Libertarian Party platform references to children

Libertarian Party platform references to children have changed over the years.

References

Population/Overpopulation

1972

We support an end to all subsidies for childbearing built into our present laws, including all welfare plans and the provision of tax-supported services for children.

1974-1978

We support an end to all subsidies for child—bearing built into our present laws, including all welfare plans and the provision of tax-supported services for children. . . . . We call for the elimination of special tax burdens of single people and couples with few or no children.

Poverty and unemployment, 1972-1978

We support repeal of all laws which impede the ability of any person to find employment -- including, but not limited to, minimum wage laws, so-called "protective" labor legislation for women and children, governmental restrictions on the establishment of private day-care centers, the National Labor Relations Act, and licensing requirements.

Involuntary commitment, 1974-1978

We further advocate: a.) the repeal of all laws permitting nonvoluntary psychiatric treatment of any person including all children and all persons incarcerated in prisons or mental institutions.

Due process/safeguards for the criminally accused, 1976-1978

We advocate the repeal of all laws establishing any category of crime applicable to minors for which adults would not be similarly answerable, and an end to the practice in many states of jailing children accused of no crime.

Education

1972-1974

We support the repeal of all compulsory education laws, and an end to government operation, regulation, and subsidy of schools. We call for an immediate end to compulsory busing.

1976

We support the repeal of all compulsory education laws, and an end to government operation, regulation, and subsidy of schools and colleges. We call for an immedate end to compulsory busing.

As an interim measure to encourage the growth of private schools and variety in education, we support both a tax-credit system and a steady reduction of tax support for schools. We support the repeal of all taxes on the income or property of private schools, whether they are profit or non-profit. We further support immediate relief from the burden of school taxes for those not responsible for the education of children.

1978

We advocate the complete separation of education and State. Government schools lead to the indoctrination of children and interfere with the free choice of individuals. Government ownership, operation. regulation, and subsidy of schools and colleges should be ended.

As an interim measure to encourage the growth of private schools and variety in education, we support tax-credits for tuition and for other expenditures related to an individual‘s education. We support the repeal of all taxes on the income or property of private schools, whether profit or non-profit.

We condemn compulsory education laws, which spawn prison-like schools with many of the problems associated with prisons, and we call for the immediate repeal of such laws.

Until government involvement in education is ended, we support elimination within the governmental school system, of forced busing and corporal punishment. We further support immediate reduction of tax support for schools, and removal of the burden of school taxes from those not responsible for the education of children.

Freedom of religion, 1978

We condemn the attempts by parents or any others—via kidnappings, conservatorships, or instruction under confinement-to force children to conform to their parents’ or any others’ religious views.

Children's rights, 1978

We believe that “children" are human beings and, as such, have the same rights as any other human beings. Any reference in this Platform to the rights of human beings includes children.