Austin Petersen

Petersen giving a talk at a FreedomWorks event

Austin Wade Petersen (born February 19, 1981) is an American constitutional Libertarian who is currently running for the 2016 presidential nomination for the Libertarian Party.

Early life

He was born on February 19, 1981 in Independence, Missouri, and raised on a horse farm in Peculiar. His mother died of ovarian cancer when he was a teenager, a victim of pharmacist Robert Courtney, who diluted chemotherapy treatments to patients in the Kansas City area in the mid-1990s. Petersen graduated from high school in 1999 at Raymore-Peculiar, and majored in Musical Theatre at Missouri State University in Springfield, graduating in the winter of 2003.

From 2004–2008, Petersen appeared in various films, plays, and musicals around the country. He also held down a job at the famous FAO Schwarz toy store in Manhattan, working his way up from the floor to manager, to the corporate office. He was the spokesmodel for a clothing line for a short time, 191 Unlimited, and appeared in Time Magazine as a model for Microsoft's 2006 infrastructure sales promotions.

Politics

Petersen held a job at the Libertarian National Committee in 2008, where he started as the Volunteer Coordinator, and was later promoted to Director of Outreach. He then followed up with a position at the libertarian think tank, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. He was instrumental in pioneering a successful social media campaign that led to the launch of Judge Andrew Napolitano's show FreedomWatch on the Fox Business Network in 2010. That show was cancelled in 2012.

Petersen took a position as Director of Production with FreedomWorks, and eventually left to start his own ventures in 2013. Petersen has appeared multiple times on RT to discuss issues ranging from alternative media, climate change, and the right to vote. He currently owns and operates Stonegait LLC, a media and consulting firm, and is publisher of the libertarian news magazine, The Libertarian Republic.

Petersen is a frequent contributor on Fox News and Fox Business. He lives and works from Kansas City, Missouri.

Petersen is controversial in his opposition to some positions and principles, such as his denial of the NAP (Non-aggression principle), the foundation of anarchism.

Petersen has many nicknames attributed to him by his fans, such as the "Freedom Ninja," and "Leif Bieberson," after conspiracy theory radio host Alex Jones suggested he looked like Leif Garrett and Justin Bieber.

He has also shown outspoken public support of Republican Party Presidential candidate Rand Paul, including a collaboration with PurplePAC in August 2015. PurplePAC describes itself as ""[A] super PAC devoted to electing libertarian-oriented candidates" with "no relationship to [...] the Libertarian party[,] currently devoted to promoting the presidential candidacy of Republican Rand Paul[.]" and a financial goal of $10 million by the end of 2015. This collaboration took place just one month prior to the news that he would be seeking the Libertarian Party nomination in September 2015. Petersen also showed support of Gary Johnson as a Republican, and again when he ran for President as a Libertarian. Petersen also regularly shows support for Republicans such as Senator Mike Lee, and Congressmen Justin Amash and Thomas Massie.