Although I have no plans to run for the LNC, I am happy to share my opinions
with everyone.
For life and liberty,
David Macko
Chairman, Libertarian Party of
Northeast Ohio
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may
have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this
without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor
protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
LP Platform Plank
Text of Transitional Action Agree/Disagree? and Comments
I.1 Freedom and Responsibility Repeal all laws that presume government
knows better than the individual how to run that person's life. Encourage
private sector dissemination of information to help consumers make informed
decisions on products and services. Enforce laws against fraud and
misrepresentation. Agree. This is quite self-evident.
I.2 Freedom of Communication We advocate the abolition of the Federal
Communications Commission. Agree. Ditto.
I.3 Freedom of Religion We call for an end to the harassment of churches
by the Internal Revenue Service through threats to deny tax-exempt status to
churches that refuse to disclose massive amounts of information about
themselves. Agree with the recommendation to remove the phrase "massive
amounts of" and replace it with "any".
I.4 Property Rights Rescind all taxation of real property. Property,
resources and rights taken from their legitimate owners by government or by
government supported private action, shall be restored to the rightful owners.
Reverse the Supreme Court decision regarding eminent domain - Kelo v City of
New London. Repeal all legislation that transfers property rights to the state,
including those enacted in the name of aesthetic values, risk, moral standards,
cost-benefit estimates, the promotion or restriction of economic growth, health
or national security claims. Sunset all federal agencies that own, regulate or
administer property, as well as agencies at the local level which exercise
control over private property and resources. Rescind and oppose all
international treaties that exercise government control over unowned resources.
Agree, with the exception of military bases which are necessary to defend
the lives, liberty and property of Americans in the United States.
I.5 The Right to Privacy We also oppose police roadblocks aimed at
randomly, and without probable cause, testing drivers for intoxication and
police practices to stop mass transit vehicles and search passengers without
probable cause. So long as the National Census and all federal, state, and
other government agencies' compilations of data on an individual continue to
exist, they should be conducted only with the consent of the persons from whom
the data is sought. We oppose government regulations that require employers to
provide health insurance coverage for employees, which often encourage
unnecessary intrusions by employers into the privacy of their employees.
Agree. The census should be limited to its Constitutional purpose of
counting the number of people every ten years. If the census takers are able to
distinguish between males and females and adults and children, that may be
reported.
I.6 The Right to Keep and Bear Arms We oppose any government efforts to
ban or restrict the use of tear gas, "mace" or other self-protection devices.
We further oppose all attempts to ban weapons or ammunition on the grounds that
they are risky or unsafe. We favor the repeal of laws banning the concealment
of weapons or prohibiting pocket weapons. We also oppose the banning of
inexpensive handguns ("Saturday night specials") and semi-automatic or
so-called assault weapons and their magazines or feeding devices.
Agree
I.7 Conscription All schemes for automatic registration through
government invasions of the privacy of school, motor vehicle or other records
should be immediately eliminated. The still-functioning elements of the
Selective Service System should be abolished and all associated records should
be destroyed. The President should immediately pardon, providing unconditional
exoneration, for all who have been accused or convicted of draft evasion,
desertion from the military in cases of conscription or fraud and other acts of
civil resistance.
Agree
I.8 Reproductive Rights We support an end to all subsidies for
childbearing or child prevention built into our present laws. Agree. This
should specify that income taxes especially tend toward preventing the bearing
of children by productive, responsible people and that the welfare system
encourages the bearing of children by those who are not productive in any other
way.
I.9 Sexuality and Gender Repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act and
state laws and amendments defining marriage. Oppose any new laws or
Constitutional amendments defining terms for personal, private relationships.
Repeal any state or federal law assigning special benefits to people based on
marital status, family structure, sexual orientation or gender identification.
Repeal any state or federal laws denying same-sex partners rights enjoyed by
others, such as adoption of children and spousal immigration. End the Defense
Department practice of discharging armed forces personnel for sexual
orientation. Upgrade all less-than-honorable discharges previously assigned
solely for such reasons to honorable status, and delete related information
from military personnel files. Repeal all laws discriminating by gender, such
as protective labor laws and marriage, divorce, and custody laws which deny the
full rights of each individual. I need to research more on this subject when I
have more time so that I fully understand all of the ramifications. I tend to
agree with most of it, except with possible privacy issues in the armed forces.
I support a simple statement that the fedgov has no right to meddle in
the institution of marriage and that the state involvement should be limited to
upholding voluntary contracts by adults.
II.1 Government Debt Eliminate the national debt using an incremental
approach, being careful to avoid social disruption. We support the passage of
a "Balanced Budget Amendment" to the US Constitution that restricts Congress
from spending any more than it collected in revenue the previous year.
Eliminate earmarks, pork-barrel spending, and other forms of political
corruption.
Congress should sell assets and reduce spending on non-essential
functions to pay off the national debt as quickly as possible. I will not
support any proposed Balanced Budget Amendment unless it explicitly states that
the budget will never be balanced by raising taxes, as the National Platform
previously stated. Otherwise, I agree.
II.2 Corporate Welfare, Monopolies & Subsidies Eliminate all federal
grants of monopoly or subsidy to any private companies, such as utilities,
airlines, energy companies, agriculture, science, medicine, broadcasting, the
arts and sports teams. Repeal all anti-trust laws. All federal agencies whose
primary function is to make or guarantee corporate loans must be abolished or
privatized. Agree.
II.3 Public Services All rate regulation in utilities should transition
to free market pricing.
End the Postal Service's monopoly and allow for the free competition in
all aspects of mail delivery.
State and local monopoly services should be opened to free-market
competition.
Local and state governments can auction assets such as utility systems
and landfills to private industry, thereby immediately reducing the tax burden
on their citizens.
Agree
III.1 Crime and Victimless Crime Immediately reform the justice system's
mandatory sentencing policies to ensure that violent offenders are not released
from jail to make room for non-violent offenders. Repeal criminal laws which
work against the protection of the rights and freedom of American citizens,
residents or visitors, particularly laws which create a crime where no victim
exists.
Agree.
III.2 The War on Drugs Repeal all laws establishing criminal or civil
penalties for the use of drugs. Repeal laws that infringe upon individual
rights to be secure in our persons, homes, and property as protected by the
Fourth Amendment. Stop the use of "anti-crime" measures such as profiling or
civil asset forfeiture that reduce the standard of proof historically borne by
government in prosecutions. Stop prosecuting accused non-violent drug
offenders, and pardon those previously convicted. Agree.
IV.1 Immigration Ensure immigration requirements include only
appropriate documentation, screening for criminal background and threats to
public health and national security. Simplifying the immigration process and
redeployment of surveillance technology to focus on the borders will encourage
the use of regular and monitored entry points, thus preventing trespass and
saving lives. End federal requirements that benefits and services be provided
to those in the country illegally. Repeal all measures that punish employers
for hiring undocumented workers. Repeal all immigration quotas. I recommend
that we delete the Immigration plank until such time as there is substantial
agreement (at least 70%) among members of the Libertarian Party, including
recognition that we have an invasion problem, not an immigration problem.
Other Considerations
[Please use the comments area to make comments about other issues,
administrative experience, and any other considerations or issues you believe
are important. In particular, it would be good if you addressed you position on
the US wars against Iraq, Afghanistan, and (potentially) Iran, as well as
mentioning platform planks from 2004 that you would like to see restored.]
The wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and the coming war on Iran are lie-based,
unconstitutional, unnecessary, counterproductive and serve no American purpose.
We should bring all of our troops home from everywhere within 90 days,
end all foreign aid {( this shouldn't be in any long term platform)
and hang Bush, Cheney, and all of their Zionist neocon henchmen for
treason to show the world that we believe in justice}.
Other items which would be restored should include getting out of the
United Nations, abolishing the Income Tax and the Federal Reserve System,
publicizing jury nullification to all juries and abolishing the government
schools, gradually if necessary, within a three to five year period.
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----- Original Message -----
From: Susan Hogarth
To: [email protected] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; Chuck Moulton ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 9:13 AM
Subject: [lpradicals] LNC Questionnaire
LNC Questionnaire
Dear LNC representative (or potential LNC representative),
The Libertarian Party Radical Caucus (http://www.lpradicals.org/)
exists to work within the Libertarian Party to strengthen it, not only
in numbers, but also in spirit. As part of that effort, we want to
offer our representatives on the LNC - and those considering becoming
representatives - the chance to give their opinion and stand on
important issues within the LP. We believe that this information will
help guide the membership in their selection of representatives who
most closely mirror their own priorities. The LP's platform embodies
the issues that the membership finds most compelling and thus serves
as the best and most unbiased possible 'checklist' of priorities
available. Therefore we have chosen to simply present the
"transitional action" part of each plank of the LP's platform and ask
whether you agree or disagree. Please take as much space as you need
to offer qualifying, conditional, or explanatory information with your
answer(s). In the last row there is space for additional information
or considerations you may find important as an LNC representative or
potential representative.
The survey can be found here:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd7jxqpw_27f86scv
Please just send replies by email to Susan Hogarth at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - you may organize them in any way you like; no need
for pretty formatting (I will clean up the formatting and put
everything together nicely).
Please note: Your answers and comments will be published and shared in
their entirety by the Libertarian Party Radical Caucus. We will not
cherry-pick comments or attempt in any way to alter your responses or
how people see them. This means you should edit your replies carefully
for mis-spellings and other gaffes. However, just as in any interview,
we cannot guarantee that individuals unconnected with this effort will
not quote you partially or misleadingly. We only guarantee that *we
will publish your reply entirely*.
I would like to thank you in advance for taking time to communicate
with the LP membership in this important way. As we approach the 2008
national convention, I believe we all need to have as much information
as possible to enable us to work together in the most productive and
cordial manner possible. Thanks for being part of that.
--
Susan Hogarth
http://www.lpradicals.org
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
