Forums / Political & Legal / Libertarian Party in 2012?

but the guy is somewhat of a flake..but yes not since ROSS Perow has a third party looked so good..and with all the bickering the GOP and DNC are doing people just might waht a change. " a little rovolution is good sometime"...i heard that somewhere

I'll admit that I have never voted and really didn't care about politics until fairly recently. I didn't start caring about politics because of Obama, but more because of settling down and being in the states for a while. I am going to join the Libertarian party because their platform more closely matches my thoughts, but my primary effort is going to become a multiple-issue voter. My biggest concern has always been gun rights, as I believe a government that recognizes the rights of self-protection will also recognize other individual liberties. I am disappointed that so many conservatives bring their morals into their political world. I know morals and religion were a part of the beginning of our nation, but when individual liberty conflicts with morals or religious values, the liberty must take priority. So I am going to try to learn more about other issues to determine how I vote and what I say to my elected representatives.

Elected officials seldom go against the official stance of their respective party on any particular issue, all in the name of partisanship. The GOP of late doesn't appear much different to me than the Democratic Party... they all want to SPEND SPEND SPEND. They seem to have different agendas on which they wanna spend, with little regard for the consequences.
I worked with a "conspiracy theorist" who claimed that Ross Perot was a "plant" by the Dems to overturn the 1992 election. Bill Clinton won with only 43% of the popular vote... In 2002, McCain received 45% and lost.
I don't know if I'll see it in my lifetime, but I think that as the two major parties alienate more and more of their constituencies, you'll see more strength in the Libertarians, if they can break through the barriers the media imposes on them... We're not the "crackpots" the media makes us out to be.

They get elected and get what they want, power & money. We the Sheeple get to pay for it and get not much in return, as far as input. Yes we have good roads and infrastructure, but that is the crumbs that they throw us.
The 2 party system is just like 2 divorce attorneys, they get together and divide up your property for themselves to keep a big share of. I know!

I thought he was a little wierd but all (I mean all) his predictions are coming true......media blackballed him....must mean something

what constitutes a libritarian?

Libertarian is a political party, just like Republicans and Democrats. Just find their website and look at the party platform. That's the statement on all sorts of different social, economic, and political issues that the Libertarian party believes. I disagree with a few things, but for the most part, the Libertarians are a kind of "Do what you want, as long as it doesn't hurt others" group. Their foreign policy is, to me, a bit shaky, but The only way for anyone to find a party they agree with completely is to start one. I need to figure out how to do that.

alan keys!!!

what is the website for this party?

http://www.lp.org/

that is homepage of the Libertarian Party

Your friend alway,

LittleDragon

and some Liberal views, I think. I wonder if that is a poitive or a detriment? I am attracted to some of their views on individual liberty, but I'm a little worried about their seeming reluctance to engage with the world in terms of foreign policy.

I was a delegate to the state Republican convention last year and I must say the Ron Paul people were EXTREMELY well organized. However, they did not seem to me to be 'playing fair' in what they were doing at the convention. Their goal was to get as many delegates to the national convention as possible without regard that their numbers were smaller. They used procedural manipulation in an attempt to stack the convention in their favor. They had a well-organized attempt to disrupt the process with constant technical points and bickering. In short, I thought the way they handled themselves was simply disreputable and it left me with a bad feeling about their organization. I was shocked enough at this to disavow being engaged at that level in politics again. They acted like a bunch of Democrats invading the Republican party's due process.

Now having said that I'm not really sure whether their behavior is systemic to the Libertarian Party, or whether that just happened to be the way the Ron Paul campaign itself was organized. It may be that with another candidate in another time the behavior of the party would be far different. So though I condemn this particular campaign's tactics, I'm not willing to condemn the party itself unless it happens again.

Politics of the last election aside, third parties can certainly tip the scales in an election by concentrating on key electoral votes. There is an element of thought that says because of Ross Perot, we got Clinton, and because of George Wallace, we got Carter. So any third pary will have to appeal to a broad range of issues to have a chance at actually winning. What combination of issues will do the job I simply do not know. I suspect that of the Libertarian Party had a much stronger Reagan-like stance on foreign policy that they might broaden their base of support.

As far as individual liberty ideas, the Libertarians have a potential to draw huge numbers from both big parties. The Ron Paul voters were pretty well rabid, and I believe their enthusiasm got the better of them. I think this party has very good potential in the future, as soon as they realize their foreign policy platform needs a specific direction.