Organization: University of Maine System
Date: Wednesday, 8 Apr 1992 22:35:50 EDT
From: Nicholas C. Hester <IA80024@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.politics
Subject: Libertarian Platform 1992 part 1


--------------------------  Begin Part One -------------------------------



                        1992 National Platform
                                of the
                          Libertarian Party

                        Adopted in Convention
                             August 1991
                          Chicago, Illinois




                               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.





                          TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement of Principles

I. Individual Rights and Civil Order

  1. FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY

  2. CRIME

  3. VICTIMLESS CRIMES

  4. SAFEGUARDS FOR THE CRIMINALLY ACCUSED

  5. JUSTICE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL

  6. JURIES

  7. INDIVIDUAL SOVEREIGNTY

  8. GOVERNMENT AND MENTAL HEALTH

  9. FREEDOM OF COMMUNICATION

  10. FREEDOM OF RELIGION

  11. THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY

  12. PROTECTION OF PRIVACY

  13. GOVERNMENT SECRECY

  14. INTERNAL SECURITY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

  15. THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS

  16. CONSCRIPTION AND THE MILITARY

  17. IMMIGRATION

  18. DISCRIMINATION

  19. WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND ABORTION

  20. FAMILY LIFE

  21. CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

  22. AMERICAN INDIAN RIGHTS

  23. THE WAR ON DRUGS

II. Trade and the Economy

  1. THE ECONOMY

  2. TAXATION

  3. INFLATION AND DEPRESSION

  4. FINANCE AND CAPITAL INVESTMENT

  5. GOVERNMENT DEBT

  6. MONOPOLIES

  7. SUBSIDIES

  8. TARIFFS AND QUOTAS

  9. PUBLIC UTILITIES

  10. UNIONS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

III. Domestic Ills

  1. ENERGY

  2. POLLUTION

  3. CONSUMER PROTECTION

  4. EDUCATION

  5. POPULATION

  6. TRANSPORTATION

  7. POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT

  8. HEALTH CARE

  9. RESOURCE USE

  10. AGRICULTURE

  11. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEATH ACT (OSHA)

  12. SOCIAL SECURITY

  13. POSTAL SERVICE

  14. CIVIL SERVICE

  15. ELECTION LAWS

IV. Foreign Affairs

 A. Diplomatic Policy

  1. NEGOTIATIONS

  2. INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL AND FOREIGN INVESTMENTS

  3. HUMAN RIGHTS

  4. WORLD GOVERNMENT

  5. SECESSION

 B. Military

  1. MILITARY POLICY

  2. PRESIDENTIAL WAR POWERS

 C. Economic Policy

  1. FOREIGN AID

  2. INTERNATIONAL MONEY

  3. UNOWNED RESOURCES

 D. International Relations

  1. COLONIALISM

  2. FOREIGN INTERVENTION

  3. SPACE EXPLORATION

V. Omissions



                       STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES

We, the members  of the Libertarian  Party, challenge the cult  of the
omnipotent state and defend the rights of the individual.

We 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.

Governments throughout history have regularly operated on the opposite
principle, that the  State has the  right to dispose of  the lives  of
individuals and the  fruits of their  labor.  Even within  the  United
States, all political  parties other than  our own grant to government
the right to regulate the lives of individuals and seize the fruits of
their labor without their consent.

We, on the  contrary, deny the  right of any government  to  do  these
things, and 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.


Since  governments,  when  instituted,  must  not  violate  individual
rights, we oppose  all interference by  government  in  the  areas  of
voluntary and contractual  relations among individuals.  People should
not be forced to sacrifice their lives and property for the benefit of
others.  They should  be left free  by government  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.



                 I. INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND CIVIL ORDER

No conflict exists  between civil order  and individual rights.   Both
concepts  are  based  on  the  same  fundamental  principle:  that  no
individual, group, or  government may initiate force against any other
individual, group, or government.


1. FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY

Members of the  Libertarian  Party  do  not  necessarily  advocate  or
condone any of  the practices our  policies  would  make  legal.   Our
exclusion of moral  approval and disapproval  is deliberate:  people's
rights must be recognized; the wisdom of any course of peaceful action
is  a  matter  for  the  acting  individual(s)  to  decide.   Personal
responsibility is discouraged  by society routinely denying the people
the opportunity to  exercise it.  Libertarian  policies will create  a
society where people  are free  to  make  and  learn  from  their  own
decisions.

2. CRIME

The continuing high  level of violent  crime -- and  the  government's
demonstrated inability  to  deal  with  it  --  threatens  the  lives,
happiness,  and  belongings   of  Americans.   At   the   same   time,
governmental violations of  rights undermine  the  people's  sense  of
justice with regard  to crime.  The  appropriate way to suppress crime
is through consistent  and impartial enforcement  of laws that protect
individual rights.  Laws  pertaining to "victimless  crimes" should be
repealed since such laws themselves violate individual rights and also
breed other types  of crime.  We  applaud  the  trend  toward  private
protection services and  voluntary community crime control groups.  We
support institutional changes,  consistent with full  respect for  the
rights of the  accused,  that  would  permit  victims  to  direct  the
prosecution in criminal cases.

3. VICTIMLESS CRIMES

Because only actions  that  infringe  on  the  rights  of  others  can
properly be termed  crimes, we favor the repeal of all federal, state,
and local laws  creating "crimes" without  victims.  In particular, we
advocate:

a.   the  repeal   of  all  laws  prohibiting  the  production,  sale,
possession, or  use  of  drugs,  and  of  all  medicinal  prescription
requirements  for  the   purchase  of  vitamins,  drugs,  and  similar
substances;

b.  the repeal  of all laws restricting or prohibiting the use or sale
of alcohol, including  the imposition of  a minimum drinking age,  and
making bartenders or  hosts responsible for  the behavior of customers
and guests;

c.  the repeal  of all laws  or policies authorizing stopping  drivers
without probable cause to test for alcohol or drug use;

d.  the repeal  of all laws  regarding  consensual  sexual  relations,
including prostitution and  solicitation, and the  cessation of  state
oppression and harassment  of homosexual men  and women, that they, at
last, be accorded their full rights as individuals;

e.  the repeal  of all laws  regulating or prohibiting the possession,
use, sale, production,  or distribution of sexually explicit material,
independent  of  "socially   redeeming  value"  or   compliance   with
"community standards";

f.  the repeal of all laws regulating or prohibiting gambling;

g.  the repeal  of anti-racketeering statutes  such as  the  Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which punish peaceful
behavior -- including  insider trading in securities, sale of sexually
explicit  material,  and   nonviolent  anti-abortion  protests  --  by
freezing assets of  the accused and  seizing assets of the  accused or
convicted; and

h.  the repeal  of all laws  interfering  with  the  right  to  commit
suicide as infringements of the ultimate right of an individual to his
or her own life.

We demand the  use of executive pardon to free and exonerate all those
presently incarcerated or  ever convicted solely for the commission of
these "crimes."  We  condemn the wholesale  confiscation  of  property
prior to conviction by the state that all too often accompanies police
raids, searches, and prosecutions for victimless crimes.

Further, we recognize  that, often, the  Federal Government blackmails
states which refuse to comply with these laws by withholding funds and
we applaud those states which refuse to be so coerced.

4. SAFEGUARDS FOR THE CRIMINALLY ACCUSED

Until such time as persons are proved guilty of crimes, they should be
accorded full respect  for  their  individual  rights.   We  are  thus
opposed to reduction of constitutional safeguards of the rights of the
criminally accused.

We oppose labeling  cases as "civil" strictly to avoid the due process
protections of criminal  law and we  further oppose governmental civil
and criminal pretrial seizure of property for criminal offenses.

We oppose police  officers using excessive  force on the disorderly or
the criminally accused,  handing out what  they  may  consider  to  be
instant punishments on the streets, preventive detention, and no-knock
laws. Instant-punishment policies  deprive the  accused  of  important
checks on government  power -- juries  and the judicial  process.   We
oppose any concept  that some individuals  are by nature  second-class
citizens who only understand instant punishment and any claim that the
police possess special  insight into recognizing  persons in  need  of
punishment.

We support full restitution for all loss suffered by persons arrested,
indicted, tried, imprisoned,  or otherwise injured  in the  course  of
criminal  proceedings  against  them  that  do  not  result  in  their
conviction.  When they are responsible, government police employees or
agents should be liable for this restitution.

We call  for  a  reform  of  the  judicial  system  allowing  criminal
defendants and civil  parties to a court action a reasonable number of
peremptory challenges to proposed judges, similar to their right under
the present system to challenge a proposed juror.



5. JUSTICE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL

The  present  system  of  criminal  law  is  based  almost  solely  on
punishment with little concern for the victim.  We support restitution
for the victim  to the fullest  degree possible at the  expense of the
criminal or wrongdoer.

We oppose the  prosecution of individuals  for exercising their rights
of self-defense.

We oppose all  "no-fault" insurance laws,  which deprive the victim of
the right to  recover damages from  those responsible in the  case  of
injury.  We also  support the  right  of  the  victim  to  pardon  the
criminal or wrongdoer, barring threats to the victim for this purpose.
 We applaud the growth of private adjudication of disputes by mutually
acceptable judges.

We support a  change in rape  laws so that cohabitation will no longer
be a defense against a charge of rape.

6. JURIES

We  oppose  the  current  practice  of  forced  jury  duty  and  favor
all-volunteer juries. In  addition,  we  urge  the  assertion  of  the
common-law right of  juries to judge  not only the facts  but also the
justice of the  law. In all  cases to which the government is a party,
the judge should  be required to inform the jurors of their common law
right to judge the law, as well as the facts, and to acquit a criminal
defendant, and to  find against  the  government  in  a  civil  trial,
whenever they deem the law unjust or oppressive.

7. INDIVIDUAL SOVEREIGNTY

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
-- with his  or her consent -- may be aided by any other individual or
group.

The right of  defense extends to  defense against aggressive  acts  of
government.  We favor  an immediate end  to the doctrine of "Sovereign
Immunity" which  ignores  the  primacy  of  the  individual  over  the
abstraction of the  State, and holds  that the State, contrary  to the
tradition of redress  of grievances,  may  not  be  sued  without  its
permission or held accountable for its actions under civil law.

8. GOVERNMENT AND MENTAL HEALTH

We oppose the  involuntary commitment of  any person to or involuntary
treatment in a mental institution.

We advocate an  immediate end to  the spending of tax  money  for  any
program of  psychiatric,  psychological,  or  behavioral  research  or
treatment.

We favor an  end to the  acceptance  of  criminal  defenses  based  on
"insanity" or "diminished  capacity" which absolve the guilty of their
responsibility when criminal intent is shown.

9. FREEDOM OF COMMUNICATION

We defend the  rights of individuals to unrestricted freedom of speech
and freedom of  the press and  guarantee the right of  individuals  to
dissent from government  itself.  We recognize  that full  freedom  of
expression is possible  only as part  of a  system  of  full  property
rights.  The freedom  to use one's  own voice; the freedom  to hire  a
hall; the freedom  to own a printing press, a broadcasting station, or
a transmission cable;  the freedom to wave or burn one's own flag; and
similar property-based freedoms  are precisely what constitute freedom
of communication.  At  the same time,  we recognize  that  freedom  of
communication does not extend to the use of other people's property to
promote one's ideas without the voluntary consent of the owners.

We oppose any  abridgment of the  freedom of speech through government
censorship, regulation or  control of communications media, including,
but not limited to, laws concerning:

-- Obscenity, including  "pornography", as  we  hold  this  to  be  an
abridgment of liberty  of expression despite claims that it instigates
rape or assault, or demeans and slanders women;

-- Reception  and  storage  equipment,  such  as  digital  audio  tape
recorders and radar  warning devices, and  the  manufacture  of  video
terminals by telephone companies;

-- Electronic bulletin  boards,  communications  networks,  and  other
interactive electronic media  as we hold  them to  be  the  functional
equivalent of speaking  halls and  printing  presses  in  the  age  of
electronic communications, and as such deserving of full freedom;

-- Electronic newspapers,  electronic "Yellow Pages",  and  other  new
information media, as these deserve full freedom.

-- Commercial speech or advertising.

We oppose speech  codes at all  schools that are primarily tax funded.
Language that is deemed offensive to certain groups is not a cause for
legal action.

We favor the  abolition of the Federal Communications Commission as we
would provide  for  free  market  ownership  of  airwave  frequencies,
deserving of full First Amendment protection.

We oppose government  ownership or subsidy  of, or  funding  for,  any
communications organization.

We strongly oppose  the government's burgeoning  practice of  invading
newsrooms, or the  premises of other  innocent third parties,  in  the
name of law  enforcement. We further  oppose court orders gagging news
coverage of criminal proceedings -- the right to publish and broadcast
must not be  abridged merely  for  the  convenience  of  the  judicial
system.  We deplore  any efforts to  impose  thought  control  on  the
media, either  by  the  use  of  anti-trust  laws,  or  by  any  other
government action in the name of stopping "bias."

Removal of all  of these  regulations  and  practices  throughout  the
communications media would  open the way  to diversity and innovation.
We shall not  be satisfied until  the First Amendment is  expanded  to
protect full, unconditional freedom of communication.

10. FREEDOM OF RELIGION

We defend the rights of individuals to engage in (or abstain from) any
religious activities that  do not violate  the rights of  others.   In
order to defend freedom, we advocate a strict separation of church and
State.  We oppose  government actions that  either aid or  attack  any
religion.  We oppose  taxation of church  property for the same reason
that we oppose all taxation.

We condemn the  attempts by parents  or any others -- via kidnappings,
conservatorships,  or  instruction   under  confinement  --  to  force
children to conform  to their parents' or any others' religious views.
Government  harassment  or  obstruction  of  unconventional  religious
groups for their beliefs or non-violent activities must end.

11. THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY

There is  no  conflict  between  property  rights  and  human  rights.
Indeed, property rights  are the rights  of  humans  with  respect  to
property, and as such, are entitled to the same respect and protection
as all other human rights.

Moreover, all human  rights are property  rights too.  Such rights  as
the freedom from  involuntary servitude as  well  as  the  freedom  of
speech and the  freedom of press  are based  on  self-ownership.   Our
bodies are our  property every bit  as much as is justly acquired land
or material objects.

We further hold  that 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 violations of the
right to private  property, liberty of  contract, and freedom of trade
done in the  name of  national  security.   We  also  condemn  current
government efforts to  regulate or ban the use of property in the name
of  aesthetic  values,   riskiness,  moral   standards,   cost-benefit
estimates, or the promotion or restriction of economic growth.

We demand an  end to the  taxation of privately owned  real  property,
which actually makes  the State the  owner of  all  lands  and  forces
individuals to rent their homes and places of business from the State.
 We condemn attempts  to employ eminent  domain to municipalize sports
teams or to try to force them to stay in their present location.

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.  Specifically, we
call for the return of lands taken from Americans of Japanese ancestry
during World War II.

12. PROTECTION OF PRIVACY

The individual's right to privacy, property, and right to speak or not
to speak should  not be infringed  by the government.  The  government
should not use  electronic or other means of covert surveillance of an
individual's actions or  private property without  the consent of  the
owner  or  occupant.    Correspondence,  bank  and   other   financial
transactions  and  records,   doctors'  and  lawyers'  communications,
employment records, and  the like should  not be  open  to  review  by
government without the  consent  of  all  parties  involved  in  those
actions.

We support the protections provided by the Fourth Amendment and oppose
any government use  of search warrants  to examine or seize  materials
belonging to innocent third parties.  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 all  proposed regulations of civilian research on encryption
methods. We also  oppose government classification of such research or
requirements that deciphering methods be disclosed to the government.

If a private  employer screens prospective  or current  employees  via
questionnaires, polygraph tests,  urine tests for  drugs, blood  tests
for AIDS, or other means, this is a condition of that employer's labor
contracts. Such screening  does not violate  the rights of  employees,
who have the  right to boycott  such employers if they choose. Private
contractual arrangements, including  labor contracts, must  be founded
on mutual consent  and agreement in  a society that upholds freedom of
association. On the other hand, we oppose any use of such screening by
government or regulations  requiring government contractors  to impose
any such screening.

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.

We oppose the  issuance by the  government of an identity  card, to be
required for any  purpose,  such  as  employment,  voting,  or  border
crossing.

We further oppose  the nearly universal  requirement for  use  of  the
Social Security Number  as a personal  identification code, whether by
government  agencies  or  by  intimidation  of  private  companies  by
governments.



13. GOVERNMENT SECRECY

We condemn the government's use of secret classifications to keep from
the public information  that it should  have.  We favor substituting a
system  in  which   no  individual  may  be  convicted  for  violating
government secrecy classifications  unless the  government  discharges
its burden of proving that the publication:

a.  violated the  right of privacy of those who have been coerced into
revealing  confidential  or   proprietary  information  to  government
agents, or

b.  disclosed defensive  military plans so as to materially impair the
capabilities to respond to attack.

It should always  be a defense  to such prosecution  that  information
divulged shows that the government has violated the law.

14. INTERNAL SECURITY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

We  call  for   abolition  of  secret  police,  such  as  the  Central
Intelligence  Agency.   We   support  Congressional  investigation  of
criminal activities of  the CIA and  FBI and of  wrongdoing  by  other
governmental agencies.

We  support  the   abolition  of  the   subpoena  power  as  used   by
Congressional committees against  individuals or firms.  We oppose any
efforts to  revive  the  House  Internal  Security  Committee  or  its
predecessor the House  Un-American Activities Committee,  and call for
the destruction of  its files on  private individuals and groups.   We
also call for  the abolition of  the Senate Subcommittee  on  Internal
Security.

15. THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS

The Bill of  Rights recognizes that an armed citizenry is essential to
a free society.   We affirm the right to keep and bear arms and oppose
all laws at  any  level  of  government  restricting,  regulating,  or
requiring the ownership, manufacture, transfer, or sale of firearms or
ammunition. We oppose  all laws requiring  registration of firearms or
ammunition.  We also  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 support repeal of the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Federal
Gun Control Act  of 1968, and we demand the immediate abolition of the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

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").

16. CONSCRIPTION AND THE MILITARY

Recognizing  that  registration   is  the  first   step  toward   full
conscription, we oppose all attempts at compulsory registration of any
person and all  schemes for automatic  registration through government
invasions of the  privacy of school,  motor vehicle, or other records.
We call for  the abolition of  the still-functioning elements  of  the
Selective Service System,  believing that impressment  of  individuals
into the armed  forces is involuntary  servitude.   We  call  for  the
destruction of  all  files  in  computer-readable  or  hard-copy  form
compiled by the  Selective Service System.  We also oppose any form of
national service, such as a compulsory youth labor program.

We oppose adding  women to the  pool of those eligible for and subject
to the draft,  not because we think that as a rule women are unfit for
combat, but because  we believe that  this step enlarges the number of
people subjected to government tyranny.

We support the immediate and unconditional exoneration of all who have
been accused  or  convicted  of  draft  evasion,  desertion  from  the
military, and other  acts of  resistance  to  such  transgressions  as
imperialistic wars and  aggressive acts of  the military.  Members  of
the military should  have the same  right to quit their  jobs as other
persons.

We call for  the end of the Defense Department practice of discharging
armed forces personnel  for homosexual conduct.   We further call  for
retraction of all  less-than-honorable discharges previously  assigned
for such reasons  and  deletion  of  such  information  from  military
personnel files.

We recommend the  repeal of the  Uniform Code of Military  Justice and
the recognition and  equal protection of  the rights of  armed  forces
members.  This will  thereby promote morale,  dignity, and a sense  of
justice within the military.


17. IMMIGRATION

We hold that  human rights should  not be denied or  abridged  on  the
basis  of  nationality.   We  condemn  massive  roundups  of  Hispanic
Americans and others  by  the  federal  government  in  its  hunt  for
individuals not possessing required government documents.  We strongly
oppose all  measures  that  punish  employers  who  hire  undocumented
workers.  Such measures  repress free enterprise,  harass workers, and
systematically discourage employers from hiring Hispanics.

We welcome all refugees to our country and condemn the efforts of U.S.
officials to create a new "Berlin Wall" which would keep them captive.
We condemn the  U.S.  government's policy  of barring  those  refugees
from our country and preventing Americans from assisting their passage
to help them escape tyranny or improve their economic prospects.

Undocumented non-citizens should not be denied the fundamental freedom
to labor and  to move about unmolested.  Furthermore, immigration must
not be restricted for reasons of race, religion, political creed, age,
or sexual preference.

We  therefore  call   for  the  elimination  of  all  restrictions  on
immigration, the  abolition  of  the  Immigration  and  Naturalization
Service and the  Border Patrol, and  a declaration of full amnesty for
all  people  who  have  entered  the  country  illegally.   We  oppose
government welfare and  resettlement payments to  non-citizens just as
we oppose government welfare payments to all other persons.

18. DISCRIMINATION

Individual rights should  not be denied,  abridged, or enhanced at the
expense of other  people's rights, on  the basis of sex, wealth, race,
color,  creed,  age,   national  origin,  personal  habits,  political
preference, or  sexual  orientation  by  the  laws  at  any  level  of
government.  Protective labor  laws, Selective Service laws, and other
laws that violate  rights  selectively  should  be  repealed  entirely
rather than being extended to all groups.

Discrimination imposed by  the government has  brought  disruption  in
normal relationships of people, set neighbor against neighbor, created
gross injustices, and diminished human potential.  Anti-discrimination
enforced by the  government is the  reverse side of the coin, and will
for the same  reasons create  the  same  problems.   Consequently,  we
oppose any government  attempts to  regulate  private  discrimination,
including discrimination in  employment, housing, and  privately owned
so-called public accommodations.   The right  to  trade  includes  the
right not to trade -- for any reasons whatsoever.

19. WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND ABORTION

We hold that individual rights should not be denied or abridged on the
basis of sex.   We call for  repeal of all laws discriminating against
women, such as  protective labor laws  and marriage  or  divorce  laws
which deny the  full rights of  men and women.   We  oppose  all  laws
likely to impose  restrictions on free  choice and private property or
to widen tyranny through reverse discrimination.

Recognizing that each  person must be  the sole and absolute  owner of
his or her  own body, we support the right of women to make a personal
choice  regarding  the   termination  of  pregnancy.   We  oppose  the
undermining of the  right via laws  requiring consent of the  pregnant
woman's parents, consent  of the prospective  father, waiting periods,
or compulsory provision  of indoctrination on  medical risks or  fetal
development.  However, we  also oppose all  tax funding for abortions.
It is particularly  harsh to force  someone who believes that abortion
is  murder  to   pay  for  another's   abortion.   We   also   condemn
state-mandated abortions.

20. FAMILY LIFE

We support protection  of the integrity  of families and households as
contractual   institutions   against    government    intrusion    and
interference.  Such governmental interference has undermined the value
of families and  households as cultural institutions of love, nurture,
companionship, kinship, and  personal development by  forcing them  to
conform to a  rigid, inflexible  design.   Moreover,  we  condemn  the
usurpation by  government  through  morals  laws,  government  welfare
programs, and government  schools, of activities  long carried  on  by
families and households.   We further accuse  government of  designing
educational programs that  place civic and  moral education under  the
control of politicians  and of designing  welfare  laws  that  destroy
families and households.

21. CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

Children are human  beings and, as  such, have all the rights of human
beings.



We  recognize  that  children  who  have  not  reached  maturity  need
guardians to secure  their rights and  to aid in the exercise of those
rights. We hold  that guardianship belongs  to those who most love and
value the child  and his or  her development, normally the parents and
never the state.

We oppose all laws that empower government officials to seize children
and make them  "wards of the  state" or, by means  of child labor laws
and compulsory education,  to infringe on  their freedom  to  work  or
learn as they  choose.  We oppose  all legally created  or  sanctioned
discrimination against (or  in favor of)  children, just as we  oppose
government discrimination directed  at any other  artificially defined
sub-category of human  beings.  Specifically we oppose ordinances that
outlaw adults-only apartment housing.

We also support  the repeal of  all laws establishing any  category of
crimes applicable to  children for which adults would not be similarly
vulnerable, such as  curfew, smoking, and alcoholic beverage laws, and
other status offenses.   Similarly, we favor  the repeal of  "stubborn
child" laws and  laws establishing the category of "persons in need of
supervision." We call  for an end  to the practice in  many states  of
jailing children not  accused of any crime.  We seek the repeal of all
"children's codes" or  statutes which abridge  due process protections
for young people.   We further favor  the abolition  of  the  juvenile
court system, so  that juveniles will  be held fully  responsible  for
their crimes.

Whenever parents or  other guardians are  unable or unwilling to  care
for their children,  those guardians have  the  right  to  seek  other
persons who are  willing to assume guardianship, and children have the
right to seek other guardians who place a higher value on their lives.
 Accordingly, we oppose  all laws that impede these processes, notably
those restricting private  adoption services or those forcing children
to remain in the custody of their parents against their will.

Children should always  have the right  to establish their maturity by
assuming administration and  protection of their  own  rights,  ending
dependency upon their  parents or other guardians and assuming all the
responsibilities of adulthood.


22. AMERICAN INDIAN RIGHTS

The major factors  underlying the unconscionable  plight of  America's
Indians may be summarized as follows: (1) the unresolved complexity of
dual national citizenship;  (2) the attrition of reservation lands and
abridgement  of  Indian   rights  to  remaining  properties;  (3)  the
subjugation of individual  Indians to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and
tribal governmental authority;  and (4) various federal commitments to
provide the  tribes  with  health,  education,  and  welfare  benefits
"forever" in exchange for expropriated lands.

We favor the  following remedies, respectively: (1) individual Indians
should be free  to select their citizenship, if any, and tribes should
be  allowed  to  choose  their  level  of  autonomy,  up  to  absolute
sovereignty; (2)  Indians  should  have  their  just  property  rights
restored, including rights  of easement, access,  hunting and fishing;
(3) the Bureau  of Indian  Affairs  should  be  abolished  and  tribal
members allowed to  decide the extent  and nature of their government,
if any; and  (4) negotiations should be undertaken to exchange various
otherwise unclaimed and  unowned federal properties  for any  and  all
remaining governmental obligations to the tribes.

We further advocate holding fully liable those responsible for any and
all damages which  have resulted from  authorization of, or engagement
in, resource development  on reservation lands, including damages done
by careless disposal of uranium tailings and other mineral wastes.

23. THE WAR ON DRUGS

The so-called "War  on Drugs" is a grave threat to individual liberty,
to domestic order  and to peace  in the  world;  furthermore,  it  has
provided a rationale by which the power of the state has been expanded
to restrict greatly  our right to  privacy and to  be  secure  in  our
homes.

We call for  the repeal of  all laws establishing  criminal  or  civil
penalties  for  the   use  of  drugs   and  of  "anti-crime"  measures
restricting individual rights  to be secure in our persons, homes, and
property, or limiting our rights to keep and bear arms.

------------------------------- End Part One ------------------------------
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU