ideas, and “to the belief that the US should be turned back into some pure, white, Protestant, Christian, vaguely theocratic, racially segregated, cultural backwater.”
“On a pragmatic note,” Vohra’s post reads, “this means that at the current time, Mises Institute has been turned into a sales funnel for the white nationalist branch of the Alt-right”
“Mises will continue to put out useful information,” he said, “But that will be just the bait to lead unsuspecting people down this path of collectivist, racist lunacy.”
To some, the Mises Institute, a Libertarian think tank, is a bedrock of Libertarian ideas. However, the institute has been harshly criticized as racist in highly regarded publications, like the Washington Post and Business Insider.
Diest’s ‘blood and soil’ phrasing was also criticized by fellow Libertarian thinker Steve Horowitz.
Diest defended himself against Horowitz in a Facebook post of his own:
Nicholas Sarwark, LNC party chair, said he has been verbally attacked, and asked to step down as chair, by some, for asking people to condemn racists and nationalists.
Comments to the chair on Facebook rejected the phrases as reflections of Nazism and white nationalism:
In response, Sarwark offered commentators a “simple, three step plan” for removing him — join the party, register for the national convention, and elect someone else.