3.0 Securing Liberty

3.0 Securing Liberty

The protection of individual rights is the only proper purpose of government. Government is constitutionally limited so as to prevent the infringement of individual rights by the government itself. The principle of non-initiation of force should guide the relationships between governments.

This plank addresses securing liberty on two levels, first how the government and the citizens relate, and then how our government should relate to others, but it's deeper than this. This plank shows the core belief of the party laid bare for all to see with the words "only purpose of government."

The government has no purpose except to protect rights. It does not have any purpose in education, health care, retirement planning or any other activity except those that protect the rights of of individuals. It should not be lost on the reader that the rights protected are those of the individual and not any group or class.

To fully understand this on must understand the difference between a right and a privilege. A right is the A right is the sanction of independent action, per Ayn Rand*. A right cannot be revoked, unlike a privilege. The US Constitution enumerated some of your rights in the first ten amendments. Each one explicitly limiting the powers of the government with respect to individuals. At no time does the US Constitution grant license to the government to dabble in the myriad of things it does beyond protecting its people.

The Libertarian party ultimately calls for a return to constitutional rule. The ideal of constitutional rule unleashes the creative energy of the individual while providing the safest environment as well. Nothing can lead to a better quality of life for the citizens than this.

* It is proper to quote Rand in this case as Objectivism, the name she gave to her own philosophy, played a large role in the foundation of the party.