Libertarian Party (Belhavia)
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Libertarian Party | |
|---|---|
| File:NB LP logo.png | |
| Chairperson | Jeffrey Hafetz |
| Founder | David Geissman and Ari Laker |
| Founded | May 16, 1972 |
| Headquarters | Provisa |
| Newspaper | The Free Beacon |
| Student wing | College Libertarians |
| Youth wing | Young Libertarians |
| Ideology | Libertarianism Classical Liberalism Internal Factions: Anarcho-capitalism Minarchism Paleolibertarianism |
| Political position | Center or Far Right (depending on differing political classifications) |
| International affiliation | International Libertarian Alliance |
| Colors | Blue Golden Yellow |
| Seats in the Imperial Senate | 4 / 70
|
| Website | |
| www.freebelhavia.com | |
The Libertarian Party, also commonly called the Libertarians or usually just the Libs (colloquially), is one of three de jure contemporary political parties in Belhavia opposed on the right by the Conservative Party and on the left by the Liberal Democratic Party. It is considered a powerful third party in a de facto two-party system.
It was founded as a reaction to the left-wing presidency of Vern Callan (1969 - 1977) and his Just Society program. It was started by two friends, David Geissman and Ari Laker, white ethnic Emmerians who studied at Northwestern University in Emmeria and picked up the libertarian ideology prevalent on college campuses there. They both graduated from Northwestern in the spring of 1971, and returned home at the peak of the progressive Just Society legislation, which had socialistic implications that sparked opposition among many corners of Belhavia.
Self-identifying libertarians, they agreed with much of the fiscal policy of the hard right flank of the Tories but disagreed with the party's social conservatism. Likewise, they were sympathetic to socially liberal arguments from the far left wing of the Lib Dems, but stridently disagreed with their social democratic economic policies.
They started the party in May 1972, recruiting among their friends and acquaintances on colleges campuses in the Empire. Tapping into the classical liberal sentiments at the core of society, they steadily gained adherents and by the 1974 elections, could field candidates in several local and provincial elections. They made the most ground in South Dakos, where they won 23 city council seats, one mayorship, and one seat in the provincial assembly.
In the 1976 elections, they had made such a transforming political earthquake that they won an open Imperial Senate seat and elected more candidates at the local and provincial level, forming their own small caucus in the South Dakos provincial legislature. In 1978, they picked up another Senate seat in the rural and sparsely-populated Arkania.
Economically, Julian Settas co-opted libertarian themes in his successful 1980 campaign, where the Libertarian Party picked up two additional seats to form a cogent caucus of four members in the Imperial Senate. Through the 1980s, the Libertarians provided the Conservatives enough votes to block filibusters or even get a 2/3rds supermajority to steadily dismantle the Imperial Government's extensive size and scope.
After pitfalls in the 1990s, the Libertarians became a salient political force in the 2000s and 2010s.
There have been no Libertarian presidents as well as no Senate majorities, though from 2007 - 2009, the party controlled 7 Senate seats, its highest ever and a crucial voting bloc in the unicameral national legislature. At the local and provincial levels, many Libertarians have been elected Governor or Provincial Treasurer, and have on occasion won control of one house of provincial legislatures.
The party's platform is based upon Belhavian libertarianism.
In the 112th Senate, elected in 2014, the Libertarian Party holds a minority of seats in the Imperial Senate.