From: mlee@esd.dl.nec.com (Michael Lee)
Subject: Libertarian Program
Organization: NEC America, Engineering & Support
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 16:40:39 GMT



                      LIBERTARIAN PARTY PROGRAM

            Adopted by the Libertarian National Committee
                            28 August 1991



                               PREAMBLE

     The Libertarian Party  wants all Americans  to be  able  to  plan
their own futures.   Libertarians believe that  individuals, families,
associations, and businesses  have the right  and the ability to  deal
with their own problems by working with other people in a peaceful and
honest way.  We  reject the idea  that the aggressive  use  of  force,
whether by criminals  or government, is  either a moral  or  practical
means for achieving  positive ends. Libertarians seek a world in which
voluntary cooperation replaces  force in human  relationships.  Toward
that end, we offer the following ten point Program.



                    DEFENDING AMERICANS IN AMERICA

     An important reason for having the federal government is national
defense.  Its job  is to defend  Americans  in  America  from  foreign
attack.  The federal government should work to provide security for us
at the lowest  possible cost, in  a way which does  not undermine  our
domestic economic productivity or violate our civil liberties.
 
     U. S. military  spending is over  $300 billion per  year.  Rather
than defending America,  the bulk of  this pays  for  defending  other
countries.  People in  many of those  countries pay less for their own
defense than American taxpayers pay to defend them.
 
     The United States has many thousands of nuclear weapons more than
needed to deter  a Soviet first  strike, yet we spend  billions  every
year building more.
 
     U. S. military  intervention in Central  America, Southeast Asia,
and the Middle  East has not  made Americans more  secure.   In  fact,
Americans are less  secure, because U.  S. military policy has made us
more enemies than  friends, making all Americans targets of terrorism.
American  military  adventurism   routinely  results  in   unnecessary
bloodshed without  producing  positive  results.   The  United  States
should rely less on military force and threats and more on negotiation
and trade to establish harmonious international relationships.
 
     The Libertarian Party  proposes the following  initial  steps  to
improve the security of Americans and reduce the costs of defense:
 
1.  Notify our  allies that they must plan for their own defense needs
and take responsibility  for paying for  them.  Provide allies with  a
timetable for the  return of American military personnel to America in
order to defend America.
 
2.  Negotiate arms  reduction treaties which  do  not  compromise  our
national defense.
 
3.  Adopt a  policy that Americans  who travel  abroad  and  companies
which invest abroad  do so at  their own risk and  are subject to  the
laws and customs  of other countries  while abroad.  The United States
will no longer  use gunboat diplomacy  on their behalf  at  taxpayers'
expense.
 
4.  Reject the  "Reagan Doctrine", which  engages  the  United  States
around the globe and risks the security of all Americans by increasing
the possibility that  the U. S.  will become embroiled  in  a  foreign
civil war.
 
 
 
                     FEDERAL SPENDING MUST BE CUT
 
     Federal spending and  federal taxation are  connected.   We  must
reduce spending to reduce taxes.
 
     Unfortunately, the United  States  government  has  expanded  its
operations and spending  far beyond the  original constitutional plan.
No matter what the subject, there is some group which wants government
to regulate or  subsidize it, and  there are always those  in Congress
eager to take  over more power  and control.  But it  is impossible to
get something for  nothing.  The government  produces no goods, so  it
can hand out  favors to some  people only by taking  the earnings  and
property of others first.
 
     In  recent  years  the  government  has  attempted  to  hide  its
expensive meddling by  forcing private organizations and businesses to
adopt certain expensive  programs, rather  than  have  the  government
implement them directly.   These programs are  no less costly nor less
intrusive than if they were adopted directly by the government.
 
     Libertarians join with  the vast majority of Americans in calling
for a  smaller,  less  expensive,  less  meddlesome  government.   The
following are some  first steps in  the process  of  bringing  federal
government spending under control:
 
1.  Place the  federal budget under  a "cap" at current  levels.   Any
increase in spending on any project must be accompanied by an equal or
greater reduction in other spending.
 
2.  Phase out spending on aid to foreign governments and international
organizations such as  the World Bank  and the International  Monetary
Fund.
 
3.  Phase out  federal subsidies to all businesses such as the tobacco
industry,    the    maritime    industry,    agriculture,    or    the
military-industrial complex.
 
4.  End federal  subsidy programs  to  state  and  local  governments.
These programs merely  take taxes out  of the community and  then send
the  money  back,   minus  the  amounts  consumed  by  the  government
bureaucrats who administer them.
 
5.   End  all  federally  mandated  programs  forced  on  individuals,
organizations, and businesses.
 
 
 
                         CHOICE IN EDUCATION
 
     Government-run public schools  have failed our  children.   Their
cost keeps rising  while student performance  drops.  Today one out of
five teenagers can't  even read at  a grade school level, and colleges
must teach many students how to read and write.
 
     Poor children suffer  most because they attend the worst schools.
Few families can afford tuition for private schools while paying taxes
for public schools.   Private schools provide  better education  at  a
much lower cost.
 
     Most families have  no choice but  to send their children  to the
neighborhood public school,  regardless of its  quality.   This  makes
public schools a  protected monopoly.  Like most monopolies, they do a
poor job of serving the public.  Education suffers.
 
     This same lack  of choice frequently  compels  families  to  send
their  children  to   problem  schools.   Youngsters  are  exposed  to
violence, drugs, and  other threats.  Without  other choices,  parents
feel helpless to change this.
 
     The libertarian approach  to education is  to let parents  choose
the education that is best for their child.
 
     The following steps should be taken immediately to promote choice
and return control of education to parents and students:
 
1.  Allow parents to send their children to the teacher and the school
of their choice by implementing a voucher system.
 
2.  Eliminate the  U. S. Department of Education which spends billions
on administration and educates no one.
 
3.  Institute tax credits for any person or company which pays for the
education of any  student, or any  number of students, at  any school,
public or private.
 
4.  Remove restrictions  which limit such  private educational choices
as home schooling.
 
 
 
                      FREE TRADE AND NEUTRALITY
 
     The Libertarian Party  supports  a  foreign  policy  designed  to
promote peace and honest trade between Americans and all other people.
Thomas Jefferson stated  it:  "Peace, commerce  and honest  friendship
with all nations,  entangling alliances with none." Libertarians would
say:  free trade and neutrality.
 
     Protectionism  hurts  consumers.   It  drives  up  the  price  of
clothing, shoes, automobiles,  and other goods  by billions of dollars
each year.  Protectionism  favors special interests,  eliminates jobs,
and raises the cost of living for all Americans.
 
     Both Democratic and  Republican administrations  have,  for  many
decades, employed a foreign policy of intervention which disrupts free
trade.  Since Americans would never tolerate other nations interfering
with our internal  affairs, we should  not interfere  in  theirs.   We
should stop using  military and covert operations to prop up or topple
any other government.
 
     We should rely  on the obvious  benefits of trade to promote free
markets and human  rights throughout the  world.   Free  international
trade promotes peace  because people trading  with their neighbors  do
not want war  to interrupt their prosperity.  When trade is restricted
by  embargoes,  quotas,  and  tariffs,  history  has  shown  that  the
likelihood of war increases.
 
     The following are some steps which should be taken immediately to
promote more harmonious trading relationships:
 
1.  The United  States should return  to its historical foreign policy
of free trade and neutrality.
 
2.  The United  States government should  repeal all laws which hamper
trade with people in other countries.
 
3.  The United States government should repeal all laws which restrict
the right of Americans to travel to other countries.
 
 
 
                     THE SAVINGS AND LOAN FIASCO
 
     It is  difficult  to  imagine  a  better  example  of  government
bungling than the  savings and loan  (S&L) bailout. The problems which
many S&Ls are  experiencing is the direct result of government deposit
insurance.
 
     For decades the  government has required federally chartered S&Ls
to buy deposit  insurance from a  government agency  --  FSLIC.  FSLIC
charged premiums  without  regard  to  how  the  S&Ls  invested  their
depositor's funds. For  example, consider two  S&Ls that are identical
except for how  they invest their  funds. One buys  only  the  highest
quality investments; the  other  speculates  in  a  variety  of  risky
investments. FSLIC charges  both S&Ls the  same amount of  premium  to
insure their deposits.
 
     This is insane.  No life insurance  company would charge the same
premiums  to  two  30-year-old  women  --  one  a  smoker  and  one  a
non-smoker.  Any sensible  insurance scheme must  base the premiums on
risk. FSLIC did  not, because it  was a stupid  scheme  setup  by  the
politicians. S&Ls, as an industry, wield a lot of power in Washington.
The S&L lobby  has been strong  enought to prevent FSLIC from charging
reasonable premiums.
 
     Many S&Ls made  risky investments that  went sour. They lost  not
only their shareholder's money, but some of their depositor's funds as
well.  This left  FSLIC holding the  bag. Since FSLIC did  not  charge
premiums related to risk, it doesn't have enough money to pay back all
depositors. As a  result the federal  government  --  which  means  we
taxpayers -- are  left holding the bag.  As taxpayers, we are going to
have to pay  over $300 billion  (over $1000 for each  man, woman,  and
child!) because of this bungling.
 
     The Libertarian Party  knows and understands  that protecting our
hard-earned savings is far too important a job to trust to politicians
and bureaucrats. It  has been tried  and it has failed  miserably.  We
therefore propose that four federal insurance schemes be terminated:
 
   FSLIC - which insures deposits at savings and loans
   FDIC  - which insures deposits at banks
   SIPC  - which insures cash and securities at brokerage firms
   NCUIC - which insures deposits at credit unions
 
     For years private  insurance companies have  insured  residential
mortgages, municipal bonds,  corporate securities, and  investments at
brokerage  firms.  Based   on  the  successful  performance  of  these
companies as insurers,  it is clear  that private insurance  companies
will be able to replace FSLIC, FDIC, SIPC, and NCUIC.
 
 
 
                     TAXES:  THE CRUELEST BURDEN
 
     One of the  Libertarian Party's goals is to replace taxation with
voluntary methods for financing government services.
 
     The government uses  force to collect  taxes.  If you  don't  pay
taxes _voluntarily_, your  property may  be  seized  and  you  may  be
imprisoned.  Our earnings  and property are taken by force if we don't
cooperate.  If any  organization or person  other than our  government
tried this, we  would call it  stealing.  If it is  wrong for  private
citizens to take  others' property, it  is wrong when government  does
it.  Private citizens  and companies would  be  called  criminals  for
using such methods,  so it must  be criminal for our  government to do
it.
 
     When taxation takes  money or property  from private citizens and
transfers it to government, economic productivity declines.  Employers
cannot expand, businesses  fail, and jobs are lost.  We have seen this
repeatedly, particularly during  the past 77  years since the  federal
income tax was  introduced.  Even successful  businesses must pass  on
the cost of taxes to consumers.  Everyone loses except the government.
 
     Experience shows that government is inefficient.  Most government
services  can  be  provided  better  by  private  businesses,  private
charities, and other community organizations.
 
     To  begin  the  process  of  replacing  taxation  with  voluntary
financing of government activities, we propose the following:
 
1.  Neither Congress  nor any state  legislature should create any new
tax or increase any tax rate from this day forward.
 
2.  A "sunset" provision should be added to every tax statute.  Such a
provision would end  the particular tax  after two years unless  it is
re-enacted.
 
3.  The U.  S. Constitution and  the  state  constitutions  should  be
amended to provide  for a binding  initiative process where the voters
can repeal any tax by majority vote.
 
4.  Tax money  should no longer subsidize any government service which
can possibly be provided in the private sector.
 
 
 
                           THE ENVIRONMENT
 
     Every one of  us is dependent  on the environment to  support our
lives.  When a person, a company, or a government dumps waste from its
property onto the  property of others  without their consent,  it  has
trespassed against them.  The victims of  pollution should be able  to
sue the polluter, require it to stop, and collect damages.
 
     The best way  to understand why we have the high level of air and
water pollution we  have today is to recognize that responsibility for
protection of the  environment has been  turned over to  a  government
bureaucracy. Today's failures  are a result  of the ineffectiveness of
the government to deal with such important issues. Corporate officials
are often protected  from liability. Various  levels of government  --
often the worst  polluters  --  impose  ever  greater  regulations  on
private parties, while  hiding behind legal  exemptions  which  permit
them to violate their own standards.
 
     Current laws relating  to the environment  are not based  on  the
concept of trespass.  These laws define acceptable levels of pollution
and attempt to  prevent anyone from  exceeding those levels. They fall
short of what is needed for several reasons.
 
     By setting acceptable  levels of  pollution,  the  government  is
actually approving those  levels of  pollution.  Libertarians  do  not
believe that government bureaucrats in Washington should determine how
much poison we are forced to eat, drink, and breathe!
 
     Government sanctions environmental  destruction;  polluters  feel
safe as they  poison our environment up to government accepted levels.
It is an  uphill battle for  an  injured  private  citizen  to  sue  a
polluter who has met all government guidelines. Even if the individual
has  been  unquestionably   harmed,  the  polluter's  claim  that  all
applicable government standards were met provides a strong defense.
 
     When polluters exceed  government standards, the  penalties  they
pay typically go to the government, not to the people who were harmed.
Why should the  government be paid for poisoning private citizens? Why
shouldn't polluters compensate their victims?
 
     Faceless bureaucrats  can  never  be  as  effective  in  fighting
pollution as individual  citizens; provided that  we give citizens the
tools they need  to do so.  The following are some  initial  steps  to
protect our environment.
 
1. Clearly establish the legal right of individuals or groups to claim
that harmful pollution  of their body,  property, air or  water  is  a
trespass, allowing them to successfully sue individuals, companies, or
governments for damages.
 
2.  End  all  regulatory  attempts  to  define  acceptable  levels  of
pollution.  Setting  such   standards  has  the   effect  of   legally
sanctioning that amount  of pollution, even  when it might be  reduced
below that level.  It also deprives citizens the right to successfully
claim damages from levels of pollution which are lower than government
standards.
 
 
 
                       SOLVING THE DRUG PROBLEM
 
     Libertarians want to  see all Americans  healthy and free of drug
dependence.  However, we  recognize that criminal  penalties for sale,
transportation, possession, or use of drugs have not solved and cannot
solve this problem.   Similar  penalties  were  tried  when  alcoholic
beverages were outlawed  over 60  years  ago.   The  failure  of  this
approach was recognized, and Prohibition was repealed.
 
     Prohibition spawned organized  crime.  Today's drug  laws keep it
going.  Criminal penalties for drug trafficking reduce supplies, force
drug prices up,  and make drug  dealing very profitable.  High  prices
lead to violent  crimes committed by a small number of addicts who may
steal or murder  to feed their  habits.  Most victims of  these crimes
are innocent non-users.
 
     Prohibition resulted in many deaths from "bathtub gin".  Today we
read of deaths  from the  use  of  adulterated  drugs.   There  is  no
difference.  There is  no  consumer  protection  for  impure,  illegal
drugs.  Dead users cannot prosecute their suppliers.
 
     The substance that  causes the greatest  problem is alcohol.  The
most physically damaging  and most addictive  is tobacco.   For  every
death caused by  the use of illegal drugs, there are almost 100 deaths
caused by the  use of alcohol or tobacco.  Yet few suggest that either
alcohol or tobacco should be banned.
 
     The Libertarian Party  does not advocate  the use of drugs.   The
libertarian approach recognizes  that the drug  problem is worsened by
the use of  criminal law to attempt to halt drug use.  However foolish
people may be,  they should have  the right and the  responsibility to
determine for themselves  what to put  in their own bodies.   The  law
should reflect that.
 
     The following reforms should be instituted immediately:
 
1.  Relegalize the possession of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and other
controlled substances for  personal use.  Alaska  and the  Netherlands
have already done this for marijuana and experienced no problems.  The
British have done this for heroin with similar results.
 
2.  Hold people  who commit crimes  or cause accidents while under the
influence of any  drug (including  alcohol)  fully  liable  for  their
actions.
 
3.  Repeal all  laws and regulations which impede the establishment of
private drug treatment programs.
 
 
 
                             IMMIGRATION
 
     America grew and developed as a result of the efforts of millions
of immigrants who  fled their homelands  to seek a better  life in our
land.  Libertarians believe  that all Americans are best served if the
doors to our nation remain free and open.
 
     Many fear that  the welfare programs  which we have created would
act as a  magnet to draw  immigrants to America.  Some  say that being
poor in America  offers a higher  standard of  living  than  many  can
attain in their  homelands.  We agree.   However this is  not  a  good
reason to slam  our doors shut  on  those  who  seek  freedom  and  an
opportunity to prosper through their own honest efforts.  If anything,
the situation calls for the reform or end of these welfare programs.
 
     Others fear that  immigrant labor would  throw Americans  out  of
work.  In fact,  what will happen  is that  greater  competition  will
develop for jobs,  particularly in the  area of unskilled labor.   The
principal result of  this competition can only be a reduction in labor
costs which will  ultimately be passed on to all American consumers in
the form of  price reductions on  labor-intensive  goods and services.
Those who object  most strenuously to  an "open door" policy are those
labor groups which  stand to gain the most from monopolizing the labor
market.
 
     America was once  respected around the world as a symbol of peace
and freedom -- the land of opportunity.  People voted with their feet.
 They left much behind to come to the United States.  We should return
to the proud  tradition of welcoming  all who would join  us,  wishing
them well, and allowing them to earn their way.
 
     To quickly achieve  an open door policy, we endorse the following
immediate steps:
 
1. Amend all  welfare and benefit  programs to  exclude  coverage  and
services for anyone who is not a U. S.  citizen.
 
2. Repeal all  laws and regulations  which require a  work  permit  or
other form of government approval for a foreign citizen to work in the
United States.
 
3. Eliminate all immigration quotas.
 
 
 
                     HEALTH CARE AND HEALTH COSTS
 
     Our health is  far too important  to entrust to  politicians  and
bureaucrats.  Government's ever-expanding  role in our nation's health
care system interferes  with the ability  of patients and  doctors  to
freely select treatments,  denies potentially life-saving medicines to
the terminally ill,  encourages fraud in  government- funded care  and
research,  and  causes  skyrocketing  costs  for  everyone.   Quality,
affordable health care is increasingly unavailable.
 
     In the name  of insuring that  drugs are safe and  effective, the
Food and Drug  Administration delays or blocks the introduction of new
drugs while patients  who could benefit  suffer and dis.   Victims  of
AIDS and other  terminally  ill  patients  are  routinely  denied  the
experimental drugs which offer their only hope for life.
 
     Most medical research  in the U.  S.  is  funded  by  government.
Politics, not science,  dictates research priorities.   The government
grant system fosters  fraud and abuse.   Honest researchers who  "blow
the whistle" on fraud lose their grants while the fraud is covered up.
Meanwhile, important breakthroughs  like the  discovery  of  the  AIDS
virus are made  by small privately- financed institutes operating free
of government bureaucracy.
 
     Increased subsidies  for  health  care,  including  Medicare  and
Medicaid,  have  inflated  costs,  promoted  fraud,  and  reduced  the
standard of care  provided.  Government "cost containment" regulations
have failed to  contain costs while  inflating private hospital  bills
and insurance premiums.
 
     The most effective  way to battle serious diseases, like AIDS, is
through education and prevention.  Yet government regulations restrict
the type of  information which can  be mailed, broadcast, or taught in
public schools.   Government  prohibits the sale  of sterile  needles,
resulting in needless deaths among drug addicts and those they infect.
 
     The Libertarian Party  proposes the  following  steps  to  insure
access to affordable, quality health care for all Americans:
 
1. End government  restrictions that limit  our choice  of  treatment,
medications, and health care providers.
 
2. Replace government  funded and controlled research with tax credits
for private contributions to medical research.
 
3. End government  medical insurance  programs.  Pending  elimination,
contract medical insurance for the poor with private insurers.
 
4.  Eliminate  regulations   which  restrict  our  access  to  medical
information.
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