Free Republic

Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a high-profile meeting with his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orbán, in Budapest. Argentina’s libertarian president, Javier Milei, has called Orbán his “comrade in this fight for the ideas of freedom,” and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni is Orbán’s “Christian sister.” Last year, Donald Trump hosted the Hungarian leader three times at Mar-a-Lago. How did this one country in Europe become a beacon for right-wing ideas—and leaders—around the world? Once upon a time, Hungary was the poster child of “regime change”—the peaceful transition from communism to democracy. The process was indeed peaceful. But was it...

Memorial Day brings together people from all political persuasions in remembrance and celebration of dead American soldiers. Libertarians, however, should reject a holiday that consecrates and immortalizes the names and lives of those who sacrificed themselves in unnecessary wars. The National Memorial Day was originally a national day of prayer for peace. Prior to President Richard Nixon’s declaration, there were many regional memorial days established and spontaneously practiced for a similar purpose. Unfortunately, it has become less about ending wars and more about worshipping conflict.

President Donald Trump today on Capitol Hill expressed frustration over Republican holdouts for his "One Big, Beautiful Bill." One Republican in particular found himself in Trump's cross hairs: Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has criticized the bill. Trump laid into him saying, "I don't think Thomas Massie understands government. I think he's a grandstander, frankly. He'll probably vote [no] - we don't even talk to him much. I think he should be voted out of office. I just don't think he understands government." "If you ask him a couple of questions, he never gives you an answer... he just says:...

The chair of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire told members of the Libertarian National Committee in a recent message that any who vote to censure the state party at the committee’s upcoming meeting will face the “full and unapologetic wrath” of the affiliate. The message from New Hampshire Chair Ben Weir, first reported on and confirmed as authentic by Third Party Watch on Thursday, comes in response to a resolution introduced this week by LNC Treasurer Bill Redpath. In his motion, Redpath calls on the national committee to censure the New Hampshire affiliate over its use of social media...

Former Libertarian National Committee Chair Nicholas Sarwark is calling on the Libertarian Party to use President Donald Trump’s recent tariff proposals as a chance to “reboot” the party and reassert itself as a leading voice for free markets and limited government. In a recent opinion piece for MSNBC, Sarwark, who chaired the Libertarian National Committee from 2014 to 2020, compares Trump’s economic approach to that of former President Richard Nixon, noting that Nixon’s use of wage and price controls in the early 1970s helped spur the creation of the Libertarian Party. Sarwark argues that, like Nixon, Trump’s use of tariffs...

A group of five small businesses sued President Donald Trump on Monday, seeking to block new tariffs he has imposed on foreign imports in recent weeks. The lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade alleges that Trump has illegally usurped Congress’ power to levy tariffs by claiming that trade deficits with other countries constitute an emergency. The Liberty Justice Center, which is representing the owner-operated companies, said Trump’s new tariffs of at least 10% on imports from most countries and higher rates for scores of other nations are devastating small businesses across the country. “His claimed emergency is a...

President Javier Milei on Thursday announced that Argentina will readjust its internal regulations to meet the requirements of President Donald Trump’s tariff proposals. Milei, a career economist and the world’s first and only libertarian president at press time, made the announcement during a brief speech at the “American Patriots Gala,” an event organized by the “We Fund the Blue” charity organization at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. “In this framework, and as a result of the meetings that Foreign Minister [Gerardo] Werthein had with the U.S. Department of State and the Secretary of Commerce, Argentina will move forward to...

I’m a libertarian. I believe that whatever consenting adults choose to do in private is no one else’s businesses. I support LGBTQ rights for consenting adults.Leave the children out of it.Don’t force children to do anything against their will.Children are not capable of giving consent.“No” means no.In Deerfield, Illinois, these two reliable news sources have published the names of three public school administrators who forced a minor girl to remove her clothing, against her will, after she said no, in front of a person with a penis.She was not consenting.She was not an adult.What part of “no” do these three...

Libertarian National Committee Chair Steven Nekhaila issued a statement this week condemning the recent arrest and potential deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, labeling it a politically motivated attack on free speech and an abuse of immigration law. Last Saturday, Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. permanent resident and Columbia University graduate student, was arrested by federal agents. The Department of Homeland Security alleges that Khalil led activities aligned with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, citing his involvement in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University last year. Khalil’s attorney contends that he has no proven ties to Hamas and has committed no crimes. As...

@elonmusk: Those who know, please reply to this post listing all the evil things that NED has done. It’s a long list. https://x.com/elonmusk/statu After that merciless arm-twisting, I have no choice but to recap my National Endowment for Democracy bashes going back to shortly after it was launched in 1983. In a November 29, 1985 piece in the Oakland Tribune, I hailed NED as “one of the newest, most prestigious boondoggles on the Potomac.” But there were plenty of scoffers early on: “NED has been called many things—an International Political Action Committee, the Taxpayer Funding of Foreign Elections Program, and...

Libertarian National Committee Chair Steven Nekhaila has strongly condemned President Donald Trump’s recent proposal for the United States to take control of the Gaza Strip and forcibly relocate its Palestinian residents. In a statement, Nekhaila denounced the plan as a violation of international law and an affront to the principles of liberty and non-interventionism. On Tuesday, during a White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump proposed that the U.S. should “take over” Gaza, rebuild it, and relocate the roughly two million Palestinians living there to other countries such as Egypt and Jordan. His remarks immediately drew...

Ross Ulbricht has been pardoned by President Donald Trump

Trump won the 2024 election and if he follows through on his promises, the Chair’s risk-taking will have paid off and fusionism will be the new underlying philosophy of the Libertarian Party. I don’t say this as a threat but just an objective view of things. I believe under fusionism the LP will turn more into a lobbying group instead of a political party. Will this new philosophy keep old Libertarians like me around? Probably not those of us brought into Libertarianism through Ralph Nader, Ross Perot, and to some degree Pat Buchanan. We are not the kinds of people...

In another stunning election development, the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire has announced its endorsement of Donald Trump. Could this swing the state New Hampshire is home to the Free State Project and a significant number of libertarian-leaning voters. Could this swing the state?

With just days to go before the general election, the Colorado secretary of state is facing a lawsuit over the leak of sensitive election system passwords that were inadvertently left exposed for months on her office’s website. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Denver District Court by the Libertarian Party of Colorado and James Wiley, the Libertarian candidate for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District seat, names Jena Griswold, the Democratic secretary of state, and Chris Beall, the deputy secretary of state, as defendants. Hannah Goodman, the Libertarian Party state chair, is also named as a plaintiff. The suit had not yet appeared...

More polling suggests the presidential race in Pennsylvania will be every bit as close as it was in 2016, when Donald Trump won, and in 2020, when he lost. But a key piece of data points to a flaw in the model and potential attrition that could hamper Kamala Harris’ hopes to pick up 19 electoral votes and score a promotion when votes are counted next week. The Suffolk University-USA Today survey of 500 likely voters shows the race couldn’t be tighter. Harris and Trump pick up exactly 243 voters each; with rounding, they’re tied at 49%. Nine voters refused...

On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that one of the world’s richest men had recently experienced a major epiphany. After bankrolling a political organization that supported immigration reform, espousing his support for social justice, and donating hundreds of millions of dollars to support local election workers during the 2020 election, “Mark Zuckerberg is done with politics.” The Facebook founder and part-time Hawaiian feudal lord, according to the piece, “believed that both parties loathed technology and that trying to continue engaging with political causes would only draw further scrutiny to their company,” and felt burned by the criticism he has...

Will McVay, a former Delaware Libertarian Party activist who has left the Libertarian Party, earlier this year noticed that the Conservative Party of Delaware had become ballot-qualified, almost accidentally. The Delaware definition of a qualified party is one with registration of at least one-tenth of 1% of the total state registration. Without any organized effort, the number of people who spontaneously filled out a Delaware registration chard showing themselves as “Conservative” rose high enough last year to qualify that party. McVay organized it, and this year, under his leadership, the party is running Vermin Supreme for President, Jonathan Realz for...

Libertarian Eric Joss, who was running in Colorado’s eighth congressional district, ended his campaign on Tuesday to endorse Republican challenger Gabe Evans after Evans signed the Libertarian Party of Colorado’s Liberty Pledge. The Libertarian Party of Colorado announced Joss’ exit from the race in a live video on X that afternoon. According to the party, the Joss and Evans campaigns reached a mutual agreement in which Evans signed a version of the party’s Liberty Pledge which was negotiated between the two camps. In exchange, Joss threw his support behind Evans. The party further added that the decision consolidated “opposition votes”...

The Libertarian Party of New Mexico recently adopted the Liberal Party USA presidential ticket of former Nebraska legislator Dr. Laura Ebke and former Clarksville, Tennessee, City Councilmember Trisha Butler. The party has submitted paperwork to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office to place the ticket on its state ballot line. Butler, who is also the Liberal Party USA’s interim chair, confirmed to Independent Political Report on Tuesday that the Libertarian Party of New Mexico filed the necessary paperwork to place the duo on its state ballot line. However, as of this article, the paperwork has not yet been confirmed...