Just 12 years after winning the presidency in 1848 with Zachary Taylor as their candidate, the Whigs ceased to exist as a political party. Only one in four Americans trust their government to do what's right most of the time, according to a recent Washington Post poll. Whatever it is, it's nothing like either of the two older parties. Most surveys show that nearly half of the American electorate is registered as neither a Democrat nor a Republican.
Libertarians are in touch with the mood of America.
Politically, this means Libertarians favor rolling back the size and cost of government and eliminating laws that stifle the economy and control people's personal choices. The Libertarian Party is the only party dedicated to dramatically reducing government and doing it as quickly as possible. It's the only party that recognizes that the federal government has expanded far beyond the small, limited government envisioned by the Founding Fathers. And the Libertarian Party is working hard to turn its political beliefs into political action. Since its founding in 1971, the Libertarian Party has become America's most politically active, successful and influential third party.