Ex GOP Congressman Joins LP, Seeks VP, Then Leaves

Adapted from the Wikinews series On the campaign trail and originally posted at IPR

As soon as Donald Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination, Libertarian Party (LP) membership applications doubled. Longtime Republican consultant Mary Matalin, former Massachusetts governor William Weld, and former Congressman Kerry Bentivolio of Michigan, were among those who left the GOP in May to find a new home in the LP. While Matalin enthusiastically backed Libertarian presidential runner-up Austin Petersen, and Weld won the party’s vice presidential nomination; Bentivolio, who had endorsed Dr. Ben Carson for president before joining the party, had a much different experience.

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Obergefell v. Hodges and the Cult of the Court

Justice Alito

“Americans, whatever their thinking on [same-sex marriage], should worry about what the [Obergefell] majority’s claim of power portends.”

–Justice Alito dissenting in Obergefell v. Hodges

Obergefell v. Hodges, which struck State prohibitions on same-sex marriage, establishes a troubling precedent for democratic institutions and limited government.  Through the “reasoned judgment” of five of its nine justices, the Supreme Court bypassed traditional democratic means to establish the issuance of public benefits for same-sex marriages as a fundamental right under Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process.  Though many libertarians now celebrate the decision, a careful reading should temper any jubilation.  This decision promotes the Cult of the Court, which may now work to restrict rights and actually expand government.