An Endorsement of Justin Amash

By the end of this article, you will be ready to vote for Congressman Justin Amash.

As President Trump mocks former Republican Congressman Justin Amash for his audacity to vote for the president’s impeachment, his leaving the Republican Party, and then sacrificing a winnable district in order to challenge the President as a Libertarian, many Republicans and Democrats are arguing over the potential consequences of an Amash candidacy.

John McCain’s daughter believes that an Amash Presidency will hurt Joe Biden’s campaign for Senate (or President), depending on the quality of his nap time preceding speaking events. Politico worries that Amash threatens the two-party system. The Washington Post is wisely concerned that Amash poses a threat to Biden’s chances in Michigan and whomever wins Michigan will occupy the White House in 2021.

However, my concern is that those moderate Republicans are more likely to vote for Senator Biden than they are Justin Amash. Joe Biden is still a constant constable and fixture in the Washington establishment and every good Corporatist can trust that the former Vice-President will support the corrupt processes and status quo (what the Trump followers call “the swamp”), whereas an Amash Presidency could be unpredictable.

Business adores predictability and for good economic reasons. If I worked for Amash I would make a long term, easily-understood economic policy that both Democrats and Republicans could support, the center of my campaign. No one wants more uncertainty in a year when everything has become uncertain.

Of course, Congressman Amash may have given the Libertarian Party their first Congressional representative in U.S. history, but that may not be enough. Amash himself has made it clear that his priority is destroying the duopoly which has led to the erosion of Constitutional and American traditions over the years.

While he’s fairly libertarian philosophically, he doesn’t believe that political parties are the way to go. Congressman Amash, represents an alternative and perhaps a sympathetic nostalgia towards President Washington’s appreciation for the “benign influence of good laws under a free government.” That doesn’t make him a Libertarian partisan. That could be a problem for him seeking the nomination. Also, he’s never taken his clothes off in public, something libertarians seem to have embraced over the years as a dog whistle of wistful loyalty to the cause.

I understand why mainstream, long-suffering Republicans would oppose Congressman Amash as an alternative to Donald Trump. Congressman Amash has not come to the table to compromise. Instead, he created an adversarial Freedom Caucus and then voted to impeach a Republican President. He’s an ideologue. Congressman Amash supports the Constitution and freedom and process and fiscal responsibility for a government that, if we’re honest, couldn’t hardly function if it paid respects to the principles upon which it was established. He’s also of Palestinian decent. That doesn’t seem to go over well with anyone outside of the very, very far-left wing of the Democratic Party.

But I do endorse Congressman Justin Amash’s campaign for President. I’m forty years old. Congressman Amash is about ten months younger than I am. However, these two mindless fossils, these mumbling relics unworthy of an Athenian Pnyx – they don’t appeal to Millennials or Generation Xers or, well, anyone but the Boomers. And whenever I hear anyone tell me that we have to vote for Trump or Biden, all I can think is, “OK Boomer.”

Moreover, wouldn’t it be nice to have a humble intellectual that has opposed both establishments as President during a crisis in which both parties have failed to adequately respond? Republicans can’t deal with a pandemic unless Republican objectives are met. Democrats cannot deal with a pandemic unless Democratic objectives are met. Meanwhile, Americans die.

Hopefully this concern affects a large enough swath of the American public that a will for a political alternative is born. Biden and Trump are not representative of who we are as Americans.

And let’s be honest with ourselves. The current Democratic and Republican parties aren’t representative of who we are as Americans either. We all feel it. We just don’t have the courage to do anything about it.

So why, as Americans, are we so addicted to supporting one or the other party?

I feel bad for the feminists who are supporting Biden, a man who has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman (credibly) because they despise the current President who has been accused of sexually assaulting many women (credibly). That’s a hard argument. They truly are making their peace with a lesser evil, communicating to younger, less ideological women, that Democrats are all too happy with lesser-evils.

I feel bad for Democrats who support Criminal Justice Reform. Trump is actually better on Criminal Justice than Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Congressman Amash is spectacular on the issue.

I understand Republicans disliking Congressman Amash for his refusal to participate in the 3D Chess upon which strategic operations depend on the Hill. I understand Democrats disliking him because he used to be a Republican. I understand Libertarians disliking him because he doesn’t wear a boot on his head.

But the fact is, Congressman Amash is the only candidate that cares about our rights, our government, our Republic, our Constitution, and the long-term health of our economy. What’s weird is that every single honest Republican and Democrat recognizes that this is absolutely true and still they’ll probably cast their partisan votes.

The only people I forgive are the Bernie Bros. Democratic Socialists have worked harder than any other group in America. They have delivered victory after victory to the Democratic Party and twice in four years the Democratic Party waged a ruthless war against Senator Sanders. I get writing in Sanders in November. It makes sense. These people bring victory and they get absolutely nothing for their efforts. Someone needs to send a message to the DNC that corruption will not be tolerated. Someone needs to send a message to the RNC that Trump doesn’t represent us.

But I hope that some of Bernie’s supporters who actually care about Criminal Justice Reform, political humility, and compassion for the average American voter, will consider voting for Justin Amash in November.

Of course, this is all predicated upon the hope that the Libertarian Party will nominate the Congressman. While Vermin Supreme is currently leading the way, it is important for libertarians to realize that Mr. Supreme is enthusiastic about Congressman Amash jumping into the fray. Vermin Supreme, with supreme humility, came out with the following statement:

“The Amish are a very valued community in the America I love. Their commitment to community reliance and barn building is inspiring. The Amish prove that a pony based economy is possible. They live it. I would welcome any Amish person to join the ranks of the Libertarian Party.”

Cover photo by Gage Skidmore (2014 Young Americans for Liberty National Convention at the Spectrum Theatre in Arlington, Va)