Simply put, while Democrats believe that the government knows best and should control everything, Libertarians believe in a constitutional limited federal government as established by our Founding Fathers where individual freedom is paramont.
Any views that Libertarians and Democrats MAY have in common are COMPLETELY negated by the fact that today's Democrat party are "cradle-to-grave" Statists. (at the polar opposite of the political spectrum)
This was taken directly from the Libertarian Party's website:
============= "The Libertarian Party is working to dramatically reduce Big Government spending, taxes, debt, bureaucracies, foreign meddling, invasions of our personal freedoms and regulations.
Not reform or add to them - that’s what Democrats and Republicans do. Shrink them.
What will this leave? Individual liberty and a small, constitutional government that is limited to defending our lives, liberty and property." =============
Does THAT sound like the Democrat platform to you?
Libertarians want MINIMUM government interference, while Democrats are moving more in the direction of being Statists with every passing day. They LIVE for centralized government control over economic planning and policy. Obama's "you didn't build that" speech (stolen from Elizabet Warren) shows how close they are getting to the Statist view which holds that man’s life and work belong to the state. That is so far from the way Libertarians see government's role.....it really makes your question rather amusing. What ISN'T the difference would take a lot less time to explain.
The reason I asked was because I always thought that Democrats and Libertarians were similar, but I think I lean more towards Libertarian than Democrat. And thanks for that picture - I've never heard of a "Statist."
If you are young, then i can see where your confusion may originate from. On this site alone....I've seen countless Liberals trying to convince Libertarians that they should vote for Obama. They know that the Libertarians are not happy with Romney, so they stress the DIFFERENCES between Conservatives and Libertarians and play up any SIMILARITIES between Liberals and Libertarians.
That may have made sense in some previous elections when social issues were important, but not this one. No matter how hard Democrats try and change the focus with these distractions (gay marriage, funded birth control, etc.), none of that really matters when we're spending our way into bankruptcy. No, this one is about the economy.....and on that issue the gap between big- government Democrats and small-government Libertarians has never been wider.
So, may I ask, between the two, who does one vote for, or is there a third option? Admittedly, I am concerned about the spending, but I can't bear the thought of Romney as President and all that he brings with him.
=============
"The Libertarian Party is working to dramatically reduce Big Government spending, taxes, debt, bureaucracies, foreign meddling, invasions of our personal freedoms and regulations.
Not reform or add to them - that’s what Democrats and Republicans do. Shrink them.
What will this leave? Individual liberty and a small, constitutional government that is limited to defending our lives, liberty and property."
=============
Does THAT sound like the Democrat platform to you?
Libertarians want MINIMUM government interference, while Democrats are moving more in the direction of being Statists with every passing day. They LIVE for centralized government control over economic planning and policy. Obama's "you didn't build that" speech (stolen from Elizabet Warren) shows how close they are getting to the Statist view which holds that man’s life and work belong to the state. That is so far from the way Libertarians see government's role.....it really makes your question rather amusing. What ISN'T the difference would take a lot less time to explain.
That may have made sense in some previous elections when social issues were important, but not this one. No matter how hard Democrats try and change the focus with these distractions (gay marriage, funded birth control, etc.), none of that really matters when we're spending our way into bankruptcy. No, this one is about the economy.....and on that issue the gap between big- government Democrats and small-government Libertarians has never been wider.