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{{DocNotCurrent List|National Platform}}
 
 
=PREAMBLE=
=PREAMBLE=


As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty: a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives. and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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=
=STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES=
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We condemn the attempts by parents or any others — via kidnappings, conservatorships, or instruction under confinement — to force children to conform to their parents‘ or any others‘ religious views. Government harassment or obstruction of unconventional religious groups for their beliefs or nonviolent activities must end.
We condemn the attempts by parents or any others — via kidnappings, conservatorships, or instruction under confinement — to force children to conform to their parents‘ or any others‘ religious views. Government harassment or obstruction of unconventional religious groups for their beliefs or nonviolent activities must end.


==11. THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY==
==11. THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY==
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a, drastic reduction of both taxes and government spending;
a, drastic reduction of both taxes and government spending;


b. an end to deficit budgets:
b. an end to deficit budgets;


c. a halt to inflationary monetary policies:
c. a halt to inflationary monetary policies;


d, the removal of all governmental impediments to free trade: and
d, the removal of all governmental impediments to free trade; and


e. the repeal of all controls on wages, prices, rents, profits, production, and interest rates.
e. the repeal of all controls on wages, prices, rents, profits, production, and interest rates.
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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:
Since we believe that all persons are entitled to keep the fruits of their labor. we oppose all government activity that consists of the forcible collection of money or goods from individuals in violation of their individual rights. Specifically, we:
a. recognize the right of any individual to challenge the payment of taxes on moral, religious, legal, or constitutional grounds;
b. oppose all personal and corporate income taxation, including capital gains taxes;
c. support repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment, and oppose any increase in existing tax rates and the imposition of any new taxes;
d. support the eventual repeal of all taxation; and
e. support a declaration of unconditional amnesty for all those who have been convicted of, or who now stand accused of, tax resistance.
As an interim measure, all criminal and civil sanctions against tax evasion should be terminated immediately.
We oppose as involuntary servitude any legal requirements forcing employers or business owners to serve as tax collectors for federal, state, or local tax agencies.
In the current fiscal crisis of states and localities, default is preferable to raising taxes or perpetual refinancing of growing public debt.
==3. INFLATION AND DEPRESSION==
We recognize that government control over money and banking is the primary cause of inflation and depression Individuals engaged in voluntary exchange should be free to use as money any mutually agreeable commodity or item, such as gold coins denominated by units of weight. We therefore call for the repeal of all legal tender laws and of all compulsory governmental units of account. We support the right to private ownership of and contracts for gold. We favor the elimination of all got-eminent 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 Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the National Credit Union Central Liquidity Facility, and all similar national and state interventions affecting savings and loan associations, credit unions, and other depository institutions. There should be unrestricted competition among banks and depository institutions of all types.
To complete the separation of bank and State, we favor the Jacksonian independent treasury system, in which all government funds are held by the government itself and not deposited in any private banks. The only further necessary check upon monetary inflation is the consistent application of the general protection against fraud to the minting and banking industries.
Pending its abolition, the Federal Reserve System, in order to halt rampant inflation, must immediately cease its expansion of the quantity of money. As interim measures, we further support:
a. the lifting of all restrictions on branch banking;
b. the repeal of all state usury laws;
c. the removal of all remaining restrictions on the interest paid for deposits;
d. the elimination of margin requirement on stock purchases;
e. the revocation of all other selective credit controls;
f. the abolition of Federal Reserve control over the reserves of non-member banks and of other depository institutions; and
g. the lifting of the prohibition on domestic deposits denominated in foreign currencies.
==4. BALANCED BUDGETS==
We support the drive for a constitutional amendment requiring the national government to balance its budget, and also support similar amendments to require balanced state budgets. To be effective, a balanced budget amendment should provide:
a. that neither Congress nor the President is permitted to override this requirement;
b. that all "off-budget funds“ are included in the budget;
c. that the budget is balanced exclusively by cutting expenditures and not by raising taxes; and
d. that no exception is made for periods of national emergency.
==5. 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.
==6. SUBSIDIES==
In order to achieve a free economy in which government victimizes no one for the benefit of anyone else. we oppose all government subsidies to business, labor, education, agriculture, science, broadcasting, the arts, sports, and any other special interest. Relief or exemption from involuntary taxation should not be considered a subsidy. We oppose any resumption of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, or any similar plan that would force the taxpayer to subsidize and sustain uneconomic business enterprises.
==7. TARIFFS AND QUOTAS==
Like subsidies, tariffs and quotas serve only to give special treatment to favored interests and to diminish the welfare of other individuals. These measures also reduce the scope of contracts and understanding among different peoples. We
therefore support abolition of all tariffs and quotas as well as the Tariff Com-
mission and the Customs Court,
==8. 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, telephone, or writer 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,
=DOMESTIC ILLS=
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.
==1. 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. Thus, we call for the immediate decontrol of natural gas prices. We call also for the immediate repeal of the ”windfall profits tax," which is really a graduated excise tax on the production of crude oil, and which cripples the discovery and production of oil. We oppose all government subsidies for energy research, development, and operation, including subsidies for solar energy. We call for the abolition of the Federal Synthetic Fuels Corporation. We further oppose government subsidies for the development of
solar energy.
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 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 regulations, as well as the dictated conversion of utilities and other industries to coal or any other fuel. We oppose any attempt to give the federal government a monopoly over the importation of oil, or to develop a subsidized government energy corporation whose privileged status would be used as a yardstick for condemning private enterprise. 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 oppose all efforts to nationalize energy companies, or force them to plow back revenues solely into energy production and the discovery of energy sources, or prohibit them from acquiring companies in nonenergy fields. We also oppose all efforts to break up vertically and horizontally integrated energy companies or force them to divest their pipelines.
We consider all attempts to impose an operation or standby program of gasoline rationing as unworkable, unnecessary, and tyrannical.
We favor the creation of a free market in oil by instituting full property rights in underground oil and by the repeal of all federal and state controls over price and output in the petroleum industry. All government—owned energy resources should be turned over to private ownership.
==2. 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,“ permit continued degradation of the environment and continued violation of individual rights. 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 no-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 cleanups are a subsidy of irresponsible companies at the expense of responsible ones.
==3. 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 airline safety by arrogating to itself a monopoly of safety regulation and enforcement. ‘
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.
==4. 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.
As an interim measure to encourage the growth of private schools and variety in education, we support tax credits for tuition and for other expenditures related to an individual's education. We support the repeal of all taxes on the income or property of private schools, whether profit or non—profit.
We condemn compulsory education laws. which spawn prisonlike schools with many of the problems associated with prisons. and we call for the 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.
==5. 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 all 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.
==6. 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 Civil Aeronautics Board, the Federal Maritime Commission, Conrail, and Amtrak. We demand the return of America‘s railroad system to private ownership. We call for the privatization of the public roads and national highway system.
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. Likewise, we advocate the immediate repeal of the federally imposed 55-mph speed limit.
==7. 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 privacy-invading, 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.
==8. HEALTH CARE==
We advocate the complete separation of medicine and State. Recognizing the individual's right to self-medication. we seek the elimination of all government restrictions on the right of individuals to pursue alternative forms of health care, individuals should be free to contract with practitioners of their choice for all health care services. We oppose government infringements of the practitioner-patient relationship through regulatory agencies such as the Professional Standards Review Organization.
We condemn efforts by government to impose a medical orthodoxy on society. We specifically oppose the attempt by state and local governments to deny parents the right to choose the option of home births and to discourage the development of privately funded women‘s clinics. We call for the repeal of all laws that restrict the practice of lay midwifery or that permit harassment of lay midwives and home birth practitioners. We also call for the repeal of all medical licensing laws, which have raised medical costs while creating a government-imposed monopoly of doctors and hospitals.
We oppose any form of compulsory National Health Insurance. We favor the abolition of Medicare and Medicaid programs. We also oppose any state or federal area planning boards whose stated purpose is to consolidate health services or avoid their duplication. We support the removal of all government barriers to medical advertising, including prohibition of publication of doctors‘ fees and drug prices. We further support the elimination of prescription requirements for the dispensing of medicines and other health-related items.
We favor the deregulation of the health insurance industry. We oppose laws that limit the freedom of contract of patients and health care professionals, and laws regulating the supply of legal aid on a contingency fee basis. We also oppose subsidy of malpractice insurance through public funds. We call for the repeal of laws forcing health care professionals to render medical services in emergencies or other situations.
We condemn attempts at the federal, state, or local level to cripple the advance of science by governmental restrictions on research. We oppose subsidies to, or restrictions of, medical education. We call for an end to government policies compelling individuals to submit to medical experiments, treatment, and testing. We condemn compulsory hospitalization, compulsory vaccination, and compulsory fluoridation.
As interim measures. we advocate dollar-for-dollar tax credits to any individual or group providing health care services to the needy or paying for such services. Tax credits should also be made available for private grants to medical education and medical research.
==9. 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, voluntary transfer of water rights, or of the water from such rights, must be eliminated. Government water rationing and similar despotic controls can only aggravate the misallocation of water.
We also advocate the privatization of all 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 as 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.
==10. AGRICULTURE==
America‘s free market in agriculture, the system that feeds much of the world, has been plowed under by government intervention. Government subsidies, regulations, and taxes have encouraged the centralization of agricultural businesses. 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. Governmental 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 want. Five steps can be taken immediately:
a. abolition of the Department of Agriculture;
b. elimination of all government farm programs, including price supports, direct subsidies, and all regulations on agricultural production;
c. deregulation of the transportation industry and abolition of the Interstate Commerce Commission;
d. repeal of federal inheritance taxes; and
e. ending government involvement in agricultural pest control. A policy of pest control whereby private individuals or corporations bear full responsibility for damages they inflict on their neighbors should be implemented.
==11. 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 highhanded actions invade property rights, raise costs, and are art injustice imposed on business.
==12. SOCIAL SECURITY==
We favor the repeal of the fraudulent, virtually bankrupt, and increasingly oppressive Social Security system. Pending that repeal, participation in Social Security should be made voluntary. Victims of the Social Security tax should have a claim against government property We note that members of the US Congress, and certain federal, state, and local government employees, have been accorded the privilege of non-participaitition, one which is not accorded the working men and women of America.
==13. POSTAL SERVICE==
We propose the abolition of the governmental 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.
==14. CIVIL SERVICE==
We call for 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.
==15. CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS==
We urge the repeal of federal campaign finance laws, and the immediate abolition of the despotic Federal Election Commission, which suppress the voluntary support of candidates and parties, compel taxpayers to subsidize politicians and political views they do not wish to support, invade the privacy of American citizens, and entrench the Republican and Democratic parties. Such laws are particularly dangerous as they enable the government to control the elections of its own administrators and beneficiaries, thereby removing it even further from public accountability. We call for the repeal of restrictive state laws that effectively prevent new parties and independent candidates from being on the ballot.
==16. NONE OF THE ABOVE==
In order to expand the range of choice in federal, state. and local elections of government officials, we propose the addition of the alternative "None of the above is acceptable" to all ballots. In the event that "None of the above" wins a plurality of votes, the elective office for that term will remain unfilled and unfunded.
=FOREIGN AFFAIRS=
American foreign policy should seek an America at peace With the world and the defense—against attack front 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.
=DIPLOMATIC POLICY=
==1. 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 iii diplomatic negotiations with foreign governments.
==2. 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 US 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 it 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.
==3. 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 it 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.
==4. WORLD GOVERNMENT==
We support withdrawal of the United States government from, and an end to its financial support for, the United Nations. We oppose U.S. government
participation in any world or international government.
==5. SECESSION==
We recognize the right to political secession. This includes the right of 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.
=MILITARY=
==1. 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 governmental 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 multilateral and bilateral commitments to military intervention (such as to 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 of the American people and all the people of the globe. We favor international negotiations toward general and complete disarmament down to 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.
==2. PRESIDENTIAL WAR POWERS==
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 head of the armed
forces in wartime. The Commander-in-Chief role, correctly understood, confers no additional authority on the President.
=ECONOMIC POLICY=
==1. 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 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.
==2. INTERNATIONAL MONEY==
We favor the 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.
==3. UNOWNED RESOURCES==
We oppose any recognition of flat 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 call for an end to U.S. participation in the current Law of the Sea treaty negotiations because these proceedings exclude private property principles.
=INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS=
==1. COLONIALISM==
United States colonialism has left a legacy of property confiscation, economic manipulation, and over-extended defense boundaries. We favor immediate independence for all colonial dependencies, such as Samoa, Guam, Micronesia, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, both to free these lands from United States dominance, and to free the United States from massive subsidization of them at taxpayers‘ expense. Land seized by the U.S. government should be returned to its rightful owners.
The United States should liquidate its government-run canal operation in Panama and withdraw all U.S. troops from the Canal Zone.
==2. THE MIDDLE EAST==
We call upon the United States government to cease all interventions in the Middle East, including military and economic aid, guarantees, and diplomatic meddling, and to cease limitation of private foreign aid, both military and economic. Voluntary cooperation with any economic boycott should not be treated as a crime.
We oppose the incorporation of the Persian Gulf and the countries surrounding it into the U.S. defense perimeter. We oppose the creation of new U.S. bases and sites for the pre-positioning of military materiel in the Middle East region. We condemn the stationing of American military troops in the Sinai peninsula as a trip-wire that could easily set off a new world war.
We condemn the expenditure of billions of American tax dollars to buy Israeli and Egyptian participation in the Camp David Accords.
==3. CHINA==
We condemn the growing alliance between the United States government and the People's Republic of China, just as we condemn the previous alliance with the Republic of China on Taiwan. China should not be considered as part of America's defense perimeter, nor should the United States government pursue joint military or diplomatic policies with China in Southeast Asia or Africa.
==4. SOUTHERN AFRICA==
We call upon the United States to cease all interventions in Southern Africa, including military and economic aid, guarantees, and backing of political groups, and to refrain from restricting American trade and investment in the region.
==5. 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 extraterrestrial resources. We specifically call for the repudiation of the U.N. Moon Treaty. We support the abolition of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the privatization of all artificial satellites.
=OMISSIONS=
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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Source: http://marketliberal.org/LP/Platforms/1983_09%20LP%20Platform.pdf
Source: http://marketliberal.org/LP/Platforms/1983_09%20LP%20Platform.pdf


OCR and initial wiki entry by Ken Moellman 1/15/2017
OCR by Ken Moellman 1/16/2017




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[[Category:National Platform]]
[[Category:National Party Platforms]]
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