Libertarians believe that individuals have the right to live their lives as they choose, as long as they do not violate the equal rights of others. Consequently, people are responsible for the choices that they make and relationships and interactions between people should be voluntary. Every individual has the right to life, liberty, and property; and the proper role of government is to secure individual liberties, help people defend themselves against force or fraud, and treat all people fairly and equally before the law.

 

We are against government involvement in defining, licensing, or restricting personal relationships. Consenting adults should be free to choose their own personal relationships and sexual practices. Sexual orientation, preference, gender, or gender identity should have no impact on the government’s treatment of individuals.

 

We favor individual privacy and government transparency. Libertarians affirm the rights recognized by the Fourth Amendment to be secure in our persons, homes, property, and communications -- this includes records held by third parties. We are committed to ending government’s practice of spying on everyone.

 

We support full freedom of expression. Libertarians oppose government censorship, regulation, or control of communications media and technology.

 

We favor the freedom to engage in or abstain from any religious activities that do not violate the rights of others.  Libertarians advocate a strict separation of church and state and oppose government actions which define, aid, or attack any religion.

 

We support the individual right recognized by the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms. Inherent to the rights to life, liberty, and property are the rights to self defense and defense of property. The right to keep and bear arms is an extension of those rights.

 

We support efforts at reforming the criminal justice system. Punishments should be proportional to the crime committed and should be fair and humane. To make the system more just, we support reforms to mandatory minimum sentencing, excessive fines, cash bail, and the over-reliance on plea deals.

 

We favor eliminating civil asset forfeiture. The practice violates due process and property rights, is abusive, and creates a perverse profit incentive for law enforcement.

 

We favor free-market education and parental choice. Education should be chosen to fit the needs of each child with choices made by parents, teachers, and students, not the government. Parents should have the freedom and authority to determine the education of their children and have control of, and responsibility for, funds expended for their children’s education.