Statement Of Principles

Official Libertarian Statement of Principles

We, the members of the Ontario Libertarian Party, support the following principles:

1. Each individual has the right to his or her own life, and this right is the source of all other rights.

2. Property rights are essential to the maintenance of those rights.

3. In order that these rights be respected, it is essential that no individual or group initiate the use of force or fraud against any other.

4. In order to bar the use of force or fraud from social relationships and to place the use of retaliatory force under objective control, human society requires an institution charged with the task of protecting individual rights under an objective code of rules. This is the basic task, and the only moral justification for, government.

5. The only proper functions of government, whose powers must be constitutionally limited are:

• settling, according to objective laws, disputes among individuals, where private, voluntary arbitration has failed;
• providing protection from criminals;
• providing protection from foreign invaders.

6. As a consequence of all the above, every individual -- as long as he or she respects the rights of others -- has the right to live as he or she alone sees fit, as a free trader on a free market.

Unofficial Statement of Principles to be used in Marketing

1. People own their property and life. (1 & 2)
2. The use of force or fraud is criminal (3)
3. The only role for government is eliminating force and fraud. (4 & 5)
4. People are born entitled to free trade in a free market. (6)

[Sounds too "principled" to me, and not enough "real" to appeal to voters. People care about stuff that happens to them, or things they see, or hear. For marketing purposes, I would propose items more along the lines of the things listed below. --Gjhagenaars 02:26, 12 June 2012 (EDT) ]

1. Something can only be criminal if there is a victim.
2. Government will protect the rights of individuals.
3. Nobody has the right to make decisions on your behalf.
4. Corporations do not have more rights than you do.

This document is in preparation. It will stay here, until a preparer nominates it for approval by changing the "InPreparation" tag to "NominatedForApproval"

• I own me and nobody else.