I've been a Libertarian for one year now. I first joined very shortly after Obama won his second term and the GOP lost their opportunity to take over the senate. TBH, I haven't done any volunteer work for the Libertarians this past year, but I'm looking to get more involved in the party.

Anyone else new to the Libertarian party like me? Anyone else finally get disgusted enough with the GOP to switch over to the Libertarians?

Have considered it, but basically spineless, so I fit right in with the Republicans evidently.

(10-21-2013 08:16 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  Have considered it, but basically spineless, so I fit right in with the Republicans evidently.

Unless your family is hardcore GOP and you risk being disowned by switching party affiliation, I don't see where spineless would ever come into it. There's nothing wrong with continuing to support the GOP if you feel that they have the answers to put the country on the correct path. I simply lost faith in their desire to do this. It looks like they are more interested in preserving power than doing the right things to make this country have more fiscally responsible gov't that doesn't work to curb the liberties of the people.

Aren't libertarians like political bandwagon fans? They become libertarians so they can lean the way the "winner" leans.

I prefer to remain independent. Once a political party knows that you will support it by being a card carrying member, you no longer matter.

I've considered it, but at the moment I'm officially unaffiliated. The party's strategy is all wrong, IMO. It doesn't sell itself very well. It's either the party of "we won't allow anything" or "we'll allow everything", depending on the side. They fail to answer why the party line is the way it is and how it could help people in ways that the GOP and Dems can't.

I still receive mail addressed to the previous owner of my home…
apparently he supported both the Republicans and Librarians.

(10-21-2013 02:29 PM)LSU04_08 Wrote:  Aren't libertarians like political bandwagon fans? They become libertarians so they can lean the way the "winner" leans.

I would say that capital L libertarians have the habit of doing that. Small l are pretty consistent.

(10-21-2013 02:29 PM)LSU04_08 Wrote:  Aren't libertarians like political bandwagon fans? They become libertarians so they can lean the way the "winner" leans.

No. Libertarians are in favor of Liberty for all, and there are ideas from the GOP that mesh strongly with how Libertarians feel about economic liberty like lowering taxes, cutting gov't spending/programs, etc. and there are ideas from the left that mesh with with Libertarian ideals about personal (civil) liberties like legalizing marijuana, staunchly opposed to the Patriot Act, etc.

I'd say many of the GOP and Dems are more chameleon in their views that Libertarians. The GOP was very high on the Patriot Act at the beginning of the Iraq war and the war in Afghanistan until voters started to sour on them. Shortly after 9/11 when the House and Senate voted to give Bush the authority to start the Gulf War II. It was largely bipartisan, but the Dems were more split. Ironically, the ones who voted in favor of it were Biden and Clinton in the senate. Obama was against it but was not in the Senate at the time. Once again, irony strikes because Obama won't wind down the wars nor close Gitmo like he promised he would, and the Patriot Act is still going strong with the NSA spying on all of us with zeal.

When GWB asked for debt limit increases, the GOP backed him while the Dems were against it - with Obama calling it unpatriotic to saddle future generations with debt made today. Now, the irony is that the GOP is against giving Obama those debt limit increases without a lot of limits/controls while Obama and the Dems want no restrictions on the debt limit increases. Funny how those roles flipped in less than a decade...

All the chameleons that I see either have a "D" or an "R" next to their name...

I just renewed as well. Joined after watching the RNC go out of their way to be a d*ck to Ron Paul in Tampa. From refusing to say his name out loud to refusing to seat duly elected delegations to changing the nominating rules just hours before roll call.

I haven't signed up for the libertarian party but I consider myself a libertarian. I am against big government. I think if you can google a service and find a company that can do it then the government should not do it.

I also think government should get out of marriage. Their should be no incentives to being married.

I really started to identify with the libertarian party when I started listening to Neal bortz. He had so many ideas that were common sense. I saw the hypocrisies of both parties.

(10-21-2013 07:57 AM)miko33 Wrote:  I've been a Libertarian for one year now. I first joined very shortly after Obama won his second term and the GOP lost their opportunity to take over the senate. TBH, I haven't done any volunteer work for the Libertarians this past year, but I'm looking to get more involved in the party.

Anyone else new to the Libertarian party like me? Anyone else finally get disgusted enough with the GOP to switch over to the Libertarians?

I voted for Obama in 2008 and it didn't take long for buyer's remorse to set in. I was going to give the GOP a try but I just couldn't get the previous 8 years out of my memory either.

I began to find that neither supported free and fair markets or actually cutting costs and, through time, I began to notice that those are the two issues I care the most about.

Gary Johnson was a clown so i did not identify with the party this last election cycle.

(10-21-2013 02:54 PM)WPDAWG08 Wrote:  Gary Johnson was a clown so i did not identify with the party this last election cycle.

I was a little iffy on him myself. The thing that elevated him in my eyes was the fact that he has executive experience. Pretty good experience at that.

The only real conflict I have with the Libertarian Party is the notion that the majority is pro-choice. I am a staunch pro life believer. A typical Libertarian view for favoring pro choice beliefs revolves around the notion of personal property and infringement on a person's personal liberty by the fetus acting as a "parasite" I oppose this view entirely and believe strongly in the notion that the Libertarian Party is based on individual rights as espoused in the Declaration as inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Since I believe that life begins at conception, abortion denies the right to life. I do support abortion in extreme cases where the health of the mother is at risk, i.e. an eptopic pregnancy where neither would survive unless the fetus is aborted.

I see in no way how being pro life is a libertarian value? I would just consider that being a right wing libertarian.

(10-21-2013 03:22 PM)WPDAWG08 Wrote:  I see in no way how being pro life is a libertarian value? I would just consider that being a right wing libertarian.

Ron Paul would disagree.

(10-21-2013 03:39 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(10-21-2013 03:22 PM)WPDAWG08 Wrote:  I see in no way how being pro life is a libertarian value? I would just consider that being a right wing libertarian.

Ron Paul would disagree.

Again, a "right to life" is an inalienable right as defined by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. It's the foundation upon which the notion of individual rights rest on. Nothing is possible without life. It's foundational and fundamental to the belief. If you've ever visited the LP and other libertarian leaning sites, there are numerous declarations of promoting the agenda through non-violent ways. A right to life is the foundation of the non-violence principle.

(10-21-2013 03:49 PM)miko33 Wrote:  

(10-21-2013 03:39 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(10-21-2013 03:22 PM)WPDAWG08 Wrote:  I see in no way how being pro life is a libertarian value? I would just consider that being a right wing libertarian.

Ron Paul would disagree.

Again, a "right to life" is an inalienable right as defined by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. It's the foundation upon which the notion of individual rights rest on. Nothing is possible without life. It's foundational and fundamental to the belief. If you've ever visited the LP and other libertarian leaning sites, there are numerous declarations of promoting the agenda through non-violent ways. A right to life is the foundation of the non-violence principle.

It may be a life but it is a life that at the end of the day does not have the ability to make a choice itself without the action of a legal entity IE the government. As a libertarian you dont want the government telling you to spit much less whether or not you can take a fall or go to a clinic...

(10-21-2013 03:57 PM)WPDAWG08 Wrote:  

(10-21-2013 03:49 PM)miko33 Wrote:  

(10-21-2013 03:39 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(10-21-2013 03:22 PM)WPDAWG08 Wrote:  I see in no way how being pro life is a libertarian value? I would just consider that being a right wing libertarian.

Ron Paul would disagree.

Again, a "right to life" is an inalienable right as defined by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. It's the foundation upon which the notion of individual rights rest on. Nothing is possible without life. It's foundational and fundamental to the belief. If you've ever visited the LP and other libertarian leaning sites, there are numerous declarations of promoting the agenda through non-violent ways. A right to life is the foundation of the non-violence principle.

It may be a life but it is a life that at the end of the day does not have the ability to make a choice itself without the action of a legal entity IE the government. As a libertarian you dont want the government telling you to spit much less whether or not you can take a fall or go to a clinic...

What you describe is true for certain strains of Libertarians, i.e. "Anarcho-capitalists" and others like them who feel a gov't is completely and utterly useless. It's safe to say that most of us do not believe in this. A gov't is a necessary evil, and while in a utopia everyone would be fully self governing since they would be 100% purely rational beings that conform 100% to the ideals of individual liberties. But most of us are not naive to think this is possible. In the real world, our gov't was designed to provide for the common defense for the nation and to protect the rights and liberties bestowed upon us as human beings. Our gov't is supposed to protect our inalienable rights and to do that, it must have some regulatory power to ensure that we have some kind of consumer protections in place for economic activities as well as laws to protect our lives and property.