Draft of the California Libertarian Party Platform

Good morning to our 2 Paragraphs Family.  At the end of this coming July the Libertarian Party of California will be having its annual convention when I anticipate submitting a proposal for its new party platform.  A draft of it is now being submitted to you for your thoughts and comments.  All feedback is appreciated!  Here is the draft:

1. LET THE PRIVATE MARKETS DO THEIR WORK: Government intervention in the marketplace virtually always results in financial and political favors for wealthy and politically powerful people as well as for poor or diverse people who have lots of votes. This gives rise to “Crony Capitalism” and the divisiveness that drives up prices of all goods and services involved, and it also increases the costs of government.

2. BALANCE THE GOVERNMENT BUDGETS!  Budget Deficits will punish our children and grandchildren in the coming years.  But the politicians responsible for the deficits will be long gone and, therefore, not held accountable.  This is a huge threat to the stability of our country!

3. DO NOT ALLOW OUR MILITARY TO BE IN A WAR ZONE FOR LONGER THAN 60 DAYS WITHOUT CONGRESS ISSUING A FORMAL DECLARATION OF WAR!  Congress has abrogated its exclusive Constitutional power to send our fighting troops into wars by passing the so-called War Powers Acts that purport to delegate that power to the President.  But by enforcing the Constitution Congress will be held accountable.  This will make the decisions much more prudent and, when it does declare war, Congress will almost certainly set forth goals for the conflict so that we can withdraw our troops when those goals have been achieved.

4. BRING INCENTIVES TO THE MANY PUBLIC SCHOOLS THAT ARE FAILING OUR CHILDREN!  Most of the failing public schools are in communities where the lower economic classes live, which means often there are many people of color.  Bring incentives for making them better by allowing all parents to choose where their government money will be spent for the education of their children.  And, as has been well documented, they will choose excellence.  So that will bring in competition for those educational dollars.  Think of it this way: public education is one of the few areas in our economy where the provider dictates what the purchaser will buy.  So the providers have no incentives to provide a better product.  But changing those dynamics will change that outcome.

5. PROMOTE PUBLIC DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE ISSUES OF OUR DAY, WHICH WILL CUT BACK ON OUR POLARIZATION!  Give the public media more open access to the workings of government, including the Criminal Justice Systems, the Departments of Corrections, and the rest.  And let’s re-emphasize the fact that Life is Complicated, and that People of Good Will should be able to write about and discuss all issues without being considered to be totally misguided or even evil!

6. ADOPT DR. MILTON FRIEDMAN’S PROPOSAL OF A “NEGATIVE INCOME TAX.”  Every person in our country 18 years of age or older who is either a citizen or possesses a Green Card will, if earning no money, receive a monthly stipend from the federal government of, for example, $24,000, broken into monthly payments of $2,000.  But for every dollar those people earn between zero and $48,000, they would lose 50 cents of their stipend.  Thus if they earned $48,000 they would neither receive any stipend nor pay any income taxes.  This would allow all other forms of welfare to be abolished, except for those people who have truly special needs, and would also result in huge governmental savings in administrative costs and interference into people’s lives.  AND it would also provide an incentive for all people to earn the extra dollar.  All of these results are missing in today’s world.

7. IMMIGRATION: TWO “ELLIS ISLANDS.”  We must have control over who comes into and stays in our country. But we should also keep in mind that immigrants coming here to pursue the “American Dream” have strongly helped to make this country great.  So let’s adopt the original idea from Larry Sharpe and contract with two private companies with each installing an “Ellis Island,” one on the Mexican border with Texas and the other on the Mexican border with California.  Then immigrants could come to those places, pay a fee and go through a background check for criminal conduct, mental illness and even terrorism.  If they passed it they could be given an Orange Card, which they could use to go to and work in any state that opted to be on the program.  Then the companies that hired those immigrants would pay a finder’s fee to the border company, which would make the program self-sufficient.  Soon other immigrants that are here illegally would see the benefits of applying for this program because they too could live normal lives, get driver’s licenses and travel freely.  What’s not to like?  Thank you Larry!

      Yes, there are many other issues that I/we could address, but we can’t conquer the world all at one time. So these are my core selections for your thoughts and feedback, and I am looking forward to hearing from you!

      (Not funny: The only time in my life that I have been ashamed to be an American was yesterday when I watched a video of four armed and masked men in plain clothes, some of which had the word “Police” on them but without identifying the jurisdiction, coming out of an unmarked car and seemingly arbitrarily attacking an Hispanic man (later shown to be a U.S. Citizen).  They pulled him to the ground and laid on him for at least three minutes while attempting to handcuff him, all the while with him yelling that he could not breathe. Finally when they picked him up his body went into convulsions.  The explanation we were left with was that these men were from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement teams who were enforcing our immigration laws.  But law enforcement officers in our country simply cannot be allowed to act in this fashion!  Our Justice System is based upon Warrants, Probable Cause, and providing Rights to the accused in each case!  That is what our country stands for, and it looks like this is being betrayed right before our eyes!)