Factions in the Libertarian Party (United States)

The Libertarian Party in the United States is composed of various factions, sometimes described as left and right, although many libertarians reject use of these terms to describe their political philosophy.Duncan Watts, Understanding American government and politics: a guide for A2 politics students, 2nd Revised edition, Manchester University Press, 16 March 2006, p 246 IBN 978-0719073274: "Libertarians feel that neither left nor right can be trusted to defend the rights of individuals." See also: Leonard Read rejected these terms as "authoritarian". Neither Left Nor Right , The Freeman, February 1998, Vol. 48 No. 2. Walter Block rejected the labels being even in making differentiations between libertarians who were largely pro-property. Author "Libertarianism is unique; it belongs neither to the right nor the left," Journal of Libertarian Studies, Volume 22 (2010): 127–70. Sheldon Richman writes about this in Libertarianism: Left or Right? , Future of Freedom Foundation's "Freedom Daily," June 2007. "Is libertarianism of the Left or of the Right? We often avoid this question with a resounding 'Neither!'" He also points out that left and right were "first used in the French Legislative Assembly after the revolution of 1789. In that context those who sat on the right side of the assembly were steadfast supporters of the dethroned monarchy and aristocracy – the ancien régime – (and hence were conservatives) while those who sat on the left opposed its reinstatement (and hence were radicals). It should follow from this that libertarians, or classical liberals, would sit on the left."

As of 2025, notable caucuses within the party include the hardline and paleolibertarian Mises Caucus, the traditionalist Classical Liberal Caucus, the mainly anarcho-capitalist Radical Caucus, and the left-wing Libertarian Socialist Caucus. There are also smaller groups such as the Pro Life Caucus and Bitcoin Caucus.

History A broad coalition of classical liberals, minarchists, and anarcho-capitalists founded the Libertarian Party in 1971. In 1974, the larger minarchist and smaller anarcho-capitalist factions held the Libertarian National Convention in Dallas and made the "Dallas Accord". It is an implicit agreement to compromise between factions by adopting a platform that explicitly did not say whether it was desirable for the state to exist.Mike Hihn, "The Dallas Accord, Minarchists, and why our members sign a pledge", Washington State Libertarian Party, August 2009.Paul Gottfried, The conservative movement: Social movements past and present , Twayne Publishers, 1993, p. 46.Less Antman, The Dallas Accord is Dead, Lew Rockwell.com, May 12, 2008.

Over the years, anarcho-capitalists continued to debate and clash with minarchists in the party.Walter Block, "Anarchism and Minarchism: No Rapprochement Possible", Journal of Libertarian Studies, at Ludwig Von Mises Institute website. The former faction has seen an upswing with the re-formalization of the LPRadicals. When the anarchist-aligned Ron Paul sought the 1988 Libertarian Party nomination for president. However, many saw Paul as too radical and supported Native American activist Russell Means to run against him. Nevertheless, Paul won the nomination and ran a Libertarian presidential campaign.

After the Ron Paul 1988 presidential campaign, Paul supporters like Murray Rothbard and Lew Rockwell labeled themselves "paleolibertarians" because of their culturally conservative views.Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. "The Case for Paleo-libertarianism " in Liberty, January, 1990, 34-38. They soon left the party and later abandoned the term.Do You Consider Yourself a Libertarian?, Kenny Johnsson interviews Lew Rockwell for The Liberal Post , as posted on LewRockwell.Com, May 25, 2007. Following the formation of the paleolibertarian faction, some American conservatives left the Republican Party to join the Libertarian Party."Conservative-Libertarian Split: Liberals Get It, Conservatives Don't" . IntellectualConservative.com. Retrieved June 2, 2011. After the September 11th attacks, some conservative libertarians supported the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq War.Justin Raimondo, Booting Boort: Antiwar Backlash Against Libertarian Convention Speaker Picks Up Steam, Antiwar.com, December 9, 2003.

Over the years, the number of anarcho-capitalists in the party dropped by about half.Knapp, Thomas, "Time for a new Dallas Accord? ", Rational Review. During the 2006 Libertarian National Convention, delegates deleted a large portion of the party's detailed platform. They added the phrase: "Government exists to protect the rights of every individual including life, liberty and property."Libertarian Party platform. Some took this as meaning the Dallas Accord was dead. Many anarcho-capitalists in the party left and started the Boston Tea Party in 2006, which was disbanded six years later. In 2020, the Libertarian Party nominated Jeremy "Spike" Cohen for vice president, the first anarcho-capitalist to be featured on the party's presidential ticket. In 2022, the paleolibertarian Mises Caucus swept control of all positions in the Libertarian National Committee. In response to the paleolibertarians' control over the party, numerous state parties disaffiliated from the Libertarian Party and others suffered splits and separations.

Current caucuses Classical Liberal Caucus The Classical Liberal Caucus promotes classical liberalism and has been described as traditionalist. It was founded in 2022 by Jonathan Casey, with the stated goal of promoting a professional and policy-based message within the Libertarian Party. The Caucus argues that the Libertarian Party should adopt a classical liberal message of individualism to appeal to Americans in the political center disillusioned with the Democratic and Republican parties. It was associated with the Chase Oliver 2024 presidential campaign.

Mises Caucus

The Mises Caucus promotes paleolibertarianism, Fusionism, as well as a more conservative version of American libertarianism associated with the presidential campaigns of former U.S. congressman Ron Paul. It was founded in 2017 by Michael Heise, mainly in opposition to Nicholas Sarwark's position as party chairman and the influence of the Pragmatist Caucus. It is named after economist Ludwig von Mises.

The caucus has the support of some prominent libertarians, such as comedian Dave Smith, political commentator Tom Woods, and radio host Scott Horton. The caucus has also been highly controversial, and has been accused by their critics of harboring bigotry or being plants of the Republican Party, which the Mises Caucus denies.

The Mises Caucus has shifted the Libertarian Party further toward the right ever since their party’s national convention in May 2022. After the 2024 Libertarian National Convention, the Mises Caucus controlled the positions of Secretary and Chair on the Libertarian National Committee, as well as a majority of state affiliates. However, the Secretary's affiliation with the Mises Caucus ended shortly thereafter because of the Mises-controlled Libertarian Party of Colorado's attempt to replace the properly selected Libertarian Presidential nominee, Chase Oliver, on the Colorado ballot.

Radical Caucus

The Radical Caucus (also known as LPRadicals) promotes more radical libertarian thought. It supports abolitionism of government functions and agencies instead of incremental changes to the status quo. The caucus was created in 2006 by members of the party unhappy with that year's party platform. It opposed Gary Johnson in the 2016 Libertarian Party presidential primaries.

Libertarian Socialist Caucus The Libertarian Socialist Caucus (also known as the LSC) is a small, left-wing faction within the Libertarian Party.

Former caucuses Pragmatist Caucus The Pragmatist Caucus was a moderate faction long influential within the Libertarian Party. It was associated with the 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns of Gary Johnson. It dissolved in 2022. This dissolution was partly due to a controversy caused by the Mises Caucus–controlled Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, which posted offensive messages on social media.

Ideological factions

Anarcho-capitalists Green libertarians Libertarian socialists Market anarchists Minarchists Objectivists Paleolibertarians Classical liberals Right-libertarians Left-libertarians

Factions in the Libertarian Party (United States)

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