The Liberal People's Party ( no, Det Liberale Folkepartiet, DLF) was a

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econom ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

political party created in 1992 by some of the members of the old Liberal People's Party.

History

During the 1990s, some of the Progress Party's members considered the party to have become less

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

than it had been in its earlier days. These members of the Progress Party then decided to join the DLF. The DLF then took increasingly more classically liberal viewpoints on most issues, emerging as a promoter of

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberali ...

and

laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups ...

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

. The party's politics states that the state should only protect individuals' rights through police, courts of law and a military service. With meager showings in parliamentary elections, DLF's best result was achieved in the 2009 parliamentary election. Running in only three of 19 counties, they achieved a total of 350 votes—0.013% of the national vote, or about 0.1% in each of the counties in which they ran (

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

Hedmark Hedmark () was a county in Norway before 1 January 2020, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmark and Oppland counties were merged int ...

and Rogaland). In the 2011 local elections they received 247 votes in Oslo, a doubling in the number of votes from the last local election. In 2014 the youth wing Liberalistisk Ungdom (Liberal Youth) seceded from the DLF and joined the Capitalist Party as their youth wing. In 2017 the party congress decided to shut down the party by the end of the year. Followers were recommended to join the Union for the Study of Objectivism and the Capitalist Party.

Objectives

DLF wanted to: * Replace the

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...

and the

monarchy A monarchy is a government#Forms, form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The legitimacy (political)#monarchy, political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restric ...

with a constitutional republic. * Abolish coercive taxes. * Abolish all current restrictions regarding trade between Norway and other nations. Viewing the EU as a social democratic, redistributive and

protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

organization, they opposed Norwegian membership. * Simplify laws, end bureaucracy, decriminalize

victimless crime A victimless crime is an illegal act that typically either directly involves only the perpetrator or occurs between consenting adults. Because it is consensual in nature, whether there involves a victim is a matter of debate. Definitions of vi ...

s, and so forth. * Privatize roads, highways, railroads and other infrastructure, leaving their construction and upkeep to the free market. * Abolish state financing of: special interest groups, business and industry, the agricultural and fishing sectors, the unemployed, and so forth. * Abolish restrictions on immigration, provided that the above is accomplished beforehand. * Abolish mandatory military service, instead relying on a fully professional defence force. * Complete the

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

Party leaders

* 1992–1995 Tor Ingar Østerud * 1995–1997 Runar Henriksen * 1997–2001 Trond Johansen * 2001–2003 Arne Lidwin * 2003–2017 Vegard Martinsen

References

External links

*
Det Liberale Folkepartiet (Liberal People's Party)
official site *
Liberalistisk Ungdom (Liberal Youth)
official site of the youth party {{Authority control Classical liberal parties Liberal parties in Norway Political parties established in 1992 Political parties disestablished in 2017 1992 establishments in Norway