I still like some wealthy libertarians, like Doug Casey and John McAfee, because at least they are consistent intellectual critics of the government, and when it comes time to make a passive choice, they choose against the government. Thiel's statements are intellectually consistent, but I'm alarmed at some of his actions (then again, if Palantir wasn't involved with the government, there'd likely be pure totalitarians doing the same thing --long term, this might be the case, and perhaps we're all "letting our guard down" due to Palantir). John Mackey(Whole Foods) is totaly inconsistent, and his reputation as a libertarian is 80% undeserved --he's a narrowly-self-interested "libertarian lite." He calls police on people who petition for the Libertarian Party in Whole Foods parking lots, which is a primary reason ballot access costs so much: the "war on free speech" doesn't really exist, but the "war on effective political speech" most certainly does. The same is true of the enemies of jury trials (Doug French, Jeffrey Tucker, etc.), and, therefore, effective civil disobedience, at the Mises Institute. Many of the same types also exist at the Ayn Rand Institute (although there are people like Elan Juorno who are fairly consistent), even though their typical problem is simply not understanding what constitutes proper law, and not understanding basic cybernetics. (My favorite kinds of people are probably Nathaniel-Branden-type libertarian Randites who also understand cybernetics. I much less appreciate Randites who mindlessly regurgitate Rand quotes, don't trust gays or guys with facial hair, who keep saying that "the USA needs objective law" ...while having no idea what strategy could provide political "marketplace of ideas" economic pressure necessary to elect a libertarian legislature capable of writing such laws.)

..."With friends like these, the libertarian movement doesn't need enemies." (But it has them anyway, and they completely own the Libertarian Party.

In any case, for a fraction of the amount of money the Bill-Redpath-controlled Libertarian Party now flushes down the toilet (~$1M every 4 years), and for a vastly smaller fraction of money than the mainstream power parties spend on a single statewide election, I could make libertarianism a bigger trend than sliced bread. This is because libertarians incorrectly think that politics is similar to conventional marketing. It's not, because you have to overcome a larger "existing knowledge gap" that exists at a higher hierarchical level of thought(the philosophical level) in the average voter. To get buy-in, you need: the right argument, at the right time, to remove the right voter's precise type of stupid philosophical malware.

BOTTOM LINE: Most libertarians have absolutely no idea what would constitute a viable strategy for restoring liberty in the USA: they champion idiots, and tear down the heroes. ...So fuck 'em.