PLEASE FORWARD TO LIBERTARIAN LISTS. The LP Radical Caucus offers a press release sketching a Libertarian response to the Bush adminstration's war escalation.
The press release is for the use of any Libertarian Party affiliate or organization wanting a rapid and forceful response to Bush's call for escalation in Iraq. Please feel free to place your group's name and contact information on it and release it to your local media. If you would like to make changes, feel free to do so. No credit need (or should) be given - release this under your own group's name. The LP should be providing affiliates with platform-compliant, forceful statements on current news events. The LP should be taking a strong antiwar stand. The activists of the LP Radical Caucus offer this release to help LP affiliates make a strong Libertarian statement on current events. Full text can be found at the LP Radical Caucus website: http://www.lpradicals.org and is reproduced here (but it's best to check the website in case any last-minute corrections have to be made): Libertarians: The people must lead, and the leaders must follow. 9 January, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Organization: Libertarian Party Antiwar Coalition Website: www.lp.org Libertarians: The people must lead, and the leaders must follow. In November, the American people clearly demanded an end to war and occupation in Iraq. George Bush's response is now clear: he plans to repeat the mistakes of Vietnam and escalate a war that most Americans and most Iraqis do not support; a military occupation and puppet rule that has killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and killed or maimed tens of thousands of American soldiers. The Democratic Party has also turned a deaf ear to those who voted in the vain hope that Democrats would end the occupation. Democratic Party leaders in Congress have opted for 'partnership' in the crimes of the Bush administration, rather than leadership in ending the unlawful military action. The Libertarian Party stands absolutely opposed to the war in Iraq and to foreign military intervention anywhere. The politicians have demonstrated that they will not lead, so they must be made to follow. If those opposed to the war - from left, right, and center - gather together with a passionate focus solely on ending American imperialism, the rulers will follow the people - as they should. If we let ourselves be divided at this critical moment in history by our domestic differences, the wars started in the last century will linger on and end in disaster. We must stand united against the coming draft, against the expansion of imperial rule, and against all aggression both at home and abroad. Libertarians call on Congress to end taxation and spending in support of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, to end preparations in place for a new draft (including selective service registration), and to end punishing embargoes everywhere which encourage war and discourage the expansion of peace through trade and communication. As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others. We believe that respect for individual rights is the essential precondition for a free and prosperous world, that force and fraud must be banished from human relationships, and that only through freedom can peace and prosperity be realized. -- Susan Hogarth http://www.lpradicals.org
