A New Path for Liberty: Understanding the Politics of the Povertarian and Libertarian Socialist Caucuses of the Libertarian Party USA

In modern politics, ideological differences are turning into dogmatic religious divides, thus resulting in an alarming increase in the politicization of “othering” people holding different beliefs. The division seems to affect both sides of the political spectrum. For example, there is a pattern of stereotyping and condescending attitudes towards suburbanites due to their alleged ideological inferiority on the side of the left. In turn, a significant part of the right wing employs immigrants as scapegoats in their populism campaigns.

Moreover, factionalism has resulted in instances of political violence within ideologies. Internal ideological conflicts within the right sometimes lead to violent behaviours. Similarly, the left is plagued with intra-ideological violence, which is evident in the case of Athens, Greece. In this case, 150 people from the Maoist organization ARAS (Left Anti-Capitalist Group) carried out a violent attack on antiauthoritarians and anarchists. As a result, a number of activists were severely injured and lost consciousness. Even the anarchist movement seems to be highly fragmented as well. In particular, market and individualist anarchists are often disregarded and stigmatized by the social anarchists such as the platformists and the anarcho-syndicalists as proponents of liberal ideologies rather than anarchists.

It might seem strange, but alliances between libertarians occur along the vertical axis of left and right ideologies rather than horizontal axis of libertarian ideologies. Thus, left libertarians including libertarian socialists, democratic socialists, and some anarchists collaborate with various authoritarian left-wing movements including anti-imperialist Baathists, Leninists, and Trotskyists despite their ideological affinity with the libertarian right when it comes to basic values like human rights and civil liberties. Right libertarians including classical liberals, paleo-libertarians, and anarcho-capitalists are allied with protectionist nationalists and mainstream conservatives over the libertarian left despite their shared values of voluntary association, civil liberties, and individualism.

Understanding the Popular Caucuses within Libertarian Party

The two-party binary system characterizes politics worldwide; however, the political rhetoric is usually misleading. The Republicans in the United States represent themselves as the main proponents of smaller government, similarly to the Conservatives in the UK and Liberals in Australia. Yet, these centre-right parties are well-known for the implementation of protectionist measures and the tolerance of systemic rent-seeking. By contrast, the Democrats in the US and Labour Party in the UK stand for a big welfare state which is the best bureaucratic environment for rent-seeking. Under these circumstances, the only consistent actors in opposing rent-seeking and defending individual liberty are Libertarian Parties, despite all their deficiencies both theoretical and practical.

There are some interesting alliances within Libertarians Parties despite their oppositional agenda. For instance, the US Libertarian Party includes such notable caucuses as Classical Liberal Caucus, Mises Caucus, and Radical Caucus. The former is founded on the legacy of John Locke and Thomas Paine and its politics are mainly focused on institutions and policy-making. The Mises Caucus promotes paleolibertarianism which combines basic libertarian views and culturally conservative beliefs, initially proposed by Murray Rothbard, and currently are gaining popularity due to the influence of individuals such as Javier Milei. Finally, the Radical Caucus defends more radical positions that cover right-wing anarcho-capitalism (which started with Gustave de Molinari) and left-wing agorism (developed by Samuel Edward Konkin III).

However, there are some other equally intriguing caucuses that have not been discussed by the mainstream media and established left-right commentators. Such alliances include Libertarian Socialist Caucus and Povertarian Caucus.

Libertarian Socialist Caucus of Libertarian Party

As the name “libertarian socialist caucus” is reportedly associated with the Libertarian Socialist Caucus of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the Libertarian Socialist Caucus of Libertarian Party often is overlooked, it’s important to highlight about the important works of Libertarian Socialist Caucus of Libertarian Party.

In an interview conducted by Colin Jenkins of The Hampton Institute, Kuehnel and Posner, who are members of the Libertarian Socialist Caucus (LSC) in the United States Libertarian Party, explain that their main aim is to reclaim the word “libertarian” from its American capitalist misuse and restore its original meaning, which is anti-authoritarian socialism, more precisely, anarchism. In the 2018 Libertarian National Convention, they nominated themselves for national positions. Even though their nominations failed, their actions sparked serious debates and controversies between right-libertarians. In addition, they believe that any libertarian should be against all kinds of hierarchies and coercions, both state control and economic oppression through capitalism. On top of this, they criticize the basic tenet of capitalism, namely private ownership, particularly absentee ownership, claiming that the latter can be possible only through the use of state force. For his part, Kuehnel prefers practical organizing, preferring action, and practice to theoretical and philosophical elaborations. Given the circumstances, what the LSC hopes to achieve within the Libertarian Party is the formation of a radical leftist caucus, political debate, and revealing corporate exploitation as a blatant breach of the non-aggression principle.

Povertarian Caucus of Libertarian Party

What sets the Povertarian Caucus apart from other caucuses is its focus on class struggles rather than strict ideology.
Logan Marie Glitterbomb, the co-founder of the Libertarian Anti-Fascist Committee and the Libertarian Socialist Caucus of the Libertarian Party, and a member of the Libertarian Socialist Caucus of the DSA, made an argument in his article “Make Libertarianism Working Class Again” concerning the loss of the working-class character in modern American libertarianism by suggesting that the current version of libertarian ideology represents an elitist approach aimed at accommodating corporate interests.

Currently, as Logan pointed out, libertarian spheres of activity including the Libertarian Party (LP) have become exclusionary. High delegate fees and expensive conventions prevent poor libertarians from participating in such events, creating an environment where rich people live in an ivory tower unaware of reality. Moreover, the corporate nature of libertarian circles leads to the blurring of boundaries between free markets and state-sponsored “crony capitalism”. In response, activists have established the “Povertarian Caucus” to redirect the focus of libertarianism onto pressing problems of the underprivileged population. Rather than arguing about taxes, the caucus discusses topics such as homelessness, prison labour, abuse of the welfare system, criminal justice reform, and the legalization of drugs. In addition, they support voluntary and radical labour unions which are unregulated by any governmental agency.

The libertarian caucus jointly led by Alex Flores is comprised of both left-wing and right-wing libertarians united by the idea of freedom initiated by the Libertarian Socialists in 2016. The mission of the caucus is to fight against state oppression to liberate the poor and empower people regardless of their financial background. As a result of the anti-authoritarian and voluntary approach to cooperation, the informal group grew into a strong organization with hundreds of members that has been operating for ten years. Nowadays, the caucus acts as a key organization for left-wing libertarians who feel out of place in the movement while being friendly with other caucuses, especially the Mises Caucus, which dominates among the others, according to Alex.

The impact of this approach is clearly visible in terms of tangible actions like helping people in need. For example, there are no chairs in the caucus because members prefer equality to hierarchies. At the last national convention, the caucus managed to subsidize over ten percent of all delegates in collaboration with the LP Alliance. They helped over thirty delegates together with their family members in terms of accommodation, food, transportation, and more. People supported were from diverse political backgrounds including right-wing libertarians from the Mises Caucus, libertarian socialists, etc. Besides, the caucus provides help to key people in different caucuses, for instance, the Catholic anarchist Logan Marie Glitterbomb. Alex Flores’s latest election to the Libertarian National Committee as a Regional Representative indicates a growing influence of the caucus and increasing inclusiveness.

In his speech, Alex Flores emphasizes his Native American heritage since he is Apache. His tribe promotes the idea that the Earth is not something to be possessed, but rather take care of to provide better conditions for seven future generations. Modern society calls it voluntary socialism or anarcho-communism because of the unique way of thinking. However, in our conversation, Flores emphasized that he sees Apache traditions as the basis of libertarianism and cites the Great Law of Peace of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy as a historical example of libertarianism based on peace, self-determination, and voluntary association. The Haudenosaunee confederation played a significant role in creating the Constitution of the United States, for which reason it received recognition of Congress as early as in 1988. Flores also believes that Native Americans are historically libertarians based on the opinions of Russell Means, an Oglala Lakota activist for the rights of Native Americans, and a libertarian political activist.

A New Path for Liberty: Libertarian Alliance

It is undeniable that the Libertarian Party of the United States challenges traditional “othering” politics by housing diverse, anti-statist caucuses—ranging from anarcho-capitalists and agorists to class-driven Povertarians and authentic, non-statist libertarian socialists. To achieve true emancipation, the strategic priority must shift from left unity and right unity to libertarian unity as dismantling the state inherently dissolves corporate monopolies and concentrated private property in favour of a freed market based on voluntary exchange.