Uses Of Platform To Attack LP

This page documents instances in which the LP Platform was used in front of significantly-sized audiences to attack or embarrass the LP as too extreme. Many of these items were found by searching Google News Archives [1].

• Seven planks are quoted to marginalize the LP, most notably the position on self-defense. The Progressive, August 31, 2016 Do Libertarian Converts Know What the Party Actually Stands For?
• "I want to pull a little bit of a quote of from what you have put on your website. You said the libertarian platform in 1980 called for abolishing the minimum wage, and income taxes. David Koch was a candidate for Vice President that year on a ticket headed by Edward Clark. They thought Ronald Reagan was too liberal. Today David Koch and his brother Charles have turned that 1980 extremism into mainstream Republican Party orthodoxy, by putting their fortune behind right-wing politicians and think tanks." Question was from host Joy Reid with MSNBC's The Reid Report, asked of Bernie Sanders. 2014-04-17. [2]
• "Even with Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party Undermines Liberty" By Ari Armstrong, assistant editor, The Objective Standard, 2012-01-09 [3].
• "Can the Libertarians Go Mainstream?" By Nathan Thornburgh, Time Magazine, 2008-05-21 [4].
• "Does the Libertarian Party Condone Pedophilia and Illegal Immigration?" by da Tagliare, 2011-10-06 [5].
• "I know of one instance when it was used against a Republican/former Libertarian in Colorado. State Senator Penn Pfiffner, who used to be in the Colorado LP, had mail sent against him by his Democrat opponent telling voters he was trying to legalize heroin and crack, and cited the LP Platform." Donny Ferguson, 2007-03-28 [6].
• "A few days before the election a local paper did an article on the race, in which I was characterized as being "too radical for the residents of Clarion County". The article did not mention the LP platform, but when I talked to the reporter to ask why he would write that, his response was that he had done some research and looked at the LP website, and the platform was a big factor." Mik Robertson, LP Pennsylvania. 2006-08-05 [7]
• "Non-Libertarian candidates in my county have used quotes from the LP platform against Libertarian candidates and Non-Libertarians candidates who accept contributions from known Libertarians." Jack Tanner, LP Florida. 2006-08-04 [8]
• Libertarians focus on drugs by Rob Casapulla - "The Libertarian platform is self-defeating and its one claim to fame is its attempts to legalize drugs. [...] Yes, that means cocaine, heroin, acid, ecstasy, crystal meth, [...]" University Wire, 2006-02-16.
• "District 3 City Council candidates Dr. Jimmy Blake and Valerie Abbott have engaged in a war of words this week, with each accusing the other of dirty politics. Thursday, Blake lashed out against what he termed "innuendos and slanderous" statements Mrs. Abbott has made about his association with the Libertarian Party. Mrs. Abbott responded that it is Blake who has resorted to personal attacks. "He's running scared," she said. "He accused my husband of being a member of the Libertarian Party." Blake, chairman of the Alabama Libertarian Party, said Thursday that Mrs. Abbott's husband, Rod, is a Libertarian and claimed to have national party paperwork backing up his claim. But Rod Abbott said he is not a member of the Libertarian Party. "He (Blake) says he is chairman of the Alabama Libertarian Party, but is claiming to not be a member of the national party," Mrs. Abbott said. Mrs. Abbott said Blake is not being truthful when he denies being affiliated with the national Libertarian Party, which in its 1992 platform advocated no minimum drinking laws and the legalization of drugs and prostitution. Blake said he is part of a reform movement within the Libertarian Party that is trying to get rid of the national party platform. Mrs. Abbott and Virginia Volker, another District 3 candidate, said they are not behind the distribution of the national Libertarian Party platform. District 3 candidate Dennis Rancont, who joined the fray Wednesday when he ran a radio ad critical of Blake's Libertarian beliefs on WYDE-AM, said he regretted the ad and withdrew it." Birmingham News, 2005-08-02.
• Candidate Said Party Supports Drug Legalization; Judge Rules Free Speech - "A Troy district judge has dismissed a defamation suit that the Libertarian Party of Oakland County filed against Troy resident Cristina Pappageorge. Judge Michael Martone dismissed the suit earlier this month, ruling that Pappageorge's comments that the Libertarian Party supports legalizing drugs are protected under the First Amendment as political.." Detroit Free Press, 2003-07-31.
• Indianapolis plays host to convention of party that shuns gun control, wants drugs legalized - "To mainstream voters, the Libertarian Party platform might seem extreme, even a little bit kooky. Libertarians want to legalize drugs, abolish handgun control and close down the U.S. Department of Education." The Indianapolis Star, 2002-07-06.
• "At the state chair’s breakfast the next day Mark Schreiber began the same spiel by telling the sad story of how when he was running for Indiana Lt. Governor [in 2002] he did a long interview with a reporter. The final story focused on the Libertarian Party’s support child pornography, which is how the reporter interpreted the LP national platform." Carol Moore LP convention report, 2002-07-03 [9].
• "During the past election, Redwood City Councilmember, Jim Hartnett, sent a hit piece opposing Libertarian candidates for school boards, and supporting the College and Sequoia H.S. bond measures." Jack Hickey, LP San Mateo County, California. 2001-11-13. Scan of mailing at archive.org [10], which quotes the Platform regarding "drugs" and "sexually explicit materials".
• Two Political Parties Plenty, Thanks - "The Libertarian platform is a prescription for anarchy." Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2000-07-14.
• Sabrin Haunted By His Libertarian Past - "Treffinger said Sabrin should explain his support for legalizing drugs and prostitution, and sanctioning gay marriages." Bergen County Record, 2000-04-21.
• Libertarians score victory by securing place on 2000 ballot - "Some espouse extreme views Like the cessation of all taxation, public education and government regulation." Dallas Morning News, 1998-11-08.
• Libertarian rebuts mailer by Corcoran - "Editor: This letter rebuts a campaign mailer sent out by Richard Corcoran, the unsuccessful candidate for state House District 43. [...] Mr. Corcoran in a late mailer took on the Libertarian Party [...] Mr. Corcoran's Carvillian treatment of his opponent in the mailer extended to the Libertarian Party and its platform." St. Petersburg Times, 1998-09-09.
• "several citizen panelists agreed that they found the anti-government platform of his Libertarian party too extreme". Philadelphia Daily News, 1997-10-20.
• Is "Libertarian politics" an oxymoron? - "to these mainstream issues the Libertarian Party platform adds such problematic esoterica as jury nullification, a reliance solely on tort law and 'strict liability' to govern pollution, and the right of individual political secession. When libertarianism is presented as an all-or-nothing bargain, interested voters are more likely to leave the whole package on the table." Reason, 1996-07-01. [11]
• Libertarian Candidates Wants To Do Away With Much Of Government - "other parts of the Libertarian platform call for eliminating most government agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service. ..." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1994-08-14.
• The Other Party In The Presidential Race - "The Libertarian platform calls for the abolition of child labor laws (they inhibit the freedom of children), of income taxes, highway speed ..." Miami Herald, 1992-10-25.
• Essay - The Fourth Man. "[...] a little extreme? you ain't heard nothin' yet on civil liberty: decriminalize drugs and prostitution, forget gun control or abortion limitation, eliminate federal agencies, settle environmental clashes in court, permit open immigration [...] if taken literally, the Libertarian platform is so far out of the mainstream as to be high and dry [...]" New York Times, 1992-10-22.
• Libertarians are a laugh by Don Fedder - "About mid-September, when we're bored to tears by presidential politics, we can always look to the Libertarian Party for comic relief. [...] the Libertarian Party platform takes liberal-rights mania to its absurdly logical conclusion. Libertarians will brook no interference with what they designate as human rights, regardless of the suffering or chaos resulting therefrom [...] " San Antonio Express-News, 1992-09-22.
• Libertarians? No, US Needs A Legitimate Fourth Choice - "Standing against things is the Libertarian Party's specialty. Its platform calls for government to cease and desist from almost everything except the repealing of laws (Social Security, the Post Office, you name it) ..." Chicago Sun-Times, 1992-07-09. Also ran in:
• Consider a Libertarian?; Get Serious. Washington Post, 1992-07-09.
• Libertarians Stew On Fringe. San Jose Mercury News, 1992-07-09.
• Extreme Views Doom Libertarian Nominees. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1992-07-13.