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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Petition to undo changes made to the LP platform in 2006

You may be interested to know that the organizers of "Restore04" are not in fact advocating the literal restoration of the 40 planks deleted in Portland, but rather have proposed a massive rewrite (by Rob Power) of the 14,000-word 62-plank 2004 platform into a 10,000-word 31-plank platform with undisclosed amounts of novel language: http://libertarianmajority.net/power-platform.
 
I encourage you read what Restore04 doesn't want you to see: the PlatCom's proposed 2008 platform (http://libertarianmajority.net/pure-principles-platform), which you won't find mentioned or linked to anywhere on the Restore04 site.  If you read it, I'd be curious to know:
  1. What in your opinion is the most important libertarian principle that a 2/3 majority of NatCon delegates would agree is missing from the Platform Committee's current draft?
  2. What in your opinion are the most important specific policy questions that a 2/3 majority of NatCon delegates would agree do not have any answer in the Platform Committee's current draft but should?
I also wonder in how many of the 12 cases in the table below you prefer the 2004 language over the proposed 2008 language.  (If it doesn't get through to LPSM-discuss, you can see it via me cc'ing this email to http://more.libertarianintelligence.com/.)
 
Brian Holtz
Secretary, 2008 Platform Committee
 

2004/Power04 Proposed 2008 Platform
(Non-italicized language is shared with Rob's draft)
We support the right of individuals to renounce one's affiliation with any government, and to be exempt from the obligations imposed by those governments We support the right of political entities to renounce their affiliation with any government, and to be exempt from the obligations imposed by that government
Government must be returned to its proper role as protector of rights, and must once again be made accountable for its actions to the individual citizen. Government exists to protect the rights of every individual including life, liberty and property.
We support ending all taxation. Criminal and civil sanctions against tax evaders should stop. We support the right of any individual to challenge the payment of taxes All persons are entitled to keep the fruits of their labor. We call for the repeal of the income tax and the abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service.
We call for the elimination of all government fiat money and all government minted coins Individuals engaged in voluntary exchange should be free to use as money any mutually agreeable commodity or item.
We call for the end of all regulation of financial and capital markets. We call for repeal of all laws based on the concept of insider trading. Government regulation of financial and capital markets should be limited to prohibition of fraud.
We call for the privatization of air traffic control systems, water works, public roads and the national highway system We seek to divest government of all functions that can be provided by non-governmental organizations or private individuals. We oppose government subsidies to business
Strict liability, not government agencies and arbitrary government standards, should regulate pollution Pollution of other people's property is a violation of individual rights.
Such parks and wilderness and recreation areas that already exist should be transferred to non-government ownership 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.
We oppose all government welfare, relief projects and "aid to the poor" programs. The proper source of help for the poor is the voluntary efforts of private groups and individuals.
Adhere rigidly to the principle that all U.S. citizens travel abroad at their own risk American foreign policy should seek an America at peace with the world and its defense against attack from abroad.
We call for the withdrawal of all American military personnel stationed abroad The United States should both abandon its attempts to act as policeman for the world and avoid entangling alliances
We advocate a complete and unilateral withdrawal of the United States from all international trade agreements, We support the removal of governmental impediments to free trade.