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Article #88490Libertarian Party Platform Part I
From: Marc Anderson
Date: Wed, 27 May 1992 07:17
Date: Wed, 27 May 1992 07:17
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45227 bytes
Here's part 1 of the Libertarian Party Platform:
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1992 National Platform
of the
Libertarian Party
Adopted in Convention
August 1991
Chicago, Illinois
PREAMBLE
As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all
individuals are sovereign over their own lives, and no one is forced
to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others.
We believe that respect for individual rights is the essential
precondition for a free and prosperous world, that force and fraud
must be banished from human relationships, and that only through
freedom can peace and prosperity be realized.
Consequently, we defend each person's right to engage in any activity
that is peaceful and honest, and welcome the diversity that freedom
brings. The world we seek to build is one where individuals are free
to follow their own dreams in their own ways, without interference
from government or any authoritarian power.
In the following pages we have set forth our basic principles and
enumerated various policy stands derived from those principles.
These specific policies are not our goal, however. Our goal is
nothing more nor less than a world set free in our lifetime, and it is
to this end that we take these stands.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Statement of Principles
I. Individual Rights and Civil Order
1. FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY
2. CRIME
3. VICTIMLESS CRIMES
4. SAFEGUARDS FOR THE CRIMINALLY ACCUSED
5. JUSTICE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL
6. JURIES
7. INDIVIDUAL SOVEREIGNTY
8. GOVERNMENT AND MENTAL HEALTH
9. FREEDOM OF COMMUNICATION
10. FREEDOM OF RELIGION
11. THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY
12. PROTECTION OF PRIVACY
13. GOVERNMENT SECRECY
14. INTERNAL SECURITY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES
15. THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS
16. CONSCRIPTION AND THE MILITARY
17. IMMIGRATION
18. DISCRIMINATION
19. WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND ABORTION
20. FAMILY LIFE
21. CHILDREN'S RIGHTS
22. AMERICAN INDIAN RIGHTS
23. THE WAR ON DRUGS
II. Trade and the Economy
1. THE ECONOMY
2. TAXATION
3. INFLATION AND DEPRESSION
4. FINANCE AND CAPITAL INVESTMENT
5. GOVERNMENT DEBT
6. MONOPOLIES
7. SUBSIDIES
8. TARIFFS AND QUOTAS
9. PUBLIC UTILITIES
10. UNIONS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
III. Domestic Ills
1. ENERGY
2. POLLUTION
3. CONSUMER PROTECTION
4. EDUCATION
5. POPULATION
6. TRANSPORTATION
7. POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT
8. HEALTH CARE
9. RESOURCE USE
10. AGRICULTURE
11. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEATH ACT (OSHA)
12. SOCIAL SECURITY
13. POSTAL SERVICE
14. CIVIL SERVICE
15. ELECTION LAWS
IV. Foreign Affairs
A. Diplomatic Policy
1. NEGOTIATIONS
2. INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL AND FOREIGN INVESTMENTS
3. HUMAN RIGHTS
4. WORLD GOVERNMENT
5. SECESSION
B. Military
1. MILITARY POLICY
2. PRESIDENTIAL WAR POWERS
C. Economic Policy
1. FOREIGN AID
2. INTERNATIONAL MONEY
3. UNOWNED RESOURCES
D. International Relations
1. COLONIALISM
2. FOREIGN INTERVENTION
3. SPACE EXPLORATION
V. Omissions
STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES
We, the members of the Libertarian Party, challenge the cult of the
omnipotent state and defend the rights of the individual.
We hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion
over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner
they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal
right of others to live in whatever manner they choose.
Governments throughout history have regularly operated on the opposite
principle, that the State has the right to dispose of the lives of
individuals and the fruits of their labor. Even within the United
States, all political parties other than our own grant to government
the right to regulate the lives of individuals and seize the fruits of
their labor without their consent.
We, on the contrary, deny the right of any government to do these
things, and hold that where governments exist, they must not violate
the rights of any individual: namely, (1) the right to life --
accordingly we support the prohibition of the initiation of physical
force against others; (2) the right to liberty of speech and action --
accordingly we oppose all attempts by government to abridge the
freedom of speech and press, as well as government censorship in any
form; and (3) the right to property -- accordingly we oppose all
government interference with private property, such as confiscation,
nationalization, and eminent domain, and support the prohibition of
robbery, trespass, fraud, and misrepresentation.
Since governments, when instituted, must not violate individual
rights, we oppose all interference by government in the areas of
voluntary and contractual relations among individuals. People should
not be forced to sacrifice their lives and property for the benefit of
others. They should be left free by government to deal with one
another as free traders; and the resultant economic system, the only
one compatible with the protection of individual rights, is the free
market.
I. INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND CIVIL ORDER
No conflict exists between civil order and individual rights. Both
concepts are based on the same fundamental principle: that no
individual, group, or government may initiate force against any other
individual, group, or government.
1. FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY
Members of the Libertarian Party do not necessarily advocate or
condone any of the practices our policies would make legal. Our
exclusion of moral approval and disapproval is deliberate: people's
rights must be recognized; the wisdom of any course of peaceful action
is a matter for the acting individual(s) to decide. Personal
responsibility is discouraged by society routinely denying the people
the opportunity to exercise it. Libertarian policies will create a
society where people are free to make and learn from their own
decisions.
2. CRIME
The continuing high level of violent crime -- and the government's
demonstrated inability to deal with it -- threatens the lives,
happiness, and belongings of Americans. At the same time,
governmental violations of rights undermine the people's sense of
justice with regard to crime. The appropriate way to suppress crime
is through consistent and impartial enforcement of laws that protect
individual rights. Laws pertaining to "victimless crimes" should be
repealed since such laws themselves violate individual rights and also
breed other types of crime. We applaud the trend toward private
protection services and voluntary community crime control groups. We
support institutional changes, consistent with full respect for the
rights of the accused, that would permit victims to direct the
prosecution in criminal cases.
3. VICTIMLESS CRIMES
Because only actions that infringe on the rights of others can
properly be termed crimes, we favor the repeal of all federal, state,
and local laws creating "crimes" without victims. In particular, we
advocate:
a. the repeal of all laws prohibiting the production, sale,
possession, or use of drugs, and of all medicinal prescription
requirements for the purchase of vitamins, drugs, and similar
substances;
b. the repeal of all laws restricting or prohibiting the use or sale
of alcohol, including the imposition of a minimum drinking age, and
making bartenders or hosts responsible for the behavior of customers
and guests;
c. the repeal of all laws or policies authorizing stopping drivers
without probable cause to test for alcohol or drug use;
d. the repeal of all laws regarding consensual sexual relations,
including prostitution and solicitation, and the cessation of state
oppression and harassment of homosexual men and women, that they, at
last, be accorded their full rights as individuals;
e. the repeal of all laws regulating or prohibiting the possession,
use, sale, production, or distribution of sexually explicit material,
independent of "socially redeeming value" or compliance with
"community standards";
f. the repeal of all laws regulating or prohibiting gambling;
g. the repeal of anti-racketeering statutes such as the Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which punish peaceful
behavior -- including insider trading in securities, sale of sexually
explicit material, and nonviolent anti-abortion protests -- by
freezing assets of the accused and seizing assets of the accused or
convicted; and
h. the repeal of all laws interfering with the right to commit
suicide as infringements of the ultimate right of an individual to his
or her own life.
We demand the use of executive pardon to free and exonerate all those
presently incarcerated or ever convicted solely for the commission of
these "crimes." We condemn the wholesale confiscation of property
prior to conviction by the state that all too often accompanies police
raids, searches, and prosecutions for victimless crimes.
Further, we recognize that, often, the Federal Government blackmails
states which refuse to comply with these laws by withholding funds and
we applaud those states which refuse to be so coerced.
4. SAFEGUARDS FOR THE CRIMINALLY ACCUSED
Until such time as persons are proved guilty of crimes, they should be
accorded full respect for their individual rights. We are thus
opposed to reduction of constitutional safeguards of the rights of the
criminally accused.
We oppose labeling cases as "civil" strictly to avoid the due process
protections of criminal law and we further oppose governmental civil
and criminal pretrial seizure of property for criminal offenses.
We oppose police officers using excessive force on the disorderly or
the criminally accused, handing out what they may consider to be
instant punishments on the streets, preventive detention, and no-knock
laws. Instant-punishment policies deprive the accused of important
checks on government power -- juries and the judicial process. We
oppose any concept that some individuals are by nature second-class
citizens who only understand instant punishment and any claim that the
police possess special insight into recognizing persons in need of
punishment.
We support full restitution for all loss suffered by persons arrested,
indicted, tried, imprisoned, or otherwise injured in the course of
criminal proceedings against them that do not result in their
conviction. When they are responsible, government police employees or
agents should be liable for this restitution.
We call for a reform of the judicial system allowing criminal
defendants and civil parties to a court action a reasonable number of
peremptory challenges to proposed judges, similar to their right under
the present system to challenge a proposed juror.
5. JUSTICE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL
The present system of criminal law is based almost solely on
punishment with little concern for the victim. We support restitution
for the victim to the fullest degree possible at the expense of the
criminal or wrongdoer.
We oppose the prosecution of individuals for exercising their rights
of self-defense.
We oppose all "no-fault" insurance laws, which deprive the victim of
the right to recover damages from those responsible in the case of
injury. We also support the right of the victim to pardon the
criminal or wrongdoer, barring threats to the victim for this purpose.
We applaud the growth of private adjudication of disputes by mutually
acceptable judges.
We support a change in rape laws so that cohabitation will no longer
be a defense against a charge of rape.
6. JURIES
We oppose the current practice of forced jury duty and favor
all-volunteer juries. In addition, we urge the assertion of the
common-law right of juries to judge not only the facts but also the
justice of the law. In all cases to which the government is a party,
the judge should be required to inform the jurors of their common law
right to judge the law, as well as the facts, and to acquit a criminal
defendant, and to find against the government in a civil trial,
whenever they deem the law unjust or oppressive.
7. INDIVIDUAL SOVEREIGNTY
The only legitimate use of force is in defense of individual rights --
life, liberty, and justly acquired property -- against aggression,
whether by force or fraud. This right inheres in the individual, who
-- with his or her consent -- may be aided by any other individual or
group.
The right of defense extends to defense against aggressive acts of
government. We favor an immediate end to the doctrine of "Sovereign
Immunity" which ignores the primacy of the individual over the
abstraction of the State, and holds that the State, contrary to the
tradition of redress of grievances, may not be sued without its
permission or held accountable for its actions under civil law.
8. GOVERNMENT AND MENTAL HEALTH
We oppose the involuntary commitment of any person to or involuntary
treatment in a mental institution.
We advocate an immediate end to the spending of tax money for any
program of psychiatric, psychological, or behavioral research or
treatment.
We favor an end to the acceptance of criminal defenses based on
"insanity" or "diminished capacity" which absolve the guilty of their
responsibility when criminal intent is shown.
9. FREEDOM OF COMMUNICATION
We defend the rights of individuals to unrestricted freedom of speech
and freedom of the press and guarantee the right of individuals to
dissent from government itself. We recognize that full freedom of
expression is possible only as part of a system of full property
rights. The freedom to use one's own voice; the freedom to hire a
hall; the freedom to own a printing press, a broadcasting station, or
a transmission cable; the freedom to wave or burn one's own flag; and
similar property-based freedoms are precisely what constitute freedom
of communication. At the same time, we recognize that freedom of
communication does not extend to the use of other people's property to
promote one's ideas without the voluntary consent of the owners.
We oppose any abridgment of the freedom of speech through government
censorship, regulation or control of communications media, including,
but not limited to, laws concerning:
-- Obscenity, including "pornography", as we hold this to be an
abridgment of liberty of expression despite claims that it instigates
rape or assault, or demeans and slanders women;
-- Reception and storage equipment, such as digital audio tape
recorders and radar warning devices, and the manufacture of video
terminals by telephone companies;
-- Electronic bulletin boards, communications networks, and other
interactive electronic media as we hold them to be the functional
equivalent of speaking halls and printing presses in the age of
electronic communications, and as such deserving of full freedom;
-- Electronic newspapers, electronic "Yellow Pages", and other new
information media, as these deserve full freedom.
-- Commercial speech or advertising.
We oppose speech codes at all schools that are primarily tax funded.
Language that is deemed offensive to certain groups is not a cause for
legal action.
We favor the abolition of the Federal Communications Commission as we
would provide for free market ownership of airwave frequencies,
deserving of full First Amendment protection.
We oppose government ownership or subsidy of, or funding for, any
communications organization.
We strongly oppose the government's burgeoning practice of invading
newsrooms, or the premises of other innocent third parties, in the
name of law enforcement. We further oppose court orders gagging news
coverage of criminal proceedings -- the right to publish and broadcast
must not be abridged merely for the convenience of the judicial
system. We deplore any efforts to impose thought control on the
media, either by the use of anti-trust laws, or by any other
government action in the name of stopping "bias."
Removal of all of these regulations and practices throughout the
communications media would open the way to diversity and innovation.
We shall not be satisfied until the First Amendment is expanded to
protect full, unconditional freedom of communication.
10. FREEDOM OF RELIGION
We defend the rights of individuals to engage in (or abstain from) any
religious activities that do not violate the rights of others. In
order to defend freedom, we advocate a strict separation of church and
State. We oppose government actions that either aid or attack any
religion. We oppose taxation of church property for the same reason
that we oppose all taxation.
We condemn the attempts by parents or any others -- via kidnappings,
conservatorships, or instruction under confinement -- to force
children to conform to their parents' or any others' religious views.
Government harassment or obstruction of unconventional religious
groups for their beliefs or non-violent activities must end.
11. THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY
There is no conflict between property rights and human rights.
Indeed, property rights are the rights of humans with respect to
property, and as such, are entitled to the same respect and protection
as all other human rights.
Moreover, all human rights are property rights too. Such rights as
the freedom from involuntary servitude as well as the freedom of
speech and the freedom of press are based on self-ownership. Our
bodies are our property every bit as much as is justly acquired land
or material objects.
We further hold that the owners of property have the full right to
control, use, dispose of, or in any manner enjoy, their property
without interference, until and unless the exercise of their control
infringes the valid rights of others. We oppose all violations of the
right to private property, liberty of contract, and freedom of trade
done in the name of national security. We also condemn current
government efforts to regulate or ban the use of property in the name
of aesthetic values, riskiness, moral standards, cost-benefit
estimates, or the promotion or restriction of economic growth.
We demand an end to the taxation of privately owned real property,
which actually makes the State the owner of all lands and forces
individuals to rent their homes and places of business from the State.
We condemn attempts to employ eminent domain to municipalize sports
teams or to try to force them to stay in their present location.
Where property, including land, has been taken from its rightful
owners by the government or private action in violation of individual
rights, we favor restitution to the rightful owners. Specifically, we
call for the return of lands taken from Americans of Japanese ancestry
during World War II.
12. PROTECTION OF PRIVACY
The individual's right to privacy, property, and right to speak or not
to speak should not be infringed by the government. The government
should not use electronic or other means of covert surveillance of an
individual's actions or private property without the consent of the
owner or occupant. Correspondence, bank and other financial
transactions and records, doctors' and lawyers' communications,
employment records, and the like should not be open to review by
government without the consent of all parties involved in those
actions.
We support the protections provided by the Fourth Amendment and oppose
any government use of search warrants to examine or seize materials
belonging to innocent third parties. We also oppose police roadblocks
aimed at randomly, and without probable cause, testing drivers for
intoxication and police practices to stop mass transit vehicles and
search passengers without probable cause.
So long as the National Census and all federal, state, and other
government agencies' compilations of data on an individual continue to
exist, they should be conducted only with the consent of the persons
from whom the data is sought.
We oppose all proposed regulations of civilian research on encryption
methods. We also oppose government classification of such research or
requirements that deciphering methods be disclosed to the government.
If a private employer screens prospective or current employees via
questionnaires, polygraph tests, urine tests for drugs, blood tests
for AIDS, or other means, this is a condition of that employer's labor
contracts. Such screening does not violate the rights of employees,
who have the right to boycott such employers if they choose. Private
contractual arrangements, including labor contracts, must be founded
on mutual consent and agreement in a society that upholds freedom of
association. On the other hand, we oppose any use of such screening by
government or regulations requiring government contractors to impose
any such screening.
We oppose government regulations that require employers to provide
health insurance coverage for employees, which often encourage
unnecessary intrusions by employers into the privacy of their
employees.
We oppose the issuance by the government of an identity card, to be
required for any purpose, such as employment, voting, or border
crossing.
We further oppose the nearly universal requirement for use of the
Social Security Number as a personal identification code, whether by
government agencies or by intimidation of private companies by
governments.
13. GOVERNMENT SECRECY
We condemn the government's use of secret classifications to keep from
the public information that it should have. We favor substituting a
system in which no individual may be convicted for violating
government secrecy classifications unless the government discharges
its burden of proving that the publication:
a. violated the right of privacy of those who have been coerced into
revealing confidential or proprietary information to government
agents, or
b. disclosed defensive military plans so as to materially impair the
capabilities to respond to attack.
It should always be a defense to such prosecution that information
divulged shows that the government has violated the law.
14. INTERNAL SECURITY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES
We call for abolition of secret police, such as the Central
Intelligence Agency. We support Congressional investigation of
criminal activities of the CIA and FBI and of wrongdoing by other
governmental agencies.
We support the abolition of the subpoena power as used by
Congressional committees against individuals or firms. We oppose any
efforts to revive the House Internal Security Committee or its
predecessor the House Un-American Activities Committee, and call for
the destruction of its files on private individuals and groups. We
also call for the abolition of the Senate Subcommittee on Internal
Security.
15. THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS
The Bill of Rights recognizes that an armed citizenry is essential to
a free society. We affirm the right to keep and bear arms and oppose
all laws at any level of government restricting, regulating, or
requiring the ownership, manufacture, transfer, or sale of firearms or
ammunition. We oppose all laws requiring registration of firearms or
ammunition. We also oppose any government efforts to ban or restrict
the use of tear gas, "mace," or other self-protection devices. We
further oppose all attempts to ban weapons or ammunition on the
grounds that they are risky or unsafe.
We support repeal of the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Federal
Gun Control Act of 1968, and we demand the immediate abolition of the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
We favor the repeal of laws banning the concealment of weapons or
prohibiting pocket weapons. We also oppose the banning of inexpensive
handguns ("Saturday night specials").
16. CONSCRIPTION AND THE MILITARY
Recognizing that registration is the first step toward full
conscription, we oppose all attempts at compulsory registration of any
person and all schemes for automatic registration through government
invasions of the privacy of school, motor vehicle, or other records.
We call for the abolition of the still-functioning elements of the
Selective Service System, believing that impressment of individuals
into the armed forces is involuntary servitude. We call for the
destruction of all files in computer-readable or hard-copy form
compiled by the Selective Service System. We also oppose any form of
national service, such as a compulsory youth labor program.
We oppose adding women to the pool of those eligible for and subject
to the draft, not because we think that as a rule women are unfit for
combat, but because we believe that this step enlarges the number of
people subjected to government tyranny.
We support the immediate and unconditional exoneration of all who have
been accused or convicted of draft evasion, desertion from the
military, and other acts of resistance to such transgressions as
imperialistic wars and aggressive acts of the military. Members of
the military should have the same right to quit their jobs as other
persons.
We call for the end of the Defense Department practice of discharging
armed forces personnel for homosexual conduct. We further call for
retraction of all less-than-honorable discharges previously assigned
for such reasons and deletion of such information from military
personnel files.
We recommend the repeal of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and
the recognition and equal protection of the rights of armed forces
members. This will thereby promote morale, dignity, and a sense of
justice within the military.
17. IMMIGRATION
We hold that human rights should not be denied or abridged on the
basis of nationality. We condemn massive roundups of Hispanic
Americans and others by the federal government in its hunt for
individuals not possessing required government documents. We strongly
oppose all measures that punish employers who hire undocumented
workers. Such measures repress free enterprise, harass workers, and
systematically discourage employers from hiring Hispanics.
We welcome all refugees to our country and condemn the efforts of U.S.
officials to create a new "Berlin Wall" which would keep them captive.
We condemn the U.S. government's policy of barring those refugees
from our country and preventing Americans from assisting their passage
to help them escape tyranny or improve their economic prospects.
Undocumented non-citizens should not be denied the fundamental freedom
to labor and to move about unmolested. Furthermore, immigration must
not be restricted for reasons of race, religion, political creed, age,
or sexual preference.
We therefore call for the elimination of all restrictions on
immigration, the abolition of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service and the Border Patrol, and a declaration of full amnesty for
all people who have entered the country illegally. We oppose
government welfare and resettlement payments to non-citizens just as
we oppose government welfare payments to all other persons.
18. DISCRIMINATION
Individual rights should not be denied, abridged, or enhanced at the
expense of other people's rights, on the basis of sex, wealth, race,
color, creed, age, national origin, personal habits, political
preference, or sexual orientation by the laws at any level of
government. Protective labor laws, Selective Service laws, and other
laws that violate rights selectively should be repealed entirely
rather than being extended to all groups.
Discrimination imposed by the government has brought disruption in
normal relationships of people, set neighbor against neighbor, created
gross injustices, and diminished human potential. Anti-discrimination
enforced by the government is the reverse side of the coin, and will
for the same reasons create the same problems. Consequently, we
oppose any government attempts to regulate private discrimination,
including discrimination in employment, housing, and privately owned
so-called public accommodations. The right to trade includes the
right not to trade -- for any reasons whatsoever.
19. WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND ABORTION
We hold that individual rights should not be denied or abridged on the
basis of sex. We call for repeal of all laws discriminating against
women, such as protective labor laws and marriage or divorce laws
which deny the full rights of men and women. We oppose all laws
likely to impose restrictions on free choice and private property or
to widen tyranny through reverse discrimination.
Recognizing that each person must be the sole and absolute owner of
his or her own body, we support the right of women to make a personal
choice regarding the termination of pregnancy. We oppose the
undermining of the right via laws requiring consent of the pregnant
woman's parents, consent of the prospective father, waiting periods,
or compulsory provision of indoctrination on medical risks or fetal
development. However, we also oppose all tax funding for abortions.
It is particularly harsh to force someone who believes that abortion
is murder to pay for another's abortion. We also condemn
state-mandated abortions.
20. FAMILY LIFE
We support protection of the integrity of families and households as
contractual institutions against government intrusion and
interference. Such governmental interference has undermined the value
of families and households as cultural institutions of love, nurture,
companionship, kinship, and personal development by forcing them to
conform to a rigid, inflexible design. Moreover, we condemn the
usurpation by government through morals laws, government welfare
programs, and government schools, of activities long carried on by
families and households. We further accuse government of designing
educational programs that place civic and moral education under the
control of politicians and of designing welfare laws that destroy
families and households.
21. CHILDREN'S RIGHTS
Children are human beings and, as such, have all the rights of human
beings.
We recognize that children who have not reached maturity need
guardians to secure their rights and to aid in the exercise of those
rights. We hold that guardianship belongs to those who most love and
value the child and his or her development, normally the parents and
never the state.
We oppose all laws that empower government officials to seize children
and make them "wards of the state" or, by means of child labor laws
and compulsory education, to infringe on their freedom to work or
learn as they choose. We oppose all legally created or sanctioned
discrimination against (or in favor of) children, just as we oppose
government discrimination directed at any other artificially defined
sub-category of human beings. Specifically we oppose ordinances that
outlaw adults-only apartment housing.
We also support the repeal of all laws establishing any category of
crimes applicable to children for which adults would not be similarly
vulnerable, such as curfew, smoking, and alcoholic beverage laws, and
other status offenses. Similarly, we favor the repeal of "stubborn
child" laws and laws establishing the category of "persons in need of
supervision." We call for an end to the practice in many states of
jailing children not accused of any crime. We seek the repeal of all
"children's codes" or statutes which abridge due process protections
for young people. We further favor the abolition of the juvenile
court system, so that juveniles will be held fully responsible for
their crimes.
Whenever parents or other guardians are unable or unwilling to care
for their children, those guardians have the right to seek other
persons who are willing to assume guardianship, and children have the
right to seek other guardians who place a higher value on their lives.
Accordingly, we oppose all laws that impede these processes, notably
those restricting private adoption services or those forcing children
to remain in the custody of their parents against their will.
Children should always have the right to establish their maturity by
assuming administration and protection of their own rights, ending
dependency upon their parents or other guardians and assuming all the
responsibilities of adulthood.
22. AMERICAN INDIAN RIGHTS
The major factors underlying the unconscionable plight of America's
Indians may be summarized as follows: (1) the unresolved complexity of
dual national citizenship; (2) the attrition of reservation lands and
abridgement of Indian rights to remaining properties; (3) the
subjugation of individual Indians to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and
tribal governmental authority; and (4) various federal commitments to
provide the tribes with health, education, and welfare benefits
"forever" in exchange for expropriated lands.
We favor the following remedies, respectively: (1) individual Indians
should be free to select their citizenship, if any, and tribes should
be allowed to choose their level of autonomy, up to absolute
sovereignty; (2) Indians should have their just property rights
restored, including rights of easement, access, hunting and fishing;
(3) the Bureau of Indian Affairs should be abolished and tribal
members allowed to decide the extent and nature of their government,
if any; and (4) negotiations should be undertaken to exchange various
otherwise unclaimed and unowned federal properties for any and all
remaining governmental obligations to the tribes.
We further advocate holding fully liable those responsible for any and
all damages which have resulted from authorization of, or engagement
in, resource development on reservation lands, including damages done
by careless disposal of uranium tailings and other mineral wastes.
23. THE WAR ON DRUGS
The so-called "War on Drugs" is a grave threat to individual liberty,
to domestic order and to peace in the world; furthermore, it has
provided a rationale by which the power of the state has been expanded
to restrict greatly our right to privacy and to be secure in our
homes.
We call for the repeal of all laws establishing criminal or civil
penalties for the use of drugs and of "anti-crime" measures
restricting individual rights to be secure in our persons, homes, and
property, or limiting our rights to keep and bear arms.
II. TRADE AND THE ECONOMY
Because each person has the right to offer goods and services to
others on the free market, and because government interference can
only harm such free activity, we oppose all intervention by government
into the area of economics. The only proper role of existing
governments in the economic realm is to protect property rights,
adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework in which voluntary
trade is protected.
Efforts to forcibly redistribute wealth or forcibly manage trade are
intolerable. Government manipulation of the economy creates an
entrenched privileged class -- those with access to tax money -- and
an exploited class -- those who are net taxpayers.
1. THE ECONOMY
Government intervention in the economy imperils both the personal
freedom and the material prosperity of every American. We therefore
support the following specific immediate reforms:
a. drastic reduction of both taxes and government spending;
b. an end to deficit budgets;
c. a halt to inflationary monetary policies;
d. the removal of all governmental impediments to free trade; and
e. the repeal of all controls on wages, prices, rents, profits,
production, and interest rates.
2. TAXATION
Since we believe that all persons are entitled to keep the fruits of
their labor, we oppose all government activity that consists of the
forcible collection of money or goods from individuals in violation of
their individual rights. Specifically, we:
a. recognize the right of any individual to challenge the payment of
taxes on moral, religious, legal, or constitutional grounds;
b. oppose all personal and corporate income taxation, including
capital gains taxes;
c. support the repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment, and oppose any
increase in existing tax rates and the imposition of any new taxes;
d. support the eventual repeal of all taxation; and
e. support a declaration of unconditional amnesty for all those
individuals who have been convicted of, or who now stand accused of,
tax resistance.
As an interim measure, all criminal and civil sanctions against tax
evasion should be terminated immediately.
We oppose as involuntary servitude any legal requirements forcing
employers or business owners to serve as tax collectors for federal,
state, or local tax agencies.
We oppose any and all increases in the rate of taxation or categories
of taxpayers, including the elimination of deductions, exemptions, or
credits in the spurious name of "fairness," "simplicity," or alleged
"neutrality to the free market." No tax can ever be fair, simple, or
neutral to the free market.
In the current fiscal crisis of states and municipalities, default is
preferable to raising taxes or perpetual refinancing of growing public
debt.
3. INFLATION AND DEPRESSION
We recognize that government control over money and banking is the
primary cause of inflation and depression. Individuals engaged in
voluntary exchange should be free to use as money any mutually
agreeable commodity or item, such as gold coins denominated by units
of weight. We therefore call for the repeal of all legal tender laws
and of all compulsory governmental units of account. We support the
right to private ownership of and contracts for gold. We favor the
elimination of all government fiat money and all government minted
coins. All restrictions upon the private minting of coins should be
abolished so that minting will be open to the competition of the free
market.
We favor free-market banking. We call for the abolition of the
Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the
National Banking System, and all similar national and state
interventions affecting banking and credit. Our opposition
encompasses all controls on the rate of interest. We also call for
the abolition of the Federal Home Loan Bank System, the Resolution
Trust Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the
National Credit Union Central Liquidity Facility, and all similar
national and state interventions affecting savings and loan
associations, credit unions, and other depository institutions. There
should be unrestricted competition among banks and depository
institutions of all types.
To complete the separation of bank and State, we favor the Jacksonian
independent treasury system, in which all government funds are held by
the government itself and not deposited in any private banks. The
only further necessary check upon monetary inflation is the consistent
application of the general protection against fraud to the minting and
banking industries.
Pending its abolition, the Federal Reserve System, in order to halt
rampant inflation, must immediately cease its expansion of the
quantity of money. As interim measures, we further support:
a. the lifting of all restrictions on branch banking;
b. the repeal of all state usury laws;
c. the removal of all remaining restrictions on the interest paid for
deposits;
d. the elimination of laws setting margin requirements on purchases
and sales of securities;
e. the revocation of all other selective credit controls;
f. the abolition of Federal Reserve control over the reserves of
non-member banks and other depository institutions; and
g. the lifting of the prohibition of domestic deposits denominated in
foreign currencies.
4. FINANCE AND CAPITAL INVESTMENT
We call for the abolition of all regulation of financial and capital
markets. Specifically, we demand the abolition of the tyrannical
Securities and Exchange Commission, of state "Blue Sky" laws which
repress small and risky capital ventures, and of all federal
regulation of commodity markets. We oppose any attempts to ban or
regulate such innovative financial devices as investing in
stock-market index futures.
We call for repeal of all laws based on the muddled concept of insider
trading. What should be punished is the theft of information or
breach of contract to hold information in confidence, not trading on
the basis of valuable knowledge. We support the right of third
parties to make stock purchase tender offers to stockholders over the
opposition of entrenched management, and oppose all laws restricting
such offers.
5. GOVERNMENT DEBT
We support the drive for a constitutional amendment requiring the
national government to balance its budget, and also support similar
amendments to require balanced state budgets. To be effective, a
balanced budget amendment should provide:
a. that neither Congress nor the President be permitted to override
this requirement;
b. that all off-budget items are included in the budget;
c. that the budget is balanced exclusively by cutting expenditures,
and not by raising taxes; and
d. that no exception be made for periods of national emergency.
The Federal Reserve should be forbidden to acquire any additional
government securities, thereby helping to eliminate the inflationary
aspect of the deficit. Governments facing fiscal crises should always
default in preference to raising taxes. At a minimum, the level of
government should be frozen.
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-marc
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<1992May27.071721.28497@ucsu.Colorado.EDU>Path:
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X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f49ec,d04e2703621f3a76 X-Google-Attributes: gidf49ec,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1992-05-26 19:12:22 PST Newsgroups: boulder.general Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!boulder!ucsu!spot.Colorado.EDU!andersom From: andersom@spot.Colorado.EDU (Marc Anderson) Subject: Libertarian Party Platform Part I Message-ID: <1992May27.071721.28497@ucsu.Colorado.EDU> Sender: news@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (USENET News System) Nntp-Posting-Host: spot.colorado.edu Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder References: <1992May26.205143.1425@csn.org> Distribution: co Date: Wed, 27 May 1992 07:17:21 GMT Lines: 1004