Jeremy "Spike" Cohen (born June 28, 1982) is an American

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

political activist, entrepreneur, and podcaster. He is the founder of Muddied Waters Media, a platform for libertarian commentary and discourse, which he has used to advocate for

individual liberty Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

, voluntary solutions to societal issues, and reducing government overreach. He has also been a prominent advocate for private charity and

mutual aid Mutual aid is an organizational model where voluntary, collaborative exchanges of resources and services for common benefit take place amongst community members to overcome social, economic, and political barriers to meeting common needs. This ...

networks as alternatives to government welfare programs, emphasizing the importance of community-driven initiatives. Cohen frequently engages with grassroots organizations and local communities, promoting education on libertarian principles and supporting efforts to dismantle systemic barriers to personal and economic freedom. He was the

Libertarian Party Libertarian Party may refer to: *Libertarian Party (Argentina) * Liberal Libertarian Party * Libertarian Party of Australia * Libertarian Party of Canada ** British Columbia Libertarian Party **Libertarian Party of Manitoba (now Freedom Party of Ma ...

's nominee for

vice president of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest ranking office in the Executive branch of the United States government, executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks f ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, serving as

Jo Jorgensen Jo Jorgensen (born May 1, 1957) is an American Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian political activist and academic. Jorgensen was the Libertarian Party (United States), Libertarian Party's nominee for president of the United States ...

running mate A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position (such as the vice presidential candidate running with a pre ...

. As the Libertarian Party's vice presidential nominee in 2020, Cohen focused on a range of issues, including ending

qualified immunity In the United States, qualified immunity is a legal principle of federal law that grants government officials performing discretionary (optional) functions immunity from lawsuits for damages unless the plaintiff shows that the official violated "c ...

for law enforcement,

criminal justice reform Criminal justice reform is the reform of criminal justice systems. Stated reasons for criminal justice reform include reducing crime statistics, racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, under-reporting, and ...

, scaling back U.S. military interventions, and reducing federal taxation and regulation.

Early life

Cohen was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

, in 1982. Cohen's father is Jewish, and he was raised as a Messianic Jew, including having a

bar mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age ...

. He purports to have chosen the nickname "Spike" at the age of 3, after the

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to Theoph ...

from the 1986 children's film '' My Little Pony: The Movie''.

Career

In 1998, at the age of 16, Cohen began learning

web design Web design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. The different areas of web design include web graphic design; user interface design (UI design); authoring, including standardised code a ...

and subsequently started a profitable business within a few years.O’Sullivan, Joseph (September 7, 2020
"Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee Spike Cohen stumps in Western Washington, calls for ending ‘every single bad policy’ "
''

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

''. Retrieved September 17, 2020 In 2016, after being diagnosed with

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

, Cohen sold his web design business and turned his focus to

messaging, entertainment, and activism. By 2017, Cohen's retirement culminated with him becoming the co-owner of, and a

podcaster A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files that users can download to a personal device or stream to listen to at a time of their ...

on, Muddied Waters Media. He is the co-host of ''The Muddied Waters of Freedom'', and the host of ''My Fellow Americans''.

2020 vice presidential campaign

Cohen ran as the proposed running mate of presidential candidate

Vermin Supreme Vermin Love Supreme (born June 1, 1961) is an American performance artist and activist who has run as a novelty candidate in various local, state, and national elections in the United States. He served as a member of the Libertarian Party (Unit ...

in the 2020 Libertarian presidential primaries, and was actively involved in campaigning. After Supreme lost the Libertarian presidential nomination to Jo Jorgensen on May 23, 2020, Cohen remained in the race for the party's vice presidential nomination. Despite Jorgensen having expressed a preference for

John Monds John Monds (born June 17, 1965) is an American politician and activist. He was the Libertarian nominee for Governor of Georgia in 2010. He was the first African American to appear on the general election ballot for Governor of Georgia. In 2008 ...

to be her running mate over Cohen and Ken Armstrong, Cohen defeated Monds with 533 delegate votes to Monds' 472 after three rounds of voting. As the Libertarian Party's vice presidential nominee, Cohen became the first Jewish vice presidential nominee of a political party since

Joe Lieberman Joseph Isadore Lieberman (; February 24, 1942 – March 27, 2024) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. Originally a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Dem ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Political positions

Cohen has asserted that his and Jorgensen's platform was derived from the Libertarian Party platform. This includes reducing the national debt by reducing the size of government, extensive criminal justice reform and the immediate release of those incarcerated for victimless crimes, demilitarization of the police and the creation of police accountability programs. Cohen supports

presidential pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

s for

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of News leak, leaks from Chels ...

Chelsea Manning Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning, December 17, 1987) is an American activist and whistleblower. She is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage ...

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. Born in 1983 in Elizabeth ...

Ross Ulbricht Ross William Ulbricht (; born March 27, 1984) is an American who created and operated the illegal darknet market Silk Road from 2011 until his arrest in 2013. Silk Road was an online marketplace that facilitated the trade in narcotics and othe ...

, and

Leonard Peltier Leonard Peltier (born September 12, 1944) is a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who was convicted of murdering two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in a June 26, 1975, shooting on the Pine Rid ...

. Cohen, a former ally of

performance artist Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

and

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...

, ran during his vice presidential primary campaign on a largely satirical platform promoting free ponies, mandatory tooth brushing, "zombie power", killing "baby Hitler" and "baby

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

", and promoting

anarchy Anarchy is a form of society without rulers. As a type of stateless society, it is commonly contrasted with states, which are centralized polities that claim a monopoly on violence over a permanent territory. Beyond a lack of government, it can ...

. Cohen promised that should these not be achieved within the first 100 days of his vice presidency, he would resign and be replaced with

Baby Yoda Din Grogu (), colloquially referred to as Baby Yoda, is a character from the ''Star Wars'' Disney+ original television series ''The Mandalorian'' and ''The Book of Boba Fett''. He is an infant member of the same species as the ''Star Wars'' cha ...

. After officially receiving the Libertarian vice presidential nomination, Cohen acknowledged that such humor tactics were "all fun satire to bring people in", adding "(t)hen you hit them with the actual message. The actual Libertarian message of self-ownership and non-aggression and voluntary solutions and property rights, and so forth."

Personal life

Cohen has been married to his wife, Tasha, since 2010. He lives in

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the East Coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as the "Grand Strand” in the northeastern part of the state. Its ...

. He is a Christian.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Spike 1982 births Living people 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews 2020 United States vice-presidential candidates Activists from South Carolina American anarcho-capitalists American libertarians American Messianic Jews American political podcasters Businesspeople from South Carolina Jewish American activists Jewish candidates for Vice President of the United States Libertarian Party (United States) vice presidential nominees People from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina People with multiple sclerosis Politicians from Baltimore South Carolina Libertarians