Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce her running mate next week. Harris is reportedly considering several governors who could theoretically appeal to moderate voters in battleground states: Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are also in the running.
Which of these people is best from a libertarian perspective is less clear than on the Republican side, where North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum clearly stood out above the other candidates. (Unfortunately, former President Donald Trump chose Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, whose disdain for libertarian economic policy was notable.) Still, it is possible to analyze them.
First, the national figures. Unlike the others on this list, Buttigieg is a member of the current administration and is responsible for implementing federal policy. Unfortunately, his tenure as Secretary of Transportation will not be remembered as particularly libertarian. He has offered to remove bureaucratic “barriers” in the wake of transportation-related disasters, but has made no real effort to engage with that bureaucracy. Conversely, when things went wrong, he directed his anger at private companies like Southwest Airlines and Norfolk Southern Airlines, rather than at the antiquated, hands-off regulators that made their jobs harder.
Buttigieg seems more like a technocrat than a progressive. He believes smart, competent people like him should run the government and make things more efficient. When he ran for president in 2020, he was featured on the liberal news site Vox Explained He sees himself as a “product of meritocracy,” and I don’t mean that as a compliment. He infuriates the left, but that doesn’t make him a friend of freedom. Interestingly enough, his foreign policy views are also somewhat Hawkish Compared to other standard Democrats, this is hardly an improvement.
And then there’s Kelly, an astronaut and husband to former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was shot in the head by a psychopathic gunman, who is certainly an inspirational figure, but his politics largely fall along party lines. Voted He supports 95.5% of President Joe Biden’s approved policies, and has deviated from the party’s progressive wing on energy and environmental issues. be against Green New Deal and Voted in favor He opposes increased oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, but he is also one of the Democrats’ most outspoken voices. Gun Control.
Arizona senators tend to be more individualistic, bipartisan, and independent. See Kyrsten Sinema. For these reasons, Kerry Slightly It is preferred over other options.
Now, about the governors. Both Walz and Beshear were elected in 2018, so they have longer tenures than Shapiro, who only took office last year. Unfortunately, their tenures are not particularly inspiring, as they coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, which provided an opportunity for them to implement policies anathema to freedom.
Waltz Implemented Like other blue-state governors, he implemented many heavy-handed, anti-liberty mitigation policies, and also maintained a government hotline for residents to report their neighbors. For violating social distancing rulesWhen Republicans expressed dissatisfaction, he responded, “I’m not going to take away the phone numbers people can call to keep their families safe.” That alone is enough to disqualify him.
Meanwhile, Governor Beshear sought to continue lockdowns, mask mandates and school closures.Since the pandemic beganIn fact, he reinstated mask mandates for public school students in August 2021. To tell“We are now in a situation where we cannot allow children to enter these buildings unprotected and unvaccinated and be confronted with the delta variant.” This too deserves disqualification.
Waltz and Besher Supportive Legalization, or at least Decriminalizationmarijuana. But it’s hard to see the whole picture. Wrestling with a 5-year-old wearing a mask thingThe best thing that can be said about them is do not have Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
That leaves Mr. Shapiro, who has mercifully had little time to do anything to upset libertarians during his time in office. To his credit, he has supported some encouraging initiatives. One of his first acts after taking office was to eliminate the college degree requirement for government employees. He has also championed a few smaller initiatives. progress He is working to reform the state’s occupational licensing system. SupporterHe supported some degree of school choice, but ultimately vetoed voucher legislation after facing intense pressure from teachers unions.
Considering how popular he is in Pennsylvania, Must-Harris will win the state — Shapiro has recently been seen as the leading vice presidential candidate, and like Buttigieg, he seems to be really unsettling the far left. New Republic I called him. “The only vice presidential candidate who could ruin democratic unity.” That would be amusing enough, but the main criticism from the left has been his harsh condemnation of recent pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses. A vocal supporter of IsraelAmerica few There are legitimate concerns about staying out of the Middle East and stopping spending American tax dollars on expensive foreign wars.
At the same time, it’s hard to imagine Vice President Shapiro going in a significantly different direction than the other candidates on foreign policy. On most other issues, he’s only slightly better. All of this adds up to a weak —very Weak—Libertarian preference for Shapiro.
