The Libertarian 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.

When the Federalist party was organized in 1791, those people who favored a strong central government and a loose constitutional interpretation coagulated and followed the ideals of men such as Alexander Hamilton. The first opposition political party in the United States was the Republican party, which held power, nationally, between 1801 and 1825. Those who were in favor of states rights and a strict construction of the constitution fell under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson. These Jeffersonian republicans, also known as anti-federalists, believed in strict adherence to the writings of the constitution. They wanted state's rights and individual rights, which they believed could only be granted under strict construction of the

Political parties today started to form in the late 1600’s. In 1787, Hamilton and other leaders joined and called themselves the Federalist. The Federalist party is the party which is most qualified for the presidency because the Federalist want a central government, want to avoid foreign affairs, and also want a central banking system. First a strong central governments.

During the 1800 -1900 centuries there were different ideas that caused a division through the United States. These two parties were the federalist and the anti- federalists.The federalist were led by Alexander Hamilton and James Adams.while the anti federalists were led Patrick Henry and Sam Adams. Each of these party had different ideas on how government should be governed. The anti federalists feared a strong federal government they mainly wanted to focus on the state's right, while the federalists were for a strong central government and favored a decentralized national government. Yet each of these ideas and debates lead to the formation of the party system. Thus the federalist vs. anti federalist debate over the ratification of constitution

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.

The Federalists and Republicans became the first political parties in the United States in the election of 1796. The Federalists and the Republicans clashed an array of times throughout the early national period, over issues relating to the future of the United States. The Federalist Party consisted of Alexander Hamilton and his supports, and favored a commercial economy and strong central government. The Republican Party was led by Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, they were in favor of an agrarian economy and states’ rights. The problems prevalent in the United States led to each parties supporters to take varying positions on these issues.

During the time periods between the 1830s and 1840s, two political parties: the Democratic party and the Whig party had faced the challenges among their ideological differences on the role of federal government in the economy and the westward expansion, but did compromise in certain ways. The one-party system of Monroe’s presidency had led to the creation of a two-party system under the presidency terms of Andrew Jackson. The supporters of President Jackson were known as the Democrats and the supporters of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, rivals of Jackson, came to be known as the Whigs. The Democrats were influenced by Thomas Jefferson, whereas the Whigs were influenced by Alexander Hamilton. The Democrats were in favor of states’ rights and opposed the growth of a powerful central government. Democrats also favored in rapid territorial and external growth. The Whigs were in favor of a stronger federal government that was dominated by Congress. Whigs also favored gradual territorial expansions and internal improvements. In future reference, the Democratic and Whig party created the two political parties in which we see today, the Democratic and Republican Party.

Early in the beginning of the United States of America, political parties began to form. After the Revolutionary war, the people disagreed on how the government should govern the country, and, in 1787 the first party was created. Following the federalist party, in 1797 the Republican party formed. The year before the formation the Republican party, the first president of the United States, George Washington resigned from office. Before he left office his issued a Farewell Address where he warned the country about political parties.

The National Republicans were a political party created after the Election of 1824. Although John Quincy Adams lost to Andrew Jackson in the Election of 1828 the party opposed to Jackson was the National Republican Party, or Anti-Jacksonians created and run by Henry Clay. It had a nationalistic outlook, and wanted to use national resources to build a strong economy. Its platform was a system of nationally financed internal improvements and a protective tariff, which would promote faster economic development. The National Republicans were significant in that they were the opposition party to the Democrats and Andrew Jackson, but also, with their strong economical policies and ideas, fostered the creation of the Market Economy.

After the Revolutionary War and the United States won its independence from Great Britain, the United States was under a weak federal government under the Articles of Confederation (1781-1789). Under the Articles of Confederation all powers rested within the States and the federal government had little power if any. The major parties during the First Party System was the Federalist and Anti-Federalist or Democratic-Republicans. The Federalist believed in a strong central government and the ratification of the Constitution the Democratic-Republicans on the other hand opposed the ratification of the Constitution and favored that the power should reside with the States. Washington was aligned with the Federalist Party. The party was founded in

Gary Johnson was born in North Dakota in 1953. He attended the University of New Mexico and started his own construction company, which became a multi-million-dollar business. Johnson won the New Mexico governor’s race in 1994 as a Republican and was re-elected four years later. After a failed campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, he became the Libertarian Party candidate for the office that year and again in 2016. He has regularly supported Libertarian causes such as marijuana

Because of this drama, George Washington, who was against the United States having political parties, sought office of the President again in 1972. (Norton, 2015) Just a few of the differences between the parties are as follows. Jefferson wanted a small local government while Hamilton wanted a strong national government. Hamilton believed the constitution was good because it gave limited powers to the federal government on the other hand Jefferson said no to the constitution, he believed it gave too much power to the national government.

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.

From my studies in Political Science it is not hard to understand that the United States political system is dominated by two political parties; the Republican Party, and the Democratic party. This is known as a two-party system, the definition of a two party name is evident from the name. A two party system functions on two parties, much like United States politics this is confusing because more than two parties are allowed to compete in elections. In America, any party outside of Democrats or Republicans is referred to a “Third Party”. My research paper will focus around one of the third parties, The Libertarian party. This paper will set up necessary knowledge through an exploration of the ideals of the party, and where