Schmidt Wrote:Dutch -- You must be joking. Here's some excerpts from the Libertarian Party Platform. They don't sound very "Berniesque" to me.
2.4 Government Finance and Spending
All persons are entitled to keep the fruits of their labor. We call for the repeal of the income tax, the abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service and all federal programs and services not required under the U.S. Constitution. We oppose any legal requirements forcing employers to serve as tax collectors. Government should not incur debt, which burdens future generations without their consent. We support the passage of a "Balanced Budget Amendment" to the U.S. Constitution, provided that the budget is balanced exclusively by cutting expenditures, and not by raising taxes.
2.5 Money and Financial Markets
We favor free-market banking, with unrestricted competition among banks and depository institutions of all types. Markets are not actually free unless fraud is vigorously combated and neither profits nor losses are socialized. Individuals engaged in voluntary exchange should be free to use as money any mutually agreeable commodity or item. We support a halt to inflationary monetary policies and unconstitutional legal tender laws.
2.6 Marketplace Freedom
Libertarians support free markets. We defend the right of individuals to form corporations, cooperatives and other types of entities based on voluntary association. We oppose all forms of government subsidies and bailouts to business, labor, or any other special interest. Government should not compete with private enterprise.
2.7 Labor Markets
Employment and compensation agreements between private employers and employees are outside the scope of government, and these contracts should not be encumbered by government-mandated benefits or social engineering. We support the right of private employers and employees to choose whether or not to bargain with each other through a labor union. Bargaining should be free of government interference, such as compulsory arbitration or imposing an obligation to bargain.
2.8 Education
Education is best provided by the free market, achieving greater quality, accountability and efficiency with more diversity of choice. Recognizing that the education of children is a parental responsibility, we would restore authority to parents to determine the education of their children, without interference from government. Parents should have control of and responsibility for all funds expended for their children's education.
2.9 Health Care
We favor a free market health care system. We recognize the freedom of individuals to determine the level of health insurance they want (if any), the level of health care they want, the care providers they want, the medicines and treatments they will use and all other aspects of their medical care, including end-of-life decisions. People should be free to purchase health insurance across state lines.
2.10 Retirement and Income Security
Retirement planning is the responsibility of the individual, not the government. Libertarians would phase out the current government-sponsored Social Security system and transition to a private voluntary system. The proper and most effective source of help for the poor is the voluntary efforts of private groups and individuals. We believe members of society will become more charitable and civil society will be strengthened as government reduces its activity in this realm.
Schmidt did a great summary of the Libertarian Party back in 2016.
Since the party was founded in Colorado Springs (where he lives) in 1971, he likely has a better understanding of the party than most of us do.
You may remember that David Koch was the vice presidential ticket for the party in 1980.
In many (perhaps most) marriages, the spouses usually share political views, but that is not always the case.
One of our neighbors is a die hard Libertarian (he does not believe that there should be public schools, for example) and his wife, the atheist, is just liberal is my wife and I are.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_(United_States)
I still get regular letters from Bob Livingston, who definitely is a Libertarian.
Here's a few snippets from his most recent letter:
"American Democracy" implies individual and personal freedom. But with the word "democracy" as cover, our American system was gradually transformed from its republican form, where it rose like the phoenix with the same face but with all 10 planks of the Communist Manifesto implemented with the full force of the law and the power of the state.
Democracy equals socialism equals communism equals fascism. They are all totalitarian forms of collectivism demanding self-sacrifice and total allegiance to the state and are all anathema to life and liberty and property.
Individualism and human liberty are opposite to democracy and any other form of collectivism. The collectivist mentality or the mass collective mind is the spirit of the New World Order. The collectivist man cannot oppose tyranny because he is himself tyranny. He is the reality of the supreme welfare state in its conspiracy of the ages to manipulate humanity against itself.
Why are we on the 'Animal Farm'?
The animal farm is that world arena wherein man collectively surrenders himself, his personal being, his ego to the collective and obedient faith in government authority. It's all very simple. A crowd can be manipulated into an altered state of consciousness, finally evolving into a growing attitude of docility, whereas an individualistic person cannot be manipulated so easily.