Harland Harrison wrote:
BH) I hope you're not telling us that the Bill of Rights does not cover torture. (BH
HH) No, I am not saying that. Unfortunately, Justice Scalia is saying that! (HH
If our Platform needs to point out all the ways in which the LP disagrees with nanny staters like Antonin Scalia, then it's going to need more than the 14,000 words of the 2004 Platform. :-)
HH) A child should only be removed from his or her home by a local court empowered with the consent of the community. (HH
I would welcome the LP Platform recognizing the power of the community to use the democratic machinery of the state to enforce its will against abusive parents, but I'm in enough trouble with the LP's radicals as it is. They would say that the proper way to enforce the principle I quoted from the proposed 2008 Platform is to allow individuals to homestead the allegedly-abandoned guardianship rights of the child. I don't think I'd want to have the Platform endorse our enforcement mechanism over theirs. This is an area where principled Libertarians disagree.
HH) This recognizes the obligation of all armies to protect civilians, and points up the economic absurdity of the nuclear arms race. These are both important issues which I could not find in Pure Principles. (HH
Positive "obligations" to "protect" people are a no-no for some Libertarians. I repeat, the 3P draft does say "We condemn the use of force, and especially the use of terrorism, against the innocent, regardless of whether such acts are committed by governments or by political or revolutionary groups." As for the nuclear arms race, my understanding is that it is long over. I'm not aware that the U.S. is developing or expanding its strategic nuclear arsenal.
