It’s always seemed to me that Washington has a disproportionate number of residents who self-identify as libertarians. Perhaps it’s just the nature of our politically-focused city, or the location of the Cato Institute, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, et al and the subsequent deployment of so many Koch fellows here, but I’ve never met more libertarians in one city than I have in D.C. As such, I’ve always been surprised by the lack of an active D.C. Libertarian Party on the local politics front over the last several years. Even the small-in-number D.C. Republicans have an organized local party and a small staff, not to mention that the national Libertarian Party is headquartered right here in the Watergate. Turns out, D.C. resident Peter Orvetti is trying to change all that. Orvetti is spearheading a rebirth of a local chapter of the Libertarian Party. He’s started a blog and a Facebook group dedicated to the endeavor, and has already convened the reborn party’s first meeting.

As for Orvetti’s goals for the chapter, he’s pragmatic: “We will not elect a Libertarian mayor in 2010 — but that other D.C. minor party, the Republicans, won’t either,” he wrote in an email to DCist. “We want to present the Libertarian alternative to District residents on the issues that impact them, like how the War on Drugs leads to violence and broken families, and why the nation’s capital should join the drive for full equality for the LGBT community.”

The next meeting of the D.C. Libertarian Party will be Monday, Sept. 28 at the 5th and K location of Busboys and Poets.