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Dallas Accord: Difference between revisions
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The '''Dallas Accord''' consists of both formal and informal agreements made at the 1974 [[Libertarian National Convention]], and also refers more broadly to the idea of the Libertarian Party remaining neutral with regard to whether the ultimate goal of the party is a world of limited governments or none at all. | The '''Dallas Accord''' consists of both formal and informal agreements made at the 1974 [[Libertarian National Convention]], and also refers more broadly to the idea of the Libertarian Party remaining neutral with regard to whether the ultimate goal of the party is a world of limited governments or none at all. | ||
The accord was a compromise between members of the party's larger minarchist and smaller anarchist factions who were desirous to reach some kind of accommodation in order to avoid a split in the new party. Steps taken to implement the accord involved amending the [[Platform]] and the [[Statement of Principles]] to refrain from explicitly stating whether it was desirable for the State to exist.<ref>Mike Hihn, "The Dallas Accord, Minarchists, and why our members sign a pledge", Washington State Libertarian Party, August 2009.</ref><ref>Paul Gottfried, ''The conservative movement: Social movements past and present '', Twayne Publishers, 1993, p. 46.</ref><ref name=Antman>Less Antman, [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig9/antman1.html The Dallas Accord is Dead], [[Lew Rockwell.com]], May 12, 2008.</ref><ref>Caryn Ann Harlos, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPWT9Jb05V8 "Through Which Liberty Shall Prevail: The [[Statement of Principles]] of the Libertarian Party"], live at the 2017 Arizona Libertarian Party Convention.</ref> | The accord was a compromise between members of the party's larger minarchist and smaller anarchist factions who were desirous to reach some kind of accommodation in order to avoid a split in the new party. Steps taken to implement the accord involved amending the [[Platform]] and the [[Statement of Principles]] to refrain from explicitly stating whether it was desirable for the State to exist.<ref>Mike Hihn, "The Dallas Accord, Minarchists, and why our members sign a pledge", Washington State Libertarian Party, August 2009.</ref><ref>Paul Gottfried, ''The conservative movement: Social movements past and present '', Twayne Publishers, 1993, p. 46.</ref><ref name=Antman>Less Antman, [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig9/antman1.html The Dallas Accord is Dead], [[Lew Rockwell.com]], May 12, 2008.</ref><ref>Caryn Ann Harlos, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPWT9Jb05V8 "Through Which Liberty Shall Prevail: The [[Statement of Principles]] of the Libertarian Party"], live at the 2017 Arizona Libertarian Party Convention.</ref><ref>[http://lpedia.org/Caryn_Ann_Harlos Caryn Ann Harlos and the Statement of Principles hosted on lp.org]</ref> | ||
The formal agreement involved amending the [[Statement of Principles]] in order to expressly allow for anarchist thought within the Party and changing the role of any existing state from a positive duty to a negative one and officially adopting a position of agnosticism on the ultimate existence of the state by using such language as "where governments exist, they must not violate the rights of any individual" and "Since governments, when instituted, must not violate individual rights."<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/statementofprinciples/photos/pb.540241642806441.-2207520000.1486498090./708512759312661/?type=3&theater Mark-Up of Changes Between 1972 and 1974 Statement of Principles]</ref> The informal agreement included an agreement for the [[Platform]] planks to follow suit and that all official debates and statements as to whether or not a state must or must not exist as an "end game" would be tabled until such time as a minimal state might be achieved.<ref name="Antman"/><ref>Carl Watner and Paul Bilzi, [http://voluntaryist.com/backissues/011.pdf "What's Next in the Pursuit of Liberty"], "The Voluntaryist", November 1984; see also [[Murray Rothbard]] [http://www.wendymcelroy.com/print.php?news.2520 reply letter] posted by then-The Voluntaryist editor [[Wendy McElroy]] at her web site.</ref> | The formal agreement involved amending the [[Statement of Principles]] in order to expressly allow for anarchist thought within the Party and changing the role of any existing state from a positive duty to a negative one and officially adopting a position of agnosticism on the ultimate existence of the state by using such language as "where governments exist, they must not violate the rights of any individual" and "Since governments, when instituted, must not violate individual rights."<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/statementofprinciples/photos/pb.540241642806441.-2207520000.1486498090./708512759312661/?type=3&theater Mark-Up of Changes Between 1972 and 1974 Statement of Principles]</ref> The informal agreement included an agreement for the [[Platform]] planks to follow suit and that all official debates and statements as to whether or not a state must or must not exist as an "end game" would be tabled until such time as a minimal state might be achieved.<ref name="Antman"/><ref>Carl Watner and Paul Bilzi, [http://voluntaryist.com/backissues/011.pdf "What's Next in the Pursuit of Liberty"], "The Voluntaryist", November 1984; see also [[Murray Rothbard]] [http://www.wendymcelroy.com/print.php?news.2520 reply letter] posted by then-The Voluntaryist editor [[Wendy McElroy]] at her web site.</ref> | ||
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During the following years the number of anarchists in the party dropped by about half as more conservative-oriented members joined.<ref name=Antman/><ref name=Knapp>[[Thomas L. Knapp|Knapp, Thomas]], "[http://www.rationalreview.com/rationalreviewold/archive/tlknapp/tlknapp010303.html Time for a new Dallas Accord?]", ''Rational Review''.</ref> During the [[Libertarian National Convention#2006|2006 Libertarian National Convention]] delegates deleted a large portion of the more detailed [[Platform]] then in existence. They also re-added the phrase "Government exists to protect the rights of every individual including life, liberty and property."<ref name=LPPlatform>[http://lp.org/platform Libertarian Party platform].</ref> This wholesale gutting of the 2004 Platform resulting in more or less entirely rebuilding a platform from scratch has been described as the "Portland Massacre". Some took it as meaning the Dallas Accord was dead.<ref name=Antman/> Delegates tried in 2008 to restore the previous [[Platform]], without success. However, the only formal agreement from the Dallas Accord, that of the amended [[Statement of Principles]], remains in effect as required by the [[National Party Bylaws]]<ref>[https://www.lp.org/bylaws-and-convention-rules/ Libertarian Party Bylaws]</ref> which further makes the [[Statement of Principles]] the ideological foundation of the Party. However, any implicit agreement that the [[Platform]] itself outside of the [[Statement of Principles]] would use the term "existing government(s)" was violated by the 2008 changes. The importance of the reversal of that language remains in dispute. | During the following years the number of anarchists in the party dropped by about half as more conservative-oriented members joined.<ref name=Antman/><ref name=Knapp>[[Thomas L. Knapp|Knapp, Thomas]], "[http://www.rationalreview.com/rationalreviewold/archive/tlknapp/tlknapp010303.html Time for a new Dallas Accord?]", ''Rational Review''.</ref> During the [[Libertarian National Convention#2006|2006 Libertarian National Convention]] delegates deleted a large portion of the more detailed [[Platform]] then in existence. They also re-added the phrase "Government exists to protect the rights of every individual including life, liberty and property."<ref name=LPPlatform>[http://lp.org/platform Libertarian Party platform].</ref> This wholesale gutting of the 2004 Platform resulting in more or less entirely rebuilding a platform from scratch has been described as the "Portland Massacre". Some took it as meaning the Dallas Accord was dead.<ref name=Antman/> Delegates tried in 2008 to restore the previous [[Platform]], without success. However, the only formal agreement from the Dallas Accord, that of the amended [[Statement of Principles]], remains in effect as required by the [[National Party Bylaws]]<ref>[https://www.lp.org/bylaws-and-convention-rules/ Libertarian Party Bylaws]</ref> which further makes the [[Statement of Principles]] the ideological foundation of the Party. However, any implicit agreement that the [[Platform]] itself outside of the [[Statement of Principles]] would use the term "existing government(s)" was violated by the 2008 changes. The importance of the reversal of that language remains in dispute. | ||
Up until [[National Convention 2018]], the Criminal Justice Plank stated "[t]he prescribed role of government is to protect the rights of every individual including the right to life, liberty and property” which is used as further argument that the Dallas Accord has been abrogated. Party anarchists assert that since the [[Platform]] may not contradict the [[Statement of Principles]] as amended in 1974, as well the [[Platform]]’s overtly stated transitory nature, such a statement does not entail the necessity of the state, merely the limitation of its role when it does exist. Others argue that the Party’s [[Statement of Principles]] gives support for "the prohibition of the initiation of physical force against others," and "the prohibition of robbery, trespass, fraud, and misrepresentation" with the implication that a state would be required; however, the original language of the [[Statement of Principles]] from 1972 in which those items would be enforced by “laws” was struck by the amendments made in 1974 so opponents of this view would say this is not a valid conclusion.<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/statementofprinciples/photos/pb.540241642806441.-2207520000.1486498090./708512759312661/?type=3&theater Mark-Up of Changes Between 1972 and 1974 Statement of Principles]</ref> The edits to the [[Statement of Principles]] made in conjunction with the [[1974 Libertarian National Convention]] remain unchanged. However, that potentially problematic language was amended, with the Platform Committee specifically arguing that it could be interpreted as violating the Accord to the following language, "Government force must be limited to the protection of the rights of individuals to life, liberty, and property, and governments must never be permitted to violate these rights."<ref>[https://lpedia.org/Document:National_Platform_2018 | Up until [[National Convention 2018]], the Criminal Justice Plank stated "[t]he prescribed role of government is to protect the rights of every individual including the right to life, liberty and property” which is used as further argument that the Dallas Accord has been abrogated. Party anarchists assert that since the [[Platform]] may not contradict the [[Statement of Principles]] as amended in 1974, as well the [[Platform]]’s overtly stated transitory nature, such a statement does not entail the necessity of the state, merely the limitation of its role when it does exist. Others argue that the Party’s [[Statement of Principles]] gives support for "the prohibition of the initiation of physical force against others," and "the prohibition of robbery, trespass, fraud, and misrepresentation" with the implication that a state would be required; however, the original language of the [[Statement of Principles]] from 1972 in which those items would be enforced by “laws” was struck by the amendments made in 1974 so opponents of this view would say this is not a valid conclusion.<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/statementofprinciples/photos/pb.540241642806441.-2207520000.1486498090./708512759312661/?type=3&theater Mark-Up of Changes Between 1972 and 1974 Statement of Principles]</ref> The edits to the [[Statement of Principles]] made in conjunction with the [[1974 Libertarian National Convention]] remain unchanged. However, that potentially problematic language was amended, with the Platform Committee specifically arguing that it could be interpreted as violating the Accord to the following language, "Government force must be limited to the protection of the rights of individuals to life, liberty, and property, and governments must never be permitted to violate these rights."<ref>[https://lpedia.org/Document:National_Platform_2018 2018 Libertarian Party Platform]</ref> | ||
Anarchists do continue to work in the party and run for office,<ref name=Knapp/> and the activity of the anarchists in the Party is on the upswing with the re-establishment of the [[LPRadicals]]. Planks within the current party [[Platform]], remains largely open to either an anarchist or limited government interpretation. One plank mentions the "right to alter or abolish government" and another states that, "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." <ref>[https://www.lp.org/platform/ 2016 Libertarian Party Platform]</ref> Further, a Preamble added to the Platform in 1984 paved the way for [[Platform]] planks to be transitory by explicitly stating with regards to the Platform planks that “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”, leaving the [[Statement of Principles]] to be the determinative statement of Party goals.<ref>[http://lpedia.org/wiki/1984_Libertarian_Party_Platform 1984 Libertarian Party Platform]</ref> | Anarchists do continue to work in the party and run for office,<ref name=Knapp/> and the activity of the anarchists in the Party is on the upswing with the re-establishment of the [[LPRadicals]]. Planks within the current party [[Platform]], remains largely open to either an anarchist or limited government interpretation. One plank mentions the "right to alter or abolish government" and another states that, "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." <ref>[https://www.lp.org/platform/ 2016 Libertarian Party Platform]</ref> Further, a Preamble added to the Platform in 1984 paved the way for [[Platform]] planks to be transitory by explicitly stating with regards to the Platform planks that “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”, leaving the [[Statement of Principles]] to be the determinative statement of Party goals.<ref>[http://lpedia.org/wiki/1984_Libertarian_Party_Platform 1984 Libertarian Party Platform]</ref> | ||