Libertarian Party (United States)

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Current LP logo depicts a stylized Statue of Liberty.

The Libertarian Party is a United States political party created in 1971. It claims to be the largest third party in the United States although others dispute this claim (see below for a full discussion of the issue).

The stated platform of the Libertarian Party holds some positions that are considered on the far left and others that are considered on the far right. Unlike traditional "left" parties, Libertarians favor minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets; unlike traditional "right" parties, Libertarians favor social freedom including legalization of drugs and strong civil liberties.

Platform

Key tenets of the Libertarian Party platform include the following:

• a mostly unregulated free-market economy, including support of the right to keep and bear arms, opposition to drug prohibition (see also: drug legalization), and elimination of the state-supported social welfare system.
• strong civil liberties including free speech, freedom of association, sexual freedom, and
• a foreign policy of free trade and a reluctance to use military intervention.

Libertarians claim that their platform follows from the ultimate value of individual liberty. In their "Statement of Principles," they say "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), and "support the repeal of all taxation"[1].

Many Americans view politics on a spectrum between left and right, with the Democrats representing the center-left, and Republicans representing the center-right. Libertarians reject this description of political positions; instead, Libertarians refer people to the Nolan chart to communicate their perception of the political spectrum.

Many political commentators cannot seem to agree on how to classify the Libertarian Party. Prominent conservative Ann Coulter has accused the Libertarians of being a single-issue party because she disagrees with them on the Drug War, while others accuse Libertarians of focusing predominantly on issues of market regulation.

Within the larger 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 framework of the United States Constitution. As in any political party, there is some internal disagreement about the platform, and not all 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, a few Libertarians are actually anarcho-capitalists who view minarchy as a first step towards the abolition of government.

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. 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 towards more authoritarian political positions.

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 party to accomplish this since the Socialist Party in 1916. The ticket of Ed Clark and David H. Koch spent several million dollars on this campaign and earned over one percent of the popular vote, the most successful Libertarian presidential campaign to date.

In 1983, the party was divided by internal disputes; former party leaders Edward Crane and David Koch left the party, taking a great deal of support with them. In 1984, the party's presidential nominee, David Bergland, only obtained ballot access in 40 states and earned only one-quarter of one percent of the popular vote.

A new strategy brought former Republican Congressman Ron Paul to the LP's presidential ticket in 1988; that year, the party regained ballot access in all 50 states. Andre Marrou, a Libertarian elected to the Alaska state legislature and Ron Paul's running mate in 1988, led the 1992 ticket. Investment adviser Harry Browne headed the 1996 and 2000 tickets; 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.

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. Badnarik's results were similar to the 2000 results of Harry Browne. He received very nearly as many votes as independent candidate Ralph Nader.

As of 2004, the Libertarian Party's national chair is Michael Dixon and its national director is Joe Seehusen.

Relationship to Major Parties

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).

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. Coverdale, who then won the election.

On the other hand, the Libertarian Party has also worked towards defeating some prominent Republicans, such as Bob Barr and George W. Bush. It opposes the Republican Party on some issues of civil liberties: for example, the Libertarian Party has sharply attacked the USA PATRIOT Act for its perceived 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 the Republican Party.

The Libertarian Party - third largest party in the U.S. or not?

The Libertarian Party claims to be the third largest party in the United States. Libertarians point to successes, such as:

• In the 2004 elections, Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik came fourth and received more votes than all other third party candidates combined and almost three times as many as the next placed third party candidate, Michael Peroutka.
• 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, 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.
• 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. Both numbers are more candidates than all other third parties combined ran in these elections.
• Following the 2002 elections, more than 300 Libertarians hold elected state and local offices. In the past, Libertarians have been elected to the legislatures of at least three states.
• In 2000, 256 Libertarian candidates ran for seats in the House of Representatives. In 2002, 219 Libertarian candidates ran for House seats. These are the only two times in over 80 years that any third party has contested a majority of House seats.
• In 2000, Libertarian candidates for U.S. House won 1.73 million votes. This count is more than any other third party in U.S. history by raw vote totals, although not by proportion of the electorate.
• In 2000, Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate Carla Howell won a record 11.9% of the vote. Then in 2002, Michael Cloud won 19% of the vote for the other Massachusetts seat in the U.S. Senate. Such success has not been met by any other third party as of 2004. In each of these cases, though, the vote total may have been inflated due to a weak Republican Party candidate. In 2000, the Republican Party refused to support its own candidate and in 2002 the Republican Party candidate failed to even make the ballot.
• In 2002, Ed Thompson won 11% of the vote for governor of Wisconsin despite being excluded from the debates. As a result, one of the eight members of the Wisconsin Election Board is a Libertarian. No other third party holds a seat on the Election Board of any state. However, Thompson had extremely strong name recognition even without participating in the debates, since he is the brother of Tommy Thompson, who was governor of Wisconsin from 1987 to 2001 and is currently the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.
• The Libertarian Party has run in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia in four elections: 1980, 1992, 1996, and 2000, although an intraparty dispute in 2000 led to a different candidate being listed on the ballot in Arizona that year than in all the other states. No other third party in U.S. history has managed to run a presidential candidate in all 50 states more than once. Achieving 50 state ballot access is so difficult that only the Democrats, Libertarians, and Republicans even attempted it in 2004, although the Libertarians only managed to get on the ballot in 48 states and the District of Columbia, failing in New Hampshire and Oklahoma. That was still more than any other third party and more than independent Ralph Nader. [2]
• Libertarian candidates have finished third in a presidential election twice, in 1972 and 1984. The party also finished third in the popular vote in 1988, though the candidate was knocked down to fourth in the Electoral College. Also, when compared to other parties (that is, excluding independent candidates), the Libertarian Party placed third in seven of the nine elections in which it has run a presidential candidate. In 2004 Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik placed just behind third place finisher Ralph Nader, who was running as an independent. No other current third party has ever finished third in a presidential election more than once.
• In Washington State the Libertarian Party is considered a major party.

Evidence opposing the view that the Libertarian Party is the third largest include:

• As of October 2004, 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, according to 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. (The total is twenty-six because nearly half the states states don't allow voters to register with third parties.)

• The Libertarian Party presidential candidates have performed poorly relative to third party/independent candidates Ross Perot (in 1992 and 1996) and Ralph Nader (in 2000 and 2004). However, those candidates had personal advantages the Libertarian presidential candidates have lacked, in the form of great personal wealth (Perot) and significant name recognition (Nader), and both candidates received a great deal of national media coverage. National coverage of the Libertarian candidate in each of those elections was rare.

• Unlike the Greens (one in Maine), The Constitution party (one in Montana) 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), the Libertarians currently have no representatives in state legislatures. On the other hand, twelve Libertarians have previously been elected to state legislatures and former Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul currently serves in Congress — but he was elected as a Republican.

Prominent party members

• Michael Badnarik, 2004 Presidential nominee
• Art Bell
• Neal Boortz
• Harry Browne, 1996 and 2000 Presidential nominee
• Karl Hess
• David Nolan, Party founder
• Gary Nolan, 2004 candidate for Presidential nomination
• Art Olivier, 2000 Vice Presidential nominee
• Trey Parker
• Ron Paul, currently serving in Congress as a Republican
• Kurt Russell
• Aaron Russo, 2004 candidate for Presidential nomination
• L. Neil Smith, on ballot for President in Arizona in 2000
• Ed Thompson

See also

• List of political parties in the United States

External links

General

• US Libertarian Party web site
• LP candidate for U.S. president in 2004
• Criticisms of the Libertarian Party
• A list of Libertarian Party members in public office. (Approximately 60% were elected and 40% were appointed to office.)

Libertarians as "spoilers"

• Libertarian Party press release on 2002 elections
• Full text of Ron Crickenberger's fundraising letter during the 2002 Georgia Senate election

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