Daniel T said:
And yet the party continues to grow and gain more votes, year after year,
Well of course they gain more votes every year, every year the electorate grows larger. But what happens when we look at the
percentage share of votes the Libertarian Party receives?
The Libertarian's first Presidential election is in 1972. They can only get on the ballot in two states and as a result receive only 3,672 votes out of 77 million. However it still represents the highpoint of their progress as a political party as they receive the first and only electoral vote they will ever get from a Nixon Delegate named Roger MacBride.
1976: 0.21% of 81 million votes
1980: 1.1% of 86 million votes
1984: 0.3% of 92 million votes
1988: 0.5% of 91 million votes
1992: 0.28% of 104 million votes
1996: 0.5% of 96 million votes
2000: 0.36% of 111 million votes
2004: 0.31% of 122 million votes
Source:
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/U.S._presidential_election,_2004/Election_results
So, while the Libertarian party is growing, it certainly can't afford to continue "growing" like that if it ever wants to hold power.
despite the panicked screams from Republicans that somehow feel the LP is "leaching" votes from them.
Question: What do the following Libertarian candidates have in common? The 1988 Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate, the California LP Chairman and co-founder of Canadian LP party, the 2002 LP candidate for Congressman from MA, the 1997 LP Gubernatorial candidate for NJ, the former LP National Secretary and former LP Treasurer?
Answer: They are all part of the Republican Party now.
Combined with the shrinking votes in the LP, I would be surprised if there were any Republicans who were even making a serious claim that the LP was cutting into their traditional voters, let alone that there were any who were "panicked" about it.
I would like to see libertarian ideas advanced; but the current LP, and in particular Badarnik, are not the people who are going to do it - they are the same people who have been failing to do it for years now. Reason magazine has done more to promote libertarian ideas than the LP has.