by: Rebekah Massie
Now that the 2026 midterms are behind us, many people are already looking ahead to 2028. But just because much of the MAGA-branded regime has been sent packing does not mean the “Blue Wave” is cause for celebration.
The numbers are clear: seven Senate seats and forty-two House seats flipped from Republican to Democrat. New blood may bring new priorities and, if we are lucky, votes on issues that never reached the floor before.
Still, the result is another betrayal of individual liberty. The pendulum swung hard from 2024 and overcorrected, largely because independent and third-party voters once again chose the “lesser of two evils.” Ralph Nader put it plainly: “If you always vote the lesser of two evils, you will always have evil, and you will always have less.”
The Democrat-Republican binary repeats every cycle. Money, media, ballot rules, and the constant “you are wasting your vote” line keep independent and third-party candidates out of the big federal races. Voters mark the lesser evil, and liberty keeps getting stabbed in the back by the very duopoly that claims to protect it.
So how do we dig out of the duopoly-controlled hole we are in? We start closer to home.
All Politics Is Local Politics
Think about your daily life. How much of it is really shaped by Washington? Now think about your state legislature, city or town council, school board, and local ballot initiatives. How much do those affect you and your children?
Automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, property tax rates, zoning rules, school budgets, emergency services, even the roads—most of these are decided locally. The smaller the election, the lower the barriers and the easier it is to hold officials accountable.
I have been on a first-name basis with much of my city council. You can meet local officials face-to-face and hold them accountable when they break campaign promises, vote against their constituents, or push budget items that serve themselves (like their own pay raises).
We already know independent voters can decide the direction of many races. Why not point that energy at stripping power from the duopoly locally and building outward? Both major parties expand state power in their own ways and protect the system that keeps them in control. Local races are far less tied to the national script, which makes them the best place to reject the binary choices we are routinely handed.
A Republic, If You Can Keep It
For too long we have treated leadership as top-down instead of bottom-up, especially in government. Benjamin Franklin’s famous line as he left the Constitutional Convention— “A republic, if you can keep it”—still applies. Keeping it requires informed, engaged citizens who demand accountability and refuse to let the system slide toward monarchy or oligarchy.
Brutus (Anti-Federalist No. 1), writing about a month after the Convention, warned that a free republic cannot succeed over a country as large and populous as the United States. His concern was not only size but distance: the further government gets from the people, the harder it becomes for them to participate, challenge decisions, and hold representatives accountable.
That is exactly why local government deserves more attention from the Libertarian movement. If liberty depends on government staying accountable to the people, we should invest where that accountability is most achievable.
The Road to Liberty Runs Through City Hall
Imagine what could happen if libertarians put even a fraction of the time, money, and energy spent on presidential campaigns into municipal and county elections.
What if libertarians ran for city council everywhere there is active membership? For county supervisor, school board, mayor, recorder, and treasurer? What if we stopped waiting for the “perfect” national candidate and started building a generation of local candidates who understand limited government and individual liberty?
A city council race does not need congressional-level fundraising or a national apparatus. You can talk to the actual voters, knock on doors, show up at neighborhood meetings, and run a true grassroots campaign.
These are also the same positions where decisions are visible and tangible. A libertarian on a city council can question unnecessary spending, challenge burdensome regulations, scrutinize contracts, and demand transparency. On a school board, they can push for parental involvement and fiscal accountability. On the county board, they can question property tax hikes and push back against government expansion.
None of this requires permission from Washington or a presidential win.
The goal is not just to put an “L” next to someone’s name. It is to show what accountable, limited government looks like in practice—and how popular it can be.
Stop Waiting for Permission to Participate
One of the biggest obstacles in third-party politics is the idea that we must matter nationally before we can matter locally. That mindset has strained resources for the national party left us easy to dismiss as a “spoiler.”
Political relevance is not granted by cable news, pollsters, or the major parties. It is earned through participation, visibility, consistency, and results.
Every serious local campaign introduces voters to alternatives. Every Libertarian elected demonstrates that individual liberty is not just a slogan but a practical guide for local decisions. Every contested local race challenges the assumption that voters must accept whatever the two major parties offer.
We cannot keep complaining about a system that excludes alternatives while failing to offer one in the races where we can legitimately compete.
Attend your city council meetings. Learn how your county government works. Read the budgets and ordinances. Get involved in local ballot initiatives. Find out when your next municipal election is, because it is not always the same day as the general election!
And if there is no libertarian on your ballot, consider whether you or someone you know should change that.
Et Tu, Brute?
Preserving liberty is not a spectator sport.
We can spend every two to four years complaining about our presidential choices, arguing over whether red or blue is the bigger threat, and being told that every national election is “the most important of our lifetime.”
Or we can recognize that the foundation of a free society is built far closer to home.
The libertarian movement does not need to wait until 2028, or for another presidential candidate, another national convention, or another promised breakthrough. It needs people to show up.
It needs candidates willing to put their names on local ballots, volunteers willing to knock on doors or make calls, citizens willing to attend public meetings, and elected officials willing to defend individual liberty even when it’s inconvenient.
If government derives its powers from the consent of the governed, we should start with the government closest to us.
Two Brutuses frame this argument. One stabbed Caesar in the back; the other warned Americans about the dangers of centralized power. Franklin challenged Americans to keep their republic. That responsibility goes beyond the voting booth.
Liberty is not preserved by hoping the next election goes better. It must be defended and practiced by the people who value it.
Stop waiting for Washington to save you. Start taking back City Hall.
Without you, liberty falls.
Rebekah Massie serves as a staff writer for the Libertarian Party while holding membership in both LP National and the Arizona Libertarian Party. A strong advocate for individual liberty, voluntarism, and human rights, she is also a devoted wife and mother of three.