252. Friendsheep



The alliance between the GOP and the Libertarian party is one of the strangest things in a country full of strange politics. 

A libertarian in the United States in 2023 has two choices to make an impact. Either play with the Democratic party or play with the Republican party. The Democratic party wants the government to be big enough to intercede on behalf of people, with systems like affirmative action, social safety nets, food stamps, Medicare for all. They believe in the freedom to love, marry and bang any consenting adult your heart desires. They want women to have private choices. They trust citizens to make their own choices regarding some drugs. They realize the United States is made of immigrants and they want to improve the pathways to citizenship we have. Read their platform, it's available for all.

The Republican party wants the government to be small, but big enough to investigate women's ovulation patterns, disallow people from doing marijuana, build big walls and teach conservative values. They want people to have less freedom than they had yesterday, with their attack on abortion and the LGBTQ community. This isn't hyperbole, it's on their platform. I'm linking the 2016 platform, because after that, it's been just 'lol Trump'. And Trump just doubled down on removing freedoms. He removed or attempted to remove the ability for some immigrants to come to our country, attempted to evict dreamers (DACA) from our country, and removed the ability of transgender individuals to serve in the military.

So why do so many libertarians align with Republicans in the United States? They say it's the taxes, but I think it's the guns. They want to have guns. Democrats want some people like violent offenders, domestic abusers and people who have threatened to kill to not have guns. They want people who purchase instruments of death to register them. In my mind, it's a pretty simple ask, but like with everything in the United States it's blown out of proportion.

Listen, I am not a life-long Democrat. When they stop aligning with the things I care about, I'll go rogue. I love freedom and right now the Democratic party is the only viable party interested in respecting the freedom of my LGBTQ friends, my DACA friends and every woman in this country. 

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