Posted on 01/06/2025 12:50:14 PM PST by Angelino97
The Libertarian Party recently implemented significant changes to its website, including updates to several policy positions and the introduction of new issues. Among the most notable changes is the party’s revised language on immigration, which now specifically calls for an end to birthright citizenship—a position not previously mentioned.
The updates, made this month based on records by the Internet Archive, appear to simply coincide with the conclusion of the 2024 election cycle. However, it remains unclear why the party chose to revise the language of specific policy sections as part of this process, how these decisions were made, or when they were finalized. No public vote by the Libertarian National Committee on these updates is available on its most recent Business List.
The previous language described the United States as a country enriched by peaceful immigrants seeking better lives. It called for streamlined legal pathways and criticized the current immigration system as overly complex, costly, and inaccessible. The party also voiced strong opposition to classifying undocumented immigrants as criminals, instead advocating for “fair” and “reasonable” reforms to existing laws.
In stark contrast, the new policy language frames immigration as a “crisis” caused by “perverse incentives” such as government welfare and foreign intervention. While the party continues to support open migration, this support is now tied to addressing these systemic issues. The updated policy opposes state subsidies for immigrants, warns against their political influence to expand government, and introduces stricter conditions for those seeking citizenship or residency.
One of the more significant shifts is the call to end birthright citizenship, a policy previously unaddressed by the website and in the party’s platform. Instead, the party proposes a paid model for citizenship, similar to investment-based programs in countries like Malta and Turkey. Non-citizens would face harsher penalties for crimes, including potential deportation, under the new guidelines.
Other changes to the website include an overhaul of its graphics and homepage layout, as well as the removal of Caryn Ann Harlos as the Libertarian National Committee Secretary. The position is currently unlisted in its entirety. A full list of the Libertarian Party’s policies as of the update can be viewed here.
They probably figured if they didn’t change, they could no longer be used as a tool against the GOP to split the vote.
Hopefully America is done with them.
This, and drug use, always annoyed me about Libertarians.
Libertarians are always going on about property rights, non-violence principle, and civil society over government
Yet both open immigration and open drug use both have been imposed on America from above. Both have immediate and deleterious consequences to property, stability and safety of society, and local, civil society’s right to control its own destiny over that of central planners.
I’ll have to look into the details to see if they made any substantial changes from their position on immigration.
Here was their lifelong position until this news.
COMPLETE PLATFORM TEXT
INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND CIVIL ORDER
IMMIGRATION:
“”THE ISSUE: We welcome all refugees to our country and condemn the efforts of U.S. officials to create a new “Berlin Wall” which would keep them captive. We condemn the U.S. government’s policy of barring those refugees from our country and preventing Americans from assisting their passage to help them escape tyranny or improve their economic prospects.
THE PRINCIPLE: We hold that human rights should not be denied or abridged on the basis of nationality. Undocumented non-citizens should not be denied the fundamental freedom to labor and to move about unmolested. Furthermore, immigration must not be restricted for reasons of race, religion, political creed, age or sexual preference. We oppose government welfare and resettlement payments to non-citizens just as we oppose government welfare payments to all other persons.
SOLUTIONS: We condemn massive roundups of Hispanic Americans and others by the federal government in its hunt for individuals not possessing required government documents. We strongly oppose all measures that punish employers who hire undocumented workers. Such measures repress free enterprise, harass workers, and systematically discourage employers from hiring Hispanics.
TRANSITIONAL ACTION: We call for the elimination of all restrictions on immigration, the abolition of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol, and a declaration of full amnesty for all people who have entered the country illegally.””
I was a Libertarian for a few years in the 1980s until I realized that their philosophy is sterile.
It ignores God and His place in the civil society upon which our republic cannot do without.
The LVM faction is gradually taking over and pushing out the gadfly go-along types who were sponsored by the Cato Institute and the Koch brothers.
If someone is trying to change the party, they have their hands full since the “gadflys” positions have been the party’s positions since their creation.
I was seriously tempted to go libertarian. However, their support for illegal immigration and drug use turned me off and I became a Reagan Republican instead.
I just posted the same thing before reading your post. My feeling exactly.
This article leaves out the Mises Caucus take over the party.
For those unfamiliar…..Mises is to Libertarian Party as MAGA is to GOP.
They are right wing, conservative sons of the Ron Paul revolution.
They endorsed the Republican candidate for US Senate from Arizona over the libertarian candidate and some say they intentionally sat out 2024 Presidential election and allowed a homosexual to be the nominee as not to interfere with Trumps chances.
This article leaves out the Mises Caucus take over the party.
For those unfamiliar…..Mises is to Libertarian Party as MAGA is to GOP.
They are right wing, conservative sons of the Ron Paul revolution.
They endorsed the Republican candidate for US Senate from Arizona over the libertarian candidate and some say they intentionally sat out 2024 Presidential election and allowed a homosexual to be the nominee as not to interfere with Trumps chances.
“the party continues to support open migration”
no need to read anything else ... the above has been stated ad nauseum for years in their party platform [i check at least once a year] ... IOW, Libertarians STILL do NOT believe in countries ...
I sure hope so. Letting leftists in was a huge mistake. Softness toward illegals was never in the original plan.
“Birthright citizenship” DOES NOT PRODUCE AMERICANS. Mudshoes “Skyhook” Jabbar is proof. Once a Muzzie terrorist, ALWAYS A MUZZIE TERRORIST.
“”””I sure hope so. Letting leftists in was a huge mistake. Softness toward illegals was never in the original plan.””””
Nonsense, the libertarian party never changed, they have been the same since they were started, open borders and free flow of people across over them was always their position.
See post 4 for a detailed description of the party’s position, these minor changes would be the first changes.
Back in the old days (1970s) immigration (legal or illegal) was not a major issue to anyone—and I do not remember any libertarians that I knew ever discussing it.
It it was in the platform it was a minor plank that almost nobody read or talked about....
Then the world changed as Democrats and RINOs started opening the borders to people who were takers instead of makers—and the libertarians failed to adjust to the new reality on the ground.
You are guessing, while I was well aware of the immigration issue well before the party first started, when I first ran into them in 1974 they were the same as now in conversation, drugs were big, look at their unchanged position on immigration.
Here they are in 1976.
Foreign Policy
The principle of non-initiation of force should guide the relationships between governments. We should return to the historic libertarian tradition of avoiding entangling alliances, abstaining totally from foreign quarrels and imperialist adventures, and recognizing the right to unrestricted travel and immigration.
We therefore call for the lifting of all restrictions on immigration. and for full amnesty for currently undocumented aliens. We oppose welfare payments to aliens just as we oppose welfare payments to all other persons.
We support the abolition of the Border Patrol.
We therefore call for the elimination of all restriction on immigration, the abolition of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol, and a declaration of full amnesty for those people who have entered the country illegally. We oppose government welfare payments to non-citizens just as we oppose government welfare payments to all other persons. We welcome Indochinese and other refugees to our shores, and condemn the efforts of U.S. government officials to induce Indochinese governments to create a new “Berlin wall” that would keep them captive.
Two things you said are not accurate, one, that people looking into the new libertarian party were not interested to read the short list of what they stood for and that people in the 1970s were not interested in immigration, it was a huge issue, massive in some states such as Texas and California, New Mexico, Arizona, Louisiana, people were freaking out in those states.
I was living in the north at the time—so I freely acknowledge I was unaware of issues of concern in the states you mentioned.
“SOLUTIONS: We condemn massive roundups of Hispanic Americans and others by the federal government in its hunt for individuals not possessing required government documents. We strongly oppose all measures that punish employers who hire undocumented workers. Such measures repress free enterprise, harass workers, and systematically discourage employers from hiring Hispanics.”
After reading that, I think the Libertarian Party is completely in line with the Leftniks who chase illusions of motherships at the end of the pier (i.e. Heavens Gate). They need to get away from the Kool-Aid and get a grip with reality.
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