By Daniel Nardini

There seems to be no real political center anymore. The Democratic Party in so many ways has been infiltrated by organizations on the political left. The Republican Party has largely been infiltrated by the political right and what is being called the “alt-Right” (alternative Right meaning extremists such as neo-nazis, Ku Klux Klan, White Supremacists, White Nationalists, etc.). Now it seems that the alt-Right (or alt-right) has taken over the third largest party in the United States; the Libertarian Party. The Libertarian Party, which has existed since 1971, had called for laissez faire capitalism, complete freedom for the individual, protection of private property, a strictly non-interventionist foreign policy, the rights for gays and other minorities, and fiscal conservatism. In fact, the Libertarian Party had called for the rights of gays and trans-people decades before this issue had gone mainstream. At the Libertarian National Convention held in Reno, Nevada, in late May, a radical alt-right faction called the Mises Caucus (according to high ranking former members of the Libertarian Party Joseph Bishop-Henchman and Andy Craig) took total control of the party.

According to Henchman and Craig, the Mises Caucus will completely take the Libertarian Party into a very dark alt-right direction. Already, the Mises Caucus has stripped away the platform on abortion, and there are many members in the Libertarian Party who are in fact anti-gay and anti-trans-people. Just as equally telling were tweets against gay people by some party people in various state party branches, and the recent removal of the party platform against discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity or sexual orientation (this is a dog whistle for bigots and racists to join the party). But this takeover is much more than just about the takeover of the Libertarian Party. It is the alt-right on the march as the Democratic Party and the political left are in retreat. Indeed, as I pointed out in last week’s article that the Texas Republican Party has cast doubt on the very 2020 presidential election. In my view, if anything, it was one of the most monitored and freest elections in America’s history. But there is a growing movement among Republicans and the alt-right that the election was totally fraudulent, and therefore must be “overturned.” But what I am seeing and what Henchman and Craig are seeing is the attempted effort to change America into an alt-right hell on earth.

In some ways I am personally seeing that now. I am seeing more and more Confederate flags appearing throughout my area of Illinois. In the “Land of Lincoln,” where our 16th President Abraham Lincoln came from, I am seeing ever more Confederate flags. When I was growing up, no one in Illinois ever flew a Confederate flag. That would be like flying a Nazi flag in Israel. But it is happening now, and I sincerely doubt all of the Confederate flags being flown fro people’s homes is due to “Southern pride.” Likewise, my poor wife had been subjected to racism at work by being given work schedules with either too many work days (like seven days in a row), or too few days. We have had to complain to higher administration that this was unacceptable, and only after that did my wife’s work schedule return to something that was within a 40-hour work week. No one else at her job is treated this way, and we both know that racism plays a part in this. There is no doubt in my mind that when one political extreme or another comes into play, we all suffer from where the political winds blow. Now it seems that the extreme political right and alt-right is gaining the ascendancy, and it is coming back with a vengeance.