All Big Tents Have Clowns

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The Libertarian Party is a big tent. Someone told me last week he thinks everyone’s a libertarian, they just don’t know it. The Party appealed to me (Kasie) because it’s a place to be socially liberal (marry who you want, wear what you want, etc) and government-conservative (we don’t need laws for every damn thing, ya’ll). But here’s the thing: all big tents got clowns and ours like to show their asses.

Twitter controversy, LPNH is ridiculous. Explain the basics.

Our biggest problem in elections, cycle after cycle, is voters not knowing enough about Libertarian principles to support our candidates. When social media messaging like LPNH’s bullshit hits like it did this week, it’s the rest of us that have to sweep up the shrapnel.

At a time when we need real leadership, what we have is memes and hot takes. Is social media really a place for leadership? For discovering new ideas and exploring potential political fixes?

Every party has fringe members – the extra-woke left, the racist-as-hell right, and our big tent isn’t any different. But shouldn’t we be?

Shouldn’t our principles about granting liberty to others as well as ourselves mean we’re tolerant of the worst of us? Or should those principles mean we don’t accept people who reject others on racist, homophobic, or sexist reasons?

How do we get the right message out when so many wrong messages are louder? More obnoxious? More inflammatory?

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