National Platform of the Libertarian Party
Adopted in Convention, May 2004, Atlanta Georgia
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III. Domestic Ills
Agriculture
The Issue: America's free market in agriculture, the system that feeds much of the world, has been plowed under by government intervention. Government subsidies, regulation and taxes have encouraged the centralization of agricultural business. Government export policies hold American farmers hostage to the political whims of both Republican and Democratic administrations. Government embargoes on grain sales and other obstacles to free trade have frustrated the development of free and stable trade relationships between peoples of the world.
The Principle: Farmers and consumers alike should be free from the meddling and counterproductive measures of the federal government -- free to grow, sell and buy what they want, in the quantity they want, when they want.
Solutions: Farmers, ranchers and all other purveyors of goods and services in the agricultural free market must operate unhindered by government regulation, while being policed by private sector consumer protection agencies for quality, and held strictly liable by government only against fraud and deception.
Transitional Action: The agricultural problems facing America today are not insoluble. Government policies can be reversed. Five steps can be taken immediately:
a.) abolition of the Department of Agriculture;
b.) elimination of all government farm programs, including price supports, direct subsidies and all regulation on agricultural production;
c.) deregulation of the transportation industry and abolition of the Interstate Commerce Commission;
d.) repeal of federal inheritance taxes; and
e.) an end to government involvement in agricultural pest control. A policy of pest control whereby private individuals or corporations bear full responsibility for damages they inflict on their neighbors should be implemented.
