3.6 Representative Government

3.6 Representative Government

We support electoral systems that are more representative of the electorate at the federal, state and local levels. As private voluntary groups, political parties should be allowed to establish their own rules for nomination procedures, primaries and conventions. We call for an end to any tax-financed subsidies to candidates or parties and the repeal of all laws which restrict voluntary financing of election campaigns. We oppose laws that effectively exclude alternative candidates and parties, deny ballot access, gerrymander districts, or deny the voters their right to consider all legitimate alternatives.

The Libertarian party, unlike the major parties, has a clear vision of how our government should be selected. States elsewhere, but echoed here, Libertarians denounce all forms of violence for political gain where a peaceful alternative exists, and in the USA that is the election.

We also hold that parties are private organizations, and as such are exempt from most of the regulations currently impossed upon them, especially that of the open primary as it violates the members right to free association. Political parties are like marketing brands, and as such violating their ability to put forth the candidates they choose dilutes their power.

As parties are private groups they should not be using tax dollars to finance their campaigns. The use of tax dollars is a violation of the tax payers right to free association. Why should yor tax dollard, potentially, go do finance political campaigns for candidates with whom you do not agree? Tax payer financed campaigns serve only one purpose, to maintain the status quo. The government only gives the money to those that qualify, and at the same time places the bar for qualification intentionally out of reach for minority parties.

As for all the other points, they can be summed up in the word clean. The Libertarian party stands for clean elections that are focused on proper representation of the people, not the retention of power of those already in power.