Platform
Progressive Libertarianism is a political concept that encompasses a wide range of issues that other political ideologies do not cover and approaches them in a manner that is consistent with progressive “dictionary defined” ideology in a limited government manner. Below is a loose platform of the general ideas and goals of Progressive Libertarianism. Please note that this is ever changing, so check back often to see if something new has been added or updated.
We don’t expect everyone to fully agree with this platform, as its understandable that there is no, one size fits all ideology, however the platform as a whole is sufficient for starting us on the road to where we want to go. If you find what you feel is a fault with anything in this platform, please raise the subject and demonstrate your objections to a particular stance. We encourage everyone to be open-minded, critical, objective thinkers.
-Election reform, improving our outdated system of voting by upgrading to a more efficient system that allows voters to truly voice their opinion at the polls by giving them the ability to not worry about “wasted votes” through the implementation of Approval Voting or Range Voting. Ballot access laws must be reformed as well to allow all parties and candidates an equal chance at getting on ballots. Currently most third party and independent candidates must collect twice, and sometimes as much as four times as more signatures than Democrats or Republicans in order to be on a ballot.
-Reduction of government spending, begin reducing program and agency funding in all areas possible, focusing on efficiency. Begin paying down federal debt, with tax reductions across the board as annual budgets are decreased. The government should be producing a surplus every year and finding ways to reduce costs, though for the past 80 years, we have steadily gone deeper into debt.
-Tax Code Reform, with the income tax completely replaced by a consumption tax, excluding necessities such as food, utilities, medicine, and housing. Businesses would also be subject to a tax on all of their various consumptions as well to prevent taxation circumvention through the use of corporation status.
-The abolishment of property taxes with the exception of a tax on transactions. Property passed on in a will would be excluded from this transaction tax. As long as the government collects rent in the form of taxes on property, we cannot truly be real property owners, the basis of being a free individual.
-Monetary Policy Reform, ending the creation of currency with no actual backing, otherwise known as fiat money, basically the creation of money out of thin air. Government debt and creation of currency with no backing causes the devaluation of our currency and inflation, which in turn slows the growth of the economy, causes job loss, and produces artificial bubbles in the economy. The federal reserve should be fully audited yearly and interest rates should be left solely to market forces. Our monetary system should be backed by precious metals with each one being independent of the other in basing its value.
Alongside our monetary system should be other forms of currency chosen freely by individuals to allow freedom of choice of currency unregulated by government. Fractional reserve lending should be made illegal, as it is a false representation of money.
-Market regulation reform to prevent companies from using dishonest business practices that lead to violent spikes in the market, also caused by loose credit policies of the federal reserve. This will allow the market to run much more efficiently with low regulation that ensures both producer and consumer rights and safety while making the market more transparent and lowering the cost of doing business.
-End “special interests regulations” and the subsidization of businesses in all areas of the market. Government should not be giving money to businesses of any kind and should not make law supporting or handicapping any individual business or group of businesses. Services that the government contracts out to the private sector would be excluded. The practice of using no-bid contracts should be ended.
-Focus more on economic relationships and less on political relationships with other countries, as this will help to promote more stability for ourselves by increasing our economy and decreasing foreign threats through friendly trade. Economic cooperation and prosperity is a key element to the prevention of hostility.
-Reduction of foreign military activities, keeping a relatively strong standing military, only intervening when defensively necessary to protect U.S. interests, not to include U.S. business interests, with each incident being dealt with on a case by case basis. Bases around the world should be closed to eliminate unneeded operating costs and bring soldiers back home to their families where they can be far more productive. Military spending has to be reduced so that capital is freed up to help grow the economy.
-Ensure complete and free care is given to our soldiers/veterans. If you fight for our country, you deserve to have free health care provided to you. Our current health care services for our military are sub-par and unacceptable.
-Support the rights of the individual to allow freedom of choice and allow people to be held more accountable to the consequences of their actions. Equal rights across the board for all citizens, with the understanding that equal rights and opportunity don’t guarantee equal success.
-Support the right of free persons to associate or not associate in labor unions, and that an employer has the right to recognize or refuse to recognize a union. We oppose government interference in bargaining, such as compulsory arbitration or imposing an obligation to bargain.
-Affirm the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
-Affirm separation of church and state so as to ensure that tax payer money is not used to fund any sort of religion and that no religion is placed above any other.
-Affirm that neither federal nor state government should be involved with marriage, however realizing this is unlikely to happen. Therefor we support same sex couples receiving the same privileges and protection that all heterosexual couples enjoy. Repeal the Defense of Marriage act.
-Acknowledge that private property, even when open to the public, is subject only to the rules of the property owner. Government should not be allowed to regulate what legal activities a person does on private property.
-Repeal of the Patriot Act.
-Repeal of the Military Selective Service Act
-Repeal of affirmative action laws.
-Repeal of hate crime legislation, a crime is a crime no matter the reason for the crime.
-Have social security and medicare become optional programs, with a plan to stabilize the program in order to make it viable. What you pay in is what you get out of it.
-Work to enact legislation that will reduce the overhead of medical companies in order to ensure lower health care costs. Medical patent regulations must be reformed to disallow the re-patenting of drugs that have only been slightly altered, and decrease the length of the patents. Tort reform is a must in order to decrease the costs of health care as well. Consumers should be able to purchase insurance coverage through any means they deem practical by allowing them to buy insurance from any company they choose, and consumers should not be required to purchase health insurance. We should be looking for ways to rework our laws and regulations to help the companies cut down on costs before a government program is considered. For a further explanation, please visit http://mises.org/daily/1749
-The FDA should be more of a consumer awareness agency and less of a regulatory agency, increasing its effectiveness, however not expanding its power, in order to keep businesses in check to ensure that consumers are receiving quality, adequate information about their products and services. This would mean that instead of restricting the market by barring entry of certain products, the FDA would only have the power to ensure that companies give consumers full information about their product, services, and business practices, and also assist consumers with consumer legal action. It would also have the power to fine companies for not providing adequate information to their consumers.
-Reform of licensing regulations, removing unnecessary licensing requirements, making the licensing optional as a service to the public.
-Secure our borders by increasing our presence with more border patrol agents and national guard units. An expensive fence does not deter people, roving guard and patrol units do. Every day we deport thousands of criminals, just to have them sneak back in and commit more crimes. Government services should be denied to illegal immigrants.
-Term limits for every elected position within government, with a limit on the number of years a Supreme Court judge can serve.
-Education reform with more emphasis on private schooling and modernization of the current schooling system to ensure those who do not have the ability to attend a private school will still have the opportunity to receive a quality education. State-wide universal school vouchers are currently the best solution in moving towards a better education system that will promote competition, increasing the quality of education and give parents more choice in their children’s education.
-Hemp legalization to allow hemp products to challenge traditional paper, rubber, nylon, and various other products in the market, providing better quality products all around. Many people mistakenly believe that hemp is a drug, when in fact it is not and was once encouraged by the government to be grown to help supply our military with uniforms and the navy with sails and ropes. Hemp can grow in even the harshest of environments and would be great for replacing corn subsidized by the government, allowing farmers to expand their operations and increase wages. The North American Industrial Hemp Council provides some great information pertaining to hemp and it’s numerous uses http://www.naihc.org/hemp_information/hemp_facts.html
-Drug law reform, making all drugs equally regulated, requiring businesses to be licensed to sell them. This would bring them out into the open for education which will help people to make an informed choice should they decide to use a drug. By legalizing and regulating drugs, we deprive illegal drug operations such as street gangs and the drug cartels and terrorists in Mexico, South America, and the Middle East of their funding, save the lives of our law enforcement officials, lower the homicide rate, lower the cost of law enforcement, increase the efficiency of law enforcement, decrease prison populations and costs, provide a new booming economic sector that will produce much needed extra tax income diverted from black market economies, create new jobs, increase awareness about the dangers of drugs, decrease the harmfulness through quality control, and help prevent drug addiction and death. Legalization would move people away from harder drugs towards softer drugs as well. This would also do a lot to stabilize Mexico and other countries in which drug cartels and terrorists operate, and decrease illegal immigration and crime as people are no longer chased from their communities due to violence and bloodshed. We own our bodies, and have the right to decide for ourselves what should go into them.
-Prison reform is a must if we are to clean up our justice system. Prison should be a place where a criminal contemplates their crime and pays for it by never wanting to return. Systems should be put in place to have inmates help pay for the costs of their time spent in prison to lower the burden on tax payers. The only luxuries afforded to an inmate should be three cheap square meals a day, books, pencils, and paper. All other contraband should be checked for often and always confiscated. Education programs can be offered that an inmate could repay the costs of after being released from prison. For those that don’t repay their debts, wage garnishment could be an option for reclaiming lost money. Guards caught assisting inmates acquire contraband should be fired. Prison officials that put inmates in harmful or unsanitary conditions should be reprimanded, with the possibility of being fired as well.
-Place more emphasis on charity support to help decrease government funded programs by having a national non-discriminatory database of charities that people can donate to. Charities especially thrive when people are in a low rate consumption tax system rather than an income tax system as people have a vast amount of more control over their money.
-Advocate for welfare-to-work programs that ensures that the people being granted money and services are working to help the system support itself, also expanding programs to help with daycare for children.
-Government energy efficiency and pollution reduction is not only preferable, but demanded, and rightly so. Anywhere within government where there is room to improve energy efficiency, cut down on pollution, and enact recycling programs, reasonable measures should be taken to ensure that this is done. In various areas, this may cost more at first, but over time it will decrease the costs of government and drastically reduce the amount of pollution introduced to the environment through government actions. The government cannot force these practices on others, but can be a leading example of efficiency.
-We as individuals support clean energy such as reliable and safe nuclear power, which in turn can then be used to charge electric fuel cell vehicles. We also support wind, wave, solar, and geothermal energy, however realizing that some of these technologies will not be viable for several decades on a large scale and others are still a ways off. Until we can fully move into “green” energy though, oil and gas reserves here at home must be tapped to decrease our dependence on foreign energy sources.