DRUGS AREN'T LIBERTARIANS' TOP ISSUE

Dear Editor: I find it very disturbing that the only knowledge many people
ever receive of the Libertarian Party is its stance on the legalization of
drugs. This problem is further compounded its association with candidates
who make this issue their campaign's focal point; for example, we were
recently informed that Ms. Loretta Nall, the 31-year-old president of the
U.S. Marijuana Party, is seeking the Libertarian nomination for governor of
Alabama.

While Ms. Nall is correct that current drug policy is shortsighted, the
citizens of Alabama would be much more supportive of a candidate who
focuses on restoring all levels of government to their Constitutional
limitations rather than harping on drug policy.

The Libertarian Party should focus on eliminating the current system of
forced wealth redistribution in which productive citizens are taxed to
support nonproductive citizens; the party needs to campaign on eliminating
the unconstitutional restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms for
law abiding citizens; it needs to work on eliminating the unconstitutional
restrictions on political speech codified in the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan
Campaign Reform Act; it should work to ensure that citizens have true
freedom of religion rather than the current state of two sides pushing
equal extremes. In short, the Libertarian Party needs to offer a
free-market alternative to the socialism and socialism-lite given as
choices by the Democrats and Republicans (respectively), and once the
American people see that real freedom can and does work, then we can talk
about drug policy.

Robert Workman

Northport