"Infighting" Isn't the Libertarian Party's Problem

I'm always hearing that it is. Usually that happens on Facebook, but I was hearing it before Facebook ever existed. The pitch usually goes like something this:

How can the Libertarian Party ever succeed when its various factions are always arguing about strategy or policy? The only way we're ever going to start winning elections is for everyone to stop arguing, otherwise we're just spitting in the wind.

The complaint about "infighting" comes up, naturally, in the context of the complainer's position on something (or the complainer hirself) being rejected, attacked, etc.

Thing is, the same argument gets made in every political party (or political movement organization), because such organizations are always arguing about policy and strategy.

In fact, in my experience, the Libertarian Party and libertarian movement organizations aren't nearly as plagued with "infighting" as either of the two "major" American political parties. And if you want to see real "infighting," drop in on any state leftist organization's events (or read conflicting accounts of such events).

I'm told that libertarians argue about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Maoists would never get to that point. They'd get bogged down on whether, and if so, the production of the pin was exploitative and whether or not it would oppress the angel proletariat to make them dance on it.

There's a reason that this video clip isn't just popular with libertarians:


Groups fight among themselves. Complaining about it isn't going to get everyone to sit down, shut up, and agree to do things your way.