Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles
Gary Johnson has scored over million votes as the Libertarian Party gains more status in national politics.Ballot Access News, edited by election expert Richard Winger, had a great post about the rising popularity of the Libertarian Party and its dramatic growth. Here is the great post from Ballot Access News:
Aaron Blake and Sean Sullivan have this article about the Libertarian Party’s success in this month’s election, although the story ought to simply focus on the Libertarian Party. Instead it tries to focus on a perceived threat to the Republican Party, even though the article acknowledges that voters who vote Libertarian might vote Democratic instead of Republican if the Libertarian Party didn’t exist.
The Ballot Access News post also had a link to the article in the Washington Post that prompted the post from Richard Winger. The Washington Post article titled, “The GOP’s growing Libertarian problem”, is focused on the impact the Libertarian Party’s growth has on the Republican Party, particularly in areas where the competition with Democrats is a close one. Their article had some interesting information about the Libertarian Party’s successes:
Johnson fell shy of the previous Libertarian record of 1.06 percent of the vote (the record belongs to 1980 nominee Ed Clark). But he did take at least twice as much of the vote as any Libertarian candidate since Clark — including Ron Paul 1988 — and he got more than 1 percent in most of the swing states. On the Senate front, Libertarian candidates pulled around 6 percent of the vote in two key contests in Montana and Indiana — the party’s best showings in three-way Senate races in at least the last decade, according to a Fix review.
Daily Kos also had a very good article about the Libertarian success:
“…None of these involved the typical 1 or maybe 2 percent you ordinarily expect a Lib to garner: Looking at the three-way vote, all but one were over 3 percent, and three took 6 percent or more, with a high of 6.5 percent in the Montana Senate race. These definitely seem like unusually high figures. “So what’s going on here? …a growing proportion of conservative-leaning voters too disgusted with the GOP to pull the Republican lever, but who won’t vote for Democrats either, are choosing a third option and going Libertarian instead.”
Also the following is the introduction from the Libertarian Party website where you can also find on the front page an interesting political quiz that I think you might enjoy. Here is the information on their introduction page:
What is The Libertarian Party?
The Libertarian Party is your representative in American politics. It is the only political organization which respects you as a unique and competent individual.
America’s Heritage
Libertarians believe in the American heritage of liberty, enterprise, and personal responsibility. Libertarians recognize the responsibility we all share to preserve this precious heritage for our children and grandchildren.
Free and Independent
Libertarians believe that being free and independent is a great way to live. We want a system which encourages all people to choose what they want from life; that lets them live, love, work, play, and dream their own way.
Caring For People
The Libertarian way is a caring, people-centered approach to politics. We believe each individual is unique. We want a system which respects the individual and encourages us to discover the best within ourselves and develop our full potential.
Principled; Consistent
The Libertarian way is a logically consistent approach to politics based on the moral principle of self-ownership. Each individual has the right to control his or her own body, action, speech, and property. Government’s only role is to help individuals defend themselves from force and fraud.
Tolerant
The Libertarian Party is for all who don’t want to push other people around and don’t want to be pushed around themselves. Live and let live is the Libertarian way.
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