[All but five sentences/clauses of this draft Platform consist of language copied directly from the 1972, 2004, and 2006 platforms. The remaining five are paraphrases or elucidations. See if you can spot them without referring to the color-coded version and platform archive at http://marketliberal.org/LP/Platforms .]
Preamble 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. Consequently, we defend each person's right to engage in any activity that is peaceful and honest, and welcome the diversity that freedom brings. The world we seek to build is one where individuals are free to follow their own dreams in their own ways, without interference from government or any authoritarian power. In the following pages we have set forth our basic principles and enumerated various policy stands derived from those principles. These specific policies are not our goal, however. Our goal is nothing more nor less than a world set free in our lifetime, and it is to this end that we take these stands. Statement of Principles We, the members of the Libertarian Party, hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live in whatever manner they choose. We hold that where governments exist, they must not violate the rights of any individual: namely, (1) the right to life -- accordingly we support the prohibition of the initiation of physical force against others; (2) the right to liberty of speech and action -- accordingly we oppose all attempts by government to abridge the freedom of speech and press, as well as government censorship in any form; and (3) the right to property -- accordingly we oppose all government interference with private property, such as confiscation, nationalization, and eminent domain, and support the prohibition of robbery, trespass, fraud, and misrepresentation. 1. Personal Liberty Individuals should be free to make choices for themselves and to accept responsibility for the consequences of the choices they make. Our support of an individual's right to make choices in life does not mean that we necessarily approve or disapprove of those choices. 1.1. Expression and Communication 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. 1.2. Personal and Bodily Privacy We support the protections provided by the Fourth Amendment to be secure in our persons, homes, and property. We favor the freedom and responsibility of adults to decide what sensations and substances they knowingly and voluntarily consume. We favor the freedom of association among private parties to negotiate how they use information voluntarily disclosed to each other. 1.3. Sexuality and Reproduction We favor the freedom of all adults to engage in any consensual amorous or reproductive behavior or relationship that does not violate the rights of others.We support the repeal of all laws restricting voluntary birth control or voluntary termination of pregnancies during their first hundred days. Parents, or other guardians, have the right to raise their children according to their own standards and beliefs, without interference by government -- unless they are abusing the children. We oppose all coercive measures for population control. 1.4. Crime and Justice 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 oppose reduction of constitutional safeguards of the rights of the criminally accused. We favor all-volunteer juries and urge the assertion of the common-law right of juries to judge not only the facts but also the justice of the law. 1.5. Self-Defense The only legitimate use of force is in defense of individual rights -- life, liberty, and justly acquired property -- against aggression, whether by force or fraud. 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. 2. Economic Liberty 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 existing governments in the economic realm is to protect property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework in which voluntary trade is protected. We oppose all government interference with voluntary and contractual relations among individuals. People should be allowed to deal with one another as free traders; and the resultant economic system, the only one compatible with the protection of individual rights, is the free market. 2.1. Property and Contract 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. Property rights are entitled to the same protection as all other human rights. We oppose all controls on wages, prices, rents, profits, production, and interest rates. 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. 2.2. Environment and Resources Pollution of other people's property is a violation of individual rights. We support the development of an objective system defining resource rights, including riparian rights, as individual property rights to prevent the inevitable over-exploitation of resources held communally and to manage negative externalities like pollution. Individuals have the right to homestead unowned resources, both within the jurisdictions of national governments and within unclaimed territory. 2.3. Government Finance Government should not incur debt, which burdens future generations without their consent. 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. We support the eventual repeal of all taxation. 2.4. Money and Markets 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 call for the abolition of all regulation of financial and capital markets. What should be punished is the theft of information or breach of contract to hold information in confidence, not trading on the basis of valuable knowledge. 2.5. Monopolies, Corporations, and Labor We seek to divest government of all functions that can be provided by non-governmental organizations or private individuals. We condemn all coercive monopolies. We defend the right of individuals to form corporations, cooperatives and other types of companies based on voluntary association. We oppose government subsidies to business, labor, or any other special interest. Nuclear power, transportation, and other industries should be governed by free markets and held to strict liability. We seek the elimination of occupational licensure. We support the right to associate or not associate in labor unions. An employer should have the right to recognize or refuse to recognize a union. 2.7. Health Care and Education We advocate the separation of education and State. As an interim measure to encourage the growth of private schools and variety in education, including home schooling, we support tax credits for tuition and other expenditures related to an individual's education. We advocate the separation of medicine and State. 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. 2.8. Retirement and Income Security Retirement planning is the responsibility of the individual, not the government. The proper source of help for the poor is the voluntary efforts of private groups and individuals acting in their communities, not central governments besieged by special interests in a distant capital. 3. Securing Liberty The principles which guide a legitimate government in its relationships with individuals and with other governments are the same as those which guide relationships among individuals: no individual, group, or government may initiate force against any other individual, group, or government. 3.1. National Defense We support the maintenance of a sufficient military to defend the United States against aggression. 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. We oppose any form of compulsory national service. 3.2. International Affairs American foreign policy should seek an America at peace with the world and the defense -- against attack from abroad -- of the lives, liberty, and property of the American people on American soil. We recognize the right to unrestricted trade and travel. We recognize the right of all people to resist tyranny and defend themselves and their rights. We support both political and revolutionary actions by individuals and groups against governments that violate rights. 3.3. Immigration and Naturalization Political freedom and escape from tyranny demands 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. 3.4. Franchise and Discrimination Government should not deny, abridge or enhance any individual's rights at the expense of other people's rights based on sex, wealth, race, color, creed, age, national origin, personal habits, political preference or sexual orientation. 3.5. Democracy We support electoral systems that are more representative of the electorate at the federal, state and local levels. In order to grant voters a full range of choice in federal, state and local elections, we propose proportional voting systems with multi-member districts for legislative elections and instant runoff voting (IRV) for single-winner elections. We support the right to secede where: (1) secession is supported by a majority within the political unit, (2) the majority does not attempt suppression of the dissenting minority, and (3) the government of the new entity is at least as compatible with human freedom as that from which it seceded.
