The Libertarian Party is a United States political party founded on December 11, 1971. In the 30 states where voters can register by party there are over 200,000 voters registered with the Libertarian Party, making it one of the largest of America's alternative political parties. Hundreds of Libertarian candidates have been elected or appointed to public office, and thousands have run for office under the Libertarian banner.
The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects that group's particular brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration across borders, and non-interventionism in foreign policy that respects freedom of trade and travel to all foreign countries.
Platform
Libertarian views represent a generalized opposition to most government control of individual behavior, except for that which involves the use of force or fraud. Libertarians generally believe individuals acting voluntarily alone or with others should decide how to run their lives. Libertarians state that their platform follows from the consistent application of their guiding principle: "mutual respect for rights." The Libertarian political platform is deeply supportive of the concept of individual liberty as a precondition for moral and stable societies. In their "Statement of Principles," they declare: "We hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live in whatever manner they choose." To this end, Libertarians want to reduce the size of government (eliminating many of its current functions entirely).
Libertarians reject the view of politics as a one-dimensional spectrum, divided between Democrats representing the Left or Center-left and Republicans representing the Right or Center-right.
To illustrate their view that the one-dimensional view of politics is insufficient to describe the myriad 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-freedom issues and five questions dealing with personal-freedom issues), which it bills as "The World's Smallest Political Quiz," allowing respondents to classify their political leanings.
Among outside political watchers, some consider Libertarians to be conservative (primarily because of their support of the right to bear arms, including mace and pepper spray, their opposition to economic regulation, opposition to entitlement programs in almost all forms, and their views on taxes — with strong support for the repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment - and states' rights, and the old Republican view of a non-interventionist foreign policy, while others consider them liberal because of their advocacy of the repeal of drug prohibition, including restrictions on tobacco and alcohol, and the elimination of laws that interfere with private consensual acts (such as prostitution and gambling). Libertarians consider themselves neither conservative nor liberal; rather, they believe they represent a unique philosophy that is all their own.
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 United States would benefit from most of its proposed changes.
Current structure and composition
Further information: Organization of American Political Parties (Politics of the United States)Leadership
The members, when gathered at the bi-annual Libertarian National Convention, are the ultimate authority within the Libertarian Party.
The 17-member Libertarian National Committee (currently chaired by William Redpath) is responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations of the national Libertarian Party and its headquarters, in representative style.
Wes Benedict is currently the Executive Director.
The Libertarian National Congressional Committee (LNCC) assists party candidates in state-level races; its current chairman is M. Carling of California and New York.
State chapters
Each state also has a state committee, usually consisting of statewide officers and regional representation of one kind or another. Similarly, county, town, city and ward committees, where organized, generally consist of party members elected at the local level. State and local committees often coordinate campaign activities within their jurisdiction, oversee local conventions and in some cases primaries or caucuses, and may have a role in nominating candidates for elected office under state law.
Membership
Since its inception, individuals have been able to join the Libertarian Party by simply signing their agreement with the organization's membership pledge, which states that the signer does not advocate the initiation of force to achieve political or social goals. During the mid eighties into the early nineties, this membership category was called an "instant" membership; currently these are referred to as "signature members".
Individuals may remit annual dues to obtain additional benefits, such as a subscription to the party's monthly newspaper, LPNews , or to have a vote at party conventions.
In the late nineties, the LNC began sharing annual national dues with the state parties, under a program called the "Unified Membership Program" or UMP. However, this program was terminated in 2006 due to funding shortfalls at the national level, and the inability of many state parties to fund a staffer or find a volunteer to prepare the required bookkeeping to account for it.
At about the same time the Libertarian Party was about to abandon UMP, the Democratic National Committee adopted the idea and in 2005 DNC Chairman Howard Dean began a program called 50 State Strategy that uses DNC national funds to assist all state parties and pay for full time professional staffers. Some Democratic activists have suggested that the DNC program has contributed significantly to the turnaround in Democratic fortunes in state, local, and national elections since 2005.
Paid membership in the Libertarian Party increased 28% in 2006.
History
Main article: History of the Libertarian Party (United States)Symbols and name
In 1972, "Libertarian Party" was chosen as the party's name, narrowly beating out "New Liberty Party."
Also in 1972, the "Libersign"—an arrow angling upward through the acronym "TANSTAAFL"—was selected as the party's emblem. Some time after, this was replaced with the Lady Liberty, which has, ever since, served as the party's symbol or mascot.
For many years, there has been a small movement to adopt "LP" the Liberty Penguin as the official mascot, much like the Republican elephant or the Democratic donkey. The Libertarian parties of Tennessee, North Carolina, Utah, Hawaii, Delaware and Iowa have all adopted "LP" as their mascot.
The first official slogan of the Libertarian Party was "There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch" (often seen as "TANSTAAFL" for short). The current slogan of the party is "The Party of Principle".
Relationship to major parties
At the local level, the Libertarian Party often joins, and sometimes leads, trans-partisan and non-partisan issues coalitions. It emphasizes, in the words of its co-founder, David Nolan, "consensus and coalition building" on issues important to its members. It also engages in lobbying at the state, local and national levels. The Libertarian International Organization estimates that Libertarians around the country are involved in more than 500 initiatives a year.
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. 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; Mike Gravel, a Democratic senator from Alaska, ran unsuccessfully for the Libertarian Party's nomination in 2008. The Democratic Freedom Caucus is a group of libertarian-minded members of the Democratic Party.
Libertarian candidates have occasionally thrown their support behind Republican contenders. In a 2002 South Dakota election for Senate, for example, Libertarian candidate Kurt Evans suspended his campaign three weeks before Election Day and urged voters to support Republican candidate John R. Thune. The Libertarian Party supported efforts to impeach Bill Clinton for different reasons (citing several actions they deemed to be unconstitutional
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