President Obama has won the 2012 election against Mitt Romney. He won 303 electoral college votes compared to Mitt Romney's 206 electoral votes. Obama received 50% of the popular vote, Romney 48%. Mitt Romney lost in every single battleground state except for North Carolina. He lost in Iowa, Nevada, Virginia, New Hampshire, Florida, Ohio, etc.
Mitt Romney was not a good candidate. He did not appeal to the electorate, he was not looked upon favorably, he had no pizazz or oomph! He flipped his position on every issue imaginable. He was the ultimate politician.
Yet, Mitt Romney could have won. How? By courting the libertarian element of the Republican party. Libertarians are a vibrant group of young and passionate voters who wanted a candidate. Mitt Romney, instead of adopting them, shunned them. Ron Paul, the most libertarian candidate running in the Republican primary, was ignored by Republicans. His name was not allowed to be mentioned at the Republican Convention! Ron Paul delegates were kicked out of the convention and had their signs torn up before their eyes. Romney adopted no libertarian ideals or principles. Libertarians were left without someone to vote for as a result.
Well, take a gander at this graph below.
As you can see, the number of people who voted for Ron Paul in the primaries is greater than the difference between those who voted for Obama and Romney in the general election in several battleground states. If Romney had won these states listed above, i.e., New Hampshire, Virginia, Florida, and Ohio, Romney would have more electoral votes than Obama and would have won the election.
Note that this assumes a two facts in order to state this shows Ron Paul supporters could have changed the outcome of the election.
1) Assumes all Ron Paul primary voters did not vote for Romney.
2) Assumes significant portion of the Ron Paul supporters would have voted for Romney, ranging from around 45% to almost 100%.
The fact is that a very significant portion of Ron Paul primary voters did not vote for Romney. No way no how. Source? This is the best I could find, stating 66% of Ron Paul supporters intend to vote for Johnson. I will be looking for more data on that though. But, . . . they didn't. Trust me.
See this video of Ron Paul supporters speaking of their future voting intentions.
Furthermore, not many people vote in primaries, and although libertarians are active, many, many libertarians did not vote in the primary. How many? I do not know. But there are more libertarians than just those that voted in the primary for Ron Paul who could have been persuaded to vote for a Republican appealing to their mission of Constitutionally limited government.
Another interesting note. It would appear that other Republicans lost due to their inability to garner libertarian votes. One example would be Representative Guinta (R) of New Hampshire losing to challenger Shea-Porter (D). Former Rep. Guinta lost by 3%, while the Libertarian candidate in that race, Kelly, garnered 4.3% of the vote. Source. (Interesting side-note The governor, all US reps, and the two US Senators of NH are all women). (source= Google it.)
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The Facts:
The Republican party needs to adopt libertarianism principles. Otherwise they cannot win. The Republican party platform is dying. They garnered about 6% of the black vote and 29% of the Latino vote. They virtually give up the entire East and West coast. They have lost credibility.
This video by Reason.com is spot-on. 3 libertarian principles Republicans should adopt to appeal to more people. 1) Welcome immigrants, don't shun them, 2) end the failed war on drugs, and 3) stay out of social issues such as reproductive rights and homosexuality. That is a winning platform.
Here is a video of Rudy Giuliani, former Republican Mayor of New York City and all-around imbecile, admit that the Republican party needs to adopt libertarianism in order to win. Note, he is an idiot, but it shows that even elements of the party know what it must do.
I highly recommend reading Doug Wead's short article on why the Republican party should adopt libertarianism in their 2016 run for the President. Doug Wead is a New York Times best selling author, presidential historian, and motivational speaker. Wead's article. Wead recommends Rand Paul. We will have to see what kind of a Senator he establishes himself as but it is a real possibility.
LESSON:
-- The Republican Party has a dying platform; Libertarians have enthusiasm, far-reaching appeal, and are without a party to vote for. A 3rd party will never win. The conclusion is apparent. The Republican Party can adopt a libertarian-leaning message, and they can win.
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