Libertarian Party of Sierra

  

Libertarian Party of Sierra
Leader	Sarah Behrman (MR)
Chairperson	Catarina Ortega (OR)
Parliamentary Leader	Ravinder Didbal (CL)
Headquarters	770 L St Ste 950, Plainsfield, San Joaquin
Student wing	College Libertarians of Sierra
Youth wing	Young Libertarians of Sierra
Membership	▼ 8,322,140 (2021)
Political position	Big tent
International affiliation	International Alliance of Libertarian Parties
American affiliation	American Coalition for Liberty
Official colors	Gold
Governing body	Libertarian Executive Committee
Senate	5 / 155
House of Commons	8 / 326
American Parliament	0 / 85
Governorships	0 / 46
Website
lpks.org
Politics of the Kingdom of Sierra · Political parties · Elections

The Libertarian Party of Sierra (LPS) is one of the three largest political parties in the Kingdom of Sierra. Founded in 1967, the Libertarian Party quickly propelled into Sierran politics with its rapidly rising membership base. Since the 1990s, the Libertarian Party destroyed Sierra's historical two-party system and replacing it with the present-day three-party system. While the party promotes and represents a wide range of schools and disciplines of libertarianism (notably excluding libertarian socialism and other left ideologies), officially, it promotes lasseiz-faire free markets and extensive civil liberties. The party was founded in 1967 and was initially a third party, but grew over the years and gained more and more influence before becoming one of the three major parities by the 1990s. The current leader is Sarah Behrman of Maricopa, who succeeded Ryan Porter on July 12, 2023, while Ravinder Didbal of Clark servers as the Libertarian parliamentary leader.

The party was founded during the Vietnam War and was initially formed in response to the usage of conscription used by the Government of Sierra to recruit more troops into the Sierran Royal Army and the party would grow throughout the Vietnam War serving as the leading anti-war party alongside the Democratic Socialist Party and Reformed Republican Party. After the war the party adopted a right libertarian platform including easing restrictions on immigration, supporting the liberalization of drug and gun laws, and support for economic de-regulation, a platform it keeps well into the modern era. The party became more and more prevalent in Sierran politics in the 1980s and would take part as allies of the Royalists in both the Official Opposition and when in government with the Libertarians being party of the Royalist-led governments under Daniel McComb and Nemesis Heartwell in recent years.

While a major force in Sierran politics and the third largest political party in Sierra, the Libertarian Party has never had more than ten members in the Senate or more than 40 in the House of Commons, though the party maintains a significant presence on the provincial level with much of its support being based in Clark, Maricopa and other areas in Sierra's Eastern Frontier. The party has 10.6 million registered members as of 2019 putting it ahead of the Social Democrats of Sierra. From 2016 to 2020, the Libertarians partook in the governing coalition government lead by the Royalist Party and later the Royalist-led Opposition following the party's defeat in the 2020 Sierran federal election. The par

As of 2022, the Libertarians have had five members elected to the Senate and had 32 seats in the House of Commons from 2016 to 2020, but that has since fallen to 14 following the 2020 election and lost another 7 in the 2021 federal election. Since 2022, it holds eight and is part of the Cornflower coalition under the Chan ministry. In the Conference of American States, the Libertarian Party of Sierra is affiliated with the American Coalition for Liberty, a parliamentary group in the American Parliament composed of libertarian and other center-right parties across the CAS. From 2015 to 2020, the Libertarians had three seats in Sierra's delegation to the American Parliament until they were voted out in the 2020 election. Libertarians have held provincial governorships before, but do not hold any provincial governorship as of 2020 with the most recent Libertarian to serve as a governor being Jacqueline Ridge who served as Governor of Clark from 2014 until 2018.

History

Main article: History of the Libertarian Party of Sierra

McComb and Heartwell governments (2016–2020)

Main articles: McComb ministry and Heartwell ministry

Internal conflict (2020–present)

Ryan Porter, Libertarian Party leader (2020–2023)

After the 2020 federal election, the Libertarian Party suffered one of its worst showings in its history, having lost 18 seats in total and reduced to 14 in the House of Commons while making no gains in the Senate, holding onto their previous six seats. Dibdal took responsibility for the defeat and resigned as party leader shortly after the election. A leadership race was held in the summer with the subsequent national convention booked to take place in Las Vegas, Clark. The election would end with Ryan Porter of Maricopa being elected the next party leader over John McCellen and Sarah Behrman on July 22.

Porter would work to rebuild the party after the 2020 election, however internal divisions owuld soon emerge not long afterwards with Behrman leading a right libertarian faction that was opposed to Porter and pushed for an ideological shift in the party. After the status referendums in El Norte on 6 March 2021, a snap election was scheduled for May 28. As party leader, Porter played a leading role in the party's campaign, but it would be criticized for lacking a coherent message and the blame was put on Porter himself. Internal divisions continued to emerge and the party would ultimately suffer another historic loss come election day after losing seven seats, a net 50% loss, and was reduced to only seven in the House of Commons. Ryan Porter claimed responsibility, however he refused to resign and has since been challenged by the Campaign for New Leadership founded and co-lead by Behrman.

The Libertarians' historic defeat in 2021 saw it being replaced by the Social Democrats as one of the Big Three and have now been described as a minor party due to their reduced presence in parliament, a loss of their historic major party status. During the 2022 Sierran Senate elections, Libertarian Senate chair and senator from Sonora, Catarina Ortega, was defeated and the party lost one seat, reduced to only five. While only a single loss, this was seen as a major blow and the most recent due to the party's small presence in the Senate and minimal parliamentary representation overall. Porter Offerman of Clark, who was re-elected, would succeed Ortega as the party's chair in the Senate.

Ideology

The Libertarian Party is primarily centered around a libertarian platform with the party's constitution stating that the party's overall goal is the establishment of a government that values maximum freedom and autonomy and seeks to limit the size and role of the federal government and Sierra's political institutions and bodies. The party is largely right-libertarian and supports economic de-regulation, striking down minimum wage laws and eliminating corporate tax rates, but has a strong strain of social liberalism supporting drug liberalization, legalizing same-sex marriage and advancing LGBT equality and rights. The party also supports lax immigration and free trade laws and is ardently pro-gun with the party being a strong ally of the National Rifle Association.

Social issues

The Libertarian Party is ardently socially liberal with the party leaning to the left on most social issues, especially in regards to civil rights for ethnic, racial, religious and sexual minorities. Since the party's early days, the Libertarians have opposed the criminalization of drugs such as marijuana and restrictions on same-sex marriage and other behaviors that regulated the lives of LGBT Sierrans. The party supports LGBT rights in the modern era supporting same-sex marriage and civil rights and have historically voted with Democratic-Republicans and Social Democrats in regards to legislation regarding LGBT rights, though the party is a regular ally of the Royalists. The party has been opposed to laws regulating same-sex rights with many Libertarian counties and provinces striking such laws down. Drug liberalization is a key component of the party's platform with the party opposing the continued criminalization of marijuana and other drugs. The party has been opposed to the War on Drugs and has called for it to be over and many Libertarians have also called for the decriminalization of all narcotics and drugs as well.

The pro-liberalization stance of the party has lead by Libertarian provinces, counties and districts having some of the most lax and liberal drug laws with Clark alone having the legal age to consume alcohol being 16, the youngest in the entire country. The party is supportive of gun rights and has voted against gun control legislation, especially the gun control legislation done under the premiership of Steven Hong from 2008 to 2016. This pro-gun stance has been the primary reason for why the Libertarian Party for being allies with the Royalist and Federalist Party and why both parties cooperate in coalition governments and in a unified opposition. The Libertarians believe in the right of all Sierrans to keep and bear arms and within the party's constitution it states that gun ownership is a "national and sacred right of which will and needs to be preserved for the defense of the Sierran nation and people from tyranny". The party is also against affirmative action and racial quotas believing that they demean ethnic minorities and place them at a long-term disadvantage. On immigration, the Libertarians support liberalizing Sierra's immigration policy including reforming its bureaucracy and making it less difficult to immigrate into Sierra.

Economic issues

The Libertarian Party ardently supports economic liberalism and within the party's constitution is states that the party is dedicated to the private ownership of the means of production and support of a largely under-regulated free market in order to bring about economic progress and success. The Libertarians are opposed to most economic regulations and believe that the free market should determine Sierra's economic policies and the market's interests should be taken into account and opposes any regulations that could conflict with the market. The party is against minimum wage laws and calls for such laws to be stricken down and for the eventual phasing out of the welfare state through gradual reduction of its size.

Party positions

Overview

Economic Policy

• Support the free market and gradual withdrawal of unnecessary government interference
• Reduce and gradually phase out the welfare state
  • Implement the basic income as the alternative
• Elimination of the income tax
• Maintain school voucher program
• Implement the dollar-to-dollar tax credit plan
• Repeal most economic regulation laws
• End of subsidies
• Phase out Social Security and state health insurance in favor for alternatives
• Eliminate the right of eminent domain
• Strike down minimum wage laws
• Support the right to work and the end of public and state-supported labor unions
• Establish a flat tax
• Decrease taxes for all and implement a negative income tax for the poor
• Decrease spending in defense
• Repeal unnecessary environmental regulations

Social Policy

• Support same-sex marriage and civil unions
• Support for gun rights and opposition to gun control
• Improve privacy laws and government transparency
• Opposition to torture
• Opposition to affirmative action and racial quotas
• Legalization of marijuana and decriminalization of other drugs
• End the War against Drugs
• Liberalize immigration policy

Foreign Policy

• Maintain and reaffirm socioeconomic relations with those in the Pacific, Americas, and Europe
• End and withdraw intervention in the Middle East and other regions
• Reform Sierran foreign policy
  • End military entanglement with NATO
  • Reform the foreign policy of the Conference of American States.
• Support for self-determination
• Support the autonomy of the Free City of Jerusalem.
• Defend Sierran territory from countries, especially Mexico

See also

• Libertarianism in the Kingdom of Sierra