Featured Organization: Suffolk Libertarians

The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the United States, and they currently have a Presidential candidate for the 2012 election, Gary Johnson. This sounds like common knowledge to voters across the university, yet there is still not much support for the party itself. In March of this year, sophomore student Nicholas Bonasoro formed the Suffolk Libertarians.

“Ever since I saw Ron Paul and what he stood for,” Bonasoro says, “everything just seemed so clear to me.” Senator Paul is well known in the political world for having Libertarian views. These views have connected with young voters over the past few years, Bonasoro was no exception.

The Suffolk Libertarians’ goal is to educate the students across the campus on what the political party stands for, which is advocating personal freedom, fiscal conservatism, and military non-interventionism, amongst other issues and policies. The goal for the party, and the organization itself is to move the country into a direction that has more freedom and less government involvement.

Despite being relatively new, the Suffolk Libertarians have a core group of ten different students who show up to every meeting. That is considered the average amount of students in each club, and they are even starting to gain members who are a part of the Residence Life offices across the campus. They have over fifty-five different students on their SU Connect page. The group collaborated with the College Republicans and College Democrats in the university. They also have an association with SUNORML, the Suffolk Economics Club, and the Critical Thinkers, which Bonasoro is also a member of. Those three groups usually meet in the same area of the Sawyer Building.

“I like to collaborate enough, but I think we are a distinct enough club that we have our own identity,” Bonasoro says.

Despite all of those collaborations and a good amount of students who support the Libertarian ideology, the group still struggles to organize due to their meeting time competing with other organizations, which is the One O’clock to Two-thirty period in the afternoon every Tuesday.

“If I could have any say, I would change that,” Bonasoro says on the issue of time and meetings.

The Suffolk Libertarians also participated in their first debate against their collaborators, the College Republicans and College Democrats at the C. Walsh Theatre last Tuesday. It was their kickoff event to show the campus who they are and what they stand for.

For any student interested in joining the organization, or going to a meeting to see what they are all about, the Suffolk Libertarians meet in the Sawyer Building in room 1134 on Tuesdays, from One through Two-thirty in the afternoon. The organization is always looking for new members to talk politics and the party that they whole-heartedly support.