Libertarian Party (US)

A US third party founded in 1971, the largest surviving third party by sustained ballot access, devoted to minimal government.

Overview

The Libertarian Party formed in Colorado in 1971 amid wage and price controls and the draft, fusing free market economics with civil liberties and nonintervention into a consistent philosophy of minimal state power. Its candidates have never approached the Electoral College, but the party polls in the millions in favorable cycles and holds scattered local offices. Notable nominees include Ed Clark, Ron Paul in 1988, and Gary Johnson, who took nearly 4.5 million votes in 2016. The party platform opposes conscription, drug prohibition, and mass surveillance. Its influence runs through ideas: much of its agenda entered mainstream conservative and liberal debate within a generation.