New Statement of Principles
At the last state committee meeting a statement of principles was reviewed and passed and is below:
We the members of the Vermont Libertarian Party do declare and affirm the following to be a faithful and true recounting of our core values and principles; and is to be used to guide us in politics and in life:
We hold that all people share equal and inalienable rights; that these are natural rights based upon the principles of consent, moral agency, and self ownership; that these rights are neither granted nor annulled by the state; that these rights are not contingent upon majority nor other vote; that these rights shall not be limited by government fiat or whim, but only limited by the equal rights of another person.
We reject the cult of collectivism in all its varieties. Collectivism being the root of tyranny and the destruction of self ownership. The root of collectivism is slavery, and we stand forever as abolitionists.
We affirm individualism throughout all peaceable expressions of individuality. Every person is their own rightful self owner, their conscience and consent being both sacred and sovereign. The only social contract we recognize as preexisting is the reciprocal obligation of non aggression, and that, when any person violates this basic trust, self defense is morally permissible. We affirm consent in all things; in conscience and private affairs, in economics and trade, and in social associations and institutions.
We champion all of these principles by upholding our one fundamental touchstone, the non-aggression principle, which states: “it is immoral to initiate force or fraud against a non-consenting person.” It is through means of this compass we will guide ourselves in politics – and in life – to be better stewards of human rights, and better neighbors.
