1.0 Personal Liberty. PlatCom offers two alternative rewrites to this plank. Both say that "the right to make a choice depends on both understanding that it has consequences and accepting responsibility for them". This will help defend LP candidates from charges that we demand adult freedoms for children.
1.2 Privacy and Self-Ownership is the proposed new title for this plank, which is broadened to the scope that was originally intended in the 2008 platform rewrite. 1.1 is about freedom of one's own mind, 1.2 is about freedom of one's own body, and 1.3 is about the freedom to have relations with others. PlatCom here generalizes the "drugs" language to include all "substances".
1.4. Abortion would explicitly "welcome both pro-life and pro-choice members", and oppose taxpayer funding of abortion.
1.6. Self-Defense would clarify gun freedom on private property, and rework some clumsy phrasing inherited from the 1976 platform. However, I worry that this proposal is imperiled by replacing the classic "ammunition or firearms" in favor of "personal defense weapons".
2.4 and 2.5 are rewrites that add more complaints about taxes and subsidies. They add language about "hardworking Americans" and "the American dream", while deleting explicit mentions of the IRS, Balanced Budget Amendment, currency freedom, and banking.
2.6 Labor Markets is rewritten, with a focus on government employee unions and pensions.
2.8 Education gets some polishing, and loses an out-of-scope rhetorical aside.
3.4 Free Trade and Migration is also polished, and it too gets a mention of "the American dream".
3.5 Rights and Discrimination. PlatCom proposes to replace the condemnation of bigotry with a denial that a "natural can ever impose an obligation upon others to fulfill that right". A separate 3.5 proposal qualifies parenall rights when "a jury finds abuse, neglect, or reckless endangerment".
The following table gives the PlatCom votes for each proposal, along with my analysis of whether the proposal will be approved in convention.
| Proposal | Vote | My Analysis | Odds |
| 1.0 responsibility requires understanding | 12-0-0 | drops force initiation, adds govt role | 30% |
| 1.0 American liberty | 12-1-0 | too jingoistic | 5% |
| 1.2 Self-Ownership, risk-taking | 13-0-0 | good generalization of "drugs" to "media and substances" | 80% |
| 1.2 individuals -> adults | 13-0-0 | gives LP cover for kids+drugs | 80% |
| 1.4 welcome pro-life & pro-choice | 9-4-0 | fig leaf for our extremist pro-choice position | 60% |
| 1.4 no tax-funded abortion | 13-0-0 | slam dunk | 99% |
| 1.5 restitution of/to | 13-0-0 | obvious grammar fix | 99% |
| 1.6 guns on private property | 11-1-0 | good but imperiled by changing "ammunition or firearms" to "personal defense weapons" | 60% |
| 2.4 taxes imperil American dream | 12-1-0 | too jingoistic; delays income tax repeal; drops IRS & BBA references | 25% |
| 2.5 against fraud and bailouts | 11-1-0 | good change imperiled by dropping references to banking & currency | 40% |
| 2.7 govt employee unions/pensions | 9-4-0 | good language, but backsliding toward excess detail | 70% |
| 2.8 rewrite education w/o "moral values" | 12-0-0 | good rewording; radicals won't like dropping "like any other service" | 70% |
| 2.9 free to be uninsured | 12-0-0 | harmless clarification | 90% |
| 3.4 immigration rewrite | 12-0-0 | don't need "American dream" or "general welfare" sap | 80% |
| 3.5 rights impose no duties | 9-1-3 | too absolutist; sticklers will cite jury duty | 60% |
| 3.5 child abuse | 13-0-0 | jury reference is crucial for approval | 90% |
| 3.6 electoral -> voting | 13-0-0 | harmless improvement | 95% |
| 3.6 voting to limit govt | 10-0-3 | almost too obvious | 90% |
My personal agenda for this platform cycle is to minimize platform language churn while trying to fix the top five vulnerabilities that the platform leaves for our candidates. This web page lists those five problems and the fixes I suggested. PlatCom's proposals address all five problems, although not always with the precise language I offered. I voted against only one of those five solutions, where the 1.6 proposal only used half of the "peacable adults" solution and made extraneous changes that put the whole proposal at risk.
I voted against 4 of the 6 other plank rewrites, as they tended to churn (and sometimes weaken) the platform language without actually provided extra defense or guidance to our candidates. I cast all five of the solitary nays, and was among the nays or abstentions whenever there were any.
My portal of information about the LP Platform is here.
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