Internal Security
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Status Quo Option: Keep the Existing Plank. For all platform categories
we have the option of doing nothing; that is accepting what the LP already
has.
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The LP Platform Currently Reads
The Issue: Lacking appropriate citizen oversight,
government bureaucracies have deprived citizens of their privacy, property,
and freedom, under the pretense that such action is necessary to protect
us from our enemies. Such actions include the suspension of the right of
habeas corpus during the Civil War, the internment of Japanese-American citizens
during World War II, the Patriot Act and the classification of "enemy combatants"
today.
The Principle: The rights of due process, a
speedy trial, legal counsel, trial by jury, the legal presumption of innocence
until proven guilty, personal privacy, the freedoms of assembly, expression
and religion; and other individual liberties and rights must not be denied
on the basis of national security. The Bill of Rights provides no exceptions
for a time of war.
Solutions: Wherever possible, private security
agencies should replace public institutions. Agencies, public or private,
duly constituted to preserve the security of the nation must be subject to
independent oversight, accountable to the citizenry whom they serve, and
subject to the law, including full responsibility for any violations of
individual rights. Individual awareness of the requirements of security must
be the ultimate supplement to any public protection.
Transitional Action: We opposed the establishment
of a new cabinet level Department of Homeland Security and now call for its
elimination. Abolish the subpoena power as used by Congressional committees
against individuals or firms. We oppose any efforts to revive the House Internal
Security Committee (or its predecessor the House Committee on Un-American
Activities), and call for the destruction of its files on private individuals
and groups. We also call for the abolition of the Senate Subcommittee on
Internal Security. Intelligence and law enforcement agencies like the CIA,
NSA, and FBI must be prevented from abusing individual rights or else be
abolished.
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