Libertarian Pledge: Difference between revisions

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(New page: The '''Libertarian pledge''', which all must agree to in order to join the Libertarian Party of the United States, declares, "I hereby certify that I do not believe in or advocate the ...)
 
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The '''Libertarian pledge''', which all must agree to in order to join the [[Libertarian Party of the United States]], declares, "I hereby certify that I do not believe in or advocate the initiation of force as a means of achieving political or social goals."<ref>http://members.atlantic.net/~dwatney/reid/reid23.htm</ref> Supposedly, LP founder [[David Nolan]] created the pledge in 1971.<ref>http://marketliberal.org/FixLP.html</ref> The pledge statement has sometimes been mistakenly interpreted as prohibiting violent revolution, but it does not. It is actually a prohibition against supporting any government activities, except perhaps court, police, and defense functions, which are held by [[minarchist]]s to be necessary for opposing force initiated by others. [[Anarcho-capitalist]]s would go even further, to state that even those functions are an unjustifiable use of force, since citizens are forced to purchase those services from the government rather than choosing a private vendor of their liking. They see it as forbidding Libertarian officeholders from even accepting salaries paid for by taxes forcibly extracted from the people.<ref>http://libertarianmajority.net/no-1st-force-pledge</ref> Thus, the pledge means different things to different people. Regardless of its meaning, it is an important aspect of Libertarian culture.
This is a disambiguation page.


A reference to the pledge was made on April 17, 2001 when, in response to [[Timothy McVeigh]]'s description of himself as a libertarian, LP national director [[Steve Dasbach]] said:<ref>{{citation|author=Libertarian Party|title=Libertarians rebuke Timothy McVeigh|date=2001-04-17}}</ref>
The term Libertarian Pledge can refer to several things.
{{cquote|"Timothy McVeigh is not just a mass murderer; he's a very confused mass murderer. Besides having no appreciation for the value of human life, McVeigh apparently has no understanding of the meaning of the word libertarian. Just to set the record straight, real libertarians wholeheartedly reject the use of force to achieve political or social goals. Real libertarians see violence and try to prevent it, see problems and organize cooperative solutions, and see government abusing its power and work peacefully through the political system to protect our rights.}}


There have been many proposals to change or eliminate the pledge. The pledge has been criticized for allowing only pure anarchists to join and for stopping members from advocating incremental changes towards freedom.<ref>http://reformthelp.org/party/pledge/fixingThePledge.php</ref> Another criticism of the pledge is that it does not prohibit the use of force for goals other than political and social ones.<ref>http://www.rayrob.org/library/RFR/Libertarian_Pledge/Pledge.htm</ref> Ray Roberts proposed changing it to, "I believe force should only be used to protect life, liberty and property from attack."<ref>http://reformthelp.org/party/pledge/positive.php</ref> Another proposed pledge is, "The Libertarian Party will always stand for more liberty and less government on every issue. As a member of the Libertarian Party, I will NOT attempt to change this."<ref>http://blog.360.yahoo.com/knowinghumans?p=171</ref>
For the membership pledge, go to [[Libertarian Membership Pledge]]


The pledge is required by Section 5.1 of the national bylaws<ref>http://www.lp.org/files/pdfs/bylaws-2008.pdf</ref> and many [[state affiliates of the Libertarian Party]] also have bylaw provisions requiring it. At the [[Libertarian_National_Convention#2006|2006 Libertarian National Convention]], the [[Libertarian Reform Caucus]] attempted to repeal the pledge but failed to obtain the necessary [[two-thirds vote]].<ref>http://allencountylp.blogspot.com/2006/07/2006-libertarian-national-convention.html</ref>
For the early Party publication, go to [[Libertarian Pledge (Publication)]]


==See also==
[[Category:Disambiguation]]
*[[Libertarian perspectives on revolution]]
*[[Non-aggression principle]]
 
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
 
[[Category:Libertarian Party (United States)]]

Latest revision as of 18:17, 20 August 2018

This is a disambiguation page.

The term Libertarian Pledge can refer to several things.

For the membership pledge, go to Libertarian Membership Pledge

For the early Party publication, go to Libertarian Pledge (Publication)

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