Keep an open mind and tune in for the Libertarian debate

If you’ve become disgusted by the Republican Party and there’s no chance you’ll vote for a Democrat in November, you may want to tune in to Fox Friday night for the first nationally-televised Libertarian presidential debate.

“A nationally televised debate of Libertarian presidential candidates is long overdue, and we are delighted that it is finally happening,” said Libertarian Party chair Nicholas Sarwark.

“We urge all Americans to tell their friends, co-workers, and family to watch this important debate and see they have a choice,” he said. “They do not have to settle for candidates who are bigoted and insulting; who curry favor with the titans of Wall Street; who put our troops in harm’s way; who have no intention of stopping runaway government spending; and who force Americans to buy lousy yet unaffordable insurance plans.”

Indeed.

The pre-recorded debate is set to air at 9 p.m. ET on the Fox Business Network. It’s hosted by libertarian-leaning journalist John Stossel and Friday’s airing will be the first of two parts.

Matt Welch, the editor over at Reason, will also take part in the event with a post-debate review of the candidates’ positions.

Here’s how he described the event:

Both shows have been taped already, so I can exclusively pre-report that Gary Johnson is decidedly Gary Johnson (squishy from a libertarian-purist point of view on stuff like forcing anti-gay-marriage bakers to do business with homosexualists, sharpest in the field on the whats and whys of specifically cutting government), Austin Petersen looks like a cheeky 35-year-old playing at running for president (“Don’t hate me because I’m pretty!”), and John McAfee has taken the whole “Most interesting man in the world” ad campaign as some kind of personal dare. Crudely speaking, Johnson’s the pragmatist, McAfee’s the philosopher, and Petersen’s the hustler.

Areas of disagreement flare up with the aforementioned Nazi cakes, abortion, Social Security, and gender-pay equality. Each candidate has moments that feel less than ready for prime time, and oh man if John McAfee was on a national debate stage talking about whatever the hell happened there down in Central America. But the biggest sensation for those of us who have become numb watching eight months of decidedly statist discourse might the sheer relief at seeing policy discussed from an unabashedly libertarian point of view.

If the event can muster enough viewership and media buzz after it airs, it could further improve what is already beginning to look like a good election year for the eventual Libertarian nominee.

“If this isn’t an opportunity for the Libertarian nominee — and I hope to be the Libertarian nominee — there will never be an opportunity, in my opinion,” Johnson recently said of the current state of presidential politics.

Johnson currently has a lawsuit pending to get the Libertarian nominee on the debate stage with the two establishment candidates during the general election.

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