Libertarian Color

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Various political parties in America are often asssociated with certain colours. This was the result of televised media, which assigned various colours to different parties so as to denote which party's presidential candidate which state in the electoral college.

History

Despite having received an electoral vote back in 1972, the Libertarian Party has yet to win an entire state's electoral votes in an election. Therefore, no colour has been popularly assigned to the Libertarian Party yet by the media.

Despite none of the major parties in America having officially adopted a colour, red has become associated with the Republican Party, blue with the Democratic Party, and green with the Green Party.

Yellow or gold is the colour most-often associated with the Libertarian Party.

Yellow

Yellow and gold have most likely become associated with the Libertarian Party for the following reasons:

A) yellow being associated with classical liberalism, and

B) yellow having the appearance of gold, which is itself associated with "capitalism" or the free market.

Official colour

Some have made calls for the Libertarian Party to adopt an official colour, but no action has officially taken place. The most popular demands include yellow, purple, and blue.

Purple

Arguments for

Some maintain that since libertarianism shares beliefs of both the Republican and Democratic parties, which are themselves typically associated with red and blue respectively, it should be associated with purple.

Arguments against

Others maintain that since the phrase "purple state" has already entered the popular culture as meaning any state that is on the fence between selecting a Democratic or Republican candidate, to adopt such a colour would confuse the issue.

It has also been pointed out that purple is often associated with royalism and monarchy, which is itself associated with big government--the very opposite of what libertarians advocate.

Blue

Arguments for

Arguments against

Blue is already associated primarily with the Democratic Party.

Yellow

Arguments for

Yellow is already associated with classical liberalism and libertarianism. So say the advocates, why not adopt yellow?

Yellow is often associated with gold, which is associated with prosperity and wealth, the products of a free market economy. Also, most libertarians support having a monetary system backed by metals, such as gold. (See: gold standard.)

Arguments against

Yellow can be associated with fear. Gold can be associated with greed.

Media

In 2004, CNN associated the Libertarian Party with yellow.[1]