The Libertarian Party And The Liberal Party

Everybody knows all about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton at this point, but with these two candidates failing to satisfy the American people, more citizens are beginning to look towards using their votes for other candidates, rather than supporting the lesser of two evils. With so many people losing faith in both their candidates and their political parties, it is important that the public know all about the two leading third party candidates, namely Jill Stein of the Green Party and Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party. They experience reasonable success considering their lack of media exposure and mainstream appeal, and this can be attributed to their relevant and well thought out platforms. Stein and Johnson share a fair amount of common

The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States. I associate myself as a Democrat for the reason of their liberal views. The Democratic Party tends to be more liberal and support the views like same sex marriage, immigration, and social and economic equality. Many of the views the party stands for and beliefs tie to my beliefs. Some of the key priorities of the Democratic Party are the Economy, Poverty and Homelessness, Education, Healthcare Policy, Social Security and Medicare, Immigration, and Gun Policy.

Despite being the constant underdog and loser in major elections third parties make some significant contribution to the political spectrum in the United States. Third Party Agendas are taken serious by the Democratic and Republican Parties and specific pieces of the Third Party Agendas are sometimes adopted by the two major parties. Third parties give discontented voters other alternatives. The Republican and Democratic Parties have been known to operate in similar styles and third parties give the voter the opportunity to express their discontent. The third parties in the United States are policy advocates and often are more specific about were they stand ideologically. Often the Republican and Democratic Parties try and take a moderate

Third parties offer voters an alternative to the same two parties that run in the presidential election every four years, often with more concrete goals and views, yet there has never been successful third party candidate. For over one and a half centuries, the Republicans and Democrats have held a duopoly over the United States government (Diamond 2015). People have been growing more and more frustrated in their government and the two parties, so why haven’t third-party candidates gained any ground in the political sphere?

For centuries, two main political parties, the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party, have divided the United States government. The Democrats are considered the liberal political party and can trace its roots all the way back to Thomas Jefferson when they were known as Jefferson’s Republicans and they strongly opposed the Federalist Party and their nationalist views. Republicans are considered the conservative political party and try to uphold more traditional values. The Republican Party came into existence just prior to the Civil War due to their long-time stance in favor of the abolition of slavery. In 1860, they became an established political party when their nominee Abraham Lincoln was elected as President of the United States. Since their inception, the Republican and Democratic Party have had many disputes about policies. One of these major debates has focused on educational funding in the United States. The parties have different views on the education system of the country, but both agree there needs a change in some way. Democrats favor more progressive approaches to education, such as implementing the Common Core System, while Republicans tend to favor more conservative changes such as longer hours and more focused programs to better educational resources. In Virginia, Republicans from 1990 to 2013 worked to provide better educational funding more prominently than Democrats.

“It is a natural evolution of our mass consciousness to begin to see third parties as a viable option; it is reflected in the corrupt and broken two-party system.” Michelle Augello-Page, an author and writer, uses this quote to speak to the frustration Americans feel about the two-party political system. Since the 1850’s, the Democrats and Republicans have received the majority of the popular vote, while third party candidates struggle election after election (Schechter). The two major party candidates don’t always speak to the issues many Americans want to be addressed. Therefore, Americans must consider voting for third party candidates to ensure democracy works for everyone.

Whereas the Republican platform may differ from year to year based on whoever is nominated for president, the Green Party, say, has a rather grounded and unchanging platform, independent of who is the head of the party at a particular time. Put in these terms, it is now unsurprising that many Americans, instead of being forced into either the “Republican” or “Democrat” box, feel that, even if the chance of their party winning the election is slim to none, their personal and political beliefs are better represented by a third party. It truly is unfortunate that third parties cannot get more attention, because ideological specialization in government could lead to a much more stable and “knowable” political scene in the United

Government has been a paramount piece of the United States’s development after July 4, 1776. The role of government has been pivotal to the process of how America operates today. Government is an important part of America’s society because it protects individual rights of people. Government is a forever changing entity because it is a necessity to satisfy the people’s demands. As a political party, Democrats and Republicans have many views on different topics in America. Although the Democrats and Republicans may have different stances on modern issues in America, many of these politicians seem to have the same attitude toward changing policies on these issues/government. I believe that the democratic party is more appropriate party to represent the United States because of their philosophy. The traditional values of America needs to be altered and the democratic party represents the change that America needs. The democratic party best represents an ever-changing society by exemplifying the desires of the citizens as is apparent in their policies in regards to abortion, gun control, and same-sex marriage.

The party that I researched was that Libertarian Party. The party website says, “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” (Libertarian Party. n.d.). In short the party wants America to be free again. They want the American people to have freedoms and these freedoms not taken away by the government. Some rights that the government can not take according to the Libertarian Party are; the right to life, the right to liberty of speech and action, and the right to property. They believe that the government can not tell a person who they can and cannot marry, that the government can not spy on the American people, that government should be kept out of abortion rights, they believe in a free market, they also believe that America should “mind their own business” so to speak and stay out of foreign affairs, but defend our land from terrorist from within it’s own borders. The type of people that the Libertarian Party seems to attract are people who are tired of “BIG BROTHER” running everything and allowing more freedoms back to the American people. I feel like the Libertarian Party has remained a minor force in politics because other higher power parties having more

These people are crazy and conspiracy theorists who believe the “evil” government is always out to get them.Libertarians want to legalize illicit drugs just so they can use them and not get into any trouble. This culture of men hold the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence in high regards. Libertarians praise the works of Thomas Paine and all libertarians have a little Patrick Henry in them.

Gary Johnson is a candidate representing the libertarian party during this election. Libertarians are a political party that believes in an autonomous system; a people-centered approach to politics. Libertarians believe the only influence government should hold is to provide individuals assistance to defend his or herself from force and fraud (Libertarian Party, n.d.).. Gary Johnson served two terms as governor of New Mexico under the republican party. He declared himself a libertarian in 2011, and represented the party in 2012 election, and now the 2016 election. His chosen vice presidential candidate is Bill Weld, with whom he plans on sharing the position of power with “About: Meet Gary Johnson and Bill Weld” (2016).

Democrat and Republican parties both accept the death penalties, while the Libertarian and Green Parties have rejected the idea. Democrats do not allow drugs, while Libertarian allow drugs, alcohol, prostitution, gambling, and suicide. Democrat and Republicans have very similar views when it comes to crime, in contrast to the Libertarian and the Green Party. Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians do fight crime, while the Green Party only has a civilian review of community police behavior. Libertarian and the Green Party both agree that the Three Strikes, You’re Out approach is illusory and dangerous.

Very rarely do third party candidates poll more than 10 percent but Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, is doing just that (Russonello). The Libertarian party as a whole has seen a recent rise in recent elections with Gary Johnson being the first third party candidate to be on the ballot in all 50 states in 20 years (Tau). Despite the general public confusion on them their ideology is quite simple. The general idea is that Libertarians are fiscally conservative and socially liberal. Britannica defines Libertarians as, “classical liberals who strongly emphasize the individual right to liberty.” (Encyclopedia Britannica). It is ultimately about giving people the liberty to do what they want without hurting other people.

As the air becomes crisp and leaves begin to change their color, every American knows November 8th will be soon upon them. Americans are given the daunting opportunity to change their lives and the lives of three hundred million others. Most of age voters will flock to the polls to elect who they believe, is the most capable candidate, and therefore leader, to run the United States of America. The next president needs to be the quintessential and iconic figure of leadership. The two front runners are Donald Trump representing the republican party, and Hillary Clinton of the democratic party, who both continue to battle it out and push their political agendas aggressively to earn the vote of the public. However, there is a third political party which is on the rise, that combines the ideas of both mainstream parties but in the process reshapes and defines them. Gary Johnson of the libertarian party, is the candidate to do such a task. Libertarianism takes the fundamental “small government” idea from republicans and combines it with the more liberal stances from the democrats, such as abortion, women’s rights, freedom of choice, and individual judgement. Nonetheless, all of the political stances of the candidate are useless unless they can be effective and productive leaders. Fred Greenstein, a published author on politics, wrote a book called the Presidential Difference: Leadership style from FDR to George W Bush, where he describes the

A small amount of the core ideals of libertarians has changed. According to the current Libertarian Party website; “We seek a world of liberty; the 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.” This party is notorious for values that are socially liberal, and economically conservative. This platform has also been referred to as neoliberalism. The United States Libertarian party focuses on personal liberty, self-ownership, privacy, economic liberty, free markets, protected environments, strong national defense, and minimal war actions. The LP is supportive of gay rights, gun rights, pro-life ideals. They stand against labor unions; universal health care, restricted markets, government surveillance of citizens, and government provided security. Libertarians like to think of themselves as defensive whenever it comes to foreign policy, and to refrain from attacking unless they are