Libertarians and Socialists and Jill Stein—Oh, My!

The libertarian guys were indeed all guys—twelve or so, in a greenroom, standing around a TV tuned to “Wheel of Fortune.” Two of them, Chase Oliver and Lars Mapstead, were candidates vying for the Libertarian Party’s nomination; the others were former candidates, podcasters, entourage members, or all of the above. “Lars and I were just in North Carolina debating each other,” Oliver said. “Tomorrow we fly to Indiana for a convention, then a debate in Pennsylvania, then another one in New Jersey. Libertarians love to debate, especially against each other.” Oliver, who describes himself as “armed and gay,” wore a lapel pin inscribed with the Starfleet insignia. “Yes, I’m a Trekkie,” he said. “After being a libertarian, it’s the second most nerdy thing about me.” Mapstead wore a lapel pin of his own design, bearing the words “Unrig the System.” “That’s my message,” he said. “The system’s rigged. It’s the one thing everyone can agree on.” In the 2016 election, Jill Stein got more votes in decisive swing states than the differential between the votes for Trump and Hillary Clinton; in the 2022 Georgia Senate race, Oliver got eighty-one thousand votes, forcing a runoff. “They call us spoilers,” he said, scoffing. “It’s the system that’s spoiled.”