The LDP's position sometimes confuses those who like to apply left and right labels to political ideologies. Free trade is considered to be right-wing while drug legalisation is left-wing. Cutting tax is right-wing but defending civil liberties and gay rights is left-wing.

However, all of these positions share the common principle of decreasing the role of government. They differ from "left-wing" people who often want the government to control the economy but not our social lives, and also from "right-wing" people who want the government to control our social lives but not the economy.

Our philosophy is broadly described as libertarian or classical liberalism, although those are not necessarily precise labels.