Libertarian Party 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.

Discussion: We talk about these rights and think that we have them, but when push comes to shove - they're not there. We have gotten used to the way things are and most people don't question the status quo. Why are we like this? Why is it that Americans have changed so much over the last 200 years? It happened very slowly. We didn't even notice it. 

We don't like the omnipotent state, but we have let it take over every area of our lives. We yell and scream if censorship is used to take out bad language or pornographic literature in our schools, but don't even bat an eye when YouTube censors the free speech of a citizen if it makes the government look bad. We thought the communists were bad when they took control over the media, but we sit idly by while our government takes control of ours. 

The free market has worked very well for this great country, but I am afraid it is on the endangered freedoms list and will disappear soon if we don't do something radical. We all think that what we do or say will never be enough to change anything and that may even be true, but how can we sleep through it. We need to at least let our voices be heard.