The Libertarian Party rose to prominence on the heels of Ronald Reagan and his most infamous silly quote. "Government is not the solution, government is the problem." With Ron Paul as their candidate the LP gained 1.2% of the vote in the 1988 presidential election. And with the rise of the Right, the libertarian think tank Cato Institute became a central player in the GOP.
The Libertarian Party is peopled by what are often called Looneytarians, has only had two celebrity politicians to call their own.
Racist and anti-environmentalist Congressman Helen Chenowith from Idaho (she refused to be addressed as congresswoman). Chenowith retired from Congress in 2000 realizing she was too far right for even Idaho! While following her libertarian ideals in 2006 - she was holding a baby and not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from a jeep, broke her neck, and is no longer intent upon chopping down every tree and eating the last Salmon in Idaho. More on Helen Chenowith
Texas Congressman and abortion foe, Ron Paul left the Republican Party to run as the LP candidate for President in 1988. He soon came back into the GOP pushing his States Rights positions that only lightly hide his Christian Fundamentalist intolerance. Paul is a racist though he has spoken out against slavery (the 13th amendment he says puts that out of reach for Texas), but individual states re instituting Jim Crow or executing doctors and women regards abortions is all fun stuff for Ron.
The Libertarian Party is made up of very white relatively young males who are most exclusively single, never married, childless, unattractive to women and driven by only two things, love of guns and themselves.
The Libertarian Party is the official offshoot of Ayn Rand and all she stands for, though they take the deregulation far beyond her economics. The elimination of taxes and the IRS. Elimination of financial, environmental, civil rights and health regulations. The total destruction of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Workman's Comp, Unemployment Insurance, Disaster Relief and above all gun controls! You want a full field of fire swivel .50 caliber machine gun mounted on the top of your Hummer? The LP is the party for you! Oh and legally do all the meth you want while shooting whatever it is that needs shooting.
There are many spokesman for the Libertarian Party, most importantly is the Cato Institute, a far right think tank whose main purpose is to destroy Social Security and anything else they consider FDR New Dealism.
Though there are too many spokesman for the libertarians [small "l" means not in the party] to name here, the most well known is conservative columnist George Will who does not like seatbelts and believes everyone should carry an assault rifle - like in Somalia. He is a good example of the unloved nerd area of libertarianism while the Hell's Angels typify the more hardcore side of it.
All this looneytarian unregulated free market, no taxes, hate the government stuff we have suffered since 28 years ago when a silly old man with better hair than brains became President to made it palatable with his homespun charisma is now mostly over. For the time being anyway. For as we have learned over those past 28 years: God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that the powerful and wealthy shall not perish from this Earth and have everlasting life.
Countdown of Political Losers of 2008, Rand, Friedman, Greenspan and Reagan, 10th
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