Why I'm a libertarian with a small-l

The core belief of libertarianism is Liberty and Freedom, the non-initiation of force. The belief that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, with whomever you want, as long as you do not harm anyone. For the most part the Libertarian Party believes this as well. There is even a pledge you must take before you become an official party member. The Pledge is,

"I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT I DO NOT BELIEVE IN OR ADVOCATE THE INITIATION OF FORCE AS A MEANS OF ACHIEVING POLITICAL OR SOCIAL GOALS."

Sounds good so far, then why am I not a party member. Well first of all I don't like collectivist terms like; Democrat, Republican, Caucasian, Black or African-American, American, Islamic, Christian, etc. I don't like labels, and I don't what to be group in with them. I don't even like to call myself a small-l libertarian. But our culture is fixated with labels, collecting and classify people. To me this dehumanizes all of us. When I go to vote, I want to vote for a person not a party. So I read all I can on the people running and then I vote for the person I think is best suited to keep my freedoms free (which few we have left now). Granted I tend to vote for more Libertarians then not when they're running for a position, but I'm not voting for the party. I'd like to see the party system be done away with, or at least the R, D, L, I, next to peoples names be done away with. Even if all it does is make the Republicans and Democrat Party-line voters do at least some research as to who's in the party they support.

Second I see the Libertarian Party as somewhat of contradiction. Here you have a party that doesn't believe in the initiation of force, working within the government system. Government by it's very nature is initiation of force. If you don't believe me quit paying your taxes, it's your money isn't it? Quit registering your vehicle, you bought it, it's yours, right? Quit obeying laws that don't harm others, where's the crime, who was hurt? See how long it takes before the government sends men after you, men with guns I might add, to take away your freedom by throwing you in jail or prison. Government is force. If I might paraphrase Mao Zedong

Government extends from the barrel of the gun.

Lastly, but it sort of ties into the previous reason. Last week, Mike Gravel announced that he was joining the Libertarian party. So I went over to the Libertarian party website to see what they had to say about this and they seem to be in support of this. There is even a quote from the Libertarian Party Executive Director, Shane Cory.

"We're honored to have a former member of the United States Senate join our ranks,"

Now I agree with Mike on the War on Irag, War on Drugs, Same-sex Marriage, and some of his other issues. But Mike Gravel is not a Libertarian. IMO, he is a socialist. He believes in Taxes (a different form a taxation, but a tax is a tax), Universal Healthcare, Social Security, Government Education. If he was a Libertarian he would not believe in use of force to steal your money (taxes) so he could give it to a failing government Education, a socialist government run Healthcare System, a bankrupt government Social Security program. Let me keep my money, all of it and let me decide how to spend it on; Education, Healthcare and my own Retirement. And let me do it in a FREE Market, free of government control and regulation. Thats what a Libertarian would advocate. Since the Libertarian Party is endorsing him, this tells me, the Libertarian Party is no better then the Democratic or Republican Party. And their non-initiation of force pledge is meaningless.