The Libertarian Party of Kentucky today reiterated that they are the party of acceptance. “Liberty, freedom, and true economic prosperity cannot exist in a system which institutionalizes racism, bigotry, or other kinds of unfounded hatred,” said Ken Moellman, Chairman and Northern Kentucky native. “There’s been a lot of talk, trying to associate Libertarians with racism in the past month. It’s important to remind people that liberty and racism are incompatible.”
A political race leading to a taxpayer-funded primary within another political party has seen one candidate accuse another of being both a Libertarian and a racist.
“As head of the membership committee, I assure you that the person in question has never been a Libertarian,” said Ronald Seiter, Louisville native and Vice Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Kentucky. “He has neither signed our statement of principles, nor contributed to the Party in any way.”
He added, “All candidates from the Libertarian Party of Kentucky are vetted by the Party, and are prohibited from running under our party banner if they espouse principles inconsistent with our core philosophy.”
In 2008, The Libertarian Party of Kentucky Executive Committee removed a candidate from the ballot, after that candidate espoused a derogatory term about an ethnic group. They chose not to replace the candidate on the November ballot.
“While other political parties may have chosen to replace the candidate with a new one, we felt as though it was our responsibility as good citizens of the state to simply leave the race for that particular office,” Moellman said. “Racism and bigotry are unacceptable.”
The Libertarian Party of Kentucky is the official state affiliate for the Libertarian Party. Founded in 1971, the Libertarian Party believes in liberty through economic freedom and social tolerance, and is the nation’s third-largest political party. More information is available at their respective websites: http://www.lpky.org/ and http://www.lp.org/
