Libertarian Party (The More Things Changed)

The Libertarian Party (LP) is a Libertarian political party in the United States that promotes civil liberties, non-interventionism, laissez-faire capitalism and the abolition of the welfare state. It is the third largest political party in the United States.

The LP was conceived at meetings in the home of David F. Nolan in Westminster, Colorado in 1971 and was officially formed on December 11, 1971, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The founding of the party was prompted in part due to concerns about the Nixon administration, the Vietnam War, conscription, and the end of the gold standard.

The party generally promotes a classical liberal platform, in contrast to the Democrats' modern liberalism and progressivism and the Republicans' conservatism. Gary Johnson, the party's presidential nominee in 2012 and 2016, states that the LP is more culturally liberal than Democrats, but more fiscally conservative than Republicans. Current fiscal policy positions include lowering taxes, abolishing the IRS, decreasing the national debt, allowing people to opt out of Social Security, and eliminating the welfare state, in part by utilizing private charities. Current cultural policy positions include ending the prohibition of illegal drugs, supporting same-sex marriage, ending capital punishment, and supporting gun ownership rights. Many Libertarians believe in lowering the drinking age to 18.

The party made significant gains in the 2016 elections, with several officeholders leaving the Republican Party to protest the nomination of Donald Trump. As of 2017, the Libertarian Party holds one seat in the United States Senate, six seats in the United States House of Representatives, fifteen members of state legislatures, and hundreds of other local officeholders.

Representative Jim Kolbe of Arizona and Senator Joe Miller of Alaska became the party's first elected officials in the House and Senate to be elected as a member of the Libertarian Party, respectively, without first being an incumbent.

History
The first Libertarian National Convention was held in June 1972. In 1978, Dick Randolph of Alaska became the first elected Libertarian state legislator. Following the 1980 federal elections, the Libertarian Party assumed the title of being the third-largest party for the first time after the American Independent Party and the Conservative Party of New York, which were the other largest minor parties at the time, continued to decline. In 1994, over 40 Libertarians were elected or appointed which was a record for the party at that time. 1995 saw a soaring membership and voter registration for the party. In 1996, the Libertarian Party became the first third party to earn ballot status in all 50 states two presidential elections in a row. By the end of 2009, 146 Libertarians were holding elected offices.

Tonie Nathan, running as the Libertarian Party's vice-presidential candidate in the 1972 presidential election with John Hospers as the presidential candidate, was the first female candidate in the United States to receive an electoral vote.

The 2012 election Libertarian Party presidential candidate, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, received the highest number of votes—more than 1.2 million—of any Libertarian presidential candidate at the time. He was renominated for president in 2016, this time choosing former Massachusetts Governor William Weld as his running mate. Johnson/Weld shattered the Libertarian record for a presidential ticket, earning over 4.4 million votes. Johnson received significantly more news coverage in 2016 than third-party candidates usually get, with polls showing potentially increasing support for his candidacy over the previous election, especially among younger voters.

Platform
he preamble outlines the party's goals: "As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others" and "Our goal is nothing more nor less than a world set free in our lifetime, and it is to this end that we take these stands." Its Statement of Principles begins: "We, the members of the Libertarian Party, challenge the cult of the omnipotent state and defend the rights of the individual." The Statement of Principles is foundational to the ideology of the party and was created specifically to bind the party to certain core principles with a high parliamentary burden for any amendment. The platform emphasizes individual liberty in personal and economic affairs, avoidance of "foreign entanglements" and military and economic intervention in other nations' affairs, and free trade and migration. It calls for Constitutional limitations on government as well as the elimination of most state functions. It includes a "Self-determination" section which quotes from the Declaration of Independence and reads: "Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of individual liberty, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to agree to such new governance as to them shall seem most likely to protect their liberty." It also includes an "Omissions" section which reads: "Our silence about any other particular government law, regulation, ordinance, directive, edict, control, regulatory agency, activity, or machination should not be construed to imply approval."

This includes favoring minimally regulated markets, a less powerful federal government, strong civil liberties (including LGBT rights), (the party supports same-sex marriage), the liberalization of drug laws, separation of church and state, open immigration, non-interventionism and neutrality in diplomatic relations, free trade and free movement to all foreign countries, and a more representative republic. The party's position on abortion is that government should stay out of the matter and leave it to the individual, but recognizes that some libertarians' opinions on this issue are different. Ron Paul, one of the former Presidential nominees of the Libertarian Party, is strictly pro-life, but believes that that is an issue that should be left to the states and not enforced federally. Meanwhile, Gary Johnson, the party's 2012 and 2016 presidential candidate, is pro-choice.

Senate

 * Senator Joe Miller, Alaska

House of Representatives

 * Representative Jim Kolbe - AZ, 2nd District
 * Representative Dana Rohrbacher - CA, 48th District
 * Representative Justin Amash - MI, 3rd District
 * Representative Mark Sanford - SC, 1st District
 * Representative Scott Rigell - VA, 2nd District
 * Representative Danny Jones - WV, 2nd District

United States Ambassadors

 * William Weld - Ambassador to Mexico