Assessing JD Vance: Votes Not Vibes

I am reliably informed that the Republican Party's 2024 vice-presidential nominee, Ohio senator JD Vance, is not a libertarian. Given the standard set by Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, Sarah Palin, and er, Dick Cheney, I was braced for this news and have so far managed to contain my disappointment. But the ongoing hue and cry within the Libertarian Temple suggests it may be much worse than I think. Some of my colleagues have even compared Vance to villains from that film they love, with the space hairdresser and the cowboy and "the Death Star thing." (You know the one.) JD Vader? I'm not convinced it's as Dark-Sided as all that, though I definitely understand the concerns. Libertarians place great weight on economic policy, and the junior senator from Ohio has a lot of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad opinions there. As Reason's Robby Soave recounts, Vance "embraces tariffs and protectionism. He has called for the federal government to break up Google. He has even praised Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan, a Joe Biden appointee waging a one-woman crusade against major tech companies"--and that's only scratching the surface.