Saving the UOS

Fourteen months before the election, and ten months ahead of their major party rivals, the Libertarians assembled in the Imperial Ballroom of the Sheraton Center Hotel in New York City to fine-tune the platform, give a good college yell, and pick their candidate for President of the United and Overgoverned States.

The fringes were out in force, most visibly on the book tables outside the main meeting room, where one found The Case against God nestling up beside The Case for Gold; also, a sheet called Young Libertarian, which looked forward eagerly to “the break-up of the continental United States.” At the other end, there was the courtly young man who was attending the convention both as an alternate and as a correspondent for American Opinion. A certain apoliticality inheres in the very nature of the party: At one point, the national chairman had the unprecedented impertinence to ask a TV camera crew to turn down its lights (what unself-respecting politician would risk the immortalizing of his beautiful mug?) For the most part, though, the convention was seriously dedicated to the business of organizing a campaign that would best put the Libertarian philosophy before the public.

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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Presidential Election

Fourteen months before the election, and ten months ahead of their major party rivals, the Libertarians assembled in the Imperial Ballroom of the Sheraton Center Hotel in New York City to fine-tune the platform, give a good college yell, and pick their candidate for President of the United and Overgoverned States.

The fringes were out in force, most visibly on the book tables outside the main meeting room, where one found The Case against God nestling up beside The Case for Gold; also, a sheet called Young Libertarian, which looked forward eagerly to “the break-up of the continental United States.” At the other end, there was the courtly young man who was attending the convention both as an alternate and as a correspondent for American Opinion. A certain apoliticality inheres in the very nature of the party: At one point, the national chairman had the unprecedented impertinence to ask a TV camera crew to turn down its lights (what unself-respecting politician would risk the immortalizing of his beautiful mug?) For the most part, though, the convention was seriously dedicated to the business of organizing a campaign that would best put the Libertarian philosophy before the public.