When it comes to the 2022 elections, it is hard to get more impactful as a Big-L Libertarian than Marc Victor.
He didn’t do what was momentarily good for the party, but he did a solid for his country and for the libertarian movement.
In a tight Arizona Senate race between Mark Kelly (D) and Blake Masters (R), Mark Victor (L) withdrew from the race on November 1, 2022.
Victor polled recently at 15% (press release here) (cross tabs here).
I write this before Tuesday’s midterm results because an important part of the value of what Marc Victor did this past week is independent of the outcome of the November 8, 2022 midterm election.
Unserious Libertarians
In 2008, I swore off the Libertarian Party as eternally unserious when I watched a man leap in front of the party’s presidential nominee being filmed by CSPAN and deliver a long monologue dressed as V from the film V for Vendetta at a state convention.
With Barack Obama and John McCain running, the Libertarian Party were the only real electoral heirs that year to the most impactful libertarian presidential campaign ever run — Ron Paul 2008.
They had that kind of political will behind their party that election and that was the kind of crap they were pulling at this televised state convention?
And don’t get me wrong, it was not that some amateur performance artist acted out of line. One-off happenings like that can happen anywhere and derail things for a few moments. It was that none of the other respectable people in the room tackled him or even rose to intervene. When you let some moron dictate what takes place at such a key moment, everyone sitting on their hands and watching is an enabler and arguably themselves acting like a moron.
Though I was a visitor in that place, I almost tackled the guy. I had spent my past year campaigning for Ron Paul and I had no appetite for such foolishness. Recognizing that I was a visitor, having my first experience at a Libertarian Party convention, I didn’t intervene because I presumed it was planned and the candidate was in on it.
Soon enough it became clear that it wasn’t and all those respectable people I had met over the course of that day immediately lost my respect. There was not a leader among them. A leader says “No!” when bad takes place in his midst.
“How could a group of people be so unserious about the seriousness of the time we are in?” I wondered. They did not actually want to live and let live. They, instead, wanted no responsibility. I was surrounded by man-children, which is as far as one could get from libertarian values. Seven years after 9/11, the military state and police state were so massively upon us, the trillion dollar Wall Street bailout votes were taking place in DC, the seeds for grievous tyranny were being sown all around us.
Up at the podium was Bob Barr, the one-time advocate of the Patriot Act. He was saying that we had gone a bad direction as a country. He admitted that he had played a role in it and was asking the room to help him stop the tyranny. Dire days. The seeds of corona communism.
And here we were playing dress up.
I was beginning to understand why so few took the Libertarian Party seriously. They didn’t want to do the things required to be taken seriously. That has been my understanding of many Libertarian Party candidates I have encountered since 2008. That convention simply typified it. I am not the only one to observe Libertarian Party members being unserious to the point of futility.
Marc Victor Setting A Different Tone
With this single move of withdrawing from the race, Victor has won good will for the Libertarian Party because he proved something. He proved the election wasn’t all about him. He cared about winning. He cared about fighting the fight and winning electoral victories. Supporting a libertarian running as a Republican was one way to do that, perhaps the best way.
And that thing he did represented something special, for Marc Victor single-handedly swayed his outstanding votes to Masters. He may have cast a 5, 10, even 15% vote for Masters.
Again this goes beyond electoral outcome. He also raised a standard that more is expected from libertarians.
Blake Masters — Ron Paul Republican
Blake Masters is the Republican candidate, but this isn’t the usual Republican v. Democrat race. This is a race that demonstrates that the two parties are not the same. Individual candidates can matter.
Blake Masters is a Ron Paul Republican. He is the second Ron Paul Republican to vie seriously for a US Senate seat.
The Ron Paul Revolution, as I have previously written, is the feeder movement of the Tea Party. Ron Paul and his supporters set the Tea Party in motion in December 2007 with the first Tea Party events of the contemporary Tea Party era. Ron Paul 2008 is the feeder for the Trump 2016 campaign. Is Trump a Ron Paul Republican? No, but he largely became the leader of that movement in 2015, uniting it with others as he waged a grassroots takeover of the Republican Party that is still being fought. And far more important than the Trump 2016 campaign is the movement Trump shaped — the MAGA movement, which has represented a cultural and spiritual awakening that extends far beyond Donald Trump. “I came to Trump in 2020,” a longtime California liberal told me at one of my activism meetings, “I came to Jesus in 2021.”
The Ron Paul Revolution combined with years of mismanagement of the United States and aided by the person of Donald Trump has birthed the MAGA movement, a passionate big tent movement that terrifies the powers that be of both parties and the global power brokers.
That Masters came out of the Ron Paul Revolution is additionally important: It represents a certain electoral and political coming of age of those ideas and the ideas that were so revolutionary in the late 1700s and remain so revolutionary today. Masters is the latest vanguard, with more likely to follow.
Not only that, but Masters is a Mises Institute trained. He spent years studying monetary theory, the fundamentals of economics, and hearing it expressed by some of the most cogent minds that have ever lived and some of their intellectual heirs.
Does that make Masters perfect? No.
But it is a start. In fact, I would like to see every candidate start their political involvement as a Ron Paul Republican and be Mises Institute trained. I’m tired of candidates who don’t understand what “is” means in the Constitution or what inflation is. There is a certain intellectual dishonesty in the air that our culture has allowed.
It is a little harder to be that intellectually dishonest person when you at least were exposed to the truth. Many others have seen the truth and turned from it, but at least knowing the truth is a good prerequisite for acting in accordance with the truth.
The Roots Of Masters 2022 Are In These Pages You Read
Criticism of Masters from opponents of liberty show an impressive track record of thinking critically about the world
His China-hawk stance deserves reading next to his 2006 LewRockwell.com essay about the evils of war. A man who started politically as a Ron Paul Republican (and largely remains so), Mises Institute trained, and who penned an essay about the evil of war for LewRockwell.com may be elected a US Senator on November 8.
How about that?
And while you think over the massive impact of that, let me ask if you’ve visited these three pages recently — the LewRockwell.com giving page, the Mises Institute giving page, and the Ron Paul Institute giving page. The Senators of a decade hence may be training up alongside of us in these pages as we speak.
A Republican Win November 8, 2022 May Be One Of Several Blows To Corona Communism
How popular it is to thoughtlessly claim that the two parties are identical. I am endlessly critical of both parties. I also recognize that value can be had among the reformers who have entered the parties, among them Rand Paul.
A Republican win of the Senate will do something to warm the hearts of readers who despise Covid policy and the ensuing corona communism as much as me. Please, let me allow the enemies of liberty at Daily Kos, to illustrate the importance of that.
“If you need any more reason to GOTV your butt off for the next four days, here you go: Chairman Rand Paul.
“The one-time ophthalmologist is the senior Republican member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) after the retirement of Richard Burr. That means, if the Senate flips to Republicans, he chairs the committee that oversees the nation’s health and education agencies. That means libertarian Rand Paul conducting ‘investigations’ and driving the legislative agenda on health care and education policy.”
A Republican win looks likely to mean that for two years Rand Paul will have carte blanche to peel back the onion on all that has happened since the Ides of March 2020. Will that come to pass? Time will tell, but circumstances are starting to aligning properly to point to such a future.
The Impact Of Marc Victor In November 2020
Victor is a lawyer who has long used his professional position to stand for liberty. Alongside Ernie Hancock, he is part of the group that gave us the r3VOLution sign that become known around the world as a symbol of freedom being reborn in the United States in that Ron Paul 2008 campaign. To testify to the grassroots nature of the campaign, regardless of whatever the official logo was, theirs was the logo of Ron Paul 2008. Victor was lawyer to 4409, which has been referred to as “the greatest ragamuffin activist ever.” He gave 4409 legal backing that allowed his activism to be all the more effective. Victor sued Scottsdale police and got 4409 out of jail when cops kidnapped him. The list of Marc Victor wins for liberty is very long, yet this may be his most important single stand to date — because of this new standard he raised.
I suspect that the Marc Victor announcement of this past week will be looked back on as a turning point in the history of the Libertarian Party, with impact long into the future.
We have entered a new era of libertarianism. It is a libertarianism that means to win. Two of the three candidates on the Arizona ballot were libertarians and one bowed out for the other to be able to have an advantage. He didn’t do the thing that was good for his party, but he benefitted libertarian ideas and benefited the people of his state, this entire land, and who knows, perhaps the impact of that decision will resonate far beyond these shores.
Marc Victor, I have no idea what will happen Tuesday. I have no idea what will happen during his Senate career if Blake Masters is elected. I know this though — You showed a resolve that I have seldom seen from a Libertarian. You showed a resolve that winning and responsibility matter. You didn’t just show it in words. You showed it in action.
That is the kind of action that ripples far into the future. That is the kind of action that men take in difficult and confusing times and that is one day looked back on and called “leadership.”
You are the most impactful Libertarian in this country, and you may hold that title for some time into the future. I commend you, Sir.
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I was there when Ron Paul and his supporters launched the first Tea Party events of the contemporary Tea Party era. I was there when Fox cancelled him and told him he couldn’t debate in New Hampshire. I was there when Sean Hannity was chased through the streets. Ron Paul cured my apathy. He adjusted my thinking. He encourged me to keep the fight. Today I continue to be involved on every front — among those, I am helping good candidates get elected. Reach out if that describes you. Join the RealStevo.com email newsletter for words of encouragement and ways to be more involved delivered every day to your inbox. We’ve got a free gift for anyone still using Duck Duck Go — it’s our list of the most censored search engines (Duck Duck Go is the worst), and we include some good alternatives.
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Dear Allan,
Having moved from Commiefornia to Arizona almost two years ago we got heavily involved in local politics! We joined Arizona Tea Party & currently Vice Chairman of AZ(R)A group.
I’m a Ron Paul follower & voted for Ross Perot back in day and took heat from fellow conservatives for throwing my vote away & letting Slick Willy win. The country to this day isn’t ready for Libertarian party & both party hierarchies know it!
Now on issue of Blake Masters! We Did vote for him for tomorrow’s run against Mike Kelly.
But let’s not fool ourselves that he’s the man he claims to be! Some months ago he came to speak at our Payson Tea Party. At the time Congress was ready to approve $40B for the useless Ukraine proxy war to dismantle Russia. He said to the group it’s money we’ll spent. I approached him afterwards and asked him if he was aware what Jim Baker (Secretary of State under Reagan) in 1990 promised Gorbachev? That we will Not move one inch towards Russia if they walk away from East Germany !
Yet fast forward to today & we’ve surrounded Russia w/ 17 NATO countries all pointing missiles at Moscow! He was clueless. Blake Masters is a NeoCon ( therefore not a true Ron Paul follower) & as we keep provoking Putin to a nuclear confrontation (Nordstream 1&2 sabotage, Crimea Bridge sabotage & attacking Russian fleet w/ US drones while grain shipments out of Black Sea are negotiated). Let’s 🤔 about that as we hurl ourselves to what Ron Paul countless times said is a bad decision! in this proxy war as missiles start flying to appease NeoCons & promote the USA 🇺🇸 Industrial Military Complex that Eisenhower warned us decades ago.
So as we continue supporting UkroNazis Blake Masters was & Will be perfectly good spending more tax payer money instead of spending $$ on our devastated small towns from lockdowns & Bidenomics in Payson and rest small towns in Arizona & 🇺🇸 heartland.
Blake was also a open borders guy along with Mark Kelly but both changed their tune during election year while illegals bring deadly 🇨🇳 fentanyl and devastating AZ and rest of 🇺🇸 .
Masters received $15 Mil from Peter Thiel who’s pet project is Palantir a Deep State invasive cyber security technology company on same level as Google, and is a WEF Young Global Leader acolyte 🤮(2009). Think about that as we head to Digital ID’s & WEF’s OWO! What is Peter expecting from Blake for $15M on AZ (R)primary! We had two very good conservatives running, but the large amount of $$ money Blake received from PT along with a Trump endorsement moved him ahead. Sadly T hasn’t vetted candidates very well. Another story for another day!
So in conclusion if a Republican wave occurs tomorrow & Blake Masters gets lifted in this wave don’t expect much to change as RINOs & NeoCons have done Nothing the last two years to fight the O’Biden Commie Cabal on any issue whether it’s illegal Covid mandates, deadly jabs, Afghanistan fiasco, 3M+ illegal migration, trillions in government spending (including New Green Deal nonsense) bringing massive inflation, red 🚩gun laws and protecting Marriage act.
Hope I’m dead wrong! Vote for True Christian Constitutional Conservatives which the Republican hierarchy despises (McConnell, McCarthy, Romney, Graham, Cornyn etc)
My long 2c:)
Masters has explicitly disclaimed being a libertarian. He *used* to be a libertarian, but says, he no longer is after having decided that libertarianism works (only) in theory, i.e., not in practice. What people *used* to think, or read, or describe themselves as, is not a reason to currently support them politically. I think Marc was taken in by a politician who knew what he wanted to hear and made a mistake.
Me? I'm a long time libertarian, but have never been a *L*ibertarian.