About that pending new 'Liberal Party'

I had originally scheduled this as the next presidential news roundup, but with all the focus on one potential new political party, shifted to it being just about that.

Via Independent Political Report, a "Liberal Party," long rumored, the work of Ye Olde Tyme Libertarians fed up with the Mises Mice, will officially meet in Houston in December. Per links off that link, this has roots going back to 2022, when the NM LP disaffiliated from LP National, which in turn disaffiliated it back.

As for the logo? Not sure why on a bison. Hope of resurgence? Or is that an already-extinct aurochs? More on the party here.

More related background, vis-a-vis this year's election cycle, can be seen in my update from two weeks ago.

George Phillies has more at Third Party Watch, which directly ties to my update of June 6. He notes that Liberal Party organizers at first thought the nomination of Chase Oliver, a non-Mouse, was bad for the movement. But, LP chair Angela McAwful giving him only a conditional endorsement in "blue" states (interesting for a third-party leader to fall into duopoly-speak), and the Montana LP saying we won't back him, gives them new light. 

There is funniness at that link, too. Some of the Liberal Party's would-be organizers claim that Mice shadowed them last month at the LP national convention. IMO, paranoia is second to a fondness for lawsuits as a requirement to be a good Libertarian. And, near the end of that Phillies piece, within the current LP at least, at least some are loading up their lawsuit guns further.

As for the name? Yes, as made explicit at 3PW, it's an appeal to the classical liberal tradition. Well, in the US, to the degree that had any footage, it died with the old Whig Party. In Europe, which is what the "classical liberal" appeal often looks to, William Gladstone died well over a century ago and the Liberal Party died a flat 100 years ago, notwithstanding its anemic LDP successor, as I told IPR.

In the US? The Whig Party died before the Civil War and anyway, since it favored a high protective tariff, wasn't really classical liberal in any case.

Back to that name, and three other problems with it.

First, being "classical liberals" doesn't guarantee a party free of bigotry. Look at "classical liberal" racist Andrew Sullivan.

Second, whether party founders are more elitist, more effitist or a mix of both, I don't know. They are something in that ballpark, though, and this is where branding and perceptions will hurt them. The Mice will play off that to look like "blue collar libertarians," I'm sure.

Third, IPR comment nutter "Nuña" gets the idea but thinks that both the LP and the Liberals are quasi-leftist. He gets FAR MORE nutter on Ballot-Access's posting of IPR's link. So do others, like Pig Farmer, sometimes halfway reasonable there, getting nostalgic for Lester Maddox.

I am curious how Texas Libertarians respond to this.

Given this news release during the LP National Convention strongly opposing Trump being there (don't forget McAwful lives right here in Tex-ass), I would say the Texas LP will at least kick the tires on the Liberal Party.