In an announcement that shocked the world, Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate William Weld today made a statement that acknowledges that yes, the real world does exist out there.

Libertarians are a strange cult that believes that government is the root of all evil. “All taxation is thievery” they are fond of saying. “Any law we don’t like is the same thing as tyranny.” They think that if the government would just stop regulating everything, we’d all live in peace and harmony and ride unicorns and the Invisible Hand of Capitalism would make sure that no one in the world would ever take advantage of someone else ever again and they all lived happily ever after.

This, of course, is contradicted by the fact that such a thing has never happened in the history of the planet for any society ever. However, the reality of the real world has never stood in the way of hardcore libertarian philosophy.

Until now.

Weld has acknowledged that there is no way his ticket can win, and despite all the libertarians who want to “send a message,” he is aware that this message will be meaningless and that Trump such a huge threat to the country that stopping him is more important than any message one could send.

In other words, even he thinks that voting 3rd party is wasting your vote.

It is unclear whether Weld had an epiphany of insight or if he was secretly not a libertarian after all. This columnist proposes that the second option is true. In fact, I actually voted for William Weld back in the ’80s when he ran for Governor of Massachusetts because, despite being a Republican, he was the more liberal candidate. While I disagreed with many of his positions, he always seemed reasonable, rational, and willing to compromise — traits rarely seen among the more rabid libertarians, who tend to carry around Ayn Rand books and argue for the morality of selfishness.

So this is indeed a banner day, and it provides hope that perhaps, in our lifetime, with your help, we can find a cure for libertarianism.