US Political Party Platforms: Libertarian Party

Libertarian Party Platform …

Ø      Individuals should be free to make choices for themselves and to accept responsibility for the consequences of the choices they make. No individual, group, or government may initiate force against any other individual, group, or government. Our support of an individual's right to make choices in life does not mean that we necessarily approve or disapprove of those choices.

Ø      We support full freedom of expression and oppose government censorship, regulation or control of communications media and technology. We favor the freedom to engage in or abstain from any religious activities that do not violate the rights of others. We oppose government actions which either aid or attack any religion.

Ø      We support the protections provided by the Fourth Amendment to be secure in our persons, homes, and property. Only actions that infringe on the rights of others can properly be termed crimes. We favor the repeal of all laws creating "crimes" without victims, such as the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes.

Ø      Sexual orientation, preference, gender, or gender identity should have no impact on the rights of individuals by government, such as in current marriage, child custody, adoption, immigration or military service laws. Consenting adults should be free to choose their own sexual practices and personal relationships. Government does not have the authority to define, license or restrict personal relationships.

Ø      Recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration.

Ø      Government exists to protect the rights of every individual including life, liberty and property. Criminal laws should be limited to violation of the rights of others through force or fraud, or deliberate actions that place others involuntarily at significant risk of harm. Individuals retain the right to voluntarily assume risk of harm to themselves. We support restitution of the victim to the fullest degree possible at the expense of the criminal or the negligent wrongdoer. We oppose reduction of constitutional safeguards of the rights of the criminally accused. The rights of due process, a speedy trial, legal counsel, trial by jury, and the legal presumption of innocence until proven guilty, must not be denied. We assert the common-law right of juries to judge not only the facts but also the justice of the law.

Ø      The only legitimate use of force is in defense of individual rights — life, liberty, and justly acquired property — against aggression. This right inheres in the individual, who may agree to be aided by any other individual or group. We affirm the right to keep and bear arms, and oppose the prosecution of individuals for exercising their rights of self-defense. We oppose all laws at any level of government requiring registration of, or restricting, the ownership, manufacture, or transfer or sale of firearms or ammunition.

Ø      A free and competitive market allocates resources in the most efficient manner. Each person has the right to offer goods and services to others on the free market. The only proper role of government in the economic realm is to protect property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework in which voluntary trade is protected. All efforts by government to redistribute wealth, or to control or manage trade, are improper in a free society.

Ø      Property rights are entitled to the same protection as all other human rights. The owners of property have the full right to control, use, dispose of, or in any manner enjoy, their property without interference, until and unless the exercise of their control infringes the valid rights of others. We oppose all controls on wages, prices, rents, profits, production, and interest rates. We advocate the repeal of all laws banning or restricting the advertising of prices, products, or services. We oppose all violations of the right to private property, liberty of contract, and freedom of trade. The right to trade includes the right not to trade — for any reasons whatsoever. Where property, including land, has been taken from its rightful owners by the government or private action in violation of individual rights, we favor restitution to the rightful owners.

Ø      We support a clean and healthy environment and sensible use of our natural resources. Private landowners and conservation groups have a vested interest in maintaining natural resources. Pollution and misuse of resources cause damage to our ecosystem. Governments, unlike private businesses, are unaccountable for such damage done to our environment and have a terrible track record when it comes to environmental protection. Protecting the environment requires a clear definition and enforcement of individual rights in resources like land, water, air, and wildlife. Free markets and property rights stimulate the technological innovations and behavioral changes required to protect our environment and ecosystems. We realize that our planet's climate is constantly changing, but environmental advocates and social pressure are the most effective means of changing public behavior.

Ø      While energy is needed to fuel a modern society, government should not be subsidizing any particular form of energy. We oppose all government control of energy pricing, allocation, and production.

Ø      All persons are entitled to keep the fruits of their labor. We call for the repeal of the income tax, the abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service and all federal programs and services not required under the U.S. Constitution.  We oppose any legal requirements forcing employers to serve as tax collectors. Government should not incur debt, which burdens future generations without their consent. We support the passage of a "Balanced Budget Amendment" to the U.S. Constitution, provided that the budget is balanced exclusively by cutting expenditures, and not by raising taxes.

Ø      We favor free-market banking, with unrestricted competition among banks and depository institutions of all types. Individuals engaged in voluntary exchange should be free to use as money any mutually agreeable commodity or item. We support a halt to inflationary monetary policies, the repeal of legal tender laws and compulsory governmental units of account.

Ø      We defend the right of individuals to form corporations, cooperatives and other types of companies based on voluntary association. We seek to divest government of all functions that can be provided by non-governmental organizations or private individuals. We oppose government subsidies to business, labor, or any other special interest. Industries should be governed by free markets.

Ø      We support repeal of all laws which impede the ability of any person to find employment. We oppose government-fostered forced retirement. We support the right of free persons to associate or not associate in labor unions, and an employer should have the right to recognize or refuse to recognize a union. We oppose government interference in bargaining, such as compulsory arbitration or imposing an obligation to bargain.

Ø      Education, like any other service, is best provided by the free market, achieving greater quality and efficiency with more diversity of choice. Schools should be managed locally to achieve greater accountability and parental involvement. Recognizing that the education of children is inextricably linked to moral values, we would return authority to parents to determine the education of their children, without interference from government. In particular, parents should have control of and responsibility for all funds expended for their children's education.

Ø      We favor restoring and reviving a free market health care system. We recognize the freedom of individuals to determine the level of health insurance they want, the level of health care they want, the care providers they want, the medicines and treatments they will use and all other aspects of their medical care, including end-of-life decisions.

Ø      Retirement planning is the responsibility of the individual, not the government. We favor replacing the current government-sponsored Social Security system with a private voluntary system. The proper source of help for the poor is the voluntary efforts of private groups and individuals.

Ø      The protection of individual rights is the only proper purpose of government. Government is constitutionally limited so as to prevent the infringement of individual rights by the government itself. The principle of non-initiation of force should guide the relationships between governments.

Ø      We support the maintenance of a sufficient military to defend the United States against aggression. The United States should both abandon its attempts to act as policeman for the world and avoid entangling alliances. We oppose any form of compulsory national service.

Ø      The defense of the country requires that we have adequate intelligence to detect and to counter threats to domestic security. This requirement must not take priority over maintaining the civil liberties of our citizens.  The Bill of Rights provides no exceptions for a time of war. Intelligence agencies that legitimately seek to preserve the security of the nation must be subject to oversight and transparency. We oppose the government's use of secret classifications to keep from the public information that it should have, especially that which shows that the government has violated the law.

Ø      American foreign policy should seek an America at peace with the world and its defense against attack from abroad. We would end the current U.S. government policy of foreign intervention, including military and economic aid. We recognize the right of all people to resist tyranny and defend themselves and their rights. We condemn 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 or revolutionary groups.

Ø      We support the removal of governmental impediments to free trade.  Political freedom and escape from tyranny demand that individuals not be unreasonably constrained by government in the crossing of political boundaries.  Economic freedom demands the unrestricted movement of human as well as financial capital across national borders.  However, we support control over the entry into our country of foreign nationals who pose a threat to security, health or property.

Ø      We condemn bigotry as irrational and repugnant. Government should not deny or abridge any individual's rights based on sex, wealth, race, color, creed, age, national origin, personal habits, political preference or sexual orientation. Parents, or other guardians, have the right to raise their children according to their own standards and beliefs.

Ø      We support electoral systems that are more representative of the electorate at the federal, state and local levels.  As private voluntary groups, political parties should be allowed to establish their own rules for nomination procedures, primaries and conventions. We call for an end to any tax-financed subsidies to candidates or parties and the repeal of all laws which restrict voluntary financing of election campaigns. We oppose laws that effectively exclude alternative candidates and parties, deny ballot access, gerrymander districts, or deny the voters their right to consider all legitimate alternatives.

Ø      Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of individual liberty, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to agree to such new governance as to them shall seem most likely to protect their liberty.

Ø      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.

Voters need to examine the candidate’s party platform and start looking for candidates who use the Constitution and Bill of Rights as the foundation of government operation, legislation and rules of law. If the candidate is independent they will list their platform at their website or as a mailer, for example here is an independent candidate in Texas who used email:

I've taken a leap of FAITH in the good people who are also FED UP and

placed myself on the BALLOT for Texas Agriculture Commissioner for the

state of TEXAS as a LIBERTARIAN.

YES, A Libertarian, as they have BALLOT access and are the true

Conservatives that want to reverse as much of the garbage that has

been foisted upon us by the Lobbies and major manufacturers of

processed stuff that passes for food.

The 2 party (Dems & Reps) system has plowed the entire Country into

the ground and it's apparent that a new season of growth in America is

to be planted. Without pesticides (Banking rules, legislation) and GMO

(Lobbies, Nais, GMO seeds, Chemical fertilizers, Tagging and

registering of farms, ad infinitum) inventions. This S- -t has to

stop. Let's use it to make a better crop grow.

So, Let's plant the seeds of Liberty once again.

When you go to the Primaries and pick the lesser of two evils (Still

evil isn't it ?) Remember that in November there IS A CANDIDATE for

the Common People who WILL FIGHT for the rights of the Farmer, the

Stockman, and the Consumer. ( I believe I read that America was bought

by the labors of an Agricultural people, and their blood is still in

the soil). My name IS Richard (Rick) Donaldson.

I would appreciate your assistance in making your Lives and the lives

of your farms better.

Congressional elections are approaching and now is the time to clean out the parasites in Congress and elect individuals who are constitutional and know that by limiting government intervention, provide private sector industry to not fail due to ending government handouts; and serve the People, not the entity we call government. (Rep. Ron Paul, photo left)

Some voters have a problem with the isolation policy of the Libertarian Party and its stance on foreign affairs. Others have a problem concerning its plank concerning abortion and same-sex marriage. However, similar to the Constitution Party, Libertarians are concerned and advocate upholding US constitutional law.

Major emphasis of Libertarians is the maximization of personal liberty and sometimes appears to be against the existence of a state government at all because of their contempt for authority. But all Libertarians are strong for personal rights to life and liberty but not in concert about the subject of private property. Libertarians are not just in America but can be found as a political party in other countries, specifically Europe.

Libertarianism was established under the philosophical and metaphysical concepts of free will. The first person to use the word libertarian in political diatribe was the French anarchist Joseph Déjacque in an 1857 pamphlet entitled De l’Etre Humain male et femelle (Concerning the Human Male and Female).

The Austrian School of Economics (1940s) began to influence libertarianism with economic and political philosophers as its leadership such as Henry Hazlitt, Israel Kirzner, Murray Rothbard, Walter Block and Richard M. Ebeling. Leonard Read began to call himself a libertarian and in 1955, Dean Russell wrote an article in the Foundation for Economic Education magazine that subscribed to the classical liberal philosophy:

Let those of us who love liberty trademark and reserve for our own used the good and honorable word “libertarian”.

Ayn Rand, a well-known economics-philosopher wrote The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957) and books concerning philosophy of Objectivism, which influenced libertarianism to what it is today in the presence of the US Libertarian Party and its platform.

According to libertarian publisher Robert W. Poole, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona was a libertarian in principle of individual liberty, economic freedom and anti-communism developing libertarianism from its socialist-communist roots to what it is today. Karl Hess, Senator Goldwater’s speech writer, became a leading libertarian writer and activist.

While the Cold War policy of military intervention was promoted by William F. Buckley (conservative), Murray Rothbard was against military involvement in foreign affairs as a libertarian. During the Vietnam War the libertarians were divided on the issue.

In 1971, David Nolan and associates formed the Libertarian Party in the United States with members that were former Democrats, Republicans and independents that were disgusted with the traditional two-party system.

Every presidential election year since 1972 there has been a Libertarian Party candidate – John Hospers (1972), Ed Clark (1980), Ron Paul (1988), Harry Browne (1996 and 2000), Michael Badnarik (2004), and Bob Barr (2008). Celebrity Libertarians are Kurt Russell and Clint Eastwood, as examples.

Ron Paul, a representative in the US Congress is registered as both a Libertarian and a Conservative (Libertarian Party and Republican Party) and has been instrumental in government accountability and transparency movements that includes the advocacy to dissolve the Federal Reserve and US military forces only be used for defense, closing most overseas US military bases.

Educational organizations were developed such as the Center for Libertarian Studies and the Cato Institute, formed in the 1970s.

Harvard University professor, Robert Nozick wrote Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) that won a National Book Award in 1975.

Neal Boortz, radio talk-show host and co-author of The Fair Tax Book, is a Libertarian who works with sincere conservatives like John Linder (co-author of Fair Tax and author of the Fair Tax Act in the House and the Senate).

Paleolibertarianism was established by Lew Rockwell and the late Murray Rothbard. Rockwell no longer identifying himself with this political philosophy in the basic concept that paleolibertarianism is not reformation, but elimination of the state and the legitimacy of state property; considered to be hard core libertarians of the anarchist in ideologies.

The major influence of most modern libertarians is the philosophy of Ayn Rand, an immigrant who became a citizen and who cherished liberty after living under the thumb of communism in Europe. One would not perceive that the organization of libertarianism began in the roots of socialism and communism, but still portrays radicalism in the arena of politics with strict constitutionalism replacing those political philosophies.

Libertarianism is probably the most complex in nature and history of the political parties in the United States on the basis of philosophy and ideology held by the various libertarian groups and individuals.

See also Mises Institute, Libertarian Nationalist Socialist Green Party, Reason - Libertarian Magazine.