Everyone seems to know about the two major party gubernatorial candidates voters will choose between this November. Jack Ciattarelli is the Republican candidate, coming back for a second election after he lost the gubernatorial election in 2021 to Phil Murphy by fewer than three points. Mikie Sherrill is the Democratic candidate, entering the fray after winning the New Jersey Democratic primaries. As these two fight for votes through debates and mudslinging ads, third parties quietly act in the background, trying to gain as much grassroots support as possible.
One of these candidates is Mr. Vic Kaplan, the gubernatorial candidate for the Libertarian Party of New Jersey. There are two sects of libertarians, minarchists and anarchists. Minarchists are people who believe in a limited government that primarily exists to protect the rights of life, liberty, and property. On the other hand, anarchists are people who believe the government, being a threat to one’s liberty, should cease to exist. In an interview with The Viking Vibe, Kaplan describes himself as a minarchist, explaining that “I think the purpose of the state is to protect these natural rights of life, liberty, and property. I believe that if there was no authority, there was no state, I do not see who would actually be enforcing these rights to life, liberty, and property. I believe in the role of the state, I just believe that it should be a limited one.”
Many people are apprehensive about voting third parties because of the vote splitting. Since everyone only gets one vote, and we work under a system where whoever gets the plurality of votes wins the election, people do not necessarily vote for the person they most agree with, but with the person they most agree with that “actually has a chance of winning.” Many argue that voting for a third party is simply “throwing away your vote” because they have no chance to win. Kaplan, however, disagrees.
“I believe it’s important to vote gold because it’s important for people to vote for a candidate that represents their values.” Kaplan’s argument is against “strategic voting,” in favor of a political environment where people truly vote for a candidate they agree with the most. Additionally, he said, “I also think it’s important that issues that are not being discussed and solutions that are not being offered by other candidates do get a platform.”
Kaplan specifically discussed the old Socialist Party, which helped push for child labor laws in the United States. The Socialist Party never got a gigantic percentage of the vote presidentially, but Kaplan explained that “The Socialist Party was influential enough in New York State. Like I said, they’ve certainly elected members to the state legislature, where the issue that they advocated became popular enough where the Democrats essentially ended up accepting their ideas.”
One of the most pressing issues in South Brunswick’s politics is that of the school funding formula. The current formula disadvantages the township, as well as many others across the state because of constant cuts to state aid. Many districts have been forced to increase class sizes and sell buildings, a serious issue for many. When asked about the formula and whether or not he would alter or get rid of it and start anew, Mr. Kaplan said, “I would actually get rid of it and try something different. I would like to have the money that each municipality sends to school districts throughout the state and would have it be kept locally. So the idea would be that if the local government wanted to spend more of that money on their own schools, they could do that instead of sending that money to school districts throughout the state.”
Kaplan is also in support of school choice, saying he believes “that parents should be able to send their kids across municipal lines to any of the school districts of their choice.”
This is part of a larger libertarian belief that people should be “left alone” by the government, and that competition among institutions from schools to businesses leads to stronger, and more efficient institutions in general. Kaplan also claims that shoveling more money into schools does not necessarily make them better, and that implementing school choice is a more efficient way to improve education quality.
Kaplan also touched on the housing and immigration issues, laying out plans to remedy these issues in New Jersey. On the housing front, Mr. Kaplan has expressed his support for people to be able to live in tiny homes and RVs. “Tiny homes, that would be affordable for people. They could go as low as $30,000. They’re not allowed anywhere in the state of New Jersey. People could live in RVs where they’re not allowed to do that right now,” Mr. Kaplan said. He also supports deregulation of the housing sector in general, especially when it comes to zoning laws.
It should be noted however, that he does not support the usage of eminent domain to build housing. Eminent domain is when the government claims a patch of land owned by someone who refuses to sell it is valuable to the greater good, and thus, the property must be seized. Mr. Kaplan is strongly against this idea. Kaplan said, “I believe that if the person does not want to give up his or her property, that should be the end of that. It should be the end of that. Then the person that wants to build it should go somewhere else.”
On the immigration side of things, Mr. Kaplan has expressed disdain for the current federal administration’s actions as well. “To the point, right, we have millions of undocumented immigrants. Great, now we can deport them and make money off that, right? $50,000, I believe, for any ICE officer at start. That’s the salary, $50,000. Of course, to deport every one of those people, every one of the undocumented immigrants, it costs a lot of money, right? Tax dollars. So people are just profiting from the system of deportations, and they, of course, have incentivized undocumented immigration in the first place. You know, when people criticize me for my immigration policy, I’m saying, come on. It’s not my immigration policy that has led to so many undocumented immigrants. I support just the opposite. Under my immigration policy, you would not have had all these undocumented immigrants,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan believes in an “Ellis Island” style of immigration system, similar to the one supported by the 2024 Libertarian Presidential Candidate, Chase Oliver. The idea behind it is to have background checks on people wishing to enter the country, and if they are found to be law-abiding people, they should be allowed to enter. Libertarians in general believe that because crossing a border does not necessarily tread on the rights of anyone, it is a right in of itself.
With the gubernatorial race’s early voting already underway, it is important to note that there are more candidates than just the two most well-known. Despite how out of reach total victory may seem for these groups, a simple growing influence of non-mainstream beliefs can alter the political landscape significantly.
