What is Libertarianism and what does it stand for in the modern age?

Libertarianism is the underlying philosophy at the basis of the Declaration of Independence and the US constitution. A philosophy centuries in the making, it majorly broke out in the American Revolution, when the British empire choose to ignore not only the needs and wants of the New World, but their natural "god given" rights. These rights on the most primal level include Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness, and Property. Every individual is born with these rights, and government is to be limited as to not intrude on them, but to also uphold and protect them through a Judicial branch, a standing military, and police force.

The founding fathers of the United States set up the constitution as to shackle and limit the powers of the US government through check and balances and through separate branches - Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The most primal role of government is to protect US civilian rights from wrong doers and tragedies, by providing a military to protect the nation, an executive branch and a police force to enforce laws and protect the people from wrong doers, and a Judiciary to uphold and interpret laws created by the Legislative.

The rest of society is to be driven by voluntary actions between individuals, so long as those actions do not violate the rights of others. The government is merely a bystander with the role of keeping basic order, and is to stay out of market issues and individual choices, and to let the free market take its course wherever that goes, so long as it doesn't trample the rights of others.

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Libertarianism today is still the philosophy of freedom. In modern times, it calls for the end of the drug war, the end to corporatism/crony capitalism, an end to endless foreign interventions by the US military, an end to reckless deficit spending, and an end to liberty crushing laws like the Patriot Act.

Gary Johnson, the Libertarian parties 2016 presidential candidate, embodies many of these very principles. As previous governor of New Mexico, he vetoed more bills in two terms than all other NM governors combined. He cut taxed 14 times while governor, and left New Mexico in 2003 with a balanced budget. He created his own construction company to help pay for college, and he eventually grew that company into one of the largest construction companies in New Mexico with over a 1000 employees. Johnson is majorly in support of legalization of Marijuana, even admitting he occasionally uses cannabis products. Johnson is pro-choice, highlighting the fact that its the woman's body and right to do what she wants with it. He is ultimately skeptical of our past foreign interventions, and highlights actions like the Iraq war as catalysts for the rise of ISIS. Even so, he believes we must be smart with our military, and must deal with the situation in the middle east not in a barbaric way, but a strategic way that can get rid of the radical groups that inhabit the middle east. And as a libertarian and a business owner, Johnson is a major advocate for the free market.

To see more stances and issues of Johnson please visit Johnson's Issues page here.

For more on the Libertarian Party feel free to visit http://www.lp.org/.