The Libertarian Intelligentsia Is Freaking Out Over Newt

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The Libertarian Intelligentsia Is Freaking Out Over Newt

Pema Levy

Libertarians in Washington are not happy about how the Republican primary is shaping up...On Monday, Christopher Barron, a Republican strategist with libertarian leanings and head of GOProud, which represents gay conservatives, penned an op-ed mourning Herman Cain’s exit from the race. In his stead, Barron endorsed Gary Johnson, the libertarian former governor of New Mexico.

Now, many of Cain’s supporters had tea party inclinations, and the latest polling suggests many of them are swinging Newt’s way. Barron thinks that’s a terrible mistake.

“Newt is the establishment. He’s antithetical to what the Tea Party is talking about,” explains Barron. “This is about building on the Tea Party’s success. It would take a lot of selective amnesia” to think Newt could represent the Tea Party’s agenda.

Since the advent of the Tea Party in 2009, libertarians finally began to feel more at home with the right. The Republican Party, at least its rhetoric, was taking on a libertarian tone. They talked about lower taxes, shrinking the size of government, and constitutional originalism, which in theory would eliminate a lot of government regulations libertarians feel interfere with the free market. In Washington, the libertarian Cato Institute embraced the new movement, with events like a September 2010 book forum with Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe of FreedomWorks on their book, Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto. But Republicans’ enthusiasm for libertarian ideals has not translated into the primary field, and libertarians are putting out a host of articles in conservative publications this week now that Newt Gingrich could end up with the nomination.

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