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My Short Answer:

If you aren't aware of libertarians among your acquaintances, perhaps you don't vocalize your support of libertarianism in your own circles of influence. I find that mentioning my political beliefs often elicit comments such as "Libertarians have a lot of good ideas!" or "I'm a libertarian too!"

Of course, if you attend local Libertarian Party meetings, or Ron Paul meet-ups, or meetings of other libertarian groups, you can get to know quite a few libertarians in your community, quickly.

Regarding the Libertarian Party, if you visit one of their meetings you'll quickly learn that Libertarians are forced to spend about 90% of their financial and activist resources just to stay on the ballot, thanks to outrageously discriminatory laws passed by the two older parties. Each state legislature, consisting of Democrats and Republicans, erect huge barriers for new parties so their candidates won't have a genuine opportunity to influence public opinion.

Even when libertarian candidates of any party manage to get through the ballot hurdles and other obstacles, they generally find their comments are largely ignored by the media, which seems to find it hard to think of politics outside the familiar "Democrat versus Republican" or "liberal versus conservative" model — an inaccurate model which leaves libertarians and Libertarians out entirely. (The Advocates for Self-Government's famous World's Smallest Political Quiz is helping people to see through the fallacy of this limited view.)

This year, Republican libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul — despite huge grassroots support — never received anywhere close to the publicity he should have received for his pathbreaking campaign. Similarly, Libertarian Party presidential candidates are routinely excluded from the presidential debates, which in the past have been controlled by, you guessed it, the leadership of the Republican and Democratic parties.

In short, libertarian candidates and libertarian activists *do* speak out on the major issues of the day, and offer innovative and viable solutions — but often aren't heard because the "gatekeepers" are difficult to get by.

Now for some good news! A lot of this is changing, and changing fast. Thanks to the hard work of libertarian educational organizations like the Advocates for Self-Government, the public and the media are learning that there is more to politics than left and right. The Quiz, for example, is in the online supplementary material of a dozen textbooks. So today's students are learning about libertarianism in their classrooms — thanks to the Advocates!

The Internet has dramatically decentralized political campaigns and allows libertarians to finally bypass the gatekeepers and reach the public themselves with their ideas and candidacies. Ron Paul's startling grassroots campaign is just the first sign of great things to come, I think.

According to pollsters like Gallup and Rasmussen, there are more libertarians and libertarian-leaning Americans than ever before — about 10-20% of the population, according to many researchers. You can learn more about that here.

Another gauge of growing support for libertarian ideas is the number of celebrities and prominent people who now proudly call themselves libertarians. A few decades ago there were almost none. Now there are hundreds. The Advocates has a long list of them, complete with biographies and quotes, here.

I suggest you share your passion about political issues with those around you. There are more libertarians and libertarian-leaning individuals than ever before, and more people are open to our ideas than ever before. It's a great time to be a libertarian, and to meet other libertarians. Once you speak up, you may find they're all around you!

Dr. Mary Ruwart is a leading expert in libertarian communication and author of the international bestseller Healing Our World. She is also author of Short Answers to Tough Questions, in which you will find a collection of her answers.

Read more of Dr. Ruwart's Short Answers to Tough Libertarian Questions.

Dr. Ruwart's answers graciously provided by The Advocates for Self-Government.