Dear Friend of Liberty,
"It's scary when the libertarian is the best speaker at an event like this. He was good!"
That's basically what the "progressive" standing next to me said after Gov. Gary Johnson's speech to the Stop Watching Us rally.
A coalition of more than 100 organizations from across the political map (authoritarians excluded) gathered on Saturday in Washington, D.C., to stand up for the Fourth Amendment right to privacy.
While some libertarians participated, the crowd included many from the far left and right. So I was pleasantly surprised by how enthusiastically the crowd responded to Gary Johnson's speech.
Below is a list of worldwide media coverage of the event that mentions Libertarian Party or libertarian participation:
- The Daily Caller
- Reuters
- Breitbart
- C-Span
- The Guardian
- Reason
- Russia Today
- OpEdNews
- PJMedia
- Huffington Post
- Washington Post
Earlier in the week, a blogger at Salon tried to discourage progressives from joining forces with Libertarians at this event — perhaps scared that progressives might be tempted to take a look at more of our libertarian principles?
Anthony Gregory of the Independent Institute did a fine job pointing out, "If there is any hope in beating back the surveillance state, it will surely require more than a fringe coalition of Democrats."
I often encourage running for office as a Libertarian to get our message out. But another great way Libertarians can promote change is to join forces with people on the left or right on specific issues where we agree.
Yours in liberty,
Wes Benedict
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee