While Libertarian Party chairman Nicholas Sarwark has frequently embarrassed himself during his achievement-less tenure in his post, he has stooped to a new low. Sarwark is working with professed communists to throw libertarian icon, Tom Woods under the bus as a racist.
Using the fallout from “Unite the Right” to attack his critics, Sarwark–assisted by openly-leftist LP members–dug up a quote from a podcast that took place many years ago where Tom Woods congratulated Christopher Cantwell for attacking figures such as Jeffrey Tucker and other libertarians who were attempting to inject leftism into the movement.
“You have been saying a lot of the things that I wish I could say, but for diplomatic reasons and for the fact that I’m too busy to open up more civil wars, like I haven’t burned enough bridges with the rest of mankind already,” Woods said to Cantwell as he appeared on his podcast. “To read what you’ve done and to see how many shares you’re getting, I say ‘Well, the task has been accomplished.’ You’re doing very important work.”
In recent years, Cantwell has shifted from anarcho-capitalism over to fascism and his tears have become a national story after being assaulted and now apparently wanted by the Virginia police for his role in “Unite the Right” carnage. After being brutalized in a Twitter war against Woods earlier in the week, Sarwark saw this as his opportunity for revenge.
“When host tells guest, “You have been saying a lot of the things I wish I could say,” that’s not guilt by association,” Sarwark said in a Tweet. “That’s endorsement.”
Sarwark’s obvious implication here is that Woods is a racist. After receiving a great deal of negative feedback for his pathetic cheap shots at Woods, Sarwark weaseled out of his initial comments and attempted to walk them back.
“I will note again that I’ve never said I think [Tom Woods] is a racist and have no evidence that he is,” Sarwark said in a follow-up Tweet.
Sarwark originally re-tweeted the quote from the “Dankertarians,” a social media propaganda outfit that regularly attacks popular libertarians while regurgitating leftist tropes. The page is run by a proud leftist, Matt Kuehnel, who serves as Secretary of the Macomb County Libertarian Party in Michigan.
“There is no room for fascists like Jeff Deist and Tom Woods in an antifascist party,” the Dankertarians wrote on social media accompanying a meme implying that Deist, Woods and President Trump are members of the Ku Klux Klan. “We encourage everybody who supports the vision of a world free for EVERYBODY not just white people in the imperial west to join the Libertarian Party today.”
As this incredibly unaccomplished gaggle of nobodies attempt to drive successful libertarians from the movement out of jealousy, Kuehnel frequently posts many public quotes indicating his leftism, which is at least tacitly supported by Chairman Sarwark.
“I’ve always been a fringe leftist. A militantly atheist, empathetic [social justice warrior], anti-social norms, recreational drug using, bleeding-heart punk,” Kuehnel said to describe himself.
Kuehnel also indicated that anyone who bashes the leftist terror group ANTIFA becomes “a fascist defender” and frequently contends that “rent is theft” while referring to those who believe in private property as “capitalist pigs.”
“I do want to recruit ANTIFA to the [Libertarian Party]. I won’t lie,” Kuehnel said.
Although this zero may languish away in complete obscurity making no real impact, it is incredibly troubling that the Libertarian Party chair would echo the sentiments of full-throated leftist. If LP members thought that Gary Johnson’s abysmal 2016 Presidential campaign was the lowest the party could sink, Sarwark is proving them wrong with every Tweet.
Genius: attack libertarians who are not racist and could be tremendous assets to the party.
It’s the libertarian way
I don’t think Woods is a racist. I don’t know that you have to reject all left libertarians either though. There is a great alternative to anarcho capitalism called mutualism which is libertarian, free market, and respects private property. It focuses on cooperation and emphasizes various co-ops as an alternative to many state programs and traditional corporations.
Mutualism is force.
Mutualism is rooted in cooperation and free association. Noone would be required to join a community and other people could form communities such as anarcho capitalist, cummunalism, ect. It might be possible to blind ancap and mutualistic ideas with the same community.
I’m a Mutalist / left-libertarian too. I wish sites like libertyconservative would stop this war on “the left” stuff. I mean, it’s as if the writer of this article has no sense of where various political beliefs fall or what political terminology even means. Accusing Sarwark of working with “communists”? I’m not a fan of the guy but…. lol what? There’s a major league difference between communists and socialists, especially between the state communists/socialists and the “anarcho” varieties of each.
Everything to the left of minarchy is still in liberty-ville,folks. In fact, Libertarian Socialism is the first variant. There is a right and left spectrum in libertarianism and people, especially those who claim to be libertarian, need to understand this. Libertarian Conservative? Now talk about a contradiction in terms!
As far as the Tom Woods/racist stuff. Well, I don’t think he is but I do get the sense that he doesn’t want to piss off a contingency of his subscribers. He wishes at times he had the freedom to talk like Cantwell? Yeah, that does make him sound like a racist, sorry. What else does Cantrell say that Tom couldn’t?I don’t think Woods is racist, for the record, though.
Honestly I’m not all that familiar with the drama of signing the damn pledge denouncing white nationalists. The presence of the alt-right/the alt-right and alt-lite labeling themselves as “libertarian” makes me want to jump ship from the LP frankly. So I was kind of relieved when I heard about the petition and that, lo and behold, some in the party actually cared about this gross nationalistic surge in US and Europe.
Nobody, not even Tom Woods, was forced at gunpoint to sign. Sucks he got some shit on Twitter, but seriously he should suck it up. The drama from both has been ridiculous.
I’m a libertarian with a little (l). The Libertarian party (L) is a joke. From this moron chairman to the last moron presidential candidate, Gary Johnson. We as true libertarians should join the GOP and transform it back to the party of liberty.
Agreed sadly, The last actual libertarian they ran for president was back in 2004.
You’re a small l because you’re a Republican. If you think that a party that just elected a flaming statist collectivist nativist POS that’s the opposite of libertarian is gonna get transformed, you’re either clueless about libertarianism, or you don’t realize how little the GOP cares about liberty. Likely both.
Are you saying: this is how much I love Christopher Ferrara?
Dear LP. I just got started getting back involved after a very long hiatus.
Knock off the shit. Woods isn’t a racist. He is more conservative personally but LlBERTY minded. He espouses libertarian ideals to the masses and is a gift to libertarianism.
We need more like Woods and less like the Chair.
The left libertarians have converged the Libertarian Party.
I like listening to all sides – Including Cantwell and Molyneux. They talk about race and invite contrary EVIDENCE, not screeches of “racist!”.
But it isn’t just the LP. Porcfest used to have Tom Woods, now they have some transgender advocates explaining “queering the jury”.
https://whova.com/embedded/speaker_session_detail/porcf_201707/184743/
While I don’t think Woods will follow Cantwell into the alt-Right, the libertarian movement is already splitting.
> left libertarians
The conspiracy theory of choice for all right wingers that like to pretend they’re libertarian.
If you’ve ever been to a platform debate (or even read the platform), you’d know how stupid you sound when you say this.
I’m not sure I’d call someone stupid given the strip-tease on C-SPAN3.
I was a member of the LP many years ago, but found it either only for money or already going into imbecility.
Nor do I care what the LP platform says given that Johnson and Weld managed to reject nearly every point. Irrelevant intellectualism? I assume by “platform debate” you are referring to this periodic discusson as to how many anarchocapitalists can dance on the head of a pin by pinheads.
> Striptease
Muh collectivism! All individuals represent the group!
Clearly the LP should have tackled him and tazed him instead of letting him throw his prank for his allowed time. Man, what a joke of a party. /derpitude
> Was a member
Apparently not for long, or you just never paid attention to party functions. Otherwise you would know that:
* Johnson and Weld (despite their annoying bullshit compromises, which were bullshit) didn’t reject all, or most, or even half the platform
* The platform debates is how changes to the platform are carried out. I guess you coincidentally missed that part of the last convention, and every convention for the last 50 years.
* Logic! If the LP were taken over by leftists, we’d see debates include UBI, public schooling, social security, gun control, forced association, and the minimum wage instead of conservative bullshit like abortion bans, immigration restrictions, the death penalty, money to Israel, and foreign intervention. Guess which ones have been proposed in the last decade and which ones haven’t?
I assume you still are a paying member of the LP. A fool and his money. And you are a prime example of what was and is wrong in the LP. (I left it 3 decades ago, so I’m not sure how the platform changed but if Mr. Bean and Wild Bill were in conformance with half the platform, it only speaks that the platform has decayed too).
Blah di blah blah blah.
And you’re out. It’s pretty easy to tell the leftist grievance mongering troll early on.
> Lefitst
Try harder cupcake. I’m a libertarian purist. Unlike some people ( 😉 😉 😉 ), I don’t compromise on liberty to satisfy a backwards, reactionary philosophy (ie: conservatism).
Just because I can call out Right-wing fakes doesn’t mean I’m a leftist (the socialists weren’t happy with my “property fetish” yesterday). It’s a libertarian thing; I wouldn’t expect you to understand. You only like liberty when it’s still in the conservative zone; I like it in full. When you’re on the Right, everyone else looks like a leftist. Not my problem <3
Is this site for liberty or conservatism? Sorry, the name is a contradiction that I can’t get past.
Idk, ask antifa’s new bff that question instead.
> AntiFa’s BFF
Great, so the answer is conservatism!
Thanks for answering my question.
The LP is run by idiots and this man is continuing in that fine tradition.
Excluding I’ll-read-anything me, is there actually any meaningful market for such gossipy Tattletales of the Bozo LP?
get this idiot out of this position, he is going to make all libertarians look like fools
Scott Scrimshaw
Nick Sarwark is a disgrace. If you haven’t already heard it, I highly suggest hearing Jeff Deists recent speech to libertarians, it’s epic. It can be found in a recent episode of the Tom Woods Show on YouTube and I highly recommend everyone check out the episode and subscribe while your there. He’s got the best libertarian podcast out there.