Liberal Party USA

Last updated

Liberal Party USA
Chairman Trisha Butler
Founded2022 (as Association of Liberty State Parties)
2024 (as Liberal Party USA)
Split from Libertarian Party (United States)
Membership (2024)31,343
Ideology Classical liberalism
Website
www.liberalpartyusa.org

Liberal Party USA (formerly known as Association of Liberty State Parties) is a liberal political party in the United States that is affiliated with multiple state parties. In 2022, the state libertarian parties from Massachusetts and New Mexico disaffiliated from the national United States Libertarian Party and affiliated with one another. [1] [2] The Libertarian Party of Virginia also split, with some members leaving to form a new party, the Virginia Classical Liberal Party that affiliated with Liberal Party USA. [3] Additionally, the Liberal Party of Pennsylvania is associated with the organization. [4]

Contents

History

Association of Liberty State Parties

Logo of the Association of Liberty State Parties prior to it's rebranding as the Liberal Party Association of Liberty State Parties Logo.png
Logo of the Association of Liberty State Parties prior to it's rebranding as the Liberal Party

At the 2022 Libertarian National Convention members of the Mises Caucus, a paleolibertarian group affiliated to the beliefs of Ron Paul successfully staged a takeover of the Libertarian Party seeing over two thirds of delegates be members of the Caucus, and shift the party in a right-ward direction. [5] The caucus successfully got their members elected to sweep leadership positions, including; Angela McArdle as chairwomen and Joshua Smith as vice-chairman. [5] The 2022 convention, an off-election convention, had an unusually high number of delegates, with the last recorded number for an off-election convention, in 2006, being just 300 delegates, the 2022 convention saw over 1,000 delegates. [5] After the takeover the non-Mises affiliated members walked out, and criticized the group for lacking in libertarian orthodoxy, as well as due to several racist statements that the Caucus had made in the past. [5] More ardent members of the party started to splinter, with Pennsylvania, that state with the most elected Libertarian officeholders, seeing a hardliner Mises-affiliated member, Rob Cowburn being named chairman, resulting in dissidents splitting to form the Keystone Party of Pennsylvania. [5]

After the Mises dominated Libertarian party adopted the national divorce as part of the party's official core rallying cries more moderate members of the party began to mutiny with the state Libertarian affiliates in New Mexico and Virginia disaffiliation from the national party, and in the case of Virginia, dissolving itself. [1] The party in New Mexico also highlighted that according to LP bylaws, that there can never be more than two executive positions overturned in a single convention, making the Mises sweep illegal. [1] The Mises dominated party quickly changed the bylaws after their sweep to amend this. [1] After Mises affiliated libertarians in Virginia reformed their branch of the party quickly seeing backing from the national party, the dissidents then formed a splinter group, the Virginia Classical Liberal Party. [1] Additionally, Massachusetts's party split into two separate legal entities, both using the Libertarian name. [1] Mises was also able to block the disaffiliation of the New Hampshire party. [1]

List of affiliates

With ballot access

Without ballot access

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libertarian Party (United States)</span> American political party

The Libertarian Party (LP) is a political party in the United States that promotes civil liberties, non-interventionism, laissez-faire capitalism, and limiting the size and scope of government. The party was conceived in August 1971 at meetings in the home of David F. Nolan in Westminster, Colorado, and was officially formed on December 11, 1971, in Colorado Springs. The organizers of the party drew inspiration from the works and ideas of the prominent Austrian school economist Murray Rothbard. The founding of the party was prompted in part due to concerns about the Nixon administration, the Vietnam War, conscription, and the introduction of fiat money.

Paleolibertarianism is a libertarian political activism strategy aimed at uniting libertarians and paleoconservatives. It was developed by American anarcho-capitalist theorists Murray Rothbard and Lew Rockwell in the American political context after the end of the Cold War. From 1989 to 1995, they sought to communicate libertarian notions of opposition to government intervention by using messages accessible to the working class and middle class people of the time. They combined libertarian free market views with the cultural conservatism of paleoconservatism, while also opposing protectionism. The strategy also embraced the paleoconservative reverence for tradition and religion. This approach, usually identified as right-wing populism, was intended to radicalize citizens against the state. The name they chose for this style of activism evoked the roots of modern libertarianism, hence the prefix paleo. That founding movement was American classical liberalism, which shared the anti-war and anti-New Deal sentiments of the Old Right in the first half of the 20th century. Paleolibertarianism is generally seen as a right-wing ideology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Republican Liberty Caucus</span> Political action organization in the United States

The Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC) is a political action organization dedicated to promoting the ideals of individual liberty, limited government and free market economics within the Republican Party in the United States. It is part of the libertarian wing of the Republican Party. It also operates a political action committee, the RLC-USA PAC.

The Libertarian National Convention is held every two years by the Libertarian Party to choose members of the Libertarian National Committee (LNC), and to conduct other party business. In presidential election years, the convention delegates enact a platform and nominate the Libertarian presidential and vice-presidential candidates who then face the nominees of other parties in the November general election.

In American politics, a Libertarian Republican is a politician or Republican Party member who has advocated Libertarian policies while typically voting for and being involved with the Republican Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libertarianism in the United States</span> Origin, history and development of libertarianism in the United States

In the United States, libertarianism is a political philosophy promoting individual liberty. According to common meanings of conservatism and liberalism in the United States, libertarianism has been described as conservative on economic issues and liberal on personal freedom, often associated with a foreign policy of non-interventionism. Broadly, there are four principal traditions within libertarianism, namely the libertarianism that developed in the mid-20th century out of the revival tradition of classical liberalism in the United States after liberalism associated with the New Deal; the libertarianism developed in the 1950s by anarcho-capitalist author Murray Rothbard, who based it on the anti-New Deal Old Right and 19th-century libertarianism and American individualist anarchists such as Benjamin Tucker and Lysander Spooner while rejecting the labor theory of value in favor of Austrian School economics and the subjective theory of value; the libertarianism developed in the 1970s by Robert Nozick and founded in American and European classical liberal traditions; and the libertarianism associated with the Libertarian Party, which was founded in 1971, including politicians such as David Nolan and Ron Paul.

The Libertarian National Committee (LNC) controls and manages the affairs, properties, and funds of the United States Libertarian Party. It is composed of the party officers, five at-large representatives elected every two years at the national convention, and a theoretical maximum of 10 regional representatives. The current chair is Angela McArdle, first elected at the 2022 Libertarian National Convention and re-elected in 2024 at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention. Additional officers will be voted into office at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention in Washington DC between May 24 - 26.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libertarian Party of Oregon</span> State affiliate of the Libertarian Party

The Libertarian Party of Oregon is a political party representing the national Libertarian Party in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is organized as a minor party for state election law, and recognized by the Oregon as a statewide nominating party.

Libertarian Party Radical Caucus is a caucus formed in 2006 within the United States Libertarian Party by Susan Hogarth and other party members who opposed removal of much of the material in the party platform during the 2006 national party convention. The caucus generally subscribes to an ideology of anarcho-capitalism. The caucus was active at the 2008 and 2010 Libertarian National Conventions. The radical caucus was revived and was extraordinarily active during the 2016 Libertarian National Convention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libertarian Party of Massachusetts</span> Political party in Massachusetts

The Libertarian Association of Massachusetts (LAMA), previously known as the Libertarian Party of Massachusetts, is a libertarian political party in Massachusetts. It was affiliated with the national Libertarian Party from its founding until 2022, and is now affiliated with Liberal Party USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libertarian conservatism</span> Ideology combining conservatism with libertarianism

Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and conservatarianism, is a political and social philosophy that combines conservatism and libertarianism, representing the libertarian wing of conservatism and vice versa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libertarian Party of Nevada</span> State affiliate of the Libertarian Party

The Libertarian Party of Nevada (LPN) is the affiliate of the Libertarian Party in the state of Nevada. It is headed by State Chair Charles Melchin.

The Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania (LPPA) is the Pennsylvania affiliate of the Libertarian Party. Since March 2023, it has been chaired by Greg Deal.

The Libertarian Party in the United States is composed of various factions, sometimes described as left and right, although many libertarians reject use of these terms to describe the political philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 Libertarian National Convention</span> United States political event

The 1991 Libertarian National Convention was held in Chicago, Illinois from August 29 to August 31, 1991. Andre Marrou of Alaska was chosen as the Libertarian Party's nominee for president in the 1992 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Libertarian National Convention</span> Political event

The 2020 Libertarian National Convention delegates selected the Libertarian Party nominees for president and vice president in the 2020 United States presidential election. Primaries were held, but were preferential in nature and did not determine delegate allocation. The convention was originally scheduled to be held from May 21 to May 25 at the JW Marriott Austin luxury hotel in downtown Austin, Texas. On April 26, all reservations at the JW Marriott Austin were canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the convention oversight committee to seek another venue for a possible July date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mises Caucus</span> Caucus of the U.S. Libertarian Party

The Libertarian Party Mises Caucus (LPMC) is a caucus within the Libertarian Party in the United States that promotes paleolibertarianism, as well as a more radical version of American libertarianism associated with the presidential campaigns of former U.S. congressman Ron Paul. It was founded in 2017 by Michael Heise, mainly in opposition to Nicholas Sarwark's position as party chairman and the pragmatic faction of the party associated with the presidential campaigns of former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. It is named after economist Ludwig von Mises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal Party of Pennsylvania</span> Minor political party

The Liberal Party of Pennsylvania is a third party in Pennsylvania founded as the Keystone Party of Pennsylvania in 2022, rebranding to the Liberal moniker in 2024, with a focus on political solutions through the electoral process and Classical Liberalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 Libertarian National Convention</span> U.S. political event

The 2024 Libertarian National Convention was a political event to select the Libertarian Party nominees for president and vice president in the 2024 election. It was held from May 24 to the early morning of May 27, 2024, at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Doherty, Brian. "Libertarian Party Faces State Rebellions". Reason . Retrieved May 28, 2024.
  2. "Introducing the Association of Liberty State Parties" (PDF). LPNM. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  3. "Affiliates". Association of Liberty State Parties. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  4. "Affiliates". ALSP. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Doherty, Brian. "Mises Caucus Takes Control of Libertarian Party". Reason . Retrieved May 28, 2024.
  6. Winger, Richard (May 3, 2024). "New Massachusetts Registration Data". Ballot Access News. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  7. "2024 Voter Registration Data". NM SOS. Retrieved May 7, 2024.