Document:2000 National Campaign Platform

Libertarian Party 2000 National Campaign Platform

This year you have a choice. Don't throw it away.

The Platform of the Libertarian Harry Browne for President Campaign

Introduction

Who Should Run Your Life -- You or the Politicians?

Libertarians believe you are better able to run your life than any politician can.

Libertarians want you to be free - free to live your life as you want to live it, not as the Republican and Democratic politicians think is best.

Libertarians want you to be able to raise your children by your values - not those of bureaucrats who see your child as a little soldier in their crusade to bring about a Brave New World.

Libertarians want you to be able to keep every dollar you earn - to spend it, save it, or give it away as you see fit.

In short, Libertarians want to get government out of your life.

Libertarians want you to be free. And this attitude is reflected in the stands taken on the issues by Harry Browne and other Libertarian candidates. In all cases, they want to reduce government and expand your freedom.

This campaign platform provides a few examples...

Part I: Social Security

Would you prefer to get out of Social Security, keep the money for yourself, and put it where you know it will be safe for your retirement?

Too bad. Republican and Democratic politicians think you?re incapable of taking care of yourself. They're determined to keep you locked in the Social Security system. They differ only over how much of your hard-earned money you must entrust to them, and over which rules you must abide by.

In the presidential race only Harry Browne, the Libertarian presidential candidate, believes in your ability to take care of yourself. He wants to unlock the door and let you out of Social Security - immediately and completely. He wants to sell off unneeded and unconstitutional federal assets to provide lifetime retirement accounts for those dependent on Social Security today, so that everyone else can be free of the system.

Part II: Self-Defense

Criminals will always be armed, even if they have to smuggle, steal, or manufacture the weapons themselves. They will never buy them in ways that involve registration, background checks, waiting periods, or safety locks. So gun laws have no effect on true criminals; their only effect is to intrude upon your privacy and make it harder for you to defend yourself.

Democrats want even more gun laws. Republicans want tougher enforcement of the existing gun laws. But the gun laws are bad laws - every one of them.

In the presidential race, only Harry Browne, the Libertarian candidate, wants to repeal all these harmful laws - so you?ll no longer be at a disadvantage to criminals.

Part III: The War on Drugs

Will someone in your family be killed in the crossfire between warring drug gangs? Will your child be lured by the high profits available from dealing drugs, make one silly mistake, and end up spending many years in prison? Will you be terrorized by violent thugs who are released early from prisons that are overcrowded with non-violent drug offenders?

If you recognize that the Drug War is dangerous to your children, your city, and your country - putting the wrong people in prison, trampling on your liberty, taking the drug business away from pharmaceutical companies and doctors, and putting it into the hands of criminals - you will get no satisfaction from Republican or Democratic politicians. They all support the Drug War unconditionally.

Libertarian Harry Browne wants to end the Drug War once and for all - bringing peace to our cities, reserving the prisons for those who do harm to others, and making your life and property once again safe from search and seizure.

Part IV: Health Care

Democrats want to complete the federal takeover of the health-care system within the next four years. Republicans want it to take five years.

Harry Browne, the Libertarian candidate, recognizes that our health-care problems began when the federal government moved into medicine. He wants to get the federal government completely out of health care - so your doctor can make house calls again, health insurance will again be affordable for everyone, and a hospital stay will no longer cost you a year's pay.

Part V: Education

Democrats want to spend more of your money on all the failed federal programs that have done so much damage to America?s schools. Republicans want to extend these bad programs to private schools - by issuing vouchers that will force private schools to obey federal rules.

Harry Browne, the Libertarian candidate, wants to get the federal government completely out of education - and repeal the income tax so you?ll have the money to put your child in any school you want.

Part VI: Foreign Policy

Republicans and Democrats alike think your child should be cannon fodder in their plans to police the world. They have created the greatest national offense in history - capable of annihilating any country, bullying small nations into accepting agreements fashioned by our President, and imposing on other countries "human rights" that don?t exist in this country.

At the same time, we have a very weak national defense - incapable of protecting this country from any dictator who can get his hands on a nuclear missile.

Harry Browne, the Libertarian candidate, wants to sharply reduce our national offense and establish a strong national defense - one that doesn?t depend upon intimidation or threats.

Libertarians do not want your children to fight or die in a foreign war. Libertarians do not want terrorists targeting your city in order to gain revenge on a meddling U.S. government.

Libertarians want to restore the foreign policy of Washington and Jefferson - a foreign policy that wishes good will toward people everywhere and is a threat to no other country.

Part VII: The Internet & Personal Freedom

Republican and Democratic politicians see the Internet as a wonderful new source of tax revenue to feed their never-satisfied demands for more money to spend. And they see the Internet as a new arena in which to exert their power - by telling you what you should be allowed to read and view.

The Internet must be kept entirely free of taxation and censorship. The smallest tax will eventually grow to become the most oppressive burden. And the tiniest regulation - such as to keep children away from pornography - will inevitably grow into the most stifling bureaucratic nightmare.

There are Republican and Democratic politicians who claim to oppose Internet taxation and censorship. But they are unreliable friends because they have no principled opposition to taxation and censorship. And so they will support your freedom only so long as it is to their advantage.

Libertarians realize that a more basic problem is the concept that government owns your life, and can take from your earnings or your spending money whatever it needs to feed its appetite. Thus it is always only a matter of time until the government looks for a new source of money.

Libertarians realize that a more basic problem is the belief that your personal freedom can be tossed aside whenever the government has a "compelling interest" in doing so. Thus it is always only a matter of time until that compelling national interest presents itself.

Libertarians know that the Internet will not be securely free, that you will not be securely free, until the government is forced to live within the very narrow confines of the Constitution. Until we once again bind down the politicians with "the chains of the Constitution," you will be fighting battle after battle to protect what little freedom and wealth the politicians have not yet taken from you.

Part VIII: The Income Tax

Democrats want to rearrange the burden of big government with targeted tax cuts. Republicans want to rearrange the burden of big government with across-the-board tax cuts.

But if we continue to have big government, who's going to pay for this burden ? the Russians?

Of course not. No matter how they rearrange the tax code, you and I will continue to pay through the nose for the politicians' fun.

Harry Browne, the Libertarian candidate, wants to dramatically reduce the burden of big government, so we can repeal the income tax entirely.

Our country did without an income tax for more than a hundred years. But since the income tax began in 1913, the government has grown larger and larger and larger ? creating enormous social and political problems.

A federal government limited to its constitutional functions of national defense, the judiciary, and a few other harmless activities would be so small that existing tariffs and excise taxes could fund it. No income taxes would be needed. And that would mean no more record keeping, no more tax forms, and no more fear of the IRS.

If you believe that some unconstitutional federal programs benefit you, we invite you to consider The Great Libertarian Offer:

Would you give up your favorite federal programs if it meant you'd never have to pay income tax again? And your children would never pay income tax. And your grandchildren could go through their entire lives without the awful burden of taxation you've had to shoulder.

Conclusion: Toward a Libertarian America

These are just some of the areas in which Harry Browne and other Libertarian candidates want you to have more control over your own life. The solution is always the same ? less government, greater individual liberty, and more personal responsibility.

You can view specific proposals on other issues by going to http://www.harrybrowne.org/ or http://www.lp.org/.

Republicans claim to be the party of limited government and economic freedom, while downplaying the importance of personal freedom. But they recognize no limits to their power, and they take away more and more of your economic freedom. They put poor people out of work by raising the minimum wage, they use your money to prop up the Russian government for another hour, and they pass obscene pork-barrel bills for farming or highways or corporate welfare or anything that provides an excuse to spend money.

Democrats claim to be the party of peace and personal freedom, while downplaying the importance of economic freedom. But they take away more and more of your personal freedom. They want to censor the Internet, put a V-chip in your television set, intrude into your home without a warrant, and shred the Bill of Rights. And they put you at risk by bombing innocent people in foreign lands.

Neither party keeps its promises and neither party is on your side.

Harry Browne and Libertarian candidates across America want to enforce the Bill of Rights, keep the federal government out of every area for which it has no constitutional authority, and restore the freedom and security the Founding Fathers intended for you.

We want you to keep every dollar you earn ? to spend it, save it, or give it away as you decide, not as the Republican and Democratic politicians think is best for you.

We want you to control your own life and make your own personal decisions.

We want you to be free.

Isn't that what you want? If so, vote for Harry Browne for President ? and for Libertarians up and down the ticket. That's the only way you can tell the world what you want.

To do otherwise is to endorse what the politicians are doing.

Finally, this year you have a choice.
Don't throw it away.