Compare And Contrast The Libertarian Party Vs Green Party

Libertarian Party vs. Green Party

As our country grows and progresses into the future, so do our ethics. With each generation we tend to generally shift with our new definitions of what is right and what is wrong. Overtime, these shifts tend to break apart and either redefine or create new political parties. The current youthful generation could more than likely see such changes within their lifetimes, just as we’ve recently seen division in the Republican Party with the creation of the Tea Party Movement. With an ever changing demographic in our country and a general movement towards social reform from the now growing youth, combined with the dying out of aged conservatives, the future majority representative political parties could become
those of the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. With the current generation of twenty and thirty-something’s, it has been a popular trend to shift towards the personal descriptive quote of, “I’m socially progressive but fiscally responsible.” As written by Brandon Shaffer, the President of the Colorado Senate, both current Democrats and Republicans are shifting towards or already share this view, and really agree on a lot of things. This balance, while not necessarily perfect by its simple definition for all Republicans and Democrats, creates middle ground that might melt into a popularization of the Libertarian Party. A party that is socially progressive but fiscally responsible. According to their website, the Libertarian Party, in a general sense, stands for less government but higher standers of equality and freedom to individual citizens. They are against government involvement within the market, such as The Bush/Obama Bailouts, and state, “A free and competitive market allocates resources in the most efficient manner.” In the foreign policy arena, they stand for free trade, in an effort to build positive relationships, and to avoid negative relationships by emphasizing non-intervention with military policy. Libertarians also stand for gun rights, and that all “ law-abiding, responsible citizens do not and should not need to ask anyone’s permission or approval to engage in a peaceful activity.” They also believe that healthcare should not be run by the government (part of minimizing it) but should be regulated by free market and would eliminate the FDA and replace it with a more “agile, free-market alternative.” On the immigration front, they stand a little farther left than their Republican half. They believe in documenting and back taxing those illegal immigrants already within U.S. borders, instead of evicting them. While it is true that youthful Republicans and conservative Democrats could possibly start leaning more towards the popularization of the Libertarian Party, and with it the death of the “Good Ole Party,” it could also be plausible that the more liberal factions of the Democratic Party could find themselves joining with an ever younger generation that could be more Liberal than their older Libertarian counterparts. This could plausibly succeed with the popularization of the Green party in battle with the Libertarians in the two-party arena. The Green Party, according to its website, stands more for direct democracy with its coined “Grassroots Democracy,” similar to the lines of the Libertarian stance of less government.
They are, however, more geared towards a community-based economy and stand firm with regulation of higher minimum-wages and “provide a decent standard of living for all people while maintaining a healthy ecological balance.” The Green Party is also fervent to decentralize wealth and power, which they think are the key problems with social and economic injustice, environmental destruction, and militarization. They therefore, unlike the Libertarians, would rather restructure the government, and with it social and economic institutions “away from a system which is controlled by and mostly benefits the powerful few, to a democratic, less bureaucratic system.” The Green Party is a widely social equal party, and stands for the equality of all, which the government should manage through the previously mentioned methods, and government programs like universal health care. To contrast the Libertarian Party, the Green Party also stands for higher gun control and limiting of particular types of weapons, stricter procedures when purchasing a gun, and less public
carrying.
While there are some major differences and some overlaps of agreement, the two parties do see eye to eye on a few issues though, which could bring the United States progressively into a new era. Major issues that they agree on are progressive answers to topics like abortion restrictions and women’s rights, same-sex marriages, capital punishment, drug liberalization, and to a certain degree non-interventionist foreign policy and immigration restrictions. The future is always uncertain, but the same issues tend to resurface within the United States and over the course of decades, we can see a shift towards the left with the total outcomes. Each of these parties, currently recognized by the Federal Election Commission, may contend to replace the current Republican/Democratic staples we’ve known for so long, just as they replaced the Federalist/Anti-Federalist (Democratic-Republican)/Whigs Parties of the 18th and 19th century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brandon-shaffer/socially-progressive-fisc_b_689675.html Viewed 3/5/15
2. http://www.lp.org Viewed 3/5/15
3. http://www.gp.org/index.php Viewed 3/5/15