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Matthew Walther’s Aleppo Moment

Feature: What I Saw at the ‘Let Gary Debate!’ Rally

September 30, 2016

I guess there are worse things than being a libertarian, but I still don’t want anyone to think I’m one. That’s why I have my press badge on even though the event I’m covering is outdoors in Washington, D.C., on the corner of New Hampshire and M streets, freely accessible to random passersby—including the first person that talks to me.

"Why are there so many white guys standing together?" he says. "Should I have something to fear?"

"Maybe," I say.

About 40 libertarians are here in front of a nondescript plate-glass office building near Dupont Circle to protest Gary Johnson’s exclusion from the two remaining official presidential debates. "Swag packs and refreshments will be provided," according to Johnson’s campaign website. The Libertarian Party nominee is a self-described "entrepreneur in the cannabis space," so I am very curious about the contents of these goody bags.

You can tell this is a Libertarian function because virtually no one is in appropriate footwear. It’s late September and a soft drizzle is coming down but I spot at least four pairs of sandals. Men in red chinos are wearing black Oxfords. Others, in black suits, are wearing brown ones. There are also a handful of young men sporting a shoe that I swear I have only ever seen adorning the feet of people who think all taxation is theft and have tweeted about #Gamergate at least once in the last sixth months: a kind of rubber-soled thing that I would describe as not athletic not dress nor, in any dressing-down context I can think of, casual. (The only way I have ever been able to find them is by searching "Kmart black men’s shoes" in Google Images.)

The invitation I saw was not very clear, but I soon realize that Johnson himself will not be joining us today. Instead he is represented by Terry Michael, who describes himself as a "senior press adviser" to the campaign. "Senior because of the gray," he adds, pointing to his smoky hairline, which has receded to the back of his head. He is wearing what look like normal shoes.

Terry is a registered Democrat who used to do press for the Democratic National Committee before working for the Commission on Presidential Debates, the same outfit whose principals—Janet Brown, Frank Fahrenkopf, and Mike McCurry—appear on the signs reading "The Deciders denied millions debate representation" carried by about half the people standing in front of us.

"I actually wrote the press release announcing the Commission on Presidential Debates," he says.

When Terry was a kid, he used to ride around with his mother bringing Democrats to the polls. In 1960 he knocked on doors for Kennedy. By the mid-80s, he considered himself a centrist Democrat. A decade or so later he was a fully radicalized follower of Thomas Jefferson who, he points out, "founded the Democratic Party."

Now he talks about how he thinks the Libertarians are the party of the future, with huge support from Millennials. He sounds optimistic.

"We’ve already won the culture war," he says, "which is why the so-cons don’t know what to do."

He is at least right about the second part.

Terry is an amiable guy and a reasonable Libertarian. He thinks Social Security has to be phased out gradually over time. He says the official party platform is far more moderate than one might guess on a wide range of issues.

Johnson himself has gone farther than his party, telling the Washington Examiner that it is fine with him if the Little Sisters of the Poor are forced to finance contraception. There is usually little love lost between serious Christians and paid-up libertarians, but in the past a question like this one would have been a no-brainer: No one should have to pay for anything for anybody.

This seemingly cynical shift in priorities is one of the many things that confuse me about Johnson and the Libertarian Party in 2016. Another is the lawsuit they brought against the debate commission earlier this year in conjunction with Jill Stein. A judge dismissed the suit in August, pointing out that the Commission on Presidential Debates is a private 501(c)(3) organization free to make its own rules and invite or not invite whatever candidates it wants. I can’t be the only one who thinks court made a very libertarian sort of argument.

Kyle, a senior at Longwood University, the site of next week’s vice presidential debate, is here to talk about a rally he’s holding for students who want Johnson’s running mate Bill Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, to appear alongside Tim Kaine and Mike Pence. He tells me the goal now is persuasion, not coercion, but that he supported the lawsuit.

I point out, with what I hope is a very needling-sounding libertarian tone, that Reason magazine is also a 501(c)(3) organization. Should Trump and Clinton be able to sue them for not getting as many favorable cover stories as Gary Johnson?

"That’s an interesting question. It’s an excellent hypothetical," he says.

I once said something similar to a libertarian interlocutor who suggested to me that it would be okay to privatize sidewalks because a fully unleashed economy would be dynamic enough to provide us with inexpensive and user-friendly hovercraft.

"But," Kyle continues, "Reason magazine doesn’t control the only televised debates in the nation."

I barely refrain from asking him why we shouldn’t just let the market decide: If the commission isn’t providing an adequate service, surely another outfit will come along and do a better job, right?

The main event today, if you can call it that, comes when Terry gives a short speech in which he repeats his joke about being a "senior adviser" because of his hair. The two rows of Johnson supporters yell out chants. Those on Terry’s right say, "Let Gary debate!" Folks on the other side respond with, "Let Gary win!"

This goes on, with occasional pauses, for a total of about 10 minutes.

Dustin
Dustin

After Terry finishes speaking I chat with Dustin and Reese, who strike me as more typical of their party’s base. Neither is a local. They have carpooled here from Waynesboro and Lynchburg. Reese only recently switched his allegiance from Bernie Sanders, but Dustin has been a Libertarian man since 2002. (Before that, he says, he was a "principled non-voter.")

"I don’t want government meddling in my life or other people’s lives," Dustin says. "I don’t want them meddling with my paycheck or my personal choices or other people’s personal choices."

I ask them about Social Security.

"Would you phase it out?"

Reese chimes in.

"Privatize it!"

Minimum wage?

"I do not personally support it," says Dustin. "It is not very well articulated. Why not just make it 75 dollars or 150?"

But what if McDonald’s wanted to pay people five dollars an hour in New York City?

Reese
Reese

"That is a concern. But I don’t think passing laws will fix it. If McDonald’s doesn’t pay people a reasonable amount, they can go elsewhere."

I ask Reese about abortion.

"As long as it doesn’t bother anybody, it should be legal."

Eventually I start wondering about the goody bags.

"Is there pizza?" Terry says.

Here we go.

"Is there food?"

There doesn’t seem to be a clear answer."

"Well, there are soft drinks."

I guess there was never going to be any dope.