The Libertarian Party's fiscal policies make up only half of its two-pronged platform. Libertarians also pledge to return to Americans the civil liberties which they have been long denied, championing the right to free speech and the right to bear arms.

Undeniably, the federal government has placed more and more limitations on speech, especially over the Internet, and gun control, with bans on certain automatic and semi-automatic weapons. While bans on speech have been successfully fought in court, the weapons policy has created a criminal black market which Libertarians would seek to end, by lifting bans for those without a criminal record.

Similarly, Browne supports the legalization of drugs and the elimination of the drinking age. The Libertarian platform acknowledges that the "war on drugs" is becoming increasingly costly to finance, due largely to criminal violence. Browne promises to pardon every convicted non-violent drug user on his first day in office.

Libertarians believe that marijuana smokers -- those who are not a threat to society -- should have a right to privacy. This reflects the over-arching Libertarian social policy: The government should only protect individual citizens from external threats, not from themselves.

Of course, when substance abuse or use of firearms infringes on other people -- through injury or death -- then Libertarians favor severe penalties (lengthy jail sentences, forfeiture of the right to bear arms, etc.). Nevertheless, a firm belief in "individual liberty, self-responsibility and freedom from government" remains the central principle behind the proposed Libertarian economic and social policies.

The greatest problem with the Libertarian philosophy is that by returning to a strict Constitutional interpretation, one must assume that the demographics of the population for which the Constitution was written have remained static. Obviously, this is not the case.

The Christian moral doctrine which in some ways guided the daily decisions of many late-18th-century Americans no longer affects most of America. Our general lack of religion, and the sense of personal responsibility that religion breeds, calls into question the ability of the average American to act responsibly if given increased liberty. Like so many caged animals, we seem to have lost our instinct for personal liberty and have become dependent on our keeper's (read "the government's") handouts and laws.

But long-term economic dependence upon the government is only a symptom of the greater problem -- the feeling of entitlement which big government fosters. Of course, this lack of responsibility is not only a characteristic of the poor. For every impoverished person in America, there is a wealthy counterpart who feels no sense of charity or responsibility toward his fellow citizen.

It is often the fortunate and well-educated who seek to push the law to its limits regardless of ethics. How many times have we all responded to a situation of questionable ethics by saying, "Yeah, but it's perfectly legal"?

A lesser problem with strict interpretation of Constitution is that there are certain policies and programs clearly in our national interest that the authors of the Constitution could not have foreseen. Libertarians seek to cut funding for the space program, which they claim exceeds the legal limits of American government. Similarly, they propose to sell off most of the land in the National Parks System, claiming that the government doesn't have a passable explanation for reserving so much land for public use.

In these cases, Libertarians interpret the Constitution too strictly and at the expense of American interest. Selling the National Park Service to private developers would be an ecological catastrophe, and eliminating NASA, which explores the last great frontier, would be a shame simply in the knowledge we would lose.

Despite its several shortcomings, the Libertarian Party presents a truly appealing philosophy, because they, like the Founding Fathers, invest their faith in the intelligence, good-heartedness and responsibility of the American people to govern themselves. And while the current two-party system offers little hope of significant change, the Libertarians make a cogent case for substantial reform.

Americans have always been know for their ingenuity, their determination and their resiliency. The Libertarian Party offers a platform, which, at the very least, will test the mettle of the American spirit, and, at its utmost, will empower Americans to achieve a new level of prosperity as we enter the next century.