Libertarian Party (United States)
The
Libertarian Party is an
American political party founded in
1971. It is one of the largest continuing
third parties in the United States, claiming more than 200,000 registered voters and more than 600 people in public office, including mayors, county executives, county council members, school board members and other local officials. It has more people in office than all other third parties combined.
["Frequently asked questions about the Libertarian Party", Official Website of the Libertarian National Committee. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.]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.
Key tenets of the Libertarian Party platform include the following:
* Adaptation of laissez-faire principles which will result in the complete separation of state and economics. This will include, among other things, enormous reduction in taxation, privatization of
Social Security and
welfare (for both individuals and companies), elimination of business regulation, abolition of labor regulations such as
minimum wage and the absence of government interference in foreign trade.
* Protection of property rights (which to many libertarians include intellectual rights such as copyrights)
* Minimal government bureaucracy. The Libertarian Party states that the government's responsibilities should be limited to the protection of individual rights from the initiation of force and fraud with a military, police force, and court system.
* Strong
civil liberties positions, including privacy protections,
freedom of speech,
freedom of association, and
sexual freedom.
* Opposition to any efforts to restrict
gun rights at any level of
government.
* Abolition of laws against victimless crimes (prostitution, driving without a seatbelt, etc.)
* Opposition to
conscription* A foreign policy of free trade and non-interventionism
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 supportive of the concept of
individual liberty as a pre-condition 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 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 and because of their views 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 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 its proposed changes.
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 17th. 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 more than 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. His election resulted from the special election held on December 29, 1981 to break a tie vote in the general election between him and the Democratic candidate. He received 63% of the votes cast in the special election. 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.
In
1988, former
Republican Congressman
Ron Paul won the Libertarian nomination for president and was on the ballot in 46 states.
Paul later successfully ran for
Congress from Texas, once again as a Republican, an office in which he still serves.
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 Presidential (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, the
Arizona Libertarian Party, which had been disaffiliated from the national organization in late
1999, but which controlled the Libertarian ballot line in that state, nominated science fiction author
L. Neil Smith and newspaperman
Vin Suprynowicz, rather than Browne and Olivier, as its presidential slate. Smith and Suprynowicz polled 5,775 votes (0.38%) in Arizona.
The
2004 election cycle saw the Libertarian Party's closest presidential nomination race to date. Three candidates 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 — many delegates were won over during the convention itself, due to
Badnarik's perceived strong performance in a formal candidate debate.
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 polled nearly as well as independent candidate
Ralph Nader.
The Libertarian Party's current national chair is
Bill Redpath. Its most recent executive director was
Joe Seehusen, who resigned on
August 5,
2005.
["Executive Director Joe Seehusen Resigns", LP News, September 1, 2005. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.] Communications Director Shane Cory is temporarily acting as Chief of Staff. In March of 2006, the national committee began the process of naming Shane Cory as the new Executive Director.
In mid-2005, the Libertarian National Committee voted to eliminate all dues for membership in the national Libertarian Party, effective January 1, 2006.
["LNC Approves Zero Dues", LP News, September 1, 2005. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.]In summer 2006 at the
national convention in
Portland, Oregon, it was decided to significantly change the party's base platform to reflect a platform that would possibly appeal to a wider audience. While the basis for the platform remains largely the same, much of the strict wording with regards to many of the more controversial issues in the platform was modified or removed.
The charge to make these changes was led by Libertarian groups such as the
Libertarian Reform Caucus, which claims victory on its organizational website.
["Victory in Portland!", Libertarian Reform Caucus website. Retrieved on July 25, 2006. See also "National Platform of the Libertarian Party", Official Website of the Libertarian National Committee. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.]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. 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 beliefs and more "
conservative" on economic beliefs.
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 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
Bob Barr (who has subsequently spoken at Libertarian Party functions and expressed agreement with many of the party's positions). It opposes the Republican Party on various issues of civil liberties: for example, the Libertarian Party has sharply attacked the
USA PATRIOT Act for its potential for infringement of civil rights. The party has also made the repeal of
drug prohibition laws one of its priorities, a position that puts it at odds with the mainstream of 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 implies a stronger link between the two parties.
Despite this, former Libertarian candidate Harry Browne noted that he drew 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 more than 30% saying they would not have voted at all in the absence of a Libertarian candidate.
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, 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 reduction in ballot access restrictions.
The Libertarian Party claims to be the largest
third party in the United States â€" 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. According to
Alexa Internet Traffic Reports, the Libertarian Party Website is currently the highest ranked official political party website in the United States.
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 nearly defunct
Reform Party; received more votes than all the other third party candidates combined, more than 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 currently active third party has finished third in a presidential election more than once, or 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", Center for Voting and Democracy. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.] Libertarians have also achieved 50-state ballot access for their presidential 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, 377 Libertarian candidates vied 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 â€" 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. Following the 2002 elections, more than 300 Libertarians held elected state and local offices; by comparison, in June 2005 at least 222 Greens hold elected office.
[Feinstein, Mike. "Green Party Members Holding Elected Office in the United States", June 2005. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.] Though twelve Libertarians have previously been elected to state legislatures, none hold that office currently, unlike the
Greens (one in
Maine), 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 such seat 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.)
A libertarian (Lower case "L") is a person who believes in 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."
[Raymond, Eric S. "What's the difference between small-l libertarian and big-l Libertarian?", The Libertarianism FAQ, March 14, 2004. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.]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,
Stan Jones, a 2002 Libertarian senatorial candidate in Montana, turned his skin permanently blue from consuming colloidal silver in anticipation of medicine shortages stemming from the
Year 2000 problem.
["Senate Candidate Blue -- Literally". CNN.com, October 3, 2002. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.] Irwin Schiff, who ran for the 1996 Libertarian presidential nomination (but lost the Libertarian nomination to
Harry Browne), maintains that the federal
income tax is optional and voluntary for most people, in spite of a
Department of Justice ruling that he owes more than $2 million (US) in taxes and penalties.
[Pierce, Jason. "Proponent of 'Voluntary' Income Tax Sued for Millions". CNSNews.com, May 30, 2002. Retrieved on July 25, 2006. Department of Justice. "Court Rules Irwin Schiff Owes U.S. Treasury over Two Million Dollars". Press Release, June 17, 2004. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.] (it should be noted he is no longer a member of the Libertarian Party, having allied himself with the
Constitution Party).
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 or lower petition signature requirements.
[Templar, Le. "Tempe:The Outlaw Libertarian That Ran For Office In Arizona", Tribune, July 3, 2005. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.]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 1980s. 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 national committee seats were defeated at the National Convention.
The debate quieted for a time, then rose again in the mid-1990s, 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 revision of the party's platform and a more "politics-oriented" approach. As in the past, opposition groups have sprung up as well.
Some media outlets have incorrectly labeled
Lyndon LaRouche as a Libertarian in articles about the controversy he generates.
[Dasbach, Steve. "From the Chair: Building Credibility". LP News, May 1994. Retrieved on July 25, 2006. Smith, Herb. "We've Got To Elect the Guy, First; And Then, We've Got To Train Him", WCIN, October 19, 2004 (transcript). Retrieved on July 25, 2006.] 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.
*
List of political parties in the United States*
Libertarians AbroadGeneral
*
US Libertarian Party official site
*
Libertarian Party Wiki*
LP candidate for U.S. president in 2004*
Criticisms of the Libertarian Party*
Short History of Libertarian party*
Libertarian campus organizations*
Richard Winger's Ballot Access News*
2006 Libertarian Party CandidatesLibertarian Parties in other nations
*
AUSTRALIA: Liberal Democratic Party*
NEW ZEALAND: Libertarianz*
ITALY: Radicali*
COSTA RICA: Movimiento Libertario*
RUSSIA: Rossiyskoye Libertarianskoye Dvizhenie (RLD) or "Russian Libertarian Movement"*
CANADA: Libertarian Party of CanadaInternational Libertarian Group(s)
*
International Society for Individual Liberty*
Libertarian International OrganizationState Libertarian parties
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Washington:Washington, D.C.—
see "District of Columbia":
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Wyoming
