The Libertarian Party is discussed across several episodes of The Bob Zadek Show less as an electoral organization than as a vehicle for libertarian ideas. Host Bob Zadek, who says he has been active in the party in the past, describes it as distinct from libertarianism itself, which he calls a philosophy and a way of examining the relationship between citizens and their government We Are All Libertarians (2013). Guests and callers debate whether libertarians should work inside the party or inside the Republican Party, and whether the party’s influence is best measured in votes or in the spread of its positions.
Structural impediments to third parties
In a 2011 episode, a caller from Portland, Oregon, asked whether a libertarian seeking office should run as a Libertarian Party member or enter the Republican Party and apply libertarian principles there. Nick Gillespie answered that he does not spend much time worrying about partisan politics and that influence can be had either way, citing Ron Paul and his son Rand Paul as Republicans who have changed political discourse. Gillespie also said that Libertarian Party candidates over the years have influenced people and cost elections for Republicans or Democrats Nick Gillespie – The Voice of Reason (2011).
Bob Zadek’s own answer in that episode was that Democrats and Republicans have built in so many structural impediments that the deck is stacked against third parties, from funding to access to media to primaries, making it very difficult practically to win an election as a third-party candidate. He described a third party being created off the books through a growing mass of independents who are not affiliated with a party Nick Gillespie – The Voice of Reason (2011).
Zadek returned to the same theme in a 2013 episode, saying that he does not aspire for the Libertarian Party to become a dominant political party and that third parties are never very successful in the United States because the government is not organized that way and the deck is stacked too much against them. He framed libertarianism instead as a lens through which voters should examine important issues We Are All Libertarians (2013).
Gary Johnson and the 2016 vote
In a January 2012 episode, Zadek introduced Governor Gary Johnson, former two-term Governor of New Mexico, as a candidate for the Libertarian nomination for President, and said the Libertarian Party is on the ballot in all 50 states. Zadek cited a recent political poll indicating that about two-thirds of Americans would consider voting for a third-party candidate, and described the country as unhappy with the current slate of possible Republican candidates and with President Obama The Triumph of Principle Over Politics (2012).
Johnson’s own remarks in that episode concerned job creation, a balanced budget submitted to Congress in 2013, and replacing the federal tax system with the Fair Tax, which he described as a 23% consumption tax that does away with the 16th Amendment The Triumph of Principle Over Politics (2012).
In a 2020 episode on the Electoral College, Ray Haynes cited the 4 million voters who supported Gary Johnson in 2016, saying that if those 4 million had voted for Donald Trump, he would not have lost the popular vote, and that Trump would therefore have to pay more attention to what those 4 million people thought What’s Wrong with “Winner Takes All”? Another Look at the Electoral College (2020). Haynes also said that Ralph Nader in 2000 affected the outcome of who became president by pulling enough votes away from Al Gore in Florida to give George Bush a 537-vote win What’s Wrong with “Winner Takes All”? Another Look at the Electoral College (2020).
Third parties under a national popular vote
Asked by Zadek how the National Popular Vote compact would affect third-party candidates, Haynes said the US has a long tradition of two parties and that third-party candidates are people driven by an issue rather than by a party. He argued that under the compact an issue-driven voter’s vote would matter no matter where they live, and that even the large parties would have to worry about what the Libertarian Party thinks in order to get as much of its vote as possible What’s Wrong with “Winner Takes All”? Another Look at the Electoral College (2020). Zadek framed the question by noting that a candidate could theoretically win about 21% of the popular vote by picking up scraps around the country without winning any state What’s Wrong with “Winner Takes All”? Another Look at the Electoral College (2020).
The Mises Caucus and internal conflict
In a 2022 episode, John Giadjopoulos raised the Libertarian Party’s Mises Caucus while discussing character in politics. He said the New Hampshire Libertarian Party had tweeted aggressive imagery to denigrate John McCain, which he called terrible, and that a vocal swath of supporters in the LP said that was what was needed and that they had to get aggressive. Giadjopoulos said the Mises Caucus probably aligns with himself and Zadek more than any other political faction on core beliefs, citing free markets, maximum individual liberty, and opposition to interventionist wars, but that he and Zadek would likely have found the tweet horribly offensive Dick Morris on the 2022 and 2024 Elections (2022).
Across episodes: the party versus the philosophy
The same question — whether libertarians should build the Libertarian Party or work through other means — runs across the episodes. In 2011, Gillespie said influence can be had either way and that politics is not what matters most, while Zadek described structural impediments and an independent movement being created off the books Nick Gillespie – The Voice of Reason (2011). In 2013, Zadek said he does not aspire for the party to become dominant and presented libertarianism as a lens for examining issues We Are All Libertarians (2013). By 2020, Haynes treated the party as a bloc whose votes the major parties must court under a national popular vote What’s Wrong with “Winner Takes All”? Another Look at the Electoral College (2020), and by 2022 Giadjopoulos described an internal fight over the Mises Caucus’s aggressive tactics Dick Morris on the 2022 and 2024 Elections (2022). The later treatment shifts from whether the party can win to how its supporters should behave and how its votes matter.
What the sources do not cover
The excerpts do not give the Libertarian Party’s founding date, its platform, its membership figures, or its internal governance. They do not state the outcome of any nomination contest, including whether Gary Johnson received the 2012 Libertarian nomination. They do not describe the Mises Caucus’s organizational history or the content of the New Hampshire tweets beyond Giadjopoulos’s characterization. No excerpt states the name of any bill, the holding of any case, or the amendment any case turned on.