Is there a libertarian case for Bernie Sanders?

In other words, backing a Sanders presidency would mean wagering that Sanders’ most left-wing economic policies wouldn’t come to fruition. And that he’d pull a conservative Congress to the left on civil liberties issues, with the help of cross-partisan allies like Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee.

“Where’s the evidence that he could get bipartisan support for [those issues]?” countered a skeptical David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Institute. “We’ve got a Republican Congress and a Democratic president now, and those things aren’t moving.”

Nick Gillespie, the editor-in-chief of libertarian outpost Reason.com (and a regular Beast contributor), while also skeptical, doesn’t hold quite the same reservations.

“You could do worse than having Bernie Sanders in the White House,” he admitted. “The things that he would be able to direct in the White House would accord with libertarian values. Being a commander-in-chief, he would minister our foreign policy much differently than Obama or Bush; he would be much more likely change the scheduling for marijuana, which the president can do; and he’d be in a much better position to push criminal justice reform.”