Libertarians Can Win Elections

Sometimes when you go to vote you might see someone running as a Libertarian. You may be asking yourself: “what is a Libertarian? What do Libertarians believe?” Libertarians are advocates of Libertarianism. A set of political philosophies, in general, libertarianism philosophy holds that liberty is the highest political end. Libertarians emphasis that individuals should have liberty, political freedom, and be free to associate voluntarily. Libertarians advocate a society with a greatly reduced state and many believe there should be no state at all. Many people wish that the Republicans and Democrats were more like Libertarians. As such, many people have left the main two parties to show people how angry they are at the status quo. In the end, that is why the Libertarian Party is the fastest growing party in America. Over the past few years, more people have ran as a Libertarian then ever before. Most of them are ordinary, everyday people like you and I and are generally not rich business people, like many of two main parties candidates. These people running as Libertarians are normal people who are angered at the two main parties and how they are not representing the people of the United States of Ameirca.

Now 2013 is an odd year election cycle which means most of the positions are for local positions in townships including positions as tax collectors, committeemen (and women), school board officials, Judges of Election and many more local offices. The person must decide two things. What position do they want to contend for and under which party. Now, if a person choses to run as a Republican and or Democrat they must first go through a primary election. A primary election occurs when two or more candidates, from the same political party, are running for the same position. The people in that particular political party have to decide who should represent them for the position. If a person ends up winning the primary, they then must contend in the general election. There they will run for a particular position against candidates from other political parties. If a person wins the general election, they are placed in the position. It is a daunting task. Making the task even more difficult are areas such as Northampton and Newtown have their own individual Republican and Democratic parties. The individual political parties might decide who they want to endorse of the people contending for a position. If a person is not endorsed they have to work twice as hard to win the primary election against their opponent in the same party. The odds go way down making it somewhat unfair for you or I who want to contend for a political position.

There is another option a person can take. A person can run under the banner of a third party. Many people believe that running as a third party will never get them elected. But, hundreds of people have been elected as Libertarians (and other third parties.) This is also true in Pennsylvania where there are many Libertarians in public office. The full list of elected Libertarians in Pennsylvania can be found on the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania's website, lppa.org. Furthermore, in odd-year elections, many people do not show up to vote at the polls. Only dedicated people who regularly vote show up to vote making it much easier for third parties to win in elections. Also, by running under the banner of a third party, a person can spend more time talking to the voters and the people a person would be representing and less time worrying about a primary and playing internal politics. The Libertarian Party of Bucks County will do everything in our power to get you elected to public office.

If you wish to run under the Libertarian banner. You can do so by going to our website at www.buckslp.org and/or by contacting Brad Cooper by email at chair@buckslp.org.

Brad W. Cooper,

Chairman, Libertarian Party of Bucks County