The Libertarian Party

            Political parties are made by groups of people with common ideologies, who seek to be elected to implement the party’s manifesto. Political parties are crucial to maintaining a county’s democracy. They allow voters to choose their preferred leaders, policies, and programs, and they shape public opinion by educating people to influence how they think politically. In other words, the parties provide a way for citizens to decide the kind of government they want. Consequently, most nations practice multi-party politics. America has a two-party governance system, which consists of the Republican and Democratic parties. However, there are other minor ones; the Libertarian Party is one of the fast-growing examples. The party is based on libertarianism, a political philosophy that dictates that each person is the owner of his or her life, and has the freedom to act in accordance to personal choices unless the actions violate the liberty of other people to live in a similar manner (Hospers, 2003). Therefore, every person is his or her own master (none is beneath the other), and no one should act in violation of the rights of others. Following this principle, the Libertarian Party was formed in 1971 to promote freedom through laissez-faire capitalism, non-interventionism, and by advocating for civil liberties (Fiest, 2019). Throughout the years, the party has grown to be third largest in America, after the Republicans and Democrats.

Background

The Libertarian Party (LP) was founded by David Nolan in 1971, in Colorado Springs, CO, and held its first national convention in 1972 (Fiest, 2019). The party was formed due to easing doubts over the Nixon administration’s credibility, the introduction of fiat money, and concerns about the Vietnam War (Murphy, 2004). The Libertarians won their first public seats in 1977 after they were included on the ballots in seven states (Fiest, 2019). Since its formation, the Libertarian Party has primarily been the opposition to the Democrats and the Republicans. The party’s influence has continually grown within the United States with increasing membership.

The headquarters of the Libertarian Party are at Alexandria, Virginia. The LP efforts to minimize government interference in its operations are evident in its slogan, which is “minimum government, maximum freedom.” The America LP is a member of the International Alliance of Libertarian Parties (IALP), which was formed in 2015. LP advocates for classical, cultural, and economic liberalism, laissez-faire capitalism, and non-interventionism, which are ideologies thought to be missing in the Republican and Democratic Parties (Ershadi, 2013). Ass of 2020, LP has 609,234 registered members in 31 states, which is 0.53 percent of the total electorate; this makes it the third-largest party in the U.S. (Winger, 2020).

The Libertarian party is internally led by its own members, with national and regional leadership positions. The national committee is led by the chairman, vice-chair, treasurer, secretary, and five “At large” officials (Ballotpedia, 2019). The regional representatives are members of the LP national committee, elected to rule specific regions. The party covers eight areas, each led by a democratically elected official.

The Libertarian Party of America has a written Platform, which outlines its core principles and beliefs, and priorities in foreign and domestic affairs. The theme of the LP Platform is defending the rights of individuals from any authoritarian power and the government. It includes personal liberty principles such as self-ownership, freedom of expression, parental rights, and privacy, which aim at making people free to make their own choices but with responsibility for their actions (Libertarian, 2018). The economic liberty policy focusses on protecting property rights and limiting government interference in financial markets, energy sector, and taking debts while supporting the labor force and the discriminated members of the society (Libertarian, 2018). The security liberty section emphasizes on the protection of human rights by constitutionally limiting it to avoid the infringement rights (Libertarian, 2018). While not every negative aspect of contemporary governance in America is included in the Platform, the Libertarian Party urges citizens not to see it as a sign of approval (Libertarian, 2018).

The Libertarian Party has participated in various federal, state, and local-level elections since its formation. Over the past ten years, the party’s candidates have vied for various seats in America, some with a plausible level of success. In the 2019 and 2018 elections, LP supported 293 and 973 candidates, respectively, and 90 of them won in 2019 (Ballotpedia, 2019). In 2017, 19 out of 89 members were elected and re-elected into public offices (Ballotpedia, 2019). In 2012, Gary Johnson was selected as the party’s presidential nominee; although he did not win, he surpassed the one million mark with 1,275,804 votes (Ballotpedia, 2019). The success of the Libertarian Party in federal, state, and local elections shows that although it has not achieved or nearly equated the size and the influence the Republicans and Democrats have over the American population, LP is bound to rise to higher political heights. Seemingly, the LP Platform insinuates that people should not rely on the government for social, economic, and physical protection but on themselves.

The primary goal of the Libertarian Party is supporting more candidates in various elections, and ensuring their victory so as to implement the party’s ideologies. For instance, the party’s objectives in 2018 were to access ballots in all 50 states, have more than 2,000 candidates across the U.S., and gain more media attention (Libertarian, 2018). To achieve the desired outcome, the party depends on increased support from the public through campaigns. The party’s goal for 2019 elections was to support 200 candidates, and help 70 of them to win; arguably, the efforts were successful because they performed above their expectations. The party got 293 candidates, and 90 of them were elected (Ballotpedia, 2019). Consequently, the campaigns are productive, and LP is continually gaining the public recognition it desires.

References

Ballotpedia. (2019). Libertarian Party. https://ballotpedia.org/Libertarian_Party

Fiest, J. A. (2019). Third parties in the US political system: What external and internal issues shape public perception of Libertarian Party/politicians? https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd/1985

Hospers, J. (2003). The libertarian manifesto. Morality in Practice, 21-27. https://homepage.westmont.edu/hoeckley/readings/symposium/pdf/301_400/308.pdf

Libertarian. (2018). The Platform. https://www.lp.org/platform/

Libertarian. (2018). Our goals for 2018. https://www.lp.org/our-goals-for-2018

Murphy, M. P. (2004). The Government. iUnviverse.

Winger, R. (2020, March 27). Early 2020 voter registration totals. https://ballot-access.org/2020/03/27/march-2020-ballot-access-news-print-edition