Libertarian Party (united States)


	Party Logo
	Party Wikicolourid	Libertarian
	Chairman	Michael Dixon
	Senateleader	N/A
	Houseleader	N/A
	Foundation	1971
	Ideology	Libertarianism , Classical Liberalism , Populist - Conservative
	International	none, but in correspondence with ISIL and LIO
	Colours	a shade of Blue Yellow (used occasionally to distinguish them from the Democratic Party )
	Headquarters	2600 Virginia Avenue NW , Suite 100<br> Washington, DC 20037
	Website	Libertarian Party

The Libertarian Party is a United States political party created in 1971 . It is one of the largest consistent Third Parties in the United States, with over 200,000 registered voters and over 600 people in office, including mayors, county executives, county council members, school boards and other local offices.

The stated Platform of the Libertarian Party is consistent with elements of the philosophy of Libertarianism , favoring minimally regulated, '' Laissez-faire '' markets, and strong Civil Liberties .

PLATFORM

Key tenets of the Libertarian Party platform include the following:

A self-regulated Free Market economy (primarily by voluntary consumer groups), including support of the right to Keep And Bear Arms , opposition to Drug Prohibition , and elimination of all taxation for voluntary alternatives along lines of the Libertarian originated Alaska Permanent Fund .

Strong Civil Liberties including Freedom Of Speech , Freedom Of Association , Sexual Freedom , and a Foreign Policy of Free Trade , Non-interventionism , and opposition to the initiation of force (particularly Military ).

Total opposition to any efforts to restrict Gun Rights at all levels of Government .

Smaller government bureaucracy

A liberal attitude on personal freedoms, domestic tranquility, civil liberties, and commonwealth of citizens and conservative on the economy while wanting to lower taxes

Opposition to military drafts

Low taxation & cut government spending

Better foreign relations and foreign policy

Government decisions that only support the citizens

Promote private property

Create more jobs & increase industry

Protect civil liberties

Libertarians state that their platform follows from consistent application of the principle of mutual respect for rights, and the liberty of exercise thereof, and thus are deeply interested in the concept of ''."National Platform of the Libertarian Party (May 2004). Taxation . Retrieved June 26, 2005.

Libertarians reject the view of Politics as a one dimensional, left-right spectrum, divided between Left and Right , with the Democrats representing the center-left or left, and Republicans representing the center-right or right.

To illustrate their view that the one-dimensional view of politics is insufficient to describe the myriad of political philosophies held by the public, Libertarians introduced the Nolan Chart to communicate their belief that politics is at least two-dimensional. A variation of the Nolan chart is enhanced (via a link from the main website) by a ten-question poll (five questions dealing with economic issues and five questions dealing with personal freedom issues), which it bills as "The World's Smallest Political Quiz ", allowing respondents to determine their political leanings.

Among outside political watchers, some consider Libertarians to be conservative (primarily because of their support of the Right To Bear Arms and because of their view on taxes and states rights); while others consider them liberal because of their advocacy of a non-interventionist foreign policy, the repeal of drug prohibition, and the elimination of laws that interfere with private consensual acts (such as prostitution and gambling).

Within the framework of Libertarian Politics , the Libertarian Party's platform falls roughly in the realm of Free Market Minarchism . The party advocates limiting the government as much as possible, within the confines of the United States Constitution . As in any Political Party , there is some internal debate about the platform, and not all of the party's supporters advocate its complete or immediate implementation, but most think that the USA would benefit from most of the Libertarian Party's proposed changes. However, under a policy known as the Dallas Accord, the national Libertarian Party does not favor any particular approach, leaving individual candidates and other advocates of Libertarian solutions free to determine how that message will be presented.

HISTORY

The Libertarian Party was formed in the home of David Nolan on 11 December 1971 , after several months of Debate among members of the Committee To Form A Libertarian Party , founded July 17 th. This group included John Hospers , Edward Crane , Manual Klausner , Murray Rothbard , R.A. Childs , Theodora Nathan , and Jim Dean . Prompted in part by Price Controls implemented by President Richard Nixon , the Libertarian Party viewed the dominant Republican and Democratic parties as having diverged from what they viewed as the Libertarian principles of the American Founding Fathers .

By the 1972 Presidential Election , the party had grown to over 80 members and had attained Ballot Access in two states. Their presidential ticket, John Hospers and Theodora Nathan , earned fewer than 3,000 votes, but received the first and only Electoral College vote for a Libertarian ticket, from Roger MacBride of Virginia , who was pledged to Richard Nixon . His was the first vote ever cast for a woman in the United States Electoral College . MacBride became the party's presidential nominee in the 1976 Presidential Election .

In the 1980 Presidential Contest , the Libertarian Party gained ballot access in every state, the first time a Third Party accomplished this since the Socialist Party in 1916 . The ticket of Ed Clark and David H. Koch spent several million dollars on this Political Campaign and earned over one percent of the Popular Vote , the most successful Libertarian presidential campaign to date.

On December 29 , 1981 , the first successful election in the continental United States of a Libertarian Party candidate in a partisan race occurred as Richard P. Siano , a Boeing 707 pilot for TWA , running against both a Republican and a Democrat, was elected to the office of Kingwood Township Committeeman in western Hunterdon County , New Jersey . He served a three-year term of office.

In 1983 , the party was divided by internal disputes; former party leaders Edward Crane and David Koch left, taking a number of their supporters with them.

In 1984 , the party's presidential nominee, David Bergland , gained access to the ballot in 36 states and earned one-quarter of one percent of the popular vote.

For 1988 , then-former Republican Congressman Ron Paul won the Libertarian nomination for president and was on the ballot in 46 states. Paul later ran for Congress again as a Republican, and still serves in the U.S. House today.

In 1992 , Andre Marrou , a Libertarian elected to the Alaska State Legislature and Ron Paul's Running Mate in 1988, led the Ticket , with Attorney Nancy Lord as his Vice President ial (VP) running mate. For the first time since the Clark campaign in 1980 , the Libertarian Party made the ballot in all 50 states, District Of Columbia (DC), and Guam .

In 1994 , radio personality Howard Stern embarked on a political campaign for Governor of New York , formally announcing his candidacy under the Libertarian Party ticket. Although he legally qualified for the office and campaigned for a time after his nomination, many viewed the run for office as nothing more than a Publicity Stunt . He subsequently withdrew his candidacy because he did not want to comply with the Financial disclosure requirements for candidates.

Investment Adviser Harry Browne headed the 1996 and 2000 tickets. The VP candidate in 1996 was South Carolina Entrepreneur Jo Jorgenson ; in 2000 , Art Olivier of California was Browne's running mate. Again the Party made the ballot in all 50 states, DC and Guam .

In all of these cases, the party's presidential nominee drew in between one third and one half of one percent of the popular vote. In 2000 , a split between the Arizona chapter and the national party led to the placement of science-fiction author L. Neil Smith on the Presidential ballot in Arizona rather than Harry Browne.

The 2004 election cycle saw the Libertarian Party's closest presidential nomination race to date. Three candidates -- gun-rights activist and software engineer Michael Badnarik , talk radio host Gary Nolan , and Hollywood producer Aaron Russo -- all came within two percent of each other on the first two ballots at the 2004 National Convention in Atlanta . Badnarik was chosen as the party's presidential nominee on the third ballot after Nolan was eliminated, a comeback many saw as surprising, as Badnarik had not been viewed as a frontrunner for the nomination — the majority of delegates were won over during the convention itself, due to Badnarik 's perceived strength in the debates compared to Russo and Nolan .

The Badnarik campaign scored ballot status in 48 states (plus DC and Guam ) and earned 397,367 votes. Despite less name recognition and a much smaller campaign checkbook, Badnarik did well compared to independent candidate Ralph Nader .

2004 marked more visible official support of the Libertarian Party for Instant-Runoff Voting . Some LP members felt the Executive Committee endorsed it without appropriate study of other voting methods or the effects the adoption of this method would have on election outcomes for LP candidates. This move created division and dissent among those LP members who viewed the Executive Committee's action as demonstrating a lack of deliberation. There are LP members who support Approval Voting and other alternative methods. However, party leaders point out that many members were simply unclear on the respective actual functions of the Executive and National Committees, and in any event all alternative voting improvements were from 1972 implicitly supported, and are explicitly supported since the 2002 Platform. However, the local value of initiatives proposing different methods--IRV, Alternate Voting, Term Limits, Proportional Representation, etc--is up to local or state LP's to determine.

The Libertarian Party's national chair is Michael Dixon . Its most recent executive director was Joe Seehusen , who resigned on August 5 , 2005 .''Executive Director Seehusen resigns'' LP News , September 2005, 1. Communications Director Shane Cory is temporarily acting as Chief of Staff. (Political journalist Peter Orvetti served as the party's Deputy Director of Communications from 1999 until 2000.)

In mid-2005, the Libertarian National Committee voted to eliminate all dues for membership in the national Libertarian Party, a change slated to take effect on January 1, 2006.''LNC approves zero dues'' LP News , September 2005, 1. This changes significantly the financial relationship between the national and state Libertarian Party affiliates, as well as providing the opportunity for a change of strategic focus from building membership to increasing the number of party-affiliated elected officials.

Critics of the decision noted that the national committee shut off a substantial revenue stream with no plan to replace it with other fundraising and failed to take into account any evidence of possible negative side effects.

RELATIONSHIP TO MAJOR PARTIES

At the local level, the Libertarian Party works regularly in, and often as the leader of, trans-partisan and non-partisan coalitions with all the other parties. It emphasizes, in the words of its co-founder, David Nolan, "consensus and coalition building" and there is a growing trend where Libertarians are asked to facilitate community groups. To those focused on its vote totals, its coalition work is surprisingly successful, ranging from a lawsuit that eventually removed most of the laws restricting sexual behavior on adults to spectacular efforts such as a Constitutional Ballot fairness amendment passed in Florida. It also engages in considerable lobbying at the state and local level and a respectable amount at the national level: the Libertarian International Organization estimates that LP's around the country are involved in over 500 initiatives a year from campaigns against Eminent Domain to an initiative to bring proportional representation to the Electoral College.

Besides making a point of working with other parties, many state LP's alternate recruitment campaigns among different groups so they do not tilt towards just one group, and people can work together on an equal basis.

The Libertarian Party has substantial points of disagreement with both the Democratic and the Republican parties. However, the party has historically had more influence on and closer ties with the Republican Party. For example, former Republican Speaker Of The House Newt Gingrich claimed to be influenced by Libertarian principles, and was praised by many Libertarians for attempting to shrink government. Analysts within the American right have used the language and social critiques of Libertarians with regard to market deregulation (for example, the frequent citing of studies by the Cato Institute ). The 1988 Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate Ron Paul serves as a Republican Congressman from Texas , and is also a member of the Republican Liberty Caucus , a group of libertarian-minded members of that party. On the other hand, there is strong Libertarian influence on some Democrats, too; the Democratic Freedom Caucus is a group of libertarian-minded members of the Democratic Party. It could be said that Libertarianism is more " Liberal " on Social and Political beliefs and more " Conservative " on Economic beliefs.

Libertarian candidates have even occasionally thrown their support behind Republican contenders. In a 2002 South Dakota election for Senate, for example, Libertarian candidate Kurt Evans suspended his campaign a week before Election Day and urged voters to support Republican candidate John R. Thune . The Libertarian Party supported Republican efforts to impeach Bill Clinton , although for different reasons (citing several actions they deemed to be unconstitutional). In 1992, after incumbent Georgia Senator Wyche Fowler won a plurality but failed to achieve 50% and was forced into a runoff, the Libertarian candidate publicly threw his support to Paul D. Coverdell, who then won the election.

On the other hand, the Libertarian Party has also worked towards defeating some prominent Republicans, such as for its potential for infringements of civil rights. The party has also made the repeal of Drug Prohibition laws one of its priorities, a position that puts them at odds with both the Democratic and Republican Parties.

Ronald Reagan said in a 1975 interview that the core of Conservatism in the United States was in fact Libertarianism , and since the Republican Party generally follows a conservative stance, this also shows a stronger link between the two parties.

Despite this, former Libertarian candidate Harry Browne noted that he was drawing approximately an equal number of Democrats and Republicans to his campaign. 2004 candidate Michael Badnarik made a similar claim. Surveys by Libertarian Citizen, an activist education group, in 2002 showed Libertarians drew equally from the left, right, and independents--with over 30% saying they would not have voted at all unless the Libertarian were running.

Media such as the St Petersburg Times have speculated that even one Libertarian could affect public bodies to look at different ideas. They are often strong in local appointed office (about matching their elected officials), and sometimes lead the boards to which they belong. In 2005, local Florida Democrats joined a coalition with Libertarians that, after a voter forum, is calling for a lowering of ballot restrictions, something unthinkable when Libertarians first started.

SIZE AND INFLUENCE

The Libertarian Party claims to currently be the largest Third Party in the United States — a nation which is overwhelmingly dominated by two major parties that typically capture more than 95% of the vote in partisan elections. Their claim is disputed by some, especially other third parties such as the Greens . There is no single objective, agreed-upon standard to compare the size of third parties, so what is presented here is a collection of various measures sometimes cited.

Libertarians point to the performance of their presidential candidates, who have often finished above most other permanently-organized third parties. In the 2004 election, Libertarian Michael Badnarik received more votes (397,367 votes) than all non-major party candidates except for Ralph Nader , who ran as an independent but accepted the endorsement and ballot lines of the mostly-defunct Reform Party ; received more votes than all the other third party candidates combined, over twice as many as the Constitution Party candidate ( Michael Peroutka 144,292 votes) and three times as many as Green Party candidate ( David Cobb 119,852 votes). In 2000 and 1996, Libertarian Harry Browne was bested by both the Green Party and Reform Party nominees. The Libertarian candidate finished ahead of all other third party candidates in 1992, 1988, 1984, and 1980 (though it finished well behind independent candidates Ross Perot in 1992 and John Anderson in 1980 ). No other current third party has finished third in a presidential election more than once, nor have they received an electoral college vote, as the Libertarian candidate did in 1972 from a " Faithless Elector " pledged to Nixon and the Republican Party."Faithless Electors". 1972 entry . Retrieved June 26, 2005. Libertarians have also achieved 50-state ballot access for their candidate four times (in 1980, 1992, 1996, and 2000), a feat no other third party has achieved more than once.

Ballot access can be considered as a measure of a political party's level of motivation, size, and financial and volunteer-base strength. Despite internal bickering over whether to pursue ballot access or not, in 2004, the Libertarians earned a space on more ballots than the Greens (48+DC vs 27+DC). In addition, Libertarian volunteers collected a greater proportion of ballot-access petition signatures for their party; while the Greens relied more heavily on paid petitioners.

The ability to fund a candidate is another measure of a party's size and strength. The following are the amounts spent on campaign activities for the presidential candidates, as reported by the FEC:

George W. Bush (R) $367,228,801

John Kerry (D) $326,236,288

Ralph Nader (Ref./indep.) $4,566,037

Michael Badnarik (L) $1,093,013

Michael Peroutka (Const.) $709,087

David Cobb (Green) $496,658

In recent elections, Libertarians have run far more candidates for office, at all levels, than all other third parties combined. In the 2004 elections, there were 377 Libertarian candidates for state legislative seats, compared with 108 Constitution Party candidates, 94 Green Party candidates, and 11 Reform Party candidates. In the 2000 elections, the party ran about 1,430 candidates at the local, state, and federal level. More than 1,600 Libertarians ran for office in the 2002 mid-term election. Accordingly, their combined vote totals have far exceeded those of other parties: in the 2000, 2002, and 2004 elections, Libertarian candidates for state House of Representatives received more than a million votes — more than twice the votes received by all other minor parties combined.

Libertarians have had mixed success in electing candidates at the state and local level (no third party is currently represented in the U.S. Congress, although Republican (one in Maine ), the Independence Party (one in Minnesota ), the Progressive Party (six in Vermont ), the Republican Moderate Party (one in Alaska ), and the Working Families Party (one in New York ). Some Libertarian candidates for state office have performed relatively strongly in statewide races. In two Massachusetts Senate races (2000 and 2002), Libertarian candidates Carla Howell and Michael Cloud , who did not face serious Republican contenders (in 2002 the candidate failed to make the ballot), won a record-setting 11.9% and 19%, respectively. In 2002, Ed Thompson , the brother of former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson , won 11% running for the same office, resulting in a seat on the state elections board for the Libertarian Party, the only one for a third party in the U.S.

As of October 2004 (as reported in the December 2004 issue of Ballot Access News), the Libertarians ranked fifth in voter registration nationally. The Constitution Party ranked third with 367,521 registrants, next to the Greens ' 312,963 and the Libertarians' 258,408. However, in the opinion of Richard Winger , the editor of Ballot Access News , of the 326,763 California voters affiliated with the Constitution Party , who are actually registrants of California's American Independent Party , nearly all registered in the belief that they were registering as independents i.e. not associating with any political party. Also, excluding New York (where Libertarians just recently won the right to register) and California (where the American Independent Party skews the results), Libertarians rank third in voter registration. The Libertarians ranked third in fifteen states, the Greens ranked third in eight states, the Constitution Party ranked third in two states, and the Reform Party ranked third in one state. (Only 27 states require voters to affiliate with a party. Some states don't allow voters to register with third parties.)

LIBERTARIAN IDENTITY

A libertarian (Lower case "L") is a person who believes in the Non-Coercion Principle and libertarian goals; he may or may not also be an LP member.

A Libertarian (Upper case "L") is a libertarian who believes the existing political system is a proper and effective means of implementing those principles; specifically, one who is a "Libertarian" in the United States is a member of the US Libertarian Party.

Some of the small-l libertarians eschew the political process as a matter of principle, and often identify themselves as "voluntaryists". They may view democracy as "the tyranny of the majority"."'' —from libertarian FAQ page

Other followers of the 'libertarian' philosophy may consider the Libertarian Party tactically ineffective; or wish to distance themselves from the "big-L" Libertarian Party, which sometimes suffers from unwanted headlines generated by some members. For example, ).

Similarly, not all Libertarians are libertarians. Political candidates with roots in other parties (referred to by some as "Fibbertarians") have been known to register and run as Libertarians in order to take advantage of automatic ballot access and lower signature requirements. Domination of the electoral process by the incumbent bureaucracy in certain states enables such false-flag candidacies even over the objection of the party whose name is being used.

Like all groups, the Libertarian Party has internal debates about strategy. Some members refer to themselves as "mainstream" or "pragmatic"; while others describe themselves as "consistent" or "principled".

In the opinion of some, members who identify themselves as principled have dominated the party since the early 1980's. The departure of Ed Crane and David Koch (of the Cato Institute , a libertarian-leaning Think Tank ) is held up as an example. Crane and some of his allies resigned from the Party in 1983 when their candidates for the National Committee were defeated at the National Convention.

The debate quieted for a time, then rose again in the mid-1990's, when a "Committee for a Libertarian Majority" (CLM) was formed and met in Atlanta, Georgia, and worked up several proposals to alter many aspects of the Libertarian Party's operations. Their proposals attracted opposition in the form of another committee called PLEDGE. In the long run, CLM's proposals attracted some support at the national convention but did not prevail.

More recently, the debate has arisen anew with the formation of several "reform" groups, such as the ( Libertarian Reform Caucus , Libertarian Party Reform Caucus , Real World Libertarian Caucus ), all advocating altered libertarian positions and revision of the party's platform. As in the past, opposition groups have sprung up as well.

The press has incorrectly labeled Lyndon LaRouche as a Libertarian in articles about the controversy he generates.a. Dasbach, Steve (May 1994). " From the Chair: Building credibility ". ''LP News''. Retrieved June 26, 2005. b. ¹ Mistakes such as this are problematic for any political party, but have a heavier impact on a smaller party which generally gets less press coverage overall.

SEE ALSO