“Let’s get the ball rolling. I’m not going to just run to run, but put me in the right meetings and events to show what I’m about and I’ll be prepared to run a campaign the Libertarian Party of New York has never seen before.” – James Altucher, author and hedge fund manager
While that name could be an unknown name in the world of tech, the world of business and technology know it well.
James Altucher is an experienced businessman, having started over twenty companies and done millions in deal flow from venture capital, to sales, to buyouts. The man has over two decades of experience in the space starting with a degree at Carnegie Mellon. After getting into the tech world, he began the hedge fund Formula Capital to pivot his career into the financial space, along with making various other life changes. He pivoted again, using his experience to become a best-selling author and social media superstar, reaching millions of people monthly with his podcast, interviews, and articles. Now it seems, at age 48, James Altucher is aimed to make the next pivot of his career, and this time it’s going to be political.
Altucher shocked the political world during the election season by coming out as a classic hardcore libertarian. He wants to work toward making a government that doesn’t have debt, that manages taxes better, and cuts spending. On the issue of drugs, he says the Earth is not flat and drug prohibition is not a good thing. On war, he says the majority of American history is us getting into conflicts where we bite off more than we can chew. He also has very unique ideas about congressional and state representatives, saying he wants them to be capped in how often they actually go to Washington, D.C. or Albany. He wants them home, seeing to the needs of those around them, voting electronically, and not getting lobbied to hell. He’s a classic libertarian with a couple of twists to it.
And he wants to do all this under the banner of the Libertarian Party.
“I can’t promise I’ll run for governor and can’t promise I’ll do it with the Libertarian Party. I met David Koch for the first time in 1980 when I was a pretty young guy, and I’ve had libertarian views my whole life. There is this goal in New York that the state party needs to reach 50,000 votes as their goal to benefit the party and achieve auto ballot access. I’m not running for 50,000 votes. I’m not going to run and get my team rallied up just for that. If I run, I’m going to get my team on board and say we will make an impact to benefit New Yorkers and expose them to ideas which they’ve not seen ever come from Albany. To do that, 50,000 votes just isn’t enough. I’ll run for the nomination if I feel the party is in the right place, I’m in the right place, my staff is in the right place and we are all together center to go out and say we want a Libertarian governor.”
He seems serious.
He believes America is moving away from typical politicians and embracing outsiders – as manifested by the election of Donald Trump – and in that light thinks his business involvement and the big traction he has on social media, could make him a strong candidate. With his hundreds of thousands of emails, strong following on LinkedIn, and followers on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, he could piece together and raise several million dollars that, combined with proper management of funds and a good platform, will get him not only into the debates, but help him win the race.
A lot of questions still haven’t been answered yet, though.
Who would be his running mate for Lieutenant Governor?
Which parts of New York would he target the most?
How does he see this progressing his name in the liberty movement, over all?
He is interested, and in New York with a history of nominees such as Bill Weld and Howard Stern, James believes he can stick through it and become the most viable man the NYLP has ever had for the gig, while preserving libertarian ideals.
Charles Peralo
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