COMMENTARY: Purity tests won’t preserve liberty, but coalitions might

As the right moves deeper into nationalist populism and the left doubles down on progressive statism, many libertarians are tempted to retreat into an ideological quarantine. Who can blame them? The fusionist project that once brought libertarians and conservatives together looks battered and stale in today’s political climate. If liberty is going to advance, now is precisely the time for libertarians and liberty-loving conservatives to form a coalition.

Unfortunately, too often, libertarians dust off Friedrich Hayek’s “Why I Am Not a Conservative” as a ritual disclaimer: “I’m not one of them.” This misreads Hayek. His critique was aimed at the reactionary, tradition-bound European conservatives of his time — not at American conservatism, which for much of its modern history has championed free markets, limited government, individual liberty and the rule of law. That distinction seems lost on those eager to draw unbridgeable lines between libertarians and conservatives.

The result is a fixation on purity over practicality that leaves libertarians politically impotent.

It has become one of the more frustrating dynamics in the liberty movement. On domestic policy — including taxation, regulation, Second Amendment rights, school choice and federalism — libertarians have found consistent allies among conservatives. Yes, significant differences remain, particularly on issues such as foreign policy, immigration and drug laws.

However, the contention that libertarians do not share a core objective with the liberty wing of conservatism is wrong. Both can be defined by their efforts to limit state power. That’s why, when serious libertarians run for office, they tend to run as Republicans — from Rand and Ron Paul to Thomas Massie. Watching libertarians bend over backward to avoid admitting their proximity to U.S. conservatism is exasperating.

Of course, the Donald Trump era has complicated this dynamic. The rise of nationalist and populist strains on the right has brought with it an illiberal streak that is genuinely at odds with libertarian ideals. Trade protectionism, hostility to immigration and a growing comfort with weaponizing state power for cultural ends have created real and meaningful tensions. Thus, I understand why some libertarians feel a renewed urgency to distance themselves from any fusionist project. Even so, the broader truth remains: On the core issues of domestic policy and the scope of government power, the right remains a natural ally for libertarians.

This moment is not a crisis — it’s an opportunity. In a two-party system, ideological swings are inevitable. Parties evolve, factions rise and fall and coalitions shift. Libertarians should seize this moment to build alliances with conservatives who still care about rolling back government and restoring constitutional limits.

And those conservatives haven’t disappeared. They’re still here, frustrated by the GOP’s populist turn and eager for allies who want to roll back state overreach rather than repurpose it. They have not given up.

Yet, too often, libertarians tie themselves into knots to avoid coalition-building out of fear of being tainted by the right’s sins. That impulse is understandable, but it leads to a movement more concerned with purity tests and academic hair-splitting than with advancing policies that expand freedom.

Hayek himself was not calling for libertarians to shun alliances. He was cautioning against the reactionary impulse that seeks to preserve the status quo for its own sake. Libertarianism, in his view, was a forward-looking philosophy committed to expanding freedom, not a backward-looking defense of tradition. Practical coalitions are essential to political progress. And in the American context, the coalition most likely to deliver victories for liberty still starts on the right.

The libertarian movement needs to confront this reality. That doesn’t mean surrendering principles or turning a blind eye to conservatives falling short. It does mean being clear-eyed about where the most consistent support for liberty is found in the current political landscape. It means recognizing where freedom has its best chance to advance, and joining forces accordingly.

The hard truth is that liberty cannot succeed in isolation. Movements that refuse to build coalitions inevitably lose to those willing to unite, however imperfectly, to wield power. The liberty movement has consistently achieved its most significant gains — whether in tax reform, deregulation or gun rights — when it joined forces with broader right-of-center coalitions. Without allies, libertarians will find themselves on the sidelines while statists of the left and right divide the spoils. The principle is essential, but without political power, the principle alone cannot roll back the state.

This moment of rising populism and expanding statism calls for political maturity, not purity. Liberty needs champions willing to engage and build alliances, not purists who isolate while tyranny multiplies.

Alex Xenos is an attorney. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.