• P2024  |  Libertarian Party Convention « Jacob Hornberger
  
  

JACOB HORNBERGER: When I announced my candidacy February of last year, I have ever since emphasized an important point. It is our job in this party to lead America to freedom. That's our job. If we don't do that, who will? Biden, Trump, Kennedy? Don't make me laugh. These are the people and their political ilk and parties who have destroyed freedom, who enslave us, tax us, regulate us, manipulate us, govern us, command us, order us, conscript us, torture us, and even kill us and make us serfs on their welfare warfare state plantation, where we exist to serve them.

When I attended my first state convention last fall, I emphasized a political point. I told the delegates at that convention that we already know the results of the presidential election in November, one year away: 1%. And the reason I said that is because the polls had us at 1%, and my contention was that if voter sentiment toward the Libertarian Party presidential candidate has not improved over three years, it's not going to improve over the next year. And here we are, six months later. And a lot of people now are saying Jacob was right, because it's worse. We're now at zero to 1%; one poll recently had us literally at 0%, LP presidential candidate.

Now since last fall, I've attended around 30 conventions, and in every one of these conventions, I have made a qualifier here on this 1% business. I participate in a lot of debates in this campaign season, as many of you know, but I didn't participate in yesterday's debate, as you also know, because I believe that this is a wrong way to elect and nominate a presidential candidate, and I said I will not participate in it. But, but those of you who know me, know that I have long held that debates worst possible way to select a presidential candidate, okay.

 Okay, Donald Trump's the topic of conversation at this convention, so let me bring him up. He didn't participate in one debate. Yet, all those debates on TV where they're carping at each other and lot of entertainment value, he said he wasn't going to participate in one, and his party said we are going to make him our standard bearer, because he can best reflect our statist views, including immigration controls, without being in a debate. Because I contend that every political party ought to be nominating a candidate who is best able to express the views of that party and garner votes, much more than the zero to 1%.

Now I have a confession to make to everyone in this room. It's a confession that I made to all those 30 state conventions. I'm with the 99%. I'm with the 99% who reject the message that this party has been putting out for 20 years. It's not a message of freedom. And so it doesn't surprise me at all that 99% of the electorate give us zero to 1% because I'm with them.

If you take—I'm going to explain it to you. If you take, for example, the crown jewels of American socialism, Social Security and Medicare. Have you seen any talks on those? These unfunded liabilities of $80 trillion but nobody talks about it because they've become accepted parts, socialism, of our presidential campaigns, permanent parts.

At the, at the South Carolina Libertarian Party debate, I said, we need to repeal socialism, and my opponents went after me with great vociferousness and loudness. Jacob, you have no care and compassion. We got to continue socialism for the next 25 years; people will be dying in the streets. Pure nonsense. Care and compassion does not come from the Internal Revenue Service or the initiation of force. Care and compassion comes from the voluntary, willing heart of the individual. Children and grandchildren, honoring mother and father on a purely voluntary basis. And it is incumbent on those of us in this party to lead America to the restoration of faith in freedom and voluntary charity.

Americans lived without socialism and Social Security for 125 years, and when people were free to accumulate unlimited amounts of wealth, no income tax, no central bank, there was the greatest outburst of voluntary charity that mankind has ever seen.

Medicare and Medicaid. Have you seen any talks about Medicare and Medicaid during this convention? No, because they've become permanent parts of our presidential campaigns. This, these socialist programs destroyed the finest healthcare system in history. When I was a kid, before they came into existence, healthcare costs were low. They were stable. Nobody had medical insurance. They didn't need it. It was like going to the grocery store. And doctors provided free healthcare to the poor. So did hospitals. That's genuine charity. And then, then Medicare and Medicaid come into existence. Healthcare costs started soaring, and that's the cause of the healthcare crisis. So there's only one solution. It's a solution you haven't heard during this entire convention. You've got to pull this weed out by its root, or to mix metaphors, you got to excise this cancer out completely.

But at the, at the Louisiana State Convention, at the debate there, when I brought this up, my opponents said that's a crappy solution, because they believe that Medicare and Medicaid need to continue as part of the presidential message of this party. That's your zero to 1%. Who's going to vote for that message, for a party that calls itself anti socialist, and the party of principle? Who's going to vote for it? Every single proponent of these socialist programs is going to vote for Biden and Trump. They're never going to waste their vote on an LP presidential candidate that advocates socialism.

School vouchers, taking over the public schools. We got to run libertarians for school board, Jacob, we got to take over the public schools. School vouchers have become a main position in our presidential campaigns. They are nothing but a socialist vehicle that takes money from one group of people through the initiation of force—in violation of our core principle, the non aggressive principle, in violation of the pledge that we very [don't] hear very much about anymore, and give it to another group of people, and in the process, put private schools under government control. And and when you're trying to take over a government school system, this is a massive socialist program at the state level and the local level, and that's what libertarianism has come to? Where we're going to use a presidential campaign to try to take over socialism, so we can show Democrats and Republicans that we can run this program better than others. Who's going to vote for this message? Who's going to vote for it? I'll tell you zero to 1%, because there's no constituency for this message.

And then there's immigration controls, that are based on the socialist principle of central planning. And that's— Ludwig von Mises, who is prominent name at this convention, called this planned chaos. And that's what we've had for 80 years on the border, along with death, suffering, kidnappings, rapes, detention centers, penitentiaries, deportations, Berlin Wall, concertina wire designed to cut people up, a massive police state with highway checkpoints and warrantless searches.

And yet what do we hear from libertarians? Oh, Jacob, it's terrible what's happening on the border, but we're going to reform the system, Jacob. Yeah, we can reform it. Yes, we can streamline it. We can simplify it. We can make it work. I've heard this for 30 years. Actually, I've heard it all my life, that there's some reform out there. There is no reform. There is no reform that can fix socialism. There is only one solution to the immigration morass, and that is open borders. There is none other.

Now every single proponent, remember, zero to one, every single proponent of these programs, school vouchers, taking over the public schools, immigration patrols is going to vote for Donald Trump. They're never going to raise their vote on an LP President candidate.

Now let's— at every convention I spoken at, I've said there's a condition here. There's a condition. We don't have to settle for 1%, zero to 1%. There's a way out. There's a breakout that we can achieve of 10 to 15% of the national vote. But there's a price to be paid to that, and that is the restoration of our founding principles at this party. And this is what I'm talking about, and I've said this to every state convention, making the competent case for open borders, the separation of education in the state, health care in the state, charity in the state, economy in the state, and money in the state.

Dismantle the national security state entirely. You hear about dismantling the CIA and the NSA, but never the Pentagon. And the Pentagon is the root cause of the forever wars. So it's not enough to say I'm anti-war, I'm anti-war, I'm anti-war and I'm pro Pentagon, because the Pentagon's the root cause of the forever wars. You gotta get rid of it.

And then you legalize all drugs, not just marijuana, and you make the case, you make the case for the immediate dismantling of all socialist programs. But you do more than that. You change your target audience. And I'm not unmindful of what I'm asking everybody in this room to do. I'm asking you to think out the box, outside the box, and move in a completely different direction than what you're accustomed to doing in this party. But you're at zero to 1%. You're going to be there in November. You got nothing to lose.

I'm saying change your target audience in this campaign. Forget Republicans. Republicans will never vote for libertarians. Even the Ron Paul Republicans are not going to vote for liberty. Libertarians will vote for Republicans, but not vice versa. Change your target audience.

Target audience number one, migrant families, Hispanics. 34 million Hispanics. We could garner 20% of that vote by going down to the border and making the competent case, the religious case, the moral case, for open borders. That's what I want to do as your nominee. I don't want to go to places to get local libertarians elected, and meet and greets and all that.

I want to go mix it up with real people. I want to go to the border with my On the Road video series. And I want to talk to real people and give them a voice. People who have lost their land with that immigration wall, that Berlin Wall. People have lost family members drowning in the Rio Grande or in the back of an 18 wheeler. I want to give people a voice, and I want to make the case for open borders so that 34 million Hispanics that are horrified of going on the border, they have been for 80 years, but they don't know there's an alternative, because no Libertarian Party presidential candidate has dared to make the case for open borders. How do you expect people to adopt a an idea if you don't make the case for that idea? And I am convinced, they will leap at it.

There's an old saying, "Nobody knows, nobody cares what you know it until they know you care." You can, you can give the most erudite exposition on the Austrian theory of the business cycle, or the socialist calculation debate, nobody cares, until they know you care. We got to go to the border and we got to let people know we care about what the state has done to you, and they will come with us. 20% is six million votes right there. I'm asking you, think out the box, outside the box, and do something completely different this time around.

Second group: target black voters. These are our voters, and the press is reporting that black support for Biden is disintegrating. We go to them with the drug war. We have 50 years, 52 years of opposing the most racist government program since segregation.

I ran this kind of campaign, a guerrilla campaign, 20 years ago in the State of Virginia. I ran against John Warner, one of the most popular senators in the history of our state, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee. I knew I wouldn't get one Republican vote. This was right after 9-11, and I was saying when Ron Paul would say eight years later or so. And I knew I wouldn't get one Republican vote, and I didn't care. I don't target Republicans for votes. The Democrats weren't running anybody, but I knew they wouldn't vote for me, even in protest because I'm calling for repeal of their favorite socialist programs, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public schooling and the like. But I, I campaigned heavily in the black community and the Hispanic community. I said to the Hispanics, tell friends there's a Senate candidate that's calling for open borders.

And one of the biggest honors of my life was I met with a black minister in Alexandria, right here in Virginia, Alfred Street Baptist Church. And we had a long conversation. He later got elected to the African American Hall of Fame. And I said, Pastor Peterson, this is where I stand. Open borders. What we're doing to people violates God's sacred commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. We talked about the drug war, conscription, Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, and at the end of this conversation, he said, Mr Hornberger, I'm going to endorse your candidacy. And he said, I want you to take this written letter of endorsement to every black minister in the state. And I did.

And my detractors in the party at that time, and some of you may be surprised that I do have some detractors in the Libertarian Party. They were mocking and ridiculing me. They were saying, Jacob's going to get .01% because he's calling for the repeal of Social Security and Medicare and public schooling, and nobody will ever vote for that. And I got 7% of the statewide vote. And what I'm telling you is we can do it again, double. I can double that by changing the target audience and changing the message to one of principled libertarianism.

50% of people don't vote. Those are our voters. They know there's not a dime's worth of difference between Democrats and Republicans, but they will never take the time to register and vote for a Libertarian Party presidential candidate who is calling for reform, monetary reform, immigration reform, Social Security reform, Medicare reform, education reform. They're not going—. They don't want reformers. They want to hear that principled message of libertarianism, and they will come and vote for us.

Most of all, we've got to fight as libertarians. We are not Republican-lites. We are not welfare state reformers. We are not [inaud.] reformers. We are libertarians. We are advocates of liberty, and we need to go into this battle with our principles. These are our swords and our shields that we take in the battle. And it would be a tremendous honor to lead you into this battle as your presidential nominee. Thank you very much.

Copyright © 2024 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action. All rights reserved.