By Jim Ostrowski
The Libertarian Party (LP) gets the most votes among rural voters, as many as 3 percent of the vote in some states, with some towns probably reaching over 5 percent. In sharp contrast, the LP has been known to get close to zero votes in some urban areas.
Naturally, the LP, with no viable strategy, responds to these facts by tilting to the left to appeal to urban voters while alienating rural, more conservative voters. This strategy has totally failed. Rural voters constitute 20 percent of the population and live on 97 percent of the land in America. They include almost all farmers, the people who grow our food and produce dairy products. Farmers and dairy producers punch way above their weight in American life, as a farm-to-table, whole-foods approach is required to solve US health and obesity crises.
Farmers and rural people generally are natural libertarians who are largely self-sufficient and have no need for most government “services.” And yet, because of their small numbers, but large land holdings, their future is precarious. Given the weakness of private property rights in a progressive era, and the increasing power of eminent domain, they are extremely vulnerable to land grabs from politicians backed by increasingly left-oriented and exploding urban populations.
The Republican Party, which rural voters traditionally support, is not a reliable supporter of private property. Rural voters should not assume the GOP will have their backs in the coming years when large numbers of urban dwellers begin to cast their wandering eyes on the US rural heartland.
Long story short: rural citizens and libertarians need each other—and they need each other now. The LP needs a plan to immediately reach out to rural citizens and farmers with a complete program and specific policy proposals to protect their interests, increase their liberty, and begin to displace the useless GOP as the party of the rural United States.
Here is a draft of a plan to do so. A final plan would, of course, require collaboration and support from the national committee and all state parties.
GOP Strategy
The GOP dominates rural areas. If we are going to make gains there, we must target the GOP, since that is where the votes are and democrats are never going to join us in large numbers. Our marketing task force needs to develop a marketing plan to go after GOP voters. I suggest a two-pronged approach:
- Attack the image of the GOP. The GOP has a carefully cultivated image as the party of smaller government. The truth is, they have not cut the size of government since Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. Label them a fraud scheme, and repeat this ad nauseam until it catches on.
- Identify wedge issues. We should hammer issues where the GOP has promised much and delivered little. These include the cost of government (spending, debt, and inflation), endless war, school choice (ending compulsory schooling and antihomeschool regulations), and the failure to enact a federal constitutional-carry bill. Candidates in these areas would be encouraged to highlight these issues throughout their campaigns and in their advertising and fliers.
Policy Strategy
In addition to the wedge issues discussed above, we need to roll out a program specifically designed to appeal to rural voters and farmers.
- End agricultural subsidies. Most go to big farms, not small family farms.
- Abolish regulations that restrict farm-to-consumer sales. The platform of the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin states:
“We advocate a free, dynamic agriculture market with every possible and desirable crop being produced and sold using any method that meets with the approval of the buying public that does not spread external harm. Private sector labeling must be allowed to replace government-mandated labeling—consumers will be better served with competitive certification and labels and the ability to reject products whose labeling fails to meet their personal standards. Private individuals or corporations must bear full responsibility for damages they inflict on their neighbors with unwanted externalities including pesticides, herbicides, and genetic modifications.”
- Abolish all estate and inheritance taxes.
- Abolish Abraham Lincoln’s Department of Agriculture immediately. Farming is not a federal activity. It is local!
- Reduce barriers to international trade. End all subsidies and security arrangements with any country that excludes US farm products. Grok lists the following countries in that category: Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, and Vietnam. I would add Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
- Abolish compulsory schooling and homeschool regulations.
- End all green-energy subsidies which encourage the destruction of farmlands.
- Abolish eminent domain. If present trends continue, it is inevitable that surging left-leaning urban populations will crave rural land. The progressive-left could not care less about property rights! Before the political pressure builds and political power shifts to the urban left, we must lock in the property rights of rural people and constitutionally abolish any and all eminent-domain powers. We must protect absolutely the private property rights of farmers and rural folks, lest the heartland begin to be littered with 1950s-style brutalist skyscraper apartments for the proletarian masses. If I were drafting the constitutional amendment, I would put in a dead man’s switch.
“Any attempt by any government to seize private property in violation of this Constitution shall constitute an immediate, self-executing, and irrevocable repeal and revocation of this entire Constitution for any and all purposes, and all powers and rights thereunder shall immediately revert back to the people.”
Note: This is by no means a complete list. Your own suggestions and proposals are welcome!
Political Strategy
Logic tells us that when you are outnumbered in a fight, you must concentrate your resources and confront your opponent where his forces are the weakest. Our vote is strongest in rural areas and this has been true for 50 years. We need to focus and concentrate national resources in rural areas generally but also strategically target certain areas to focus national resources to even the odds against our opponent in rural America: the GOP.
After the first draft of this memo was circulated, I learned from Tony D’Orazio that the LP did briefly try this kind of strategy in Wyoming in 2020 and elected a state legislator.
Specifically, we should go after the following prizes:
1. A sheriff’s race. Keep in mind that sheriffs can effectively nullify unjust and unconstitutional laws by refusing to enforce them. Grok lists a few counties where we could compete in a sheriff’s race:
- Cheshire County, New Hampshire;
- Teton County, Wyoming;
- Park County, Montana.
2. A congressional seat. Just one seat in Congress would give us a daily voice to blast the machinations of the uniparty. Grok suggests the following districts:
- Wyoming’s at-large district;
- Montana’s 1st district (Western Montana);
- Montana’s 2nd district (Eastern Montana).
3. Control of just one state in a presidential race, senate race, and governor’s race. Grok suggests the following states as giving us the best chance:
- New Hampshire;
- Wyoming;
- Alaska;
- North Dakota.
I would go with Wyoming based on its smaller population, smaller size than Alaska, and fewer Democrats than New Hampshire (and thus a lower potential plurality needed). In comparison to North Dakota, Wyoming has more contiguous states (six versus three) and is somewhat closer to the geographic center of the United States.
We should commence a long-term plan to win Wyoming’s electoral votes and maybe play a kingmaker role in the Electoral College. Two Senate seats and a governorship can be targeted with a similar expenditure of resources. This is a workable and comprehensive rural strategy that can immediately begin the fight to liberate rural Americans from the uniparty.
James Ostrowski (@JimOstrowski) is running to be chairman of the Libertarian Party. He is an author and attorney based in Buffalo, New York. His many books include Progressivism: A Primer on the Idea Destroying America and Government Schools Are Bad for Your Kids: What You Need to Know.
Read his full platform, notes, and résumé here.
