libertarians

What is a libertarian? In the specific political case, this refers to a member of the Libertarian Party (http://www.lp.org/). I am not a member of their party (I am a registered Republican) but I like much of what the Libertarian party believes in. Unfortunately, while the Republicans talk about smaller government, in reality it seems that our federal government still grows under recent Republican administrations (just grows a little slower than under Democrats). I agree with the Libertarians on all major issues except abortion. The Libertarian party thinks we should keep abortion legal; I don't see any reason why a civilized country should permit parents to murder their children. But aside from that, they have many excellent ideas and their core beliefs are right down my alley. Here are some excerpts from their web site:

Libertarians believe in, and pursue, personal freedom while maintaining personal responsibility. The Libertarian Party itself serves a much larger pro-liberty community with the specific mission of electing Libertarians to public office.

Libertarians strongly oppose any government interfering in their personal, family and business decisions. Essentially, we believe all Americans should be free to live their lives and pursue their interests as they see fit as long as they do no harm to another.

In a nutshell, we are advocates for a smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.

I am a strong believer that we should shrink the size of our national government, that government should not act as parents to the population, and that adults should be allowed to live in freedom and make their own peaceful decisions. The government should not be in the business of providing ever more costly entitlements, and should endeavor to encourage economic growth through the freedom brought by low taxes. I believe that the federal government has usurped many of the powers that the Constitution gives to the states, and that this trend should be reversed. Our government should reduce spending with a goal of paying off the national debt in a reasonable timeframe (maybe 20 or 30 years). Of course none of this will happen, because people have been coddled by the government for too long. The attitude of entitlement with which we are burdened makes any real change very difficult. But I can always hope.