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Libertarian Membership Pledge: Difference between revisions
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This seemed to make the two sides be "defenders of the Pledge" and "opponents of the Pledge" which is not accurate - someone could support the pledge but still have that criticism - grammar correction
(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.) |
(This seemed to make the two sides be "defenders of the Pledge" and "opponents of the Pledge" which is not accurate - someone could support the pledge but still have that criticism - grammar correction) |
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:"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." | :"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 allegedly 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>. However this is countered by noting that the architect of the Pledge, [[David Nolan]], was not an anarchist at the time and surely did not create a Pledge that would exclude himself. 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> | There have been many proposals to change or eliminate the Pledge. The Pledge has been criticized for allegedly 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>. However this is countered by noting that the architect of the Pledge, [[David Nolan]], was not an anarchist at the time and surely did not create a Pledge that would exclude himself. 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> Opponents of that view respond that the Pledge was intended to be an include-all, but is a statement regarding governance-a position affirmed by [[David Nolan]]. The early Party would have considered all issues concerning the state to fall within the broad categories of "social" and "political." 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> | ||
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> | 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> | ||