Document:Libertarian Party Radical Caucus Platform 2016: Difference between revisions

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Document:Libertarian Party Radical Caucus Platform 2016 (view source)

Revision as of 22:54, 21 April 2016

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We believe that all individuals have the right to dispose of the fruits of their labor as they see fit and that governments have 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.
We believe that all individuals have the right to dispose of the fruits of their labor as they see fit and that governments have 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.


===1. Finance and Capital Investment===
===1. 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 people residing in the United States, we would implement the following policies:
 
a. Opposition to all taxation and government spending;
 
b. Opposition to deficit budgets;
 
c. Opposition to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policies;
 
d. Opposition to government road blocks to free trade; and
 
e. Opposition of all government controls on wages, prices, rents, profits, production, interest rates, competition, alternative currencies, and anything else that may be beneficial to the economic wellbeing of people living within our nation.
 
===2. 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 (SEC). Regulations have created a system whereby what is legal for the elites in Congress is illegal for anyone else this will include all insider trading laws. The SEC epitomizes the corruption that exists within the area of capital investment.
We call for the abolition of all regulation of financial and capital markets — specifically, the abolition of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Regulations have created a system whereby what is legal for the elites in Congress is illegal for anyone else this will include all insider trading laws. The SEC epitomizes the corruption that exists within the area of capital investment.


We oppose any attempts to ban or regulate investing in stock-market index futures or new financial instruments which may emerge in the future. In particular, Blue Sky laws which limit small and risky investments need to be repealed.
We oppose any attempts to ban or regulate investing in stock-market index futures or new financial instruments which may emerge in the future. In particular, Blue Sky laws which limit small and risky investments need to be repealed.


===2. Inflation and Depression===
===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 own and use as money any mutually agreeable item: such as commodity based currency, like gold coins denominated by units of weight, or cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin. 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 can be open to the competition of the free market. We call for the state to desist attempts to regulate cryptocurrency as well as the abolition of all state usury laws.
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 own and use as money any mutually agreeable item: such as commodity based currency, like gold coins denominated by units of weight, or cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin. 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 can be open to the competition of the free market. We call for the state to desist attempts to regulate cryptocurrency as well as the abolition of all state usury laws.


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We therefore call for the repeal of all legal tender laws and of all compulsory governmental units of account.
We therefore call for the repeal of all legal tender laws and of all compulsory governmental units of account.


===3. Intellectual Monopoly and File Sharing===
===4. Trade Barriers===
The phrase “intellectual property” is a misnomer. What the state calls intellectual property is more accurately referred to as “intellectual monopoly” as the state grants a monopoly on the use of an idea or goods and services derived from an idea to a certain limited group. We call for the elimination of the protection of such monopoly thereby freeing the market, encouraging content providers and product developers to improve on existing products thereby bringing more and better choices to the market.  
Free trade does not require a treaty, rather a lack of government involvement. Tariffs and quotas give special treatment to favored interests and diminish the welfare of everyone. We therefore support abolition of all trade barriers and all government-sponsored export-promotion programs. We affirm this as a unilateral policy, independent of the trade policies of other nations.


In particular, we call for the end of the prohibition of online file sharing, just as we oppose all victimless crimes. When content is shared it is not stolen as no one looses any property, only a potential loss of some future revenue, which is natural in any open market.
===5. 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. Subsidies can take the form of so-called public-private partnerships, government contracting, mandatory insurance, and similar polices.  


===4. Licensure===
We oppose all government guarantees of 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. All national, state, and local government agencies whose primary function is to guarantee loans should be abolished.
Libertarians view licensing as a method for government to convert a natural right into a privilege — one that involves paying fees to the government to exercise. Privileges can be and often are revoked by government. Rights must be held inviolate, and no one should be forced to pay to exercise a right.


===5. Monopolies===
Relief or exemption from taxation or from any other involuntary government intervention should not be considered a subsidy.
Governments, through grants of legal privilege to special interests, are the source of monopolies across the nation. Furthermore, throughout our nation’s history, Antitrust laws have served monopolies by limiting competition.  


Therefore, we condemn all coercive monopolies; including public utilities and the United States Postal Service because competition has brought better products at lower prices. In order to facilitate their elimination, we advocate a strict separation of business and state, and we call for the repeal of all antitrust laws, including the Sherman Anti Trust Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, Robinson-Patman Act, and Celler-Kefauver Act. We further call for the abolition of the Federal Trade Commission and the anti-trust division of the Department of Justice. 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. Government has demonstrated that it is unable to compete in the market for such services as cable television, electricity, fire protection, garbage collection, natural gas, postal service, telephone, or water supplies unless it has monopolistic protections on those services.
===6. Unions and Collective Bargaining===
Private sector labor unions, when they are organized as non-coercive and voluntary associations for such purposes as peaceful negotiations, are a part of everyone's freedom of association.


Antitrust measures would be unnecessary in a market free of state-imposed distortions. In addition we defend the right of individuals to form corporations, cooperatives, and other types of companies based on voluntary association. We favor the elimination of state or federal limits on the size of private companies and on the right of companies to merge. We also favor the elimination of efforts to expand federal chartering as a pretext for government control of business, particularly those involving industries where government could attempt to create its own monopoly.
We support the right of people to associate or not associate in labor unions, just as we recognize that the existence of a union does not grant powers that the individuals within the union do not posess. The existence of boycotts, strikes, and lockouts does not justify the initiation of violence against other workers, employers, strike-breakers, or innocent bystanders.


===6. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)===
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 laws that 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.
We call for the repeal of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act and any state level equivalent. These laws deny the right to liberty and property to both employer and employee, and interfere in their private contractual relations. The arbitrary and high-handed actions of OSHA invade property rights, raise costs, and are an injustice imposed on business. Instead, we promote free market solutions to help increase employee safety.


===7. The Economy===
===7. Licensure===
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 people residing in the United States, we would implement the following policies:
Libertarians view licensing as a method for government to convert a natural right into a privilege — one that involves paying fees to the government to exercise. Privileges can be and often are revoked by government. Rights must be held inviolate, and no one should be forced to pay to exercise a right.


a. Opposition to all taxation and government spending;
===8. Monopolies===
Governments, through grants of legal privilege to special interests, are the source of monopolies across the nation. Furthermore, throughout our nation’s history, Antitrust laws have served monopolies by limiting competition.


b. Opposition to deficit budgets;
Therefore, we condemn all coercive monopolies; including public utilities and the United States Postal Service because competition has brought better products at lower prices. In order to facilitate their elimination, we advocate a strict separation of business and state, and we call for the repeal of all antitrust laws, including the Sherman Anti Trust Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, Robinson-Patman Act, and Celler-Kefauver Act. We further call for the abolition of the Federal Trade Commission and the anti-trust division of the Department of Justice. 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. Government has demonstrated that it is unable to compete in the market for such services as cable television, electricity, fire protection, garbage collection, natural gas, postal service, telephone, or water supplies unless it has monopolistic protections on those services.


c. Opposition to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policies;
Antitrust measures would be unnecessary in a market free of state-imposed distortions. In addition we defend the right of individuals to form corporations, cooperatives, and other types of companies based on voluntary association. We favor the elimination of state or federal limits on the size of private companies and on the right of companies to merge. We also favor the elimination of efforts to expand federal chartering as a pretext for government control of business, particularly those involving industries where government could attempt to create its own monopoly.


d. Opposition to government road blocks to free trade; and
===9. Intellectual Monopoly and File Sharing===
The phrase “intellectual property” is a misnomer. What the state calls intellectual property is more accurately referred to as “intellectual monopoly” as the state grants a monopoly on the use of an idea or goods and services derived from an idea to a certain limited group. We call for the elimination of the protection of such monopoly thereby freeing the market, encouraging content providers and product developers to improve on existing products thereby bringing more and better choices to the market.


e. Opposition of all government controls on wages, prices, rents, profits, production, interest rates, competition, alternative currencies, and anything else that may be beneficial to the economic wellbeing of people living within our nation.  
In particular, we call for the end of the prohibition of online file sharing, just as we oppose all victimless crimes. When content is shared it is not stolen as no one looses any property, only a potential loss of some future revenue, which is natural in any open market.


===8. Trade Barriers===
===10. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)===
Free trade does not require a treaty, rather a lack of government involvement. Tariffs and quotas give special treatment to favored interests and diminish the welfare of everyone. We therefore support abolition of all trade barriers and all government-sponsored export-promotion programs. We affirm this as a unilateral policy, independent of the trade policies of other nations.
We call for the repeal of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act and any state level equivalent. These laws deny the right to liberty and property to both employer and employee, and interfere in their private contractual relations. The arbitrary and high-handed actions of OSHA invade property rights, raise costs, and are an injustice imposed on business. Instead, we promote free market solutions to help increase employee safety.
 
===9. 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. Subsidies can take the form of so-called public-private partnerships, government contracting, mandatory insurance, and similar polices.
 
We oppose all government guarantees of 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. All national, state, and local government agencies whose primary function is to guarantee loans should be abolished.
 
Relief or exemption from taxation or from any other involuntary government intervention should not be considered a subsidy.
 
===10. Unions and Collective Bargaining===
Private sector labor unions, when they are organized as non-coercive and voluntary associations for such purposes as peaceful negotiations, are a part of everyone's freedom of association.
 
We support the right of people to associate or not associate in labor unions, just as we recognize that the existence of a union does not grant powers that the individuals within the union do not posess. The existence of boycotts, strikes, and lockouts does not justify the initiation of violence against other workers, employers, strike-breakers, or innocent bystanders.
 
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 laws that 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.


===11. Space Exploration===
===11. Space Exploration===
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