This interview mostly goes over social policy, so I hope there's a follow-up with fiscal policy as well.
Here's an AI-generated transcript, which has some mistakes but hopefully is helpful. I tried copying it here, but it was too long.
Some interesting tidbits I liked:
- Liz challenged Chase on gender affirming care - his response was "no to surgery before 18, yes to medication if parents and doctors agree"
- open borders - wants an "Ellis Island"-style system where you register and then get to work, while still maintaining a strong police presence to keep out criminals
- courting those on the right of the LP - wants to work together on common causes, but will disagree on social issues
- vaccine mandates - no mandates from the government, but private businesses absolutely can; he thinks businesses requiring masks/vaccines is stupid because it limits customers
The whole discussion was pretty interesting, and I think it's interesting that Liz Wolfe came out as more conservative than Zach (apparently, Zach rarely discusses personal opinions).
So far I'm pretty happy with Chase as the candidate because:
- he's pretty well-spoken - reminds me a bit of Gary Johnson with less "aloof"-ness
- he appears confident and seems to do a good job justifying his positions on core libertarian principles
- very different from both Trump and Biden, so he should contrast well
- going after young voters - he's young, and he's highlighting issues that young people seem to care about, so I'm hopeful that'll resonate with young voters
I certainly disagree with him on some issues, but I think he'll be a good voice for the party. I would like to see more discussion on economic policy though.
Anyway, what are your thoughts? Are you excited for a Chase Oliver campaign, or do you think the Libertarian Party should have made a different choice?