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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.
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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.
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TO MAIN PAGE | Freedom and Responsibility We believe that individuals should be free to make choices for themselves and
to accept responsibility for the consequences of the choices they make. We must
accept the right of others to choose for themselves if we are to have the same
right. Our support of an individual's right to make choices in life does not
mean that we necessarily approve or disapprove of those choices. We believe people must accept personal responsibility for the consequences of
their actions. Libertarian policies will promote a society where people are free
to make and learn from their own decisions. Personal responsibility is
discouraged by government denying individuals the opportunity to exercise it. In
fact, the denial of freedom fosters irresponsibility. 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. We call for an end to "hate crime"
laws that punish people for their thoughts and speech, distract us from real
crimes, and foster resentment by giving some individuals special status under
the law. Laws pertaining to "victimless crimes" should be repealed
since such laws themselves violate individual rights and also breed genuine
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. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | 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:
the repeal of all laws restricting or prohibiting the use or sale of alcohol,
requiring health warning labels and signs, making bartenders or hosts
responsible for the behavior of customers and guests, making liquor companies
liable for birth defects, and making gambling houses liable for the losses of
intoxicated gamblers; the repeal of all laws or policies authorizing stopping drivers without
probable cause to test for alcohol or drug use; 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; 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
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TO MAIN PAGE | 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. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | The War on Drugs The so-called "War on Drugs" is in reality a war on the American
people, our Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. We deplore the suffering that
drug misuse has brought about; however, drug prohibition is more dangerous than
drugs themselves. The 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 specifically condemn the use of "profiles" as sufficient to
satisfy the probable cause requirement of the Fourth Amendment, the use of
"civil asset forfeiture" to reduce the standard of proof historically
borne by government in prosecutions, and the use of military forces for civilian
law enforcement as an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act which forbids this
practice. 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; limiting our
rights to keep and bear arms; or vote. 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. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | 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. 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. 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. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Government and Mental Health We oppose the involuntary commitment of any person to or involuntary
treatment in a mental institution. We strongly condemn Involuntary Outpatient Commitment (IOC), where the
patient is ordered to accept treatment, or else be committed to a mental
institution and forcibly treated. We oppose government pressure requiring parents to obtain counseling or
psychiatric drugs for their children. We also oppose forced treatment for the
elderly, the head-injured, or those with diminished capacity. Medication must be voluntary. We are against the invasion of people's homes
and privacy by health officials or law enforcement to either require or deny
drug taking. We advocate an 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. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Freedom of Communication We defend the rights of individuals to unrestricted freedom of speech,
freedom of the press and 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 host and publish information on
the Internet; 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:
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. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | 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 oppose the
harassment of churches by the Internal Revenue Service through threats to deny
tax-exempt status to churches that refuse to disclose massive amounts of
information about themselves. We condemn the attempts by parents or any others -- via kidnappings or
conservatorships -- to force children to conform to any religious views.
Government harassment or obstruction of religious groups for their beliefs or
non-violent activities must end. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | 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. All rights are inextricably linked with property rights. 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 specifically condemn all
government interference in the operation of private businesses, such as
restaurants and airlines, by either requiring or prohibiting designated smoking
or non-smoking areas for their employees or their customers. 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. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | 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 restrictions and regulations on the private development, sale,
and use of encryption technology. We specifically oppose any requirement for
disclosure of encryption methods or keys, including the government's proposals
for so-called "key escrow" which is truly government access to keys,
and any requirement for use of government-specified devices or protocols. We
also oppose government classification of civilian research on encryption
methods. 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. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | 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:
It should always be a defense to such prosecution that information divulged
shows that the government has violated the law. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Internal Security and Civil Liberties The defense of the country requires that we have adequate intelligence to
detect and to counter threats to domestic security. Because oversight becomes
more difficult with the proliferation and growth of bureaucracies, we oppose the
establishment of a new cabinet level Department of Homeland Security. We call for the repeal of the Patriot Act of 2001, the Counter-terrorism Act
of 1996, and all other legislation that authorizes secret evidence, holding
people without charge, treating material witnesses like convicted criminals,
engaging in search and seizure without Constitutionally issued and executed
warrants, and other violations of individual rights under the color of national
security. 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. 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 all gun control laws 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"), and semi-automatic or so-called assault
weapons and their magazines or feeding devices. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | 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 in cases of
conscription or fraud, 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. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | 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. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Freedom of Association and Government Discrimination Individual rights should not be denied, abridged, or enhanced at the expense
of other people's rights by laws at any level of government based on sex,
wealth, race, color, creed, age, national origin, personal habits, political
preference, or sexual orientation. We support repealing any such laws rather than extending them to all
individuals. Discrimination imposed by government has caused a multitude of problems.
Anti-discrimination laws create the same problems. While we do not advocate
private discrimination, we do not support any laws which attempt to limit or ban
it. The right to trade includes the right not to trade -- for any reasons
whatsoever; the right of association includes the right not to associate, for
exercise of this right depends upon mutual consent. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | 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 abortion is a very sensitive issue and that people,
including libertarians, can hold good-faith views on both sides, we believe the
government should be kept out of the question. We condemn state-funded and state-mandated abortions. It is particularly
harsh to force someone who believes that abortion is murder to pay for another's
abortion. It is the right and obligation of the pregnant woman, not the state, to
decide the desirability or appropriateness of prenatal testing, Caesarean
births, fetal surgery, voluntary surrogacy arrangements, and/or home births. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Families and Children We believe that families and households are private institutions, which
should be free from government intrusion and interference. We believe that
government involvement in traditional parenting responsibilities has weakened
families and replaced family-taught morals with government-taught morals. Parents, or other guardians, have the right to raise their children according
to their own standards and beliefs, without interference by government, unless
they are abusing the children. We recognize that the determination of child
abuse can be very difficult. Only local courts should be empowered to remove a
child from his or her home, with the consent of the community. This is not meant
to preclude appropriate action when a child is in immediate physical danger. Because parents have these rights, a child may not be able to fully exercise
his or her rights in the context of family life. However, children 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 responsibilities of adulthood. Parents have no right to abandon or recklessly endanger their children.
Whenever they are unable or unwilling to raise their children, they have the
obligation to find other person(s) willing to assume guardianship. Accordingly,
we oppose all laws that impede these processes, notably those restricting
private adoption services. In particular, we call for the repeal of all laws
restricting transracial adoption. A child is a human being and, as such, deserves to be treated justly. We
oppose laws infringing on children's rights to work or learn, such as child
labor laws and compulsory education laws. We also oppose the use of curfews
based on age. We call for an end to the practice in many states of jailing children not
accused of any crime. We call for repeal of all "children's codes" or
statutes which abridge due process protections for young people. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Sexual Rights We believe that adults have the right to private choice in consensual sexual
activity. We oppose any government attempt to dictate, prohibit, control, or encourage
any private lifestyle, living arrangement or contractual relationship. We support repeal of existing laws and policies which are intended to
condemn, affirm, encourage, or deny sexual lifestyles or any set of attitudes
about such lifestyles. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | American Indian Rights The rights of American Indians have been usurped over the years. We support
the following remedies: (1) individuals should be free to select their own
citizenship and tribes should be free to select the level of autonomy the tribe
wishes, (2) Indians should have their property rights restored, including rights
of easement, access, hunting, and fishing, (3) the Bureau of Indian Affairs
should be abolished leaving tribal members to determine their own system of
governance, and (4) negotiations should be undertaken to resolve all outstanding
differences between the tribes and the government. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | We believe that each person has the right to offer goods and services to
others on the free market. Therefore 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. We believe that all individuals have the right to dispose of the fruits of
their labor as they see fit and that government has no right to take such
wealth. We oppose government-enforced charity such as welfare programs and
subsidies, but we heartily applaud those individuals and private charitable
organizations that help the needy and contribute to a wide array of worthwhile
causes through voluntary activities. The Economy Government intervention in the economy imperils both the personal freedom and
the material prosperity of every American. To ensure the economic freedom and
enhance the economic well-being of Americans, we would implement the following
policies:
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TO MAIN PAGE | 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:
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. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | 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
inflation, must immediately cease its expansion of the quantity of money. As
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TO MAIN PAGE | Finance and Capital Investment We call for the abolition of all regulation of financial and capital markets
-- specifically, the abolition of the 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 investing in stock-market index futures or new financial
instruments which may emerge in the future. 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. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | 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: 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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TO MAIN PAGE | Monopolies We condemn all coercive monopolies. We recognize that government is the
source of monopoly, through its grants of legal privilege to special interests
in the economy. In order to abolish monopolies, we advocate a strict separation
of business and State. "Anti-trust" laws do not prevent monopoly, but foster it by
limiting competition. We therefore call for the repeal of all
"anti-trust" laws, including the Robinson-Patman Act which restricts
price discounts, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, and the Clayton Anti-Trust Act. We
further call for the abolition of the Federal Trade Commission and the
anti-trust division of the Department of Justice. We defend the right of individuals to form corporations, cooperatives, and
other types of companies based on voluntary association. Laws of incorporation
should not include grants of monopoly privilege. In particular, we oppose
special limits on the liability of corporations for damages caused in
noncontractual transactions. We also oppose state or federal limits on the size
of private companies and on the right of companies to merge. We further oppose
efforts, in the name of social responsibility, or any other reason, to expand
federal chartering of corporations into a pretext for government control of
business. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Subsidies In order to achieve a free economy in which government victimizes no one for
the benefit of any other, we oppose all government subsidies to business, labor,
education, agriculture, science, broadcasting, the arts, sports, or any other
special interest. In particular, we condemn any effort to forge an alliance
between government and business under the guise of
"reindustrialization" or "industrial policy." The
unrestricted competition of the free market is the best way to foster
prosperity. We therefore oppose any resumption of the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation, or any similar plan that would force the taxpayer to subsidize or
sustain any enterprise. We call for the abolition of the Federal Financing Bank, the most important
national agency subsidizing special interests with government loans. We also
oppose all government guarantees of so-called private loans. Such guarantees
transfer resources to special interests as effectively as actual government
expenditures and, at the national level, exceed direct government loans in total
amount. Taxpayers must never bear the cost of default upon government-guaranteed
loans. All national, state, and local government agencies whose primary function
is to guarantee loans, including the Federal Housing Administration, the Rural
Electrification Administration, and the Small Business Administration, should be
abolished or privatized. The loans of government-sponsored enterprises, even when not guaranteed by
the government, constitute another form of subsidy. All such enterprises -- the
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, the Federal National Mortgage
Association, the Farm Credit Administration, and the Student Loan Marketing
Association -- must either be abolished or completely privatized. Relief or exemption from taxation or from any other
involuntary government intervention, however, should not be considered a
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TO MAIN PAGE | Trade Barriers Like subsidies, tariffs and quotas serve only to give special treatment to
favored special interests and to diminish the welfare of consumers and other
individuals, as do point-of-origin or content regulation. These measures also
reduce the scope of contracts and understanding among different peoples. We
therefore support abolition of all trade barriers and all government-sponsored
export-promotion programs, as well as the U.S. International Trade Commission
and the U.S. Court of International Trade. We affirm this as a unilateral
policy, independent of the trade policies of other nations. Concurrent with the
adoption of this policy shall be the complete and unilateral withdrawal from all
international trade agreements including the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Public Utilities We advocate the termination of government-created franchise privileges and
governmental monopolies for such services as garbage collection, fire
protection, electricity, natural gas, cable television, telephone, or water
supplies. Furthermore, all rate regulation in these industries should be
abolished. The right to offer such services on the market should not be
curtailed by law. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Unions and Collective Bargaining We support the right of free persons to voluntarily establish, associate in,
or not associate in, labor unions. An employer should have the right to
recognize, or refuse to recognize, a union as the collective bargaining agent of
some, or all, of its employees. We oppose government interference in bargaining, such as compulsory
arbitration or the imposition of an obligation to bargain. Therefore, we urge
repeal of the National Labor Relations Act, and all state Right-to-Work Laws
which prohibit employers from making voluntary contracts with unions. We oppose
all government back-to-work orders as the imposition of a form of forced labor. Government-mandated waiting periods for closure of factories or businesses
hurt, rather than help, the wage-earner. We support all efforts to benefit
workers, owners, and management by keeping government out of this area. Workers and employers should have the right to organize secondary boycotts if
they so choose. Nevertheless, boycotts or strikes do not justify the initiation
of violence against other workers, employers, strike-breakers, and innocent
bystanders. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Current problems in such areas as energy, pollution, health care delivery,
decaying cities, and poverty are not solved, but are primarily caused, by
government. The welfare state, supposedly designed to aid the poor, is in
reality a growing and parasitic burden on all productive people, and injures,
rather than benefits, the poor themselves. Energy We oppose all government control of energy pricing, allocation, and
production, such as that imposed by the Department of Energy, state public
utility commissions, and state pro-rationing agencies. We oppose all government
subsidies for energy research, development, and operation. We oppose all direct and indirect government participation in the nuclear
energy industry, including subsidies, research and development funds, guaranteed
loans, waste disposal subsidies, and federal uranium enrichment facilities. The
Nuclear Regulatory Commission should be abolished; full liability -- not
government agencies -- should regulate nuclear power. The Price-Anderson Act,
through which the government limits liability for nuclear accidents and
furnishes partial payment at taxpayer expense, should be repealed. Nuclear
energy should be denationalized and the industry's assets transferred to the
private sector. Any nuclear power industry must meet the test of a free market. We support abolition of the Department of Energy and the abolition of its
component agencies, without their transfer elsewhere in the government. We
oppose the creation of any emergency mobilization agency in the energy field,
which would wield dictatorial powers in order to override normal legal
processes. We oppose all government conservation schemes through the use of
taxes, subsidies, and regulation. We oppose the "strategic storage"
program, any attempt to compel national self-sufficiency in oil, any extension
of cargo preference law to imports, and any attempt to raise oil tariffs or
impose oil import quotas. We favor the creation of a free market in oil by instituting full property
rights in underground oil and by the repeal of all government controls over
output in the petroleum industry. All government-owned energy resources should
be turned over to private ownership. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Pollution Pollution of other people's property is a violation of individual rights.
Present legal principles, particularly the unjust and false concept of
"public property," block privatisation of the use of the environment
and hence block resolution of controversies over resource use. We support the
development of an objective legal system defining property rights to air and
water. We call for a modification of the laws governing such torts as trespass
and nuisance to cover damages done by air, water, radiation, and noise
pollution. We oppose legislative proposals to exempt persons who claim damage
from radiation from having to prove such damage was in fact caused by radiation.
Strict liability, not government agencies and arbitrary government standards,
should regulate pollution. We therefore demand the abolition of the
Environmental Protection Agency. We also oppose government-mandated smoking and
non-smoking areas in privately owned businesses. Toxic waste disposal problems have been created by government policies that
separate liability from property. Rather than making taxpayers pay for toxic
waste clean-ups, individual property owners, or in the case of corporations, the
responsible managers and employees, should be held strictly liable for material
damage done by their property. Claiming that one has abandoned a piece of
property does not absolve one of the responsibility for actions one has set in
motion. We condemn the EPA's Superfund whose taxing powers are used to penalize
all chemical firms, regardless of their conduct. Such clean-ups are a subsidy of
irresponsible companies at the expense of responsible ones. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Consumer Protection We support strong and effective laws against fraud and misrepresentation.
However, we oppose paternalistic regulations which dictate to consumers, impose
prices, define standards for products, or otherwise restrict risk-taking and
free choice. We oppose governmental promotion or imposition of the metric
system. We oppose all so-called "consumer protection" legislation which
infringes upon voluntary trade, and call for the abolition of the Consumer
Product Safety Commission. We advocate the repeal of all laws banning or
restricting the advertising of prices, products, or services. We specifically
oppose laws requiring an individual to buy or use so-called
"self-protection" equipment such as safety belts, air bags, or crash
helmets. We advocate the abolition of the Federal Aviation Administration, which has
jeopardized safety by arrogating to itself a monopoly of safety regulation and
enforcement. We call for privatizing the air traffic control system and
transferring the FAA's other functions to private agencies. We advocate the abolition of the Food and Drug Administration and
particularly its policies of mandating specific nutritional requirements and
denying the right of manufacturers to make non-fraudulent claims concerning
their products. We advocate an end to compulsory fluoridation of water supplies.
We specifically oppose government regulation of the price, potency, or quantity
able to be produced or purchased of drugs or other consumer goods. There should
be no laws regarding what substances (nicotine, alcohol, hallucinogens,
narcotics, Laetrile, artificial sweeteners, vitamin supplements, or other
"drugs") a person may ingest or otherwise use. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Education We advocate the complete separation of education and State. Government
schools lead to the indoctrination of children and interfere with the free
choice of individuals. Government ownership, operation, regulation, and subsidy
of schools and colleges should be ended. We call for the repeal of the
guarantees of tax-funded, government-provided education, which are found in most
state constitutions. As an interim measure to encourage the growth of private schools and variety
in education, including home schooling, we support tax credits for tuition and
other expenditures related to an individual's education. We likewise favor tax
credits for child care and oppose nationalization of the child-care industry. We
oppose denial of tax-exempt status to schools because of those schools' private
policies on hiring, admissions, and student deportment. We support the repeal of
all taxes on the income or property of private schools, whether for profit or
non-profit. We condemn compulsory education laws, which spawn prison-like schools with
many of the problems associated with prisons, and we call for an immediate
repeal of such laws. Until government involvement in education is ended, we support elimination,
within the governmental school system, of forced busing and corporal punishment.
We further support immediate reduction of tax support for schools, and removal
of the burden of school taxes from those not responsible for the education of
children. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Population Recognizing that the American people are not a collective national resource,
we oppose all coercive measures for population control. We oppose government actions that either compel or prohibit abortion,
sterilization, or any other forms of birth control. Specifically, we condemn the
vicious practice of forced sterilization of welfare recipients or of mentally
retarded or "genetically defective" individuals. We regard the tragedies caused by unplanned, unwanted pregnancies to be
aggravated, if not created, by government policies of censorship, restriction,
regulation, and prohibition. Therefore, we call for the repeal of all laws that
restrict anyone, including children, from engaging in voluntary exchanges of
goods, services, or information regarding human sexuality, reproduction, birth
control, or related medical or biological technologies. We equally oppose government laws and policies that restrict the opportunity
to choose alternatives to abortion. We support an end to all subsidies for childbearing built into our present
laws, including welfare plans and the provision of tax-supported services for
children. We urge the elimination of special tax burdens on single people and
couples with few or no children. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Transportation Government interference in transportation is characterized by monopolistic
restriction, corruption and gross inefficiency. We therefore call for the
dissolution of all government agencies concerned with transportation, including
the Department of Transportation, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the
Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, the
Coast Guard, and the Federal Maritime Commission, and the transfer of their
legitimate functions to competitive private firms. We demand the return of
America's railroad system to private ownership. We call for the privatization of
airports, air traffic control systems, public roads, and the national highway
system. We condemn the re-cartelization of commercial aviation by the Federal
Aviation Administration via rationing of take-off and landing rights and
controlling scheduling in the name of "safety." As interim measures, we advocate an immediate end to government regulation of
private transit organizations and to governmental favors to the transportation
industry. In particular, we support the immediate repeal of all laws restricting
transit competition such as the granting of taxicab and bus monopolies and the
prohibition of private jitney services. We urge immediate deregulation of the
trucking industry. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Poverty and Unemployment Government fiscal and monetary measures that artificially foster business
expansion guarantee an eventual increase in unemployment rather than curtailing
it. We call for the immediate cessation of such policies as well as any
governmental attempts to affect employment levels. We support repeal of all laws that impede the ability of any person to find
employment, such as minimum wage laws, so-called "protective" labor
legislation for women and children, governmental restrictions on the
establishment of private day-care centers, and the National Labor Relations Act.
We deplore government-fostered forced retirement, which robs the elderly of the
right to work. We seek the elimination of occupational licensure, which prevents human
beings from working in whatever trade they wish. We call for the abolition of
all federal, state, and local government agencies that restrict entry into any
profession, such as education and law, or regulate its practice. No worker
should be legally penalized for lack of certification, and no consumer should be
legally restrained from hiring unlicensed individuals. We oppose all government welfare, relief projects, and "aid to the
poor" programs. All these government programs are invasive of privacy,
paternalistic, demeaning, and inefficient. The proper source of help for such
persons is the voluntary efforts of private groups and individuals. To speed the time when governmental programs are replaced by effective
private institutions we advocate dollar-for-dollar tax credits for all
charitable contributions. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Health Care Recent decades have witnessed growing government involvement in the health
care system. That involvement has led to bureaucratic top-down management,
rapidly escalating prices, costly regulations, the criminalization of the
practice of medicine, and a host of other problems. None of these problems was
prevalent prior to the time when government began to increase its involvement.
We believe that government involvement is the principal cause of many of the
problems we face in the health care system today. Therefore we favor restoring
and reviving a free market health care system. We advocate a complete separation of medicine from the state. We recognize
the right of individuals to determine free from government interference and its
harmful side effects the level of insurance they want, the level of care they
want, the care providers they want, the medicines and treatments they will use,
and all other aspects of their medical care. We oppose any government
restriction or funding of medical or scientific research, including cloning. We support an end to government-provided health insurance and health care.
Both of these functions can be more effectively provided in the private sector.
The high cost of health insurance is largely due to government's excessive
regulation of the industry. Government's role in any kind of insurance should
only be to enforce contracts when necessary, not to dictate to insurance
companies and consumers which kinds of insurance contracts they may voluntarily
agree upon. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Resource Use Resource management is properly the responsibility and right of the
legitimate owners of land, water, and other natural resources. We oppose
government control of resource use through eminent domain, zoning laws, building
codes, rent control, regional planning, urban renewal, or purchase of
development rights with tax money. Such regulations and programs violate
property rights, discriminate against minorities, create housing shortages, and
tend to cause higher rents. We advocate the establishment of an efficient and just system of private
water rights, applied to all bodies of water, surface and underground. Such a
system should be built upon a doctrine of first claim and use. The allocation of
water should be governed by unrestricted competition and unregulated prices. All
government restrictions upon private use or voluntary transfer of water rights
or similar despotic controls can only aggravate the misallocation of water. We also advocate the privatization of government and quasi-government water
supply systems. The construction of government dams and other water projects
should cease, and existing government water projects should be transferred to
private ownership. We favor the abolition of the Bureau of Reclamation and the
Army Corps of Engineers' civilian functions. We also favor the abolition of all
local water districts and their power to tax. Only the complete separation of
water and the State will prevent future water crises. We call for the homesteading or other just transfer to private ownership of
federally held lands. We oppose any use of executive orders invoking the
Antiquities Act to set aside public lands. We call for the abolition of the
Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. Forced surface-mining of
privately homesteaded lands in which the government has reserved surface mining
rights to itself is a violation of the rights of the present landholders. We
recognize the legitimacy of resource planning by means of private, voluntary
covenants. We oppose creation of new government parks or wilderness and
recreation areas. Such parks and areas that already exist should be transferred
to non-government ownership. Pending such just transfer, their operating costs
should be borne by their users rather than by taxpayers. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Agriculture America's free market in agriculture, the system that feeds much of the
world, has been plowed under by government intervention. Government subsidies,
regulation, and taxes have encouraged the centralization of agricultural
business. Government export policies hold American farmers hostage to the
political whims of both Republican and Democratic administrations. Government
embargoes on grain sales and other obstacles to free trade have frustrated the
development of free and stable trade relationships between peoples of the world. The agricultural problems facing America today are not insoluble, however.
Government policies can be reversed. Farmers and consumers alike should be free
from the meddling and counterproductive measures of the federal government --
free to grow, sell, and buy what they want, in the quantity they want, when they
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TO MAIN PAGE | Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) We call for the repeal of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. This law
denies the right to liberty and property to both employer and employee, and it
interferes in their private contractual relations. OSHA's arbitrary and
high-handed actions invade property rights, raise costs, and are an injustice
imposed on business. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Social Security We favor replacing the current fraudulent, virtually bankrupt, government
sponsored Social Security system with a private voluntary system. Pending that
replacement, participation in Social Security should be made voluntary. Victims
of the Social Security tax should have a claim against government property. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Postal Service We propose the abolition of the government Postal Service. The present
system, in addition to being inefficient, encourages government surveillance of
private correspondence. Pending abolition, we call for an end to the monopoly
system and for allowing free competition in all aspects of postal service. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Civil Service We propose the abolition of the Civil Service system, which entrenches a
permanent and growing bureaucracy upon the land. We recognize that the Civil
Service is inherently a system of concealed patronage. We therefore recommend
return to the Jeffersonian principle of rotation in office. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Election Laws We call for an end to government control of political parties, consistent
with First Amendment rights to freedom of association and freedom of expression.
As private voluntary groups, political parties should be allowed to establish
their own rules for nomination procedures, primaries, and conventions. We urge repeal of the Federal Election Campaign Act which suppresses
voluntary support of candidates and parties, compels taxpayers to subsidize
politicians and political views which many do not wish to support, invades the
privacy of American citizens, and protects the Republican and Democratic parties
from competition. This law is particularly dangerous as it enables the federal
government to control the elections of its own administrators and beneficiaries,
thereby further reducing its accountability to the citizens. Elections at all levels should be in the control of those who wish to
participate in or support them voluntarily. We therefore call for an end to any
tax-financed subsidies to candidates or parties and the repeal of all laws which
restrict voluntary financing of election campaigns. Many state legislatures have established prohibitively restrictive laws which
in effect exclude alternative candidates and parties from their rightful place
on election ballots. Such laws wrongfully deny ballot access to political
candidates and groups and further deny the voters their right to consider all
legitimate alternatives. We hold that no state has an interest to protect in
this area except for the fair and efficient conduct of elections. Electoral systems matter. The predominant use of "winner-take-all"
elections in gerrymandered, single-member districts fosters political monopolies
and creates a substantial government-imposed barrier to election of
non-incumbent political parties and candidates. We propose electoral systems
that are more representative of the electorate at the federal, state, and local
levels, such as proportional voting systems with multi-member districts for
legislative elections and instant runoff voting (IRV) for single winner
elections. The Australian ballot system, introduced into the United States in the late
nineteenth century, is an abridgement of freedom of expression and of voting
rights. Under it, the names of all the officially approved candidates are
printed in a single government sponsored format and the voter indicates his or
her choice by marking it or by writing in an approved but unlisted candidate's
name. We should return to the previous electoral system where there was no
official ballot or candidate approval at all, and therefore no state or federal
restriction of access to a "single ballot." Instead, voters submitted
their own choices and had the option of using "tickets" or cards
printed by candidates or political parties. In order to grant voters a full range of choice in federal, state, and local
elections, we propose the addition of the alternative "None of the above is
acceptable" to all ballots. We further propose that in the event that
"none of the above is acceptable" receives a plurality of votes in any
election, either the elective office for that term should remain unfilled and
unfunded, or there shall be a new election in which none of the losing
candidates shall be eligible. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | American foreign policy should seek an America at peace with the world and
the defense -- against attack from abroad -- of the lives, liberty, and property
of the American people on American soil. Provision of such defense must respect
the individual rights of people everywhere. The principle of non-intervention should guide relationships between
governments. The United States government should return to the historic
libertarian tradition of avoiding entangling alliances, abstaining totally from
foreign quarrels and imperialist adventures, and recognizing the right to
unrestricted trade, travel, and immigration. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Diplomatic Policy Negotiations The important principle in foreign policy should be the elimination of
intervention by the United States government in the affairs of other nations. We
would negotiate with any foreign government without necessarily conceding moral
legitimacy to that government. We favor a drastic reduction in cost and size of
our total diplomatic establishment. In addition, we favor the repeal of the
Logan Act, which prohibits private American citizens from engaging in diplomatic
negotiations with foreign governments. International Travel and Foreign Investments We recognize that foreign governments might violate the rights of Americans
traveling, living, or owning property abroad, just as those governments violate
the rights of their own citizens. We condemn all such violations, whether the
victims are U.S. citizens or not. Any effort, however, to extend the protection of the United States government
to U.S. citizens when they or their property fall within the jurisdiction of a
foreign government involves potential military intervention. We therefore call
upon the United States government to adhere rigidly to the principle that all
U.S. citizens travel, live, and own property abroad at their own risk. In
particular, we oppose -- as unjust tax-supported subsidy -- any protection of
the foreign investments of U.S. citizens or businesses. The issuance of U.S. passports should cease. We look forward to an era in
which American citizens and foreigners can travel anywhere in the world without
a passport. We aim to restore a world in which there are no passports, visas, or
other papers required to cross borders. So long as U.S. passports are issued,
they should be issued to all individuals without discrimination and should not
be revoked for any reason. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Human Rights We condemn the violations of human rights in all nations around the world. We
particularly abhor the widespread and increasing use of torture for
interrogation and punishment. We call upon all the world's governments to fully
implement the principles and prescriptions contained in this platform and
thereby usher in a new age of international harmony based upon the universal
reign of liberty. Until such a global triumph for liberty, we support both political and
revolutionary actions by individuals and groups against governments that violate
rights. We recognize the right of all people to resist tyranny and defend
themselves and their rights. We condemn, however, the use of force, and
especially the use of terrorism, against the innocent, regardless of whether
such acts are committed by governments or by political and revolutionary groups. The violation of rights and liberty by other governments can never justify
foreign intervention by the United States government. Today, no government is
innocent of violating human rights and liberty, and none can approach the issue
with clean hands. In keeping with our goal of peaceful international relations,
we call upon the United States government to cease its hypocrisy and its
sullying of the good name of human rights. Only private individuals and
organizations have any place speaking out on this issue. World Government We support withdrawal of the United States government from, and an end to its
financial support for, the United Nations. Specifically, we oppose any U.S.
policy designating the United Nations as policeman of the world, committing U.S.
troops to wars at the discretion of the U.N., or placing U.S. troops under U.N.
command. We oppose U.S. government participation in any world or international
government. We oppose any treaty under which individual rights would be
violated. Secession We recognize the right to political secession. This includes the right to
secession by political entities, private groups, or individuals. Exercise of
this right, like the exercise of all other rights, does not remove legal and
moral obligations not to violate the rights of others. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Military Military Policy Any U.S. military policy should have the objective of providing security for
the lives, liberty and property of the American people in the U.S. against the
risk of attack by a foreign power. This objective should be achieved as
inexpensively as possible and without undermining the liberties it is designed
to protect. The potential use of nuclear weapons is the greatest threat to all the
peoples of the world, not only Americans. Thus, the objective should be to
reduce the risk that a nuclear war might begin and its scope if it does. We call on the U.S. government to continue negotiations toward multi-lateral
reduction of nuclear armaments, to the end that all such weapons will ultimately
be eliminated, under such conditions of verification as to ensure multi-lateral
security. During arms reduction negotiations, and to enhance their progress, the
U.S. should begin the retirement of some of its nuclear weapons as proof of its
commitment. Because the U.S. has many more thousands of nuclear weapons than are
currently required, beginning the process of arms reduction would not jeopardize
American security. U.S. weapons of indiscriminate mass destruction should be
replaced with smaller weapons aimed solely at military targets and not designed
or targeted to kill millions of civilians. We call on the U.S. government to remove its nuclear weapons from Europe. If
European countries want nuclear weapons on their soil, they should take full
responsibility for them and pay the cost. We call for the replacement of nuclear war fighting policies with a policy of
developing cost-effective defensive systems. Accordingly, we oppose any future
agreement which would prevent defensive systems on U.S. territory or in Earth
orbit. We call for the withdrawal of all American military personnel stationed
abroad, including the countries of NATO Europe, Japan, the Philippines, Central
America and South Korea. There is no current or foreseeable risk of any
conventional military attack on the American people, particularly from long
distances. We call for the withdrawal of the U.S. from commitments to engage in
war on behalf of other governments and for abandonment of doctrines supporting
military intervention such as the Monroe Doctrine. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | We call for the reform of the Presidential War Powers Act to end the
President's power to initiate military action, and for the abrogation of all
Presidential declarations of "states of emergency." There must be no
further secret commitments and unilateral acts of military intervention by the
Executive Branch. We favor a Constitutional amendment limiting the presidential role as
Commander-in-Chief to its original meaning, namely that of the head of the armed
forces in wartime. The Commander-in-Chief role, correctly understood, confers no
additional authority on the President. Economic Policy Foreign Aid We support the elimination of tax-supported military, economic, technical,
and scientific aid to foreign governments or other organizations. We support the
abolition of government underwriting of arms sales. We further support abolition
of federal agencies that make American taxpayers guarantors of export-related
loans, such as the Export-Import Bank and the Commodity Credit Corporation. We
also oppose the participation of the U.S. government in international commodity
circles which restrict production, limit technological innovation, and raise
prices. We call for the repeal of all prohibitions on individuals or firms
contributing or selling goods and services to any foreign country or
organization. International Money We favor withdrawal of the United States from all international paper money
and other inflationary credit schemes. We favor withdrawal from the World Bank
and the International Monetary Fund. We strongly oppose any bailout of foreign governments or American banks by
the United States, either by means of the International Monetary Fund or through
any other governmental device. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Unowned Resources We oppose any recognition of fiat claims by national governments or
international bodies to unclaimed territory. Individuals have the right to
homestead unowned resources, both within the jurisdictions of national
governments and within such unclaimed territory as the ocean, Antarctica, and
the volume of outer space. We urge the development of objective international
standards for recognizing homesteaded claims to private ownership of such forms
of property as transportation lanes, broadcast bands, mineral rights, fishing
rights, and ocean farming rights. All laws, treaties, and international
agreements that would prevent or restrict homesteading of unowned resources
should be abolished. We specifically hail the U.S. refusal to accept the
proposed Law of the Sea Treaty because the treaty excluded private property
principles, and we oppose any future ratification. International Relations Colonialism United States colonialism has left a legacy of property confiscation,
economic manipulation, and over-extended defense boundaries. We favor immediate
self-determination for all people living in colonial dependencies, such as
American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands, to
free these people from U.S. dominance, accompanied by the termination of
subsidization of them at taxpayers' expense. Land seized by the U.S. government
should be returned to its rightful owners. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Foreign Intervention We would end the current U.S. government policy of foreign intervention,
including military and economic aid, guarantees, and diplomatic meddling. We
would end all limitation of private foreign aid, both military and economic.
Voluntary cooperation with any economic boycott should not be treated as a
crime. We would repeal the Neutrality Act of 1794, and all other U.S. neutrality
laws which restrict the efforts of Americans to aid overseas organizations
fighting to overthrow or change governments. We would no longer incorporate foreign nations into the U.S. defense
perimeter. We would cease the creation and maintenance of U.S. bases and sites
for the pre-positioning of military material in other countries. We would end
the practice of stationing of American military troops overseas. We make no exceptions to the above. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Space Exploration We oppose all government restrictions upon voluntary peaceful use of outer
space. We condemn all international attempts to prevent or limit private
exploration, industrialization, and colonization of the moon, planets,
asteroids, satellite orbits, Lagrange libration points, or any other
extra-terrestrial resources. We repudiate the principles contained in the U.N.
Moon Treaty. We support the privatization of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. |
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TO MAIN PAGE | Our silence about any other particular government law, regulation, ordinance,
directive, edict, control, regulatory agency, activity, or machination should
not be construed to imply approval. |
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Executive Summary
No individual, group, or government may initiate force against any other
individual, group, or government.
Individuals should be free to make choices for themselves and to accept
responsibility for the consequences of the choices they make.
The appropriate way to suppress crime is through consistent and impartial
enforcement of laws that protect individual rights.
Only actions that infringe on the rights of others can properly be termed
crimes.
The War on Drugs is a grave threat to individual liberty, to domestic order, and
to peace in the world.
Until such time as persons are proved guilty of crimes, they should be accorded
full respect for their individual rights.
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 favor all-volunteer juries and urge the assertion of the common-law right of
juries to judge not only the facts but also the justice of the law.
We favor an immediate end to the doctrine of "Sovereign Immunity"
which ignores the primacy of the individual, and holds that the State may not be
held accountable for its actions.
We oppose the involuntary treatment for mental health by health officials or law
enforcement.
We defend the rights of individuals to unrestricted freedom of speech, freedom
of the press, and the right of individuals to dissent from government.
We defend the rights of individuals to engage in or abstain from any religious
activities that do not violate the rights of others.
All rights are inextricably linked with property rights. Property rights are
entitled to the same protection as all other human rights.
The individual's rights to privacy, property, and to speak or not to speak
should not be infringed by the government.
We condemn the government's use of secret classifications to keep from the
public information that it should have.
The defense of the country requires that we counter threats to domestic
security; however, we call for repeal of legislation that violates individual
rights under the color of national security.
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 any form of compulsory national service.
We hold that human rights should not be denied or abridged on the basis of
nationality and welcome all refugees to our country.
Individual rights should not be denied or enhanced at the expense of other
people's rights by government.
Individual rights should not be denied or abridged on the basis of sex.
Recognizing that abortion is a very sensitive issue and that people, including
libertarians, can hold good-faith views on both sides, we believe the government
should be kept out of the question.
We believe that families are private institutions, which should be free from
government intrusion, and that parents have the right to raise their children
according to their own standards and beliefs.
We believe that adults have the right to private choice in consensual sexual
activity.
American Indians should be free to determine their own system of governance and
should have their property rights restored.
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.
Government intervention in the economy imperils both the personal freedom and
the material prosperity of every American.
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.
Government control over money and banking is the primary cause of inflation and
depression.
Regulation of financial and capital markets represses capital ventures.
We support a constitutional amendment requiring government budgets be balanced
by cutting expenditures and not by raising taxes.
Government is the source of monopoly, through its grants of legal privilege to
special interests in the economy. We advocate a strict separation of business
and State.
The unrestricted competition of the free market is the best way to foster
prosperity. We oppose all government subsidies.
Tariffs and quotas give special treatment to favored special interests and
diminish the welfare of consumers and other individuals.
We advocate the termination of government-created franchise privileges. The
right to offer services on the market should not be curtailed by law.
We support the right of free persons to associate or not associate in labor
unions. An employer should have the right to recognize or refuse to recognize a
union.
Current problems in such areas as energy, pollution, health care delivery,
decaying cities, and poverty are not solved, but are primarily caused, by
government.
We oppose all government control of energy pricing, allocation, and production.
Pollution of other people's property is a violation of individual rights. Strict
liability, not government agencies and arbitrary government standards, should
regulate pollution.
We support strong and effective laws against fraud and misrepresentation.
We advocate the complete separation of education and State.
The American people are not a collective national resource. We oppose all
coercive measures for population control.
We support transit competition and deregulation.
We support the repeal of all laws that impede the ability of any person to find
employment. The proper source of aid to the poor is voluntary efforts of private
groups and individuals.
We favor restoring and reviving a free market health care system. We advocate a
complete separation of medicine and State.
Resource management is properly the responsibility and right of the legitimate
owners of land, water, and other natural resources.
Farmers and consumers alike should be free from the meddling and
counterproductive measures of the federal government -- free to grow, sell, and
buy what they want.
We call for the repeal of OSHA, which denies the right to liberty and property
to both employer and employee and interferes in private contractual relations.
Replace the fraudulent, bankrupt Social Security system with a private,
voluntary system.
We propose allowing free competition in all aspects of postal service.
The Civil Service system entrenches a permanent and growing bureaucracy and is
inherently a system of concealed patronage.
We call for an end to government control of political parties, consistent with
First Amendment rights to freedom of association and freedom of expression, and
propose electoral systems that are more representative.
The United States government should return to the historic libertarian tradition
of avoiding entangling alliances, abstaining totally from foreign quarrels and
imperialist adventures, and recognizing the right to unrestricted trade and
travel.
The important principle in foreign policy should be the elimination of
intervention by the United States government in the affairs of other nations.
We call upon the United States government to adhere rigidly to the principle
that all U.S. citizens travel, live, and own property abroad at their own risk.
We recognize the right of all people to resist tyranny and defend themselves and
their rights against governments or political and revolutionary groups.
We oppose U.S. government participation in any world or international
government. We oppose any treaty under which individual rights would be
violated.
We recognize the right to political secession by political entities, private
groups, or individuals.
Any U.S. military policy should have the objective of providing security for the
lives, liberty and property of the American people in the U.S. as inexpensively
as possible and without undermining the liberties it is designed to protect.
We favor limiting the presidential role as Commander-in-Chief to its original
meaning, namely that of the head of the armed forces in wartime.
We support the elimination of tax-supported military, economic, technical, and
scientific aid to foreign governments or other organizations.
We favor withdrawal of the United States from all international money and credit
schemes, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.
Individuals have the right to homestead unowned resources, both within the
jurisdictions of national governments and within unclaimed territory.
We favor immediate self-determination for all people living in colonial
dependencies and the termination of subsidization of them at taxpayers' expense.
We would end the current U.S. government policy of foreign intervention,
including military and economic aid, guarantees, and diplomatic meddling. We
make no exceptions.
We oppose all government restrictions upon voluntary, peaceful use of outer
space.
Our silence about any other particular government law, regulation, ordinance,
directive, edict, control, regulatory agency, activity, or machination should
not be construed to imply approval.
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.
II. Trade and the Economy
the
abolition of Federal Reserve control over the reserves of non-member banks and
other depository institutions; and
III. Domestic Ills
IV. Foreign Affairs
Omissions