[marinamuffy]

I still a libertarian, but I am no longer a Libertarian. The party leadership showed their leftist tendencies after 9-11 and I no longer wanted to be associated with them. Reading the afterward that Larry Elder added to the paperback version of his book "Showdown" helped me to see that although I don't always agree with what the Republican party does, it's a much better home for me than the Libertarian party.

[ctdonath2]

The basic problem with the Libertarian Party is the same problem faced by all third parties: It cannot win.

The Republican and Democratic parties have not ruled national politics throughout the existance of this nation. At one point, they were the "third parties". They won.

[Sam Cree]

Basic libertarian ideals are the closest to our original ideals of any modern American political philosophies. To the extent that the Republican Party distances itself from libertarian ideals, it also distances itself from the original American traditions.

Of course, the Libertarian Party itself makes a mockery of those ideals by applying them to the stupidest causes...sort of a reverse ACLU if anything.

[cowtowney]

Ayn Rand did not like the Libertarian Party either.

[Zon]

I believe that this new organization would be vastly more influential than the party and give libertarian ideas far more potency than they now have.

Ninety-eight percent of the populace doesn't initiate force, threat of force or fraud against other persons or their property. They don't murder, assault, rape, rob or threaten persons. While that appears to be a major plank of the Libertarian party, that people act responsibly tolerant of others has virtually nothing to do with laws or politics. The reason 98% of the people peacefully co-exist is personal integrity -- do unto others as others would do unto you. And that begins with choosing to be left alone. More fundamental than the freedom to associate -- which requires agreement from at least one other person -- is the freedom to disassociate/discriminate. A single person's choice that has no requirement of agreement from anyone. 

As Thomas Jefferson so aptly stated: 

"No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him. " -- Thomas Jefferson, 1816

Ninety-eight percent of the populace doesn't commit aggression on the equal rights of another. Doesn't initiate force, threat of force or fraud against persons or their property. A couple dozen laws can cover that. One law? No person, group or government shall initiate force, threat of force or fraud against any person's life or their property.

And...

"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1820

The federal government creates about 3,000 new laws and regulations each year. Most of the mountain of laws and regulations have oppressed persons and society from ever greater prosperity. They sacrifice the individual, in whole or part, for the supposed greater good of the group. The fallacy of that is that before a group can exist there first must exist an individual. Sacrificing the individual diminishes the group. Protecting the individual's rights enhances the group. Protect the smallest minority -- the individual -- and all minorities and majorities are protected.

Just as evermore gun control laws will not keep criminals from obtaining guns, evermore laws will not stop the 2% from initiating force. Both those supposed goals are red herrings. Especially since government is by several magnitude the most destructive fraud foisted on the populace.

Politics is not the solution. Politics is the problem. Voting for the lesser of evils is not the solution. Evil always begets evil so voting for evil is the problem.

Solution:

"No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him. " -- Thomas Jefferson, 1816

No person, group or government shall initiate force, threat of force or fraud against any person's life or their property.

[paltz]

n place of the party, there should arise a new libertarian interest group organized like the National Rifle Association or the various pro- and anti-abortion groups. This new group, whatever it is called, would hire lobbyists, run advertisements and make political contributions to candidates supporting libertarian ideas. It will work with both major parties. It can magnify its influence by creating temporary coalitions on particular issues and being willing to work with elected officials who may hold libertarian positions on only one or a handful of issues. They need not hold libertarian views on every single issue, as the Libertarian Party now demands of those it supports.

It's called the CATO INSTITUTE