What exactly do the Independent and Libertarian political parties stand for?

[LatinoHeatâ„¢]

What are they both about in terms of their political views and on the issues that people care about such as Social Security, Taxes, and etc.?

[B.Kevorkian]

The Independent Party was originally an anti-Civil Rights splinter group of conservative souther democrats. It survives in CA mainly because people sign up thinking they're registering as 'independents' (actually, that would be 'non partisan). The Independent Party is currently affilliated with the Constitution Party or Natural Law party or something like that.

The Libertarian Party, as the name suggests, is concerned with individual rights and personal liberty. It is against big government across the board. Libertarians object to government regulations, the errosion of rights gauranteed by the constitution, and the government taking or spending prettymuch any of thier money at all. A purist libertarian doesn't want the government doing much of anything beyond negotiating the odd treaty. They'd rather see police, transportation & fire be for-proffit companies, national defense handled by militias, and the 'general welfare' seen to by private charity.

[chubbyjuice394]

I concur with the previous poster. The Independent Party originally was an anti-Civil Rights party, but then devolved into various other parties, e.g., Constitution Party, Natural Law Party, etc. My understanding is the Constituion Party is conservative, right-wing politically and socially. The Natural Law Party is based resolving all political and social problems using transcendental meditation. I'm not really sure where they would stand on the political spectrum-liberal on some issues, conservative on others.

The Libertarian Party was founded in 1972 by disaffected Republicans and Democrats. Ideologically, the LP has a consistent set of beliefs: limited government (a return to a strict interpretation of the Constitution), a commitment to civil rights for the individual in a context of social freedom, a free market (NOT the so-called Capitalist system in existence), a non-interventionist foreign policy (closing of all military bases in 140 countries).

There are many interpretations as to how this would be achieved. Libertarians, in general, value social and economic freedom, while practicing individual responsibility. It's more consistent than what comes from so-called Republicans and Democrats. Libertarianism has been described as a "live and let live" philosophy.

Libertarians are opposed to Social Security, because the government takes money from your paycheck and puts it into a "trust fund" to be used by you when you retire. This, of course, assumes you will be able to withdraw it when you retire. The retirement age has been raised by the government since 1935. Of course, when it was instituted in 1935, its original intent was to be used as a "supplement" to an individual's retirement.

Libertarians, in general, regard taxes as theft. If you work and get paid, it's your money and you should be able to spend it anyway you want to.

The right-wing wants your tax dollars to spend on defense, corporate welfare, the war on drugs, the war on terror, etc. The left-wing wants your tax dollars to spend on social welfare programs, the war on drugs, the war on terror, and supporting special interest groups of their choosing.

If you want more information I would recommend the following websites:

http://www.lp.org
http://www.mises.org