Libertarian Party

[mbt2001]

I USED TO BE a Republican. I have been let down by this party in the last 6 years to such an extent, that I am voting libertarian (except in one or two instances) across the board.

I would encourage you to at least consider their opinions. In my experience the memebers of the party and canidates are conservative. They believe in freedom, however, and have often been labeled negatively based on that.

Libertarian Party of Texas on gun rights:

2. GUN OWNERSHIP

http://www.tx.lp.org/platform.shtml

Libertarians advocate the legalization of "open carry" firearms, including handguns, without a license. This includes recognition of the right of gun owners to bear arms while driving.

Libertarian National Part on gun rights:

I.6 The Right to Keep and Bear Arms

http://www.lp.org/issues/platform_all.shtml

The Issue: Governments at all levels often violate their citizens’ right of self defense with laws that restrict, limit or outright prohibit the ownership and use of firearms. These “gun control” laws are often justified by the mistaken premise that they will lead to a reduction in the level of violence in our society.

The Principle: The Bill of Rights recognizes that an armed citizenry is essential to a free society. We affirm the right to keep and bear arms.

Solutions: We oppose all laws at any level of government restricting, regulating or requiring the ownership, manufacture, transfer or sale of firearms or ammunition. We oppose all laws requiring registration of firearms or ammunition. We support repeal of all gun control laws. We demand the immediate abolition of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Transition: We oppose any government efforts to ban or restrict the use of tear gas, "mace" or other self-protection devices. We further oppose all attempts to ban weapons or ammunition on the grounds that they are risky or unsafe. We favor the repeal of laws banning the concealment of weapons or prohibiting pocket weapons. We also oppose the banning of inexpensive handguns ("Saturday night specials") and semi-automatic or so-called assault weapons and their magazines or feeding devices.

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

I think that most here support the ideas of libertarianism, for the most part, but the question is whether or not voting libertarian is actually a vote for the Democrats, as it is another vote taken from the Republican Party. This may well be the case, but in the long run, we'd be better as a nation if people would actually vote for the candidate which comes closest to matching their views. Those of us who vote Libertarian do so mainly on principle, i.e., we cannot bring ourselves any longer to vote Republican, since the Republican Party has moved so far from where we stand. Additionally, our hope is to send a message, i.e., we hope that someone will analyze the voting patterns, notice an increased number of votes for Libertarians, and start putting up Republican candidates who more closely match those ideas, such as Congressman Ron Paul of Texas.

 

[geekWithA.45]

We're not doing this thread again.

Feel free to append whatever sentiment you may have along these lines to any of the bazillion other Libertarian vs GOP threads or 3rd Party vs DNC/GOP threads.

Closed.