Is the timing ripe for the Libertarian Party to unseat the Republican Party as a major party?

The timing isn't right yet, but it is probably moving that way since the Republican Party is now controlled by those who are only interested in trying to make Christians out of everyone and start a lot of useless wars.

The Republicans, instead of taxing us, want to borrow from China until the interest on the national debt exceeds the gross national product. So either our children and grandchildren will get the bill or the US will default on its national debt.

The Democrats, on the other hand, want both high taxes and high deficits to fund unlimited cradle-to-the-grave welfare that will make working for a living seem like an anachronism.

Welfare or warfare?

A Libertarian vote is a step in the right direction. Maybe someday.

Is it time for a party with libertarian ideals to make a splash and move in as a legitimate party? Yes. The ideas of personal freedom and decentralized government make for a good platform to battle the "central control" parties.

However, is it time for the party calling itself the Libertarian Party to do it? No. As another answer mentioned, despite the name, the Libertarian Party has in recent years just become a more pro-federalist version of the Republican Party. Look at this election. I think John McCain actually values libertarian ideals than Bob Barr. Barr authored the bill that set the whole "marriage is one man and one woman" deal. He f***in' WROTE the thing. How is that representative of personal freedom? The current Libertarian Party is not living up to its manifesto.

We have not yet become fed up enough for that drastic a change. Couple this with the absolute Republican fear of an Obama Presidency and I would say the answer is no. I would expect the third parties to garner somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-25 percent of the vote across the board with Libertarians benefiting the most from general party dissatisfaction.

Sorry. It's not going to happen. In fact, I know several Libertarians who have switched back to the Republican Party. Six per cent is hardly a mandate and Barr is too far to the radical right to be seriously considered by even the right wing of the Republican party.

With the number of Libertarians currently, they couldn't unseat the Green Party.

With all the "old" line democrats unhappy with the socialist leanings of the new democrats I would think that they would probably unseat the democrats. Also keep in mind the democratic party was once know as the "know nothing Party"

No, there are woefully inadequate numbers of us Libertarians running around. However, if the 2 major parties continue to fail America, that will soon change.

Why do they have to unseat the Republicans? I think that an end to this two-party crap is just what the country needs.

The timing would be better if the Libertarians could get more than 3% of the population to support them.

This is a possibility in my opinion, and indeed may happen if the Libertarians continue to exhibit an enthusiasm for their candidate.