Libertarian Membership Pledge: Difference between revisions

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Libertarian Membership Pledge (view source)

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Put in full context of quote from Nolan. Prior version only contained half and did not contain the question which is necessary for context. Capitalized Pledge. Put in statement about what Nolan appeared to support but others dispute.
(that quote is not found in that source)
(Put in full context of quote from Nolan. Prior version only contained half and did not contain the question which is necessary for context. Capitalized Pledge. Put in statement about what Nolan appeared to support but others dispute.)
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The '''Libertarian Pledge''', which all must agree to in order to join the [[Libertarian Party]], 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> LP co-founder [[David Nolan]] created the Pledge in 1971, and offered the following explanation for it in 1993.
The '''Libertarian Pledge''', which all must agree to in order to join the [[Libertarian Party]], 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> LP co-founder [[David Nolan]] created the Pledge in 1971, and offered the following explanation for it in 1993 in response to an inquiry from [[David Aitken] on behalf of the [[Libertarian Party of Colorado]]:


:"Interestingly, most people in the LP do not know why it was originally placed on membership applications. We did it not because we believed that we could keep out "bad" people by asking them to sign--after all, evil people will lie to achieve their ends--but to provide some evidence that the LP was not a group advocating violent overthrow of the gov't. In the early 70's, memories of Nixon's "enemies list" and the McCarthy hearings of the 50's were still fresh in people's minds, and we wanted to protect ourselves from future witch-hunts."<ref>http://lpedia.org/Document:Letter_20_Jan_1993_David_Nolan_on_Meaning_of_Membership_Pledge</ref>
:'''Question:''' What does the pledge on the membership form mean?  We ask our members to disavow the initiation of force. This does not mean that you cannot defend yourself; you DO have a right to defend your life, liberty, and property.  It does mean that you cannot use the coercive power of government to forcibly achieve your personal, ethical, or religious goals.  This commitment helps us maintain our principles and provides us with a measuring stick to determine if we have strayed from our common goal: a society where all relationships among persons are based on voluntary cooperation.."


Whether or not the pledge is primarily about keeping the party non-violent and opposed to terrorist actions against the government, or is itself intended as a statement of the [[Non-aggression principle]], has been disputed. Libertarians have variously argued that it is both, or only one or the other. <ref>http://marketliberal.org/FixLP.html</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20080424131135/http://reformthelp.org/party/pledge/fixingThePledge.php</ref>
: '''Reply:''' "Dave, This is a perfectly good explanation of what the "pledge" or "oath" means. Interestingly, most people in the LP do not know why it was originally placed on membership applications. We did it not because we believed that we could keep out "bad" people by asking them to sign--after all, evil people will lie to achieve their ends--but to provide some evidence that the LP was not a group advocating violent overthrow of the gov't. In the early 70's, memories of Nixon's "enemies list" and the McCarthy hearings of the 50's were still fresh in people's minds, and we wanted to protect ourselves from future witch-hunts."<ref>http://lpedia.org/Document:Letter_20_Jan_1993_David_Nolan_on_Meaning_of_Membership_Pledge</ref>
 
Whether or not the Pledge is primarily about keeping the party non-violent and opposed to terrorist actions against the government, or is itself intended as a statement of the [[Non-aggression principle]], has been disputed. Libertarians have variously argued that it is both, or only one or the other. <ref>http://marketliberal.org/FixLP.html</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20080424131135/http://reformthelp.org/party/pledge/fixingThePledge.php</ref> The above quote from [[David Nolan|Nolan]] appears to favor the view that the exigent purpose for requiring it as a condition of membership was to protect the Party from accusations by the government, but it is also a description of the [[Non-agression Principle|non-agreesion principle or non-initiation of force principle]].


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>"Libertarians rebuke Timothy McVeigh", Libertarian Party, LP.org, April 17, 2001.</ref>
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>"Libertarians rebuke Timothy McVeigh", Libertarian Party, LP.org, April 17, 2001.</ref>
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