I think the time has come for the Libertarian Party to really take to the road showing the principles that make it the party for the future.

GOP leaders are now joining the opposition to the 2nd round of bailouts, mostly fueled by the disaster of the first round with the major banks using the money for expansion rather than what it was approved for: helping ease the mortgage and credit crisis. Where were they when the money was being doled out? Where was the GOP when it was clearly evident that the same greed that brought this mess upon us was now chasing its own tail at a fevered pace?

As a Libertarian, I don't believe in the bailout to begin with.  Corporate welfare should not be a function of the federal government.  If a company makes bad business decisions and acts in such a way as to take advantage and bring harm, they should be left to suffer the consequences of those very decisions.  If they aren't as viable as they once were, maybe it is a sign that whatever their product or service is, it just isn't what the market wants any longer.  Let them suffer their fate naturally.  Don't reward misguided behavior with handouts of tax-payer dollars.  We've already saddled future generations with crippling debt to pay for the war on terror.  At what point do we, as a nation, say enough is enough?  We aren't allowed to get away with writing checks for things we can't pay for.  The government should not be allowed to either.  This current environment of borrowing money from foriegn nations to pay for our spending also opens us up to an uneeded security risk in the future.

While the Democratic Party does a good job building a surplus, they tend to do it with new, and higher taxes, and they won't do enough to right the ship this late in the game. They aren't that much different than the GOP juggernaut, which isn't so much of a juggernaut now, but more of a leaky row boat trying to find its way back to the dock in the fog.  The way I see it, the main difference is only in who gets to pocket the money you and I earn through our hard work: either the already rich, who don't need any more, especially yours or mine; or typically the professionally poor who make a living by taking advantage of the Democratic-sponsored welfare programs.  Either way, it is a redistribution of wealth that we just don't need.

For the most part, the Republican Party was rebuked around the country. The majority of Americans don't care for the constant fear mongering and and endless parade of needless US Armed Forces casualties.  They're tired of being lied to. They wanted something different and they picked the charisma of what was different. I'm not saying that Obama won't be a good President. I honestly think he will do a pretty good job with what he is being given. But, I am looking to the future. If ever there was a time to see the need for a third party to come to the table, this is it.

The Libertarian Party needs to seize on this opportunity to emphasize the ideals that make it the party of the people. Low taxes. Personal freedom. Personal responsibility. Limited government. We don't believe in corporate welfare. We don't believe in government welfare. We think what happens in the privacy of one's home, between two consenting adults, is their business. We think that endless 'wars' on whatever is the hot topic of the day, is a waste of time and resources. The hypocrisy of a war on drugs needs to come to an end. To wage a 'war' where endless profits are made by the egencies involved in fighting said war, is ridiculous, and dare I say criminal. To wage a 'war' on a religious ideal, whose sole purpose is to rid the world of those who oppose it, is ridiculous. You can never win a war of ideals. You create martyrs for the opposing cause and the war continues.

Will we actually give it a try? I don't know. The LP needs its Barack Obama. Someone young enough and charismatic enough to get the message out there in front of the people. Someone who won't look at the barriers that have marginalized us as a party in the past. The time has come for a leader willing to bring us forward.

If we don't use this opportunity to our advantage, we'll continue to be the party of local political positions, who is largely overlooked every four years.