AFFIRMATIVE:
Republicans Get Elected; Libertarian Party Members Don't
Rep. Thomas Massie
It's my observation that libertarians argue about a lot of things, but at the end of the day we all want to reduce the size and scope of the federal government. So is it wise or useful for libertarians who want to shrink government to run for office as Libertarians? My answer is the same as my vote on the Republican version of Obamacare this term: Hell no!
First, there's the existence proof. Even on the worst days, there are two libertarians [Massie and Rep. Justin Amash (R–Mich.)] on the floor of the House of Representatives. On the best days there are a dozen. None of these libertarians are in the Libertarian Party. So if you want to introduce libertarian bills, force roll call votes to expose faux fiscal conservatives, speak on the floor about free markets, or vote for laws to protect civil liberties, you darn well better have a D or an R beside your name....
NEGATIVE:
We Can Help Kill the Two-Party Monopoly
Bill Weld
Virtually everyone in the United States is coming to the sad conclusion that the two-party monopoly of Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C., is choking off creative policy making, to the detriment of the country at large.
This unhealthy situation has been years in the making. Both parties had noble antecedents: Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party, which prevailed in 1800, and the Free Soil/Republican coalition that elected Abraham Lincoln in 1860. But despite being born in dynamism, both parties are now ending in orthodoxy—brittle, calcified orthodoxy....