else in the world. thank you very much for watching. see you next time. ♪ [applause] ♪ [indistinct conversations]

[gavel bangs] >> the house will be in order. this year c-span's senator britt 45 years of governing congress like no other. since 1979 we have been your primary source for capitol hill providing balanced coverage of government with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. host: welcome back, we are joined by angela mcardle, the chair of the libertarian national committee. welcome to the program. so start by telling us about the libertarian party and what you stand for. guest: absolutely it is the third-largest party in the united states and we stand for your personal and economic liberty. we all love foreign policy, we like you to keep your money and we do not like taxes and we want

government to stay out of your personal life. we believe individuals are the best people to govern their own lives. host: how many members are there and how does one join the libertarian party? guest: nationally i believe we have 14,000 current dues paying members but we have many more thousands who joined in the past , who contribute nominally and who are active and participating in our political party across the country. you can join at lp.org, it is a $25 a year annual membership. what i think is interesting is that we have a nonaggression pledge which means that when you join the party you agree to not pursue political violence. host: the history of the libertarian party, when was it established and why? guest: the libertarian party was established in 1971. really as a reaction to the united states going off of the

gold standard. you had an interesting mix of individuals, politically left-leaning hippie types who got together with some libertarians who were more culturally on the right who were outraged at richard nixon's policies and politically dissatisfied. they agreed that there has to be a better way and a way forward with sound monetary policy and peaceful foreign policy. no wars overseas and say no to the vietnam war. all of that good stuff. they got together and formed in colorado in 1971 and we saw state parties pop up around the country after that. host: you mentioned there is a pledge against political violence. i want to ask you if the libertarian party has an official position on the 2020 elections and the events around

january 6? guest: we do not have an official position. certainly we do not support violent action to the extent that there was any violence that took place in the capital. we do believe in people's right to peacefully assemble and protest. host: i wanted to ask you about a couple of policy issues and where you stand on it. you have your platform online about 10 pages long about anybody who wants to read it. can you tell us where you stand about abortion? guest: we do not take a stance. in 2022 at our national convention we removed it from our platform. a majority of the members believe that it was too divisive and something that we should not take a formal position on. our candidates and members are free to take their own positions on that topic. host: and the topic of taxes, so

i understand that the goal is to eventually phase out all taxes. could you tell us how that would work as far as the services that we expect from the government such as free k-12 education, the military, how does that work in funding the government? guest: our party is split between minimal government and people who want zero government. and we definitely want to get rid of taxes although there are some members who are comfortable with a very small amount of tax revenue to support things like military and other services that they deem essential that should be provided by the government. generally we want things to be privatized and voluntary. there are a lot of private schools across the world including in places like india where people pay very little to fund their children's education and they do better than public government schools. you know, for example, government public schools are one of the most violent places a

child can ever encounter. there one of the most violent places a child will attend. it is places where they encounter bullying, they encounter difficult situations, school shootings are definitely something that we do not like seeing in the news. and so we encourage people to take their children's education into their own hands. homeschooling in my opinion is the best way. host: as far as foreign policy, where do you stand on support for the war in ukraine and israel-gaza war. guest: we do not support any of it, you should -- we believe that the united states should end foreign aid to all foreign countries. we do not want to see troops put through the meatgrinder of war in ukraine and we do not want our money going to fund overseas conflicts. we do not believe that the united states should be meddling in other country's foreign policies.

host: we would go to the phones if you would like to ask a question for our guest, the chair of the libertarian national committee. the lines are by party. republicans are 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents. 202-748-8002. we also have a line set aside for libertarian party members. you can call us on 202-748-8003. that is also the same line that you can use for texting. let us talk about the 2024 election cycle. you have 14 possible candidates, can you tell us about the process of selecting the nominee that will be on the ballot? guest: absolutely, the majority have been attending state conventions and getting to know the delegates and members for several months. some of them started campaigning a year ago. you have to earn your nomination

through delegate votes at a national convention. the candidates try to get to know people and get votes pledged in advance so when they show up everybody has counted heads and understands what will happen. you have to become a delegate at your state convention in order to go and participate at the national convention and have a say in who our next presidential candidate will be. host: i do not need to tell you that it is difficult for third-party candidates in this country. so, what are your thoughts on what you are really trying to accomplish by running a candidate? guest: there are different ideas about what we are trying to accomplish. some of these members want to win the presidency. my perspective and the perspective of many other libertarian national committee members is that the presidential race is a platform for our message. we want to get the word out

there about libertarianism and the party, grow the party at the local grassroots level, get people elected locally and help down ticket candidates because ballot access is essential. and, use the libertarian presidential race as a platform to accomplish those things. we want to be excellent messengers for the message of liberty and wake people up to the evils of a large federal government. host: you mentioned getting on the ballot you are on 37, do you expect to get on all 50 states? guest: i believe 48 and 50 states. illinois and new york are tricky we are working plans to make it happen. new york requires 45,000 signatures in six weeks. unfortunately the state of new york kicked us off the ballot after larry sharp, a past gubernatorial candidate got us ballot access. it is definitely a challenge. it is expensive and takes a lot

of logistical networking. it all has to happen quickly. illinois also requires 35,000 signatures, although thankfully it is not as short a period of time. other than those two we feel comfortable about where we are at. host: finally before calls i want to ask you about your nominating convention, it is happening the end of may in d.c.. the theme is becoming ungovernable. what does that mean? guest: we want people to take their lives into their own hands. we do not like what we are seeing coming out of washington, d.c. especially over the last administration. president biden made such disparaging comments about american citizens telling us that if he did not abide by the medical edicts we would experience a severe winter of illnesses and he had such divisive language. it seems that the federal government wants more control

over our personal lives. we are interested in taking our power back for ourselves and so we encourage people to become ungovernable. host: and angela, we will go to our phones. the first caller is from the libertarian party in nebraska. mercy. that morning. caller: hello angela, how are you doing? guest: grade. caller: good. it is good to talk to you again. you are at the convention as a keynote -- to a keynote speaker. thank you for coming to that for the state and i appreciate everything you are doing for the liberty movement. that being said, what is your plan to increase our libertarian numbers in the 50 or 49 days leading up to the convention? i am looking for -- i am working for lars mapstead, and that is one of our candidates. what is the national party doing to onboard new members?

guest: we have put together some new marketing funnels. we have been sending out mailers and trying to network through different outlets. we have been working with potential with zero hedge and doing more social media marketing to boost the numbers. host: as far as state and local level, can you tell us about your efforts there? guest: i'm sorry what we are doing on the state and local level to build membership? host: or are you feeling any candidates for state or local offices? guest: multiple, but those are usually done through the state parties directly. the national party does not usually endorse candidates or do all of the local outreach. we let the state affiliates handle that. host: david, independent. st. paul, minnesota. caller: good morning. i have questions.

i see that you are running for president and last year about one year ago that week you wrote an opinion piece in "the affirmative" that we need a national divorce citing differences in covid and vaccination mandates, black lives matter, abortion, school curriculum and child health care. can you explain why you would be a good president when you do not believe the country can go on sustaining itself? as it is. guest: i am so sorry to break it to you i am not running for president, i am the chair of the libertarian national committee. but i do believe that localization, whether that is succession, strict federalism or multi-country break would be healthy for us. i do not like of federal government. and i would like people to be able to choose how they live their own lives and i do not

believe that the federal government does a good job of that for us right now. host: let us talk to charles in south portland, maine. independent. caller: i am interested in seeing about your guest today. i have been noticing that she has been saying the phrase become ungovernable. and i just wanted to know what happens when a bear walks into town and no one is there to stop it? host: i am not quite sure what that means but you are welcome to respond if you like. guest: sure. i am sure that a bear walked into town someone could respond. i mean, usually what happens in the case of school shootings is that you have some heroic individual who steps in and sometimes they might literally step into the line of fire which is awful or they just usher as many children to safety as possible. whenever there is any tragic

situation usually rely on individuals who are already there to take spontaneous action and do the best thing possible. i am sure that would be the same with a bear. or a lion or tiger, whatever it is you are referencing. : chris in birmingham, alabama sent us a text. do you believe that the united states should maintain a military at all? guest: do i believe that the united states should maintain a military at all? for defensive purposes, certainly. i do not believe we should maintain our military overseas. host: hank from washington, d.c., a libertarian member. good morning. caller: yes. this is hank riordan and i have john on the other line and we were just wondering why don't you guys just rip -- retreat to the kingdom in colorado and remove yourself from society since you do not want to be part of it? in all seriousness, this is a

serious time with serious problems and you spend all of it every day talking about this. libertarians are not serious. we need serious people with serious ideas. you cannot even describe what you would do about a bear. host: what do you think about you are just not serious? guest: i think i am extremely serious. i think the country was founded based on a lot of the same grievances that i have right now. i think that it is really disappointing that people have become so complacent with tyrannical federal authority and my heart goes out to them, people who feel powerless or ambivalent about our level of taxes, what our military is doing overseas. just the state of the country. but i know it is a difficult task to stand up and speak your mind and i am here to do it for you. host: derek on the line for

democrats from lansing, illinois. good morning. caller: good morning usa. i am listening to your guest, and i think they should combine themselves with the republican party. because, just what would you do without federal government? someone said what would happen if hebert comes into the -- if a bear comes into the street or neighborhood and she is saying that some individual is gonna take it upon themselves to do something about the bear. she opened up about school shootings. what did the liberty air -- what will the libertarian do to prevent school shootings? the shooting down in texas? the name of the town escapes me. host: uvalde. caller: all of the officers that stood out there while the kids

lives were being taken. but you're telling somebody getting rid of government that is wrong with the country now. we have too many powerful individuals that is behind the curtains. host: let us get a response. what do you think and you said you might as well just merge with the republicans? guest: we do not share the same views on a lot of the issues. for one we are opposed to the drug war. and we want peaceful port -- foreign policy. nikki haley, for example who supported the war in ukraine. mitch mcconnell. they want to send all of our taxpayer money to another country and they want to see other people propped up against each other in foreign conflicts and we do not agree. we are very different. with respect to uvalde, we want teachers to be armed. we do not like that gun free zones seem to be areas where victimization happens. we want children to be defended

and we want people to feel safe and secure. host: adam from annapolis, maryland. republican. good morning. caller: unfortunately i do not have any questions about a bear. i just wanted to make a comment about the reflections at the beginning of the session by the interviewer who did a great job. but a lot of the answers that you have provided, angela, is we do not have a position. i am kind of interested to see what your position is on the national debt. you made a comment about minimalists and anarchists. what would be the stance on solving the $34 trillion that is continuing to grow if we greatly limit our ability to fund that through taxes? thank you. guest: we have to cut federal programs. there is no reason that the department of education cannot be abolished. you have to cut as many federal

programs as possible. we should not be running things like that. we should not be taxing ourselves to death, it is wrong. we should also not be putting out policies and programs we cannot afford. it is painful, the debt burden. but taxing people into oblivion is not the answer because it is wrong. host: aside from the department of education what else would a libertarian candidate abolished? guest: the federal reserve right away. all of the unconstitutional alphabet agencies, the fbi, seed -- ca -- cia, atf especially i.c.e. cut them all. host: let us talk about the border. what is the position on the southern border? guest: the libertarian party platform leaves open borders. what open borders is is open to interpretation and not everybody is 100% in agreement on that. host: a question from jesse in

albuquerque, new mexico. does she think the priority's present -- the party's presidential candidate would take more votes from republicans and trump for democrats and biden? guest: everyone has a different opinion on this. right now the polls are saying we will pull more from democrats. i think it will depend on who the presidential nominee. host: john is calling from mechanicsburg, pennsylvania. republican. caller: good morning. by the way, a little joke and if i am married and if i was not, i would ask you to marry me. i am a republican and i am 65 years old. there is no republican or democrat party. that big bear they are joking to you about saying that you do not know what you are talking about. it is called the federal

government that is completely out of control and on main street. that is what the callers are talking about. keep doing what you're doing. you need to voice your opinions talking about the evils of the overbearing federal government. it is not the republicans or the democrats, it is a one party system that is crushing american liberties. you are doing a great job. host: i have a question, you sound like a libertarian. are you thinking about joining the party? caller: i am not going to think about joining the libertarian because i believe in almost everything they stand for but this is a uniparty system. we are in a republican-democrat bear trap by those two systems. i believe what the libertarians are saying, 99% of what they are saying is the original united states of america. the problem is that they have crushed the libertarians and greens and everyone else. it is sad.

again i will say the giant there that they are laughing about -- bear that they are laughing about is washington, d.c. and all of the administrative state agencies crushing the american people. host: we got that. any response? guest: absolutely and thank you for your support. i agree that the bear is the federal government. host: another john, this time in norfolk, virginia. independent. good morning. caller: i am totally agreeing with you about the big bear, it is the federal government. but it is also the media who supports the federal government and helps block out third parties like yourself. before they cut me off, could -- not her lack of -- but c-span's lack of exposure about third parties? host: what do you think? guest: that is an interesting question because here i am on

c-span and c-span has historically been a sponsor of our national convention. i agreed that there are some issues with corporate media, but i do not really have that complaint about c-span that i do about cnn. host: good move. i wanted to ask you on this article from the hill. this was a bit ago in march, the end of march which says the chair says libertarians are confused by rfk jr.'s vice president peg. they are quoting you on your reaction to rfk jr. picking nicole shanahan. could you expand on that? guest: certainly. there are libertarians who support robert f. kennedy, jr. as our potential presidential nominee and he has not announced that yet. there is some support for him. i think there is not nearly as much support for nicole shanahan. it is not personal but a big

question mark of what does she stand for? we have not seen a lot of political statements and we are not sure that she believes in personal economic liberty. there are some questions about some -- about people that she has supported in the past like pete buttigieg and gascon in l.a. who is the da who does not believe in property rights, essentially. everyone is wondering how she had some sort of libertarian come to jesus moment or a political awakening. a lot of people have since 2020. she is the kind that she is just silent so we are unsure. host: let us talk to a democrat in fancy farm, kentucky. caller: i was just curious, we are supposed to collect tariffs, so who would do that. host: the constitution says that we should collect tariffs. caller: it says it somewhere that one way to fund the

government is to collect tariffs, i think it does. if i'm wrong, you can correct me. guest: i am not in favor of tariffs. i like free-trade. i think when goods do not cross borders is better and the last tariffs that we have the better. host: we have about 15 minutes left with our guests, the chair of the national libertarian committee. we are taking calls on the line by party and a line for libertarian members, 202-748-8003, which is also our line for texting. republicans, 202-748-8001. s democrat, 202-748-8000 -- democrats, 202-748-8000. and independents, 202-748-8002. let us go to roger. republican line. raleigh, north carolina. caller: early in the program you talked about the problem with

public schools with a dangerous and so forth said shooting and all of that. but if i think about that comment, i think in our constitution we are to provide for the common good of the people. so i understand if you have money you can put children in a private school how about the other people? guest: i do not believe that public schools are providing for the common good. education has gone down the toilet. do not produce children who can read and do arithmetic at the same level. test scores are an all-time low and there is too much testing. they are violent, dangerous, demoralizing and full of bullying. it is not a good system. it is a loaded bureaucracy where we have way more administrators and teachers. if we are providing for the common good let us get rid of failing public schools so that children can have a better

chance of educating themselves and having a prosperous future. host: richard is next in sparta, new jersey. democrat. caller: good morning. i think what jill and other third-party party should be fighting tooth and nail for is ranked choice voting. i could vote for you without also voting for the guy that i really do not want. this would cure so many problems in the country, rank-choice voting. we would have people who were voted in and over 51% of the people in the district would be for them and then we could vote for third parties as much as we wanted because we are not throwing away our vote. you would have a chance. some really good leader in a third party could win because people would not think they are throwing away their vote. you should get together with the other parties and get ranked choice voting. host: angela?

guest: you know, i am not opposed to rank-choice voting and that would be wonderful if it works that way but the data is not in. i remain unconvinced. a lot of people disagree with me and there are a lot of proponents in rank -- of ranked choice voting. and maybe my position would change when i see some data that it does more than what it suspect it might do which is continue to get uniparty candidates get elected and have us come into second place. host: deborah. democrat in mural obama, cal -- mira loba in california. caller: i am so upset to see this lady on and i cannot believe c-span is doing this. you had jill stein on the other day and you will have her on again. and all these people are doing is trying to get from be elected. we have too many problems and we do not have time for people like this lady on.

this is a joke. your party is a joke. you are not going to win anything. we have serious issues. i am really upset this morning with c-span. i watch you guys every morning and all i see is that you are trying to get trump elected. this country really will go to hell if trump is elected. that is all i have to say. host: what do you think your role as a spoiler and as you said if you take votes away in key swing states from biden than the results are going to be trump gets elected. guest: i think it is wild how people say you have to kick everyone else off the ballot to save democracy. i cannot wrap my head around it how people think you have to have one choice on the ballot to save the ability to vote for whoever you want. my heart really goes out to anyone who is so emotionally got wrenched over president trump that we need to install biden as

some kind of dictator. it must be rough so i will remain sympathetic. host: ike, crescent city florida. independent. good morning. caller: you just answer that question on how are people supposed to pay for private schools when they of -- when they cannot afford it. private schools are taking taxpayer money to support them. how do you justify that? guest: private schools would be much more affordable if every taxpayer dollars were not sucked up into bloated administrative public schools. private schools are very affordable in other parts of the world like india where people live in poverty. they can still afford to put their children into really great private schools. host: you really cannot compare the cost of living in the united states to the cost of living in india. guest: let us get rid of as many taxes as possible and stop

devaluing the dollar with the federal reserve. host: going back to the question of private schools and paying for private schools, you are saying once we do not have to take -- to pay taxes even the very poor would be able to educate their children in private schools? guest: absolutely, there are all sorts of private charities and institutions that want children to be educated. do you think that people would stop caring about kids once we got rid of taxes? i do not think so. i think communities would come together and provide a much better school and schooling alternatives. it should be voluntary. host: do you think there should be any standards as far as educational levels. once everything is privatized in the educational system k-12 that they would be essentially policing themselves and making their own standards for what they think is a good education. guest: and doing a much better job than the federal government. the department of education has tanked the state of education

and you can see that since the >> we are going to leave this program to take you live to baltimore. president biden is expected to speak shortly about rebuilding the francis scott key bridge. speaking now is pete buttigieg. >> using it to redirect traffic and support detours, bringing in barges to cut steel and removing it. remove wreckage thousand of the channel for the creation of smaller exhilarate channels. this is just a start of our financial support. we also have been focused on the supply chain implications. president biden's freight initiatives that have stood up to covid interruptions have served as here. we have used data partnerships that did not exist prior to 2021 to monitor changing container volumes and help supply chain actors adapt.

last week we convened over 100 stakeholders from across our supply chains to better understand challenges and coordinate. there are certainly impacts, we are increasingly confident about the availability of east coast ports to step up temporarily to absorb much of the cargo diverting from baltimore in the short-term. we are providing flexibility for truckers who are helping to keep supply chain's moving and supporting of the response. we have had railroads at the table, too. yesterday we signed a revised grant agreement with baltimore county updating the scope of a previously awarded grant that benefits trade point, one of the few major port facilities outside of the blocked channel. the revised agreement will allow them to use those funds to expedite 10 acres used for additional cargo laydown area. that work is already underway and will double their capacity

to accept vehicles, one of the main types of cargo ship through baltimore and the more difficult type of cargo to find substitute ports. opening the channel for the port, rebuilding the bridge are both remarkably complex operations that cannot happen overnight. as president biden has instructed from day one the federal government will provide everything maryland needs. funding resources, the testicle help and more to get that port open and get the bridge rebuilt. the president has made clear that no matter anyone's affiliation, public, private, federal, state, local, democrat, republican, we are all one team. there are so many different jurisdictional lines. breaking down any and all barriers, cutting red tape and working as one continues to matter a great deal and that is what we are doing. with that spirit of partnership

and the commitment i have seen on the ground for the first hours, there is no doubt in my mind that baltimore will come back stronger than ever before. thank you very much. [applause]

>> we heard remarks from transportation secretary pete buttigieg. we are lives in baltimore, where we expect president biden to arrive shortly to speak about rebuilding the collapsed francis scott key bridge. the president is expected any moment. live coverage here on c-span.

>> what will the libertarian party do for equality? >> we got it. go ahead. >> that is quite a bit to unpack. generally you refer to people who have been president as president biden, president trump, president nixon, that is just a title that you give them. just like we refer to people as mr., mrs., what would we do for equality?

we believe in the intrinsic value of the individual and we believe that all individuals have that unique intrinsic value as human beings. as far as slavery goes, people act accordingly to their own self interest. slavery is a horrible thing that has existed for a millennia but i do not think that is an appropriate comparison for wealthy people, a small group of wealthy people creating an army. i do not see that. >> unless it was within their own self interest. >> that would be so weird. could you imagine? that would be a very strange thing. what would it do for them? >> amy in west point, georgia. democrat. good morning. >> good morning. i want to go back to education.

we all agree our school systems are failing. they are failing because they are not funded properly. where i am from schools are funded by property taxes. in some of the counties the property values are superlow or there are large government agencies taking up acreage they cannot tax. i went to the university of georgia. they have 30,000 acres throughout the state that local counties cannot tax. i work next-door to a military base that is not taxable. that is our issue in georgia. i want to talk about the fact you are thinking a third party is the best way. third party is not the way to go. you are going to have to change the entire system. instead of advocating for a third party, why not advocate for a no-party system? >> what do you think, angela? guest: i am trying to recall it all.