Document:National Platform 1986: Difference between revisions
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Available here: http://marketliberal.org/LP/Platforms/1983_09%20LP%20Platform.pdf | Available here: http://marketliberal.org/LP/Platforms/1983_09%20LP%20Platform.pdf | ||
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The following is far from complete at this time: | |||
As Libertarians. we seek a world of liberty, a would‘ in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice for the benefit of others. | |||
We believe that respect for individual rights is the essential predocndition for a free and prosperous world, that force and fraud must be banished from human relationships, and that only through freedom can peace and prosperitiy be reallized. | |||
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. | |||
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 each individual has the right to exercise sole dominion over his own life, and has the right to live his life in whatever manner he chooses, so long as he does not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live their lives 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 life of the individual and seize the fruits of his labor without his consent. | |||
We, on the contrary, deny the right of any government to do these things, and hold that the sole function of government is the protection of the rights of each individual: namely (1) the right to life -- and accordingly we support laws prohibiting the initiation of physical force against others; (2) the right to liberty of speech and action -- and 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 -- and accordingly we oppose all government interference with private property, such as confiscation, nationalization, and eminent domain, and support laws which prohibit robbery, trespass, fraud and misrepresentation. | |||
Since government has only one legitimate function, the protection of individual rights, we oppose all interference by government in the areas of voluntary and contractual relations among individuals. Men 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 on a free market; and the resultant economic system, the only one compatible with the protection of man's rights, is laissez-faire capitalism. | |||
(2) | |||
INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND CIVIL ORDER | |||
No conflict exists between civil order and individual rights. ï¬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 neceissarily advvocate 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 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. | |||
VICTIMLESSS 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"; | |||
(3) | |||
f. the repeal of all laws regulating or prohibiting gambling; and | |||
g. 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." | |||
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. | |||
--------------- | |||
[Excerpts printed in the "Vol 1 No 2" 1986 "Special Issue" of LP News] | |||
Military Policy | |||
We recognize the necessity for maintaining a sufficient military force to defend the United States against aggression. We should reduce the overall cost and size of our total government defense establishment. | |||
We call for the withdrawal of all American troops from bases abroad. In particular, we call for the removal of the U.S. Air Force as well as ground troops from the Korean peninsula. | |||
We call for withdrawal from mulitalteral and bilateral commitments to military intervention (such as NATO and to South Korea) and for abandonment of interventionist doctrines (such as the Monroe Doctrine). | |||
We view the mass-destruction potential of modern warfare as the greatest threat to the lives and liberties o f the American people and all the people of the globe. We favor international negotiations toward general and complete disarmament down to the police levels, provided every necessary precaution is taken to effectively protect the lives and the rights of the American people. Particularly important is the mutual disarmament of nuclear weapons and missiles, and other instruments of indiscriminate mass destruction of civilians. | |||
Foreign Aid | |||
["cartels" <=> "circles", otherwise identical to 1990 plank] | |||
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 cartels 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. | |||
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[[Category:Platform]] | |||