The Libertarian Party
What we stand for and how we compare
Who We Are and Who We Represent
The Libertarian Party was founded in 1971 by the late David Nolan. Under Libertarian beliefs, it is seen that the liberty of an individual is the most protected right with government only existing to provide general order by enforcing the laws and providing very basic frameworks for specific businesses and institutions. Currently, the party is one of the largest third parties in American politics and have 140 elected officials with former governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson, representing the party in this years' presidential race. Voting for a libertarian is a vote for the grantee that the government will stay out of your life and allow you to live it as you please.
Social Policy
Instead of sacrificing the beliefs of less orthodox religions, forcing progressive ideals on those who may not accept them, or providing no type of protection for the rights and liberties of an individual, us Libertarians believe that any person should be able to have the freedom to do whatever they please, as long as another person's liberties are not being put in the way. If someone wishes to get married to someone of the same sex, let them, if a person wishes to abort their child we want to do no more than respect that decision. All in all, do what you want in your life, practice the religion with whatever beliefs you want to, raise and teach your children however you wish to, as long as no one else is getting hurt, us libertarians will never get in your way.
Economic Policy
Without a thriving economy and balanced budget, the people and the government would not be able to function and no one would have their liberties ensured. Libertarians do not want there to be an unfair playing field where only certain people can achieve success, make it so that you'll be punished for being wealthy though, or lack so much structure that hardly anything could ever be accomplished. Instead, a libertarian government will create a more open, free, and competitive market place where more people can be able to fill the needed job roles that exist in that type of environment and make good wages, with the government only there to ensure economic equality via very basic framework. Along with the removal of income tax and the IRS and our proposed "Balanced Budget Amendment", the hardworking American people will have more opportunities and money than ever before.
Military Forces
War causes nothing but problems for those involved, and that message something that is very clear to libertarians. We believe that the placing of our military forces in foreign lands to put our beliefs on the native people and any kind of general deconstruction that may lead to beliefs of weakness from those against us is completely foolish. America is the greatest nation in the world when we can ensure that our people and their liberties are protected and the most effective and efficient way to do this is to remove our military forces and bases away from foreign nations and adopt more of a non-interventionist policy where we do not us our military for anymore more than self defense. The military forces we will have will still be greatly supported and no question of their strength and intelligence should ever be questioned.
What Makes us Different
Libertarians are simply just against what most other ideologies value: we don't want a government that puts itself into every aspect of the people's lives, have religious values be a large part of policy making, strive for an environment that could never possibly exist where all the people on earth are giving according to their abilities and taking only what they need, or have the people be completely in charge of their lives without any kind of government. Having a government is an important piece of a successful American society so while it shouldn't be completely abolished, it should instead be made to play more of a supportive role where they work to protect the rights of the people-who should all be able to do they things they wish to, equally. "Minimum government, maximum freedom" these are the words that separate us from the other ideologies.