Op-ed: ‘Mind Your Own Business’: Harris and Walz are the new Libertarians

Following the ascension of Kamala Harris as a presidential candidate and Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, as her running mate, Joe Biden has acted like an “executive producer of the campaign,” in the words of Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC.

While endorsing the two candidates, President Biden said, “Every generation faces a moment when they must defend American democracy. That moment is now.”

Biden, as well other outspoken Democrats such as Jamie Raskin of Maryland, have often made it a point to say just how harmful the Republican Party’s legislative intrusions into the lives of everyday citizens have threatened American democracy. Thus far, Republicans have gone after abortion, transgender rights, gay marriage, no-fault divorce, the ability to prosecute a president for crimes he committed while in office, the Chevron deference, and the general legal principle of stare decisis– among many others.

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 serves as a 900-page-long wishlist, written by a variety of authors, for how Republicans wish to abrogate the rights of American citizens in order to establish a Christian theocratic dictatorship. Among the goals therein is to do away with selecting leaders in government by voting. Last month, Donald Trump said if people vote for him, they wouldn’t have to vote anymore, implying he would be president for the rest of his life. Chris Sununu, ever the Republican partisan, said those words didn’t mean anything. 

Historically, in New Hampshire, the Republican Party has been able to attract libertarians and libertarian voters because of their espoused commitment to defend freedom and individual liberty. Now, however, they are making no secret that such commitment no longer exists; the Republican Party is committed to enlarging and enhancing its own power at any cost.

As a result, something unusual happened when Tim Walz stepped in front of a microphone at a rally in Philadelphia. He enunciated a truth that has been clear for some time, but which no major candidate of either party had been willing to admit.

“I’m old enough to remember when it was Republicans who were talking about freedom,” Walz said. “It turns out now what they meant was the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office. In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make. Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule: mind your own damn business.”

“Mind Your Business” was a slogan of early America, one which was imprinted onto the first coin issued by Congress in 1787. Called the Fugio Cent or the Franklin Cent, the words “mind your business” are imprinted on one side of the coin beneath the image of an angel. The reverse has the words “we are one” imprinted inside a circle to suggest a union of states working together for a common goal.

Rather than an exhortation against intruding into the affairs of one’s neighbors, Franklin meant his words literally. He suggested that people should stay focused on their own work and their own business ventures rather than seeking external amusements. Today, the phrase popularized by Benjamin Franklin means something different: don’t get involved in the affairs of your neighbors.

The Republican Party has sadly forgotten the lesson Benjamin Franklin wished to impart to his fellow citizens and to future generations. Where once they complained about a Democratic nanny state that concerned itself a great deal with affairs which it had no business in (according to Republicans), they have now become the party of intrusion and supervisory control.

Where once people wanting freedom and liberty were right-leaning individuals, today they are left-wing. Where once Republicans courted the libertarian vote, today they court the votes of racists, fascists, criminals, and evangelical Christians. Democrats, who have not changed their positions fundamentally since the Obama administration, have become the new advocates of freedom.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, this year’s candidates for president and vice-president, are American’s new libertarians. They are the ones advocating for a reduced role of government intrusion into the lives of everyday citizens. They are the ones suggesting we shouldn’t have a one-party dictatorship which doesn’t answer to the law. They are the ones suggesting we should continue to enjoy the blessings of representative democracy- even while the other side tries to tear down everything Benjamin Franklin and America’s Founding Fathers built.