Brian Holtz For 2010 PlatCom

Hi, I'm requesting appointment to the 2010 LPUS Platform Committee. I include below three sample plank updates, and am ready for the travel that PlatCom service will require before and during the 2010 convention.

The 2008 LPUS Platform Committee elected me its Secretary, and I maintain a comprehensive archive of platform-related information at http://libertarianmajority.net/platform-portal. My goals for the 2010 platform cycle are to keep the current structure and content largely intact, while elaborating somewhat on a few of the shortest planks.

In 2008 I was elected to my town water board, and in my 2008 campaign for Congress I broke the record I set in 2004 for highest percentage ever won by a third-party candidate in my district. During my campaign I built a campaign web-site-in-a-box for LP candidates (http://DefendsLiberty.com/HowTo), and created nine videos (http://LibertarianMajority.net/videos) promoting the LP. Full details of my LP activism and donor history at the county, state, and national level is at http://libertarianmajority.net/bh-lp-activism.

I will be attending the LNC meeting in December in San Diego, and hope to talk to you there.

Brian Holtz
cell: 650-305-0585

National Defense

We support the maintenance of a sufficient military to defend the United States against aggression. The United States should both abandon its attempts to act as policeman for the world and avoid entangling alliances. Current U.S. military spending exceeds the rest of the world's military spending combined, causing an enormous burden on American taxpayers. Major savings can be realized by ending all nation-building efforts, ending U.S. defense of wealthy allies in Europe and Asia, withdrawing American troops to American soil, and focusing our resources on protecting our borders. We oppose any form of compulsory national service.

Energy and Resources

While energy is needed to fuel a modern society, government should not be subsidizing any particular form of energy. We oppose all government control or subsidies of energy technology, pricing, allocation, and production. Government attempts to dictate the economy's mix of fuels and energy technologies will inevitably be distorted by political favoritism. Lobbyists too easily hijack energy policy to provide subsidies and exemptions for dirty or dangerous energy technologies. The free market, driven by consumer choice and reflecting the real cost of resource use, should be the foundation of America’s energy industry. Markets are the best way to encourage both energy efficiency and conservation.

Government Finance and Spending

Because all persons are entitled to keep the fruits of their labor, we seek elimination of taxes on a person's wages, products, voluntary exchanges, income, and profits. We call for the repeal of the income tax Sixteenth Amendment and the abolishment abolition of the Internal Revenue Service and all federal programs and services not required under the U.S. Constitution. We oppose any legal requirements forcing employers to serve as tax collectors. Government should not incur debt, which burdens future generations without their consent. We support the passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, provided that the budget is balanced exclusively by cutting expenditures, and not by raising taxes.

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