"I developed this symbol on the drive up to the 1991 Libertarian National Convention in Chicago. I made up some buttons at the convention and was able to get the opinions of some of the movers and shakers of the libertarian movement who were there. I saw some puzzlement and confusion but lots of nods, smiles, and laughter from hard core libertarians.
The peace sign is a symbol of the sixties. The symbol for opposition to war and the "establishment". Libertarians oppose foreign wars and often the hated "establishment" was actually the government. Nonviolence and noninterference are characteristics of both hippies and libertarians. Toleration of diversity and social experimentation are common to both. Both hippies and libertarians call for the legalization of drugs. The people that wore peace signs in the sixties are now everywhere in our society and many still hold strong beliefs. We represent them better than anyone else today. We represent peace, nonviolence, and toleration; attractive values to a whole generation.
The dollar sign brings completely different images. Ayn Rand made it symbolize the free market in millions of minds. It stands for having money, making money, caring about money. Most people want more money. We know how to make it happen. We represent them.
The yin-yang symbolizes a duality where two concepts or aspects each support and enable the other to exist as in night and day, black and white, male and female, etc. Libertarian duality has been expressed in many ways: left and right, peace and prosperity, harmony and abundance, liberal and conservative, free minds and free markets, toleration and responsibility, personal freedom and economic freedom, freedom of expression and freedom of enterprise, etc.
Both are necessary for either to exist. Harmony and scarcity are exclusive, so are abundance and conflict. Where there is no peace, there is no prosperity; where there is no prosperity, there is no peace. The symbol joining the peace sign and the dollar sign shows this duality. The Libertarian Party is symbolized by the Statue of Liberty. Other libertarian organizations like the Advocates for Self Government and the International Society for Individual Liberty also have good symbols. The peace sign, the dollar sign, the yin-yang, all represent general ideas, not specific groups. The libertarian duality symbol stands for an idea, not a group."
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