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Libertarian Party
Adds PR and IRV to
Platform
July
2002
On July 5, 2002, in the Libertarian
Party's bi-ennial national convention, the nation's third largest
party voted by the necessary two-thirds vote to amend
its platform
to include support for proportional representation for
legislative elections and instant runoff voting for one-winner
elections.
Read more
about the changes made to the party platform.
Below is the language from the party's Elections
Laws plan:
ELECTION LAWS ... Electoral systems matter. The
predominant use of "winner-take-all" elections in gerrymandered,
single-member districts fosters political monopolies and creates a
substantial government-imposed barrier to election of non-incumbent
political parties and candidates. We propose electoral systems that
are more representative of the electorate at the federal, state, and
local levels, such as proportional voting systems with multi-member
districts for legislative elections and instant runoff voting (IRV)
for single winner elections.
One of the reasons convention delegates were moved to
support proportional representation was a speech by Otto Guevera, a
Libertarian leader in Costa Rica. Below is an article in which he explains the significance
of proportional representation. The full text
of his speech is also
available. Otto Guevara: Secrets of
Success for Libertarians
The great strides toward freedom that
Costa Rica has taken over the past four years offers valuable
lessons to American Libertarians, Costa Rica politician Otto Guevara
told delegates at the Libertarian Party national convention on July
4. "Just like in the United States, Costa Rica politics has been
dominated by two political parties that have been stealing our
freedoms year after year," he said. "But we are determined that
Costa Rica will be a libertarian nation in our lifetime." Guevara,
who ran for president on the Movimiento Libertario ticket in Costa
Rica in 2002, delivered the special July 4th address to hundreds of
delegates on the opening day of the LP national convention in
Indianapolis, Indiana. His speech followed remarks from LP
Executive Director Steve Dasbach, Indiana LP State Chair Mark
Rutherford, and Greenfield (IN) City Councilman Phil Miller,
welcoming Libertarians from around the USA. The convention, which
is taking place in the Marriott Downtown Hotel and the Indiana
Convention Center, features platform debate, the election of a new
national chair and members of the Libertarian National Committee,
seminars, workshops, and entertainment events. To kick off the
four-day event, Guevara provided a foreign perspective to the
challenges faced by American Libertarians in a speech entitled "From
Libertarianism to Socialism." To achieve success, said Guevara,
Libertarians require a political system that is open to alternative
parties, a team of dedicated activists to help spread the message,
and the ability to persuasively explain Libertarianism to voters.
His remarks had added credibility because of the political success
enjoyed by the Movimiento Libertario (Libertarian Movement). In the
February 2002 elections, the party won six seats in the 57-member
national legislature, up from the one seat it held previously. It
was his "uncompromising, brave" vision of liberty as the lone
Libertarian in the Costa Rican Congress from 1998-2002 that set the
stage for Movimiento Libertario's recent electoral victories, said
Guevara. "To win the intellectual argument, Libertarians must
loudly expose socialism, and the war, injustice, and poverty it
brings about," he said. Such a passionate presentation attracted
the attention of many journalists, and helped popularize the
Libertarian label in his country, said Guevara. "Since 1998, we
have averaged four citations in the Costa Rican media per day," he
noted. As a Congressman, Guevara said he introduced bills to break
up government monopolies, eliminate taxes, deregulate industries,
and restore personal freedoms. "People like a lean David who stands
up to a bloated Goliath," he said. However, Guevara said his party
would not have been able to get its foot in the door if not for the
country's proportional representation system. "Without
[proportional representation], we would never have been able to
break into the system," he said. "I fully support efforts to change
the winner-take-all system in the United States, and open it up to
so-called third parties." Finally, Guevara urged all Libertarians
to get actively involved in the political process. "We can change
minds and bring people to our side," he said. "If we want liberty in
our lifetimes, each of us must be a champion of liberty." During
his four-year tenure in office, Guevara was named the country's
"best congressman" in three national surveys of journalists, and in
six polls of Costa Rican voters. |
