Blog #3

The Libertarian Party

            Texas has generated a few significant third parties that have been successful enough to even affect politics on the national level. The first was the Populist Party, which was started out of the National Farmer’s Alliance. The Populist Party existed from 1892 (Divine 582) until the early 1900’s and played a significant role both in state politics and national politics. The most recent major third party out of Texas is the Libertarian Party. Although it is far from carrying a majority like the Republican or Democratic Parties do, it still plays a significant role in present-day politics. It has enough of a following to be allowed to continue to place candidates on the Presidential ballot.

            The Libertarian Party is conservative in their views. Although it is much like the Republican Party, there is one major difference between them and that is The Libertarian stance on freedom. They accept as true that it is “each person's right to engage in any activity that is peaceful and honest, and welcome the diversity that freedom brings. The world we seek to build is one where individuals are free to follow their own dreams in their own ways, without interference from government or any authoritarian power” (Libertarian 1). In essence, the Libertarian Party is merely returning to the view on government that our nation’s founding fathers had.

            The stance that the Libertarian Party has on almost all the main political issues today run almost hand in hand with my own personal stance on the issues. I have not completely read through all their issues, but the ones I did read through are right on the mark with my political views. You might ask, “Well, then why don’t you join the Libertarian Party?” That is a good question, and can be answered very simply. It doesn’t pull enough votes to be a major contender, and most likely never will. It may align almost perfectly with my political views, but it is too conservative to gain a majority vote on major political positions. In major political races I vote for the candidate that holds more closely with my views and actually has a chance to win. My voting may seem hypocritical, but there are some candidates that I absolutely do not want elected. Even though I believe the most in the Libertarian candidates, I place my votes with the most conservative mainstream candidates.

Bibliography

"Libertarian Party 2010 Platfom". www.lp.org. Libertarian Party, May 2010. Web. 6 March 2012

Divine, Robert A., et al. American Past and Present. New York: Pearson, 2007. Print.