I finally joined the Libertarian Party

A lot has happened in economics and management and finance and political theory in 200 years.

Some bits of Libertarianism are good, but should we really ignore everything from the past 200 years?

LOL

I finally voted for the NDP, on Monday. Because I hate Klein.

My vote was wasted. :(

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Original post by Ravuya I finally voted for the NDP, on Monday. Because I hate Klein. My vote was wasted. :(

The elections were weeks ago smartey pants.

The democrats and the republicans make sure they appeal to christians, like bush bringing in God in his speeches. What are the libertarian party's stance on religion?

I think libertarians think religion is all fine and dandy, but doesn't really belong in the government.

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Original post by balla_the_king The democrats and the republicans make sure they appeal to christians, like bush bringing in God in his speeches. What are the libertarian party's stance on religion?

In libertarianism, the interest lies in making it clear what the government CANNOT do. One of these is "the government cannot tell you what religion to be or what religion not to be". As long as your religion does not force people to do or have done onto them things that they do not wish to do or have done onto them, then the religion in question easily gets the libertarian stamp of approval. This covers most religions, and in fact would also cover a religion that practiced human sacrifice as long as the sacrifice was a willing one.

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Original post by Rixter I think libertarians think religion is all fine and dandy, but doesn't really belong in the government.

The Libertarain stance is that religious organizations are about fifty orders of magnitude more competent and trustworthy than the government. That they actually help people and are beneficial to the community. The Libertarain ideal is that most tax money is directly donate by people to charitable organizations of their choice as the means to provide a safety net for our society, in addition to that, everyone in your family would have about 20% more money in their pockets to help their friends and family out.

To be clear the Libertarain party in not about being heartless or cruel, but recognizing the fact that the government is generally ineffective. Some laws and regulations are worth keeping, but not many. “The New Deal” was only supposed to last a short time in response to a national crisis. The crisis is long over and we being finically crushed by the weight of the system. We believe that you know best what to do with your money and that the government should focus on providing essential services not everything they can think of.

Money is wasted on special interest groups who fund political campaigns and lobby congress – if we stop the hand-outs, they’d have to appeal to the public at large for donations or have to provide value to society to survive. On top of that, even when money is spent on apparently good causes (e.g. UN oil-for-food program is a headline today), ill-conceived policies and a total lack of accountability (i.e. “sovereign immunity”) results in mass incompetence as well as corruption and often results in the further suffering of the people (or animal, or whatever) the money was suppose to help or protect! (because unscrupulous people follow the money).

As an atheist even I find it appalling that laws are being passed that prevent the practice of religion within government operated organizations (e.g. school prayer). It is wrong to force or coerce someone like to me to participate in any of these activities for the *same reason* it is wrong to deny those people the right to practice them. Never mind that though, it's incompetent to force people to pay for a decadent and corrupt school system (e.g. Detroit), and outright wicked to regulate what information teachers are allowed to disseminate.

Well I could rant on & on, but much of the party’s official position is explained on the website www.lp.org

[Edited by - Magmai Kai Holmlor on December 3, 2004 4:45:27 PM]

i try not to care anymore. all it does is end up pissing me off. note: im not saying that i throw my vote away, im just tired of hating the religious right while everyone else is infatuated with it

Excellent.

One step closer to world domination ;-)

Go Libertarians! Consider the following:

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The Drug War Toll Mounts In Washington, D.C., a 27-year old quadriplegic is sentenced to ten days in jail for marijuana possession, where he dies under suspicious circumstances. In Florida, a wheelchair-bound multiple sclerosis patient now serves a 25-year prison sentence for using an out-of-state doctor to obtain pain medication.

The War on Drugs is one of the worst atrocities committed by civilized men upon each other. Think about it: A guy with multiple sclerosis who can't move his legs will now spend much of the rest of his life in a prison cell, because he couldn't take the pain anymore.

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Original post by TANSTAAFL Quote: Original post by balla_the_king The democrats and the republicans make sure they appeal to christians, like bush bringing in God in his speeches. What are the libertarian party's stance on religion? In libertarianism, the interest lies in making it clear what the government CANNOT do. One of these is "the government cannot tell you what religion to be or what religion not to be". As long as your religion does not force people to do or have done onto them things that they do not wish to do or have done onto them, then the religion in question easily gets the libertarian stamp of approval. This covers most religions, and in fact would also cover a religion that practiced human sacrifice as long as the sacrifice was a willing one.

If a person wants to die, we have no right to tell them they can't so-long-as they don't kill or hurt other people in doing so. I would think they would have to take thier own life, someone else couldn't cut them. So human sacrifice in the classic sense is still wrong, but Hari Kari is fine.
Your life, your responsibility.

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Original post by Tron3k Go Libertarians! Consider the following: Quote: The Drug War Toll Mounts In Washington, D.C., a 27-year old quadriplegic is sentenced to ten days in jail for marijuana possession, where he dies under suspicious circumstances. In Florida, a wheelchair-bound multiple sclerosis patient now serves a 25-year prison sentence for using an out-of-state doctor to obtain pain medication. The War on Drugs is one of the worst atrocities committed by civilized men upon each other. Think about it: A guy with multiple sclerosis who can't move his legs will now spend much of the rest of his life in a prison cell, because he couldn't take the pain anymore.

Amen. Another atrocity.

You want to talk about atrocities from the War on Drugs...

I was born in Colombia... I have seen first hand the devastation, death, and poverty that the War on Drugs has brought upon my country. What does the War on Drugs and the U.S. Government have anything to do with Colombia? Well the main anti-government group opperating in Colombia is the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia(FARC). It is a small marxist army of around 10-15 thousand troops armed with better equipment than the Colombian Army.

Where does this group get all their money...? Drugs. The FARC is one of the world's producers of coca and other narcotics. Most of their narcotics are sold here in the united States. The War on Drugs hasn't done anything but making the problem worse. If drugs were legal in the American corporations here would make the drugs at lower prices putting the cartels and the FARC in Colombia out of bussiness. This would greatly improve the situtation in the country. I don't even want to go into detail on the kind of work the FARC does. Look it up yourself.

Banning drugs isn't going to make them go away. Look at prohibition and where that led us. Banning drugs only seems to make the problem worse. I know making them legal isn't the best solution but do you have anything better in mind? Doing something over and over without getting any results is insanity. It's about time we tried something different.

Oh by the way, Congratulations in joining the Libertarian Party. Now we are 1 member closer to making a difference. Thats the cool thing about being a Libertarian. You feel as if you vote counts. When you vote Republican or Democrat your vote gets meddled togeather with the other millinon that won't vote for change. When you vote Libertarian you are voting for change and you are making a difference. Even if your candidate doesn't win.

I used to be a Socialist(and a Democrat). After finding out how poorly the government has managed Social Security and it's wealfare programs I realised that Socialism only works in a one party system with a very mature and responsible government(good luck with that). Until something like that comes around I am an advocate for small government. The smaller the government the less I have to fear it violating my rights.

I've thought about joining the Libertarian Party for a while, and when I turn 18, I might do just that. The Libertarian Party is what the Republican Party should be (conservative when it comes to spending money and liberal when it comes to civil liberties).

Yes!

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Original post by Magmai Kai Holmlor End big-government The waste and ineptitude of large organizations is sickening.

what happens when you have little government?

you have a power vacuum.

and into a power vacuum comes what? chaos and subjugation.

Thank you for your post QzarBaron, the war of drug is a great example of inept and wicked the government in action. We pay farmers to not grow coca, but they do anyway. So we, the American People, are paying for the cultivation (remember this was suppose to help us and the Columbian people, but doesn't do either). Then we pay the Columbian government so they can crack-down on the drug lords. But many government workers are terrified of the drug lords and don't take action and others are making deals with them. Then the drugs are smuggled into the US, which we dump cash into the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to fight. But it's easier to bust neo-hippies smoking dope or doctors who criminalize themselves by keeping "evidence" (e.g. medical-records) than take on the difficult to locate and dangerous cocaine & heroine smugglers. Then people in the US buy the crap anyway and the rest of us help pay for it every step of the way! And let us not forget all the people wrongful jailed or killed from this awful policy *exceeds* the harm done by the drugs in the first place.

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Original post by herooftheempire what happens when you have little government? you have a power vacuum. and into a power vacuum comes what? chaos and subjugation.

We have chaos and subjugation now, I'll take my chances with a system where I'm the one with the most control over my life.
You should be happy with Libertarianism, our focus is to stay out of your life, your country wants to be socialistic, fine. The problem is when other countries try to impose their value-system and laws on other countries. Something the international community is generally pissed at the US over.