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The Libertarian PartyAmerican Political PartyClick here for a list of candidates from all American political partiesThe Libertarian Party was founded in the home of Colorado Springs resident David Nolan on December 11, 1971 by members who viewed the dominant Republican and Democratic parties as having diverged from the libertarian principles of the American Founding Fathers. As of 2010, 225,000 voters are registered with the Libertarian Party in 30 states, making it the fifth largest of America's parties. Hundreds of Libertarian candidates have been elected or appointed to public office, and thousands have run for office under the Libertarian banner. The platform of the Libertarian Party includes favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration across borders, and non-interventionism in foreign policy that respects freedom of trade and travel to all foreign countries.The first Libertarian Presidential ticket received only 3,000 votes in 1972, but also received the first Electoral College vote for a woman, from faithless elector Roger MacBride (MacBride would be the party's nominee in 1976). In 1978, Dick Randolph became the first Libertarian to win state-level office with his election to the Alaska House of Representatives, and the Libertarian Party gained ballot access in all 50 states, DC, and Guam in 1980. The party's Presidential ticket spent several million dollars in that year's election, and garnered almost a million votes in the most successful Libertarian showing to date. Former Republican US Congressman Bob Barr received the 2008 Libertarian nomination for President and received 523,686 votes, or 0.4% of the national count, in that year's election. This was the second-best showing ever of a Libertarian Presidential candidate. Source: Wikipedia.org |