Our words: Libertarianism is a stance, not a political party

Editor's note: Yahoo News asked young libertarian-minded voters to share why they're drawn to the either the Libertarian Party or to libertarian political principles in general. Here's one first-person account we received this week.

FIRST PERSON | I was raised as a typical Republican conservative might be: with a focus on conservative family values. I'm now 26 and I've spent most of my time in Georgia. (I currently reside in Augusta). I quickly realized that no political party could properly espouse my individual views, since, as we all learned in entry level political science, the goal of a political party is to win elections.

Imagine a man almost $57,000 in debt. You walk up to this man an ask him what his plan to get out of debt is. He stands there for a minute, shrugs his shoulders, sticks his hands in his pockets, and says he's going to cut his $4,300 yearly deficit some in order to reduce the problem. That's right: he's going to slow down (slightly) the rate at which he descends deeper into debt!

Now multiply this man by 300 million, and you have a nearly $17 trillion debt with a $1.3 trillion deficit. Sound familiar? This is where the United States currently stands (information publicly available) as of 2013. (2011 deficit data and March 30 debt data).

When I did this math for myself at North Georgia College ad State University in Dahlonega, I became a firm fiscal conservative. As I plunged into early adulthood, I realized that my status as a debt-free citizen helped me to avoid the financial pitfalls of my parents and many of the previous generation. I believed that the government should be equally frugal with its monetary policy, and this placed me firmly in the libertarian camp. I've identified as libertarian for approximately eight years.

Libertarians don't espouse a large-party platform, nor do they have a coherent, party-like ideology. The only central tenets are less government and more individual freedom. When I realized that my desire to see our government make itself debt-free would require vastly smaller spending and more individual responsibility, I realized that my views were libertarian ones.

The issue I have with the overly broad Republican and Democratic parties is that, in their attempt to win elections, they attempt to satisfy everyone by putting politicians into power that will expand all forms of spending including defense and social programs. This runs counter to my vision of a debt-free nation, which I believe is the correct path to prosperity.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/libertarianism-stance-not-political-party-222500499.html

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