Libertarian Party of Texas

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Libertarian Party of Texas

Basic facts
Location:| Austin, Texas
Type:| Political party
Affiliation:| Libertarian
Top official:| Whitney Bilyeu, Chair
Year founded:| 1972
Website:| Official website

## Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Platform
* 3 Rules and bylaws
* 4 Convention
* 5 Elections
* 5.1 2016 elections
* 6 Leadership
* 7 Recent news
* 8 See also
* 9 External links
* 10 Footnotes

The Libertarian Party of Texas is the Texas political party affiliate of the national Libertarian Party. The party is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

## Background[edit]

The Libertarian Party of Texas was founded on January 21, 1972, and is the state's third-largest political party. The party aims to promote Libertarian policies and support Libertarian candidates throughout the state. As of March 2016, five Libertarians served in local elected offices in Texas.[1][2][3]

## Platform[edit]

As of October 2015, the party's platform was composed of 12 main issues:[4]

* Taxation
"As Libertarians we believe that all persons are entitled to the fruits of their labor. As such, we view taxation as the forced taking of property."
* Education
"Libertarians support removing the barriers to choice and competition in education, allowing parents more flexibility in deciding where and how to educate their children. We would further seek to restore control over public schools (schooling) exclusively to the state level where it belongs, with an emphasis on local education boards. We support an amendment to the Texas Constitution which would provide for a system of education vouchers."
* Transportation
"We support legislation that would forbid tolls on any highway right of way which was obtained with tax dollars, or through the use of eminent domain, or condemnation."
* Rights of individuals, children and families
"Libertarians uphold the ideals embodied in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; specifically, that government should not interfere in matters of personal conscience, such as religion, speech, creativity, or political activity. Nor should any majority be allowed to use government power or support to force the minority to accept their moral, religious, or political beliefs."
* Health care
"Government should neither provide, control, nor require health care. We do not believe that people have a right to be provided with health care at other peoples’ expense."
* Privacy
"Libertarians believe in an inherent right to privacy. As such, we oppose any legislation that permits government to become involved in our personal affairs where such authority has not been exclusively granted via a constitutional provision."
* Election reform
"Libertarians support only voter verifiable paper trails in balloting systems used in elections, and oppose any systems that can be corrupted to produce fraudulent or inaccurate vote counts. We oppose any efforts to count the votes outside of public view."
* Crime and the justice system
"Federal authority to prosecute "crime" is limited to only a few subjects (treason, counterfeiting, piracy, offenses against the laws of nations, and violations of rights by state agents). We find no authority in the U.S. Constitution for extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction or expenditure of tax dollars to interdict drug trafficking."
* Immigration
"The Libertarian Party of Texas encourages legal and lawful immigration regardless of country of origin. The party seeks to encourage immigration of students, workers, and business owners willing to invest in Texas."
* Perpetuities and monopolies
"Texas prohibits the formation of perpetuities and monopolies and finds them contrary to the genius of free government as their establishment discourages competition and free markets."
* Nullification
"Libertarians support nullification of unconstitutional federal acts by all sworn to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America from all enemies foreign and domestic."
* Texas independence
"Libertarians fully support the rights of the people to alter their form of government. As the U.S. federal government is increasingly expanding its influence well beyond its Constitutional authority and clearly violating citizens’ rights as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, the right of the people of Texas to alter their form of government, as stated in Article I Section 2 of the Texas Constitution, must be acknowledged by allowing Texans to have an honest and frank discussion on the merits of independence and being allowed to vote accordingly to reassert Texas’ Independence."

## Rules and bylaws[edit]

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Note: This article is not intended to serve as an exhaustive guide to running for public office. Individuals should contact their state election agencies for further information.

See also: Rules of the Texas Libertarian Party

The state party is governed by a set of rules and bylaws. Typically, these give structure to the different levels of organization—local, county, and state committees—and establish protocol for electing committee members. The bylaws also typically give details on the party's process for nominating and sending delegates to the national party convention during presidential elections. The following is a summary of the Texas Libertarian Party's rules. This summary focuses on the structure and governance of the party:[5]

* The state executive committee is made up of the chair, vice chair, secretary, treasurer, state senatorial district representatives and the state's national committeemen.
* The party is organized at the county, district and precinct levels.
* The state convention is held during even-numbered years.

## Convention[edit]

The dates of the 2016 state convention for the Texas Libertarian Party, when the party selected its delegates for the 2016 Libertarian National Convention, were April 8 through April 10.[6]

## Elections[edit]

### 2016 elections[edit]

The Texas Libertarian Party supported local, state, and federal candidates during the 2016 election cycle. The following list include's the party's congressional candidates:[7]

* Phil Gray, Texas' 1st Congressional District
* James Veasaw, Texas' 2nd Congressional District
* Scott Jameson, Texas' 3rd Congressional District
* Cody Wommack, Texas' 4th Congressional District
* Ken Ashby, Texas' 5th Congressional District
* Bill Kelsey, Texas' 10th Congressional District
* Nicholas Landholt, Texas' 11th Congressional District
* Ed Colliver, Texas' 12th Congressional District
* Calvin DeWeese, Texas' 13th Congressional District
* Ross Lynn Leone, Texas' 15th Congressional District
* Jaime Perez, Texas' 16th Congressional District
* Clark Patterson, Texas' 17th Congressional District
* Troy Bonar, Texas' 19th Congressional District
* Jeffrey Blunt, Texas' 20th Congressional District
* Mark Loewe, Texas' 21st Congressional District
* Ruben Corvalan, Texas' 23rd Congressional District
* Mike Kolls, Texas' 24th Congressional District
* Loren Marc Schneiderman, Texas' 25th Congressional District
* Mark Boler, Texas' 26th Congressional District
* N. Ruben Perez, Texas' 29th Congressional District
* Jarrett Woods, Texas' 30th Congressional District
* Scott Ballard, Texas' 31st Congressional District
* Ed Rankin, Texas' 32nd Congressional District
* Rhett Rosenquest Smith, Texas' 35th Congressional District

## Leadership[edit]

As of November 2023, Andrew Amelang was the executive director of the Libertarian Party of Texas.[8]

The website for the Texas Libertarian Party listed the following individuals as the party's state leadership as of November 2023:[9]

* Whitney Bilyeu, Chair
* Kyle Russell, Vice chair
* Anastasia Wilford, Secretary
* Kate Prather, Treasurer

## Recent news[edit]

* Search Google News for this topic

## See also[edit]

* Libertarian Party
* Texas

## External links[edit]

* Texas Libertarian Party Website
* Texas Libertarian Party on Facebook
* Texas Libertarian Party on Twitter

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ The Texas Tribune, "Libertarian Party of Texas," accessed October 27, 2015
2. ↑ Libertarian Party, "Elected officials," accessed March 21, 2016
3. ↑ Facebook, "Libertarian Party of Texas," accessed October 27, 2015
4. ↑ Libertarian Party of Texas, "State Platform," accessed October 27, 2015
5. ↑ Libertarian Party of Texas, "State rules," accessed October 27, 2015
6. ↑ Libertarian Party, "Events," accessed October 27, 2015
7. ↑ Libertarian Party of Texas, "2016 candidates," accessed July 29, 2016
8. ↑ Libertarian Party of Texas, "Staff," accessed November 27, 2023
9. ↑ Libertarian Party of Texas, "State Leadership," accessed November 27, 2023

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