Today our government uses force, or the threat of force, to achieve most of its goals. Repeated failures by our government have shown us that this is not a practical approach. As Libertarians, we also believe that this use of force is immoral".2.
The Libertarians believe voluntary cooperation should replace force to achieve governmental goals. Because of their view of government action, the Libertarians view such issues as violence, education and unemployment differently.
America suffers from an epidemic of violence and crime, victimizing one family out of four every year. There is a murder every half hour, a rape every five minutes, and a theft every four seconds.3 Because of these statistics Libertarians believe the ant-crime policies of the Republicans and Democrats have clearly failed. The Libertarian Party believes a fresh approach is needed. Libertarians have come up with a plan for making America's streets safe. Libertarians believe criminals should be more than punished. Paying restitution to the victims for damage, property loss, medical costs, pain, and suffering should also be placed on the criminal. Libertarians also believe in the ending the prohibition. They believe by ending drug prohibition, the resources available for crime prevention would double. Ending prohibition would also be believed to significantly reduce the number of violent criminals at work. Due to the end of prohibition, Libertarians believe over-crowding in jails would decrease. Since most inmates are drug offenders jails get over crowded meaning shorter sentence for real violent criminals. Families are believed to be more at risk with drug offenders locked up than out on the streets.4 Libertarians also believe the root of crime is letting kids grow up governmentally dependent. The party wishes to end dependence and hopelessness by ending the welfare system. Hoping to educate the children, the Libertarians believe crime will lower and opportunities will rise.
