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Who are these Libertarians, and why should we care?

[U]nderstanding libertarianism is vital if the United States is ever to reverse the current 100-year trend away from freedom. What most Americans don’t know is that libertarianism is simply the modern political label given to the philosophy that the United States was founded upon. It is the philosophy of individual liberty. Without rediscovering what that means, the United States may soon be a glorious experiment with self governance by a free people that ultimately devolved into just one more socialist mediocrity or authoritarian nightmare...

... While most Americans still consider the United States the “land of the free,” few probably understand that “free” means individual liberty. Most Americans in 2008 have either never heard of individual liberty, or haven’t heard about it in so long that they have forgotten what it means. After decades of immersion in collectivist ideology, most Americans have been led to believe that freedom is “democracy.” Most Americans are content to be told that they are free, so long as the evening news explains why the most recent decisions made about their lives are really in their best interests. They are content to derive their “freedom” from government.

Imagine the presidential campaign of 1796 with today’s political frontrunners and today’s American psyche. John McCain is promising a generous helping of warfare, without neglecting essential welfare. Barack Obama is promising a generous helping of welfare, without neglecting essential warfare (at least on behalf of Israel). As these two titans battle for the prize, Thomas Jefferson, the Libertarian candidate, and John Adams, the Constitution Party candidate, answer the occasional question from the debate moderator in those states where they are able to get onto the ballot and into the debates at all. What might our country have become if this had been reality in 1796? What is it becoming now?

Certainly there will not be a Libertarian Party candidate elected president in 2008, nor likely in 2012 or 2016. The most successful LP candidate for president was Ed Clark in the 1980 election, with a whopping 1% of the vote. While it would be wonderful to see the Libertarian political party gain prominence and power, this is not the essential priority. What is much more important is that the American people start rediscovering libertarianism, the philosophy of individual liberty, and once again start demanding to be free. Libertarianism must again dominate the platforms of all political parties, as it once did, if the present trends toward socialism and authoritarianism are to reverse. Only when a libertarian Republican runs against a libertarian Democrat, with perhaps even a libertarian third party candidate in contention, will we have a chance to restore the freedom that fueled America’s mercurial rise to greatness. Only by restoring individual liberty will America return to prosperity, and once again become the land of the free.
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Full article at link by theskeptic// BREAK THE MATRIX [U]nderstanding libertarianism is vital if the United States is ever to reverse the current 100-year trend away from freedom. What mos... more

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