Peter Thiel is a controversial libertarian tech investor who plans to leave his perch on the Board of Facebook later this year. He wants to focus on helping elect candidates that support Donald Trump’s agenda.
Part of his political-economic thoughts famously hover on the notion he raised in 2009 that two stakes in the heart of capitalist democracy are the vast increases in welfare beneficiaries and letting women vote. As he put it, “two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians.”
Well, Peter, it is our plan to elect more women to office, as well as help further diversify our political and business worlds. Stories just this week about record-breaking numbers of women and people of color running for office in 2022 show Republicans and Democrats nationwide are on that bus.
Thiel’s version of Make America Great Again by changing who gets to vote and weakening support for those legitimately needing a helping hand looks like convenient libertarianism at best. It would be easy to just say, well, there those folks go again and they are not serious. But they are. So what should you do?
1. Since his candidates apparently felt entitled to change our voting system, let’s make sure we pay attention to who runs our local elections — and help get everyone registered to vote who is eligible.
2. Make sure we all vote.
3. The basic libertarian idea is one of fairness to all, so let’s apply that to political practice.
That may not satisfy Peter, but the way the rest of us look at the world will be much better represented.
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