Could a Libertarian-Green Party Alliance topple the Republican Party?

Could a coalition of Libertarians and members of the Green Party unseat one of the big two parties – the Democrats or the Republicans?  That is the subject of a post I stumbled across this morning.  Here are a few excerpts:

There is significant overlap between the policy goals of the Green party and those of the Libertarian party, despite deep philosophical differences on the role of government. A multi-state coalition among representatives of these two parties could forge a path for viable opposition to the two-party stranglehold on power. The effects would likely see one of the two major parties pushed into third place.

As the numbers stand now, a Green-Lib coalition might be able to shave as much as 10% off Democratic support nationwide, assuming Democrats or liberal independents —still wary of repeating the 2000 election, where a Green candidate effectively denied the Democratic candidate the White House— believed the coalition was big enough to keep the Republicans at bay. Republicans might lose anywhere from 20% to 35% of their support, as they struggle against Green-Lib claims that they are not rights-oriented and not green enough.

Interesting.  Here in Orange County there are a good number of Republicans who lean Libertarian, but tend to be more socially conservative than real Libertarians.  And there are quite a few Libertarians who still cling to too many of their old GOP viewpoints.  However, there are also a lot of Libertarians, throughout this nation, who are fairly liberal on social issues – and who just might partner with the Green Party if it meant unseating, for example, the Republicans.

There are, to be fair, also quite a few Libertarians who came over from the Democratic Party.  I think they too might be open to partnering with the Green Party.

We have a member of the Green Party on our blog staff, Duane Roberts.  He is in fact a candidate for the U.S. Senate.  I intend to vote for him in November.  Duane and I agree on a lot of issues, generally as it regards social justice. 

Could such a coalition work?  We are witnessing an analogous pairing in England right now, where the Tories had to climb in bed with the Liberal Democrats.  It is an uneasy coalition, but it is working, for the most part.

It will be interesting to see if something like this develops…


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