TRUTH ABOUT LIBERTARIANS

Ron Hurtibise's front-page article, "Major parties face new challenge:
Libertarians aim to shake up politics" (July 22), is fair and balanced; the
quotations were not taken out of context.

As a 26-year-old avid and critical reader of The News-Journal, The Wall
Street Journal and The Daily Pennsylvanian -- from my alma mater, the
University of Pennsylvania -- I believe Mr. Hurtibise's rare, unbiased
prose should be praised. It is common to see slanted efforts even in those
aforementioned valuable periodicals.

Once and for all, readers can see the only organized and viable "third
party" in the United States is not focused on the legalization of all
illicit drugs but rather subscribes to the philosophical tenet that all
governments swell until they fail, restrict businesses until they are
unprofitable, take away personal liberties until there are none, and are
inherently unmotivated and corrupt.

"Programs" created by governments have administrative costs that almost
always outweigh any benefit. That idea from the article has astounding
implications for almost any government program of which you can think. It
doesn't work! Our founding fathers believed these principles and in
constitutional "checks and balances" to minimize the inevitable failure of
government. As strong as the Constitution is, the "it's different today"
attitude and justified fear of 9/11-type events worsen the erosion of these
core principles.

These are some of the beliefs of the Libertarian Party, and with hope and
truthful articles such as Mr. Hurtibise's, people may recognize the value
of having a third party to choose from in an election, let alone the
Libertarian Party.

SETH RABINOWITZ

Daytona Beach