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Our Top Issues & Policy Positions

COVID-19 & Medical Freedom:

 

We oppose all COVID-19 restrictions and mandates. We unequivocally oppose mandatory vaccinations and ANY form of vaccine passport. We support informed consent and individual choice. Your medical history and decisions should be between you and your doctor. We believe individuals are capable of making their own risk assessments.

 

We reject the premise that the government can decide which businesses and workers are essential. Businesses should be able to set their own policies that meet the needs of their customers and make sense for their particular situation. The mandates enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were heavy-handed, arbitrary, and unhelpful. They devastated small and mid-size businesses for no clear benefit. They forced companies (and often entry-level workers) into acting as their enforcers of these policies.  With fines, penalties, and possibly business licenses at stake, few small companies were in a position to speak out or refuse to comply with the COVID dictates. The soft vaccine mandates in schools and workplaces follow a similar pattern - they are encouraged by the government and enforced by private entities. This fascistic trend must be resisted at all costs.

 

See our COVID-19 Resources Page for more information and access to helpful links.

School Choice

 

All children deserve a quality education. Nevada is failing to deliver that to our children. Despite relatively high per-pupil spending, our state is home to one of the lowest ranked public school systems*.  Ultimately, this is because public schooling is a cartelized system.  The administrators and planners are funded by the tax-payer no matter what – so what incentive do they have to respond to parents? 

 

This reality was on full display in 2020. From school closures to masks in the classrooms and elements of Critical Race Theory in the curricula; administrators and bureaucrats disregarded parents and enacted the policies which fit their preferences.  

 

Every child is unique.  Parents should have the right to choose the program that best suits the needs of their child, instead of being forced into a school based on its geographical proximity. School choice has been shown unequivocally to result in better outcomes for students and is overwhelmingly popular in low-income and minority populations. The opposition to school choice comes from Teachers Unions and their political allies, not from parents. We support any and all expansion of school choice for families in Nevada.

 

*per a popular ranking system: https://wallethub.com/edu/e/states-with-the-best-schools/5335

 

Occupational Licensing Reform

 

Occupational licensing makes it harder for low-income workers to support themselves.  Hefty licensing fees and onerous requirements raise the barriers to entry for people who are trying to break into an industry.  These restrictions are promulgated in the name of consumer safety, but generally serve to protect incumbents and create make-work for the state agencies that enforce them.  In a world with Yelp, why do we need the state government to protect us from a poorly executed haircut? Why should a young person starting out in the field be required to take 1500 hours of training before they can start working? Occupational licensing hurts working people. We support reforms to loosen these restrictions and make it easier for Nevadans to find jobs, switch careers, and start their own companies.

Protect Gun Rights & End The Nevada Red Flag Law 

 

The right to defend yourself from aggression is fundamental to human existence and stems from your inherent self-ownership. Our second amendment right to bear arms should not be abridged or restricted in any way.  At the time the second amendment was drafted, there were privately owned battleships in operation – this is the level of “bearing arms” we support. Our fundamental right to protect ourselves isn't diminished because technology improves. We support full constitutional-carry legislation, as well as the roll-back of all existing restrictions on the sale and manufacture of firearms, without exception. 

 

Red flag laws are unjustifiable. They amount to the ability for law enforcement to enter a home and confiscate weapons based on a third-party request.  Your rights don’t cease to exist because of someone else’s fears. It also creates a disincentive for gun owners to seek treatment for mental health issues, as documentation of these types of struggles could potentially be used as a reason to justify firearms seizures. Gun owners should not be put in the position of having to weigh their mental health against their constitutional rights. We oppose the “red-flag” provisions in AB291.

End the Drug War and it’s Illiberal Spawn: Civil Asset Forfeiture and “No-Knock” Raids 

Prohibition doesn’t work. Drug abuse destroys lives, but government enforcement of drug prohibition creates broader social ills. Making a drug illegal doesn’t remove the demand for that drug. It just restricts the market to bad actors (like gangs) and makes every aspect of the trade more dangerous - from sale to consumption. Both alcohol and marijuana prohibition are excellent historical illustrations of how this works. Legalizing these substances led to safe and legal markets for products of known potency, where addiction and abuse can be treated as personal medical issues. Furthermore, the illegality of certain substances has stymied research into their potential benefits or alternative uses (for example, the use of psilocybin in treating addiction and PTSD has not yet been fully explored). Ultimately, you own your body, and it is your choice what substances you consume - even if they prove harmful. We support the legalization of all drugs.

 

It is also critical to note that some of the worst violations of civil liberties have occurred in the name of the war on drugs. For example: civil asset forfeiture. Police officers should not be allowed to steal from you.  The idea that an inanimate object – like a vehicle or cash – can be charged with a crime is absurd on its face, and yet that is the legal fig-leaf allowing police officers to confiscate property from people who have not themselves been convicted of any crime.  Allowing civil asset forfeiture turns police officers into bandits and is completely unacceptable. We support banning civil asset forfeiture. 

 

No-knock raids are another example of the drug war eroding civil liberties. They endanger officers and they endanger citizens.  If someone breaks into your home in the middle of the night, you should have the right to defend yourself without any hesitation.  Putting police officers into the position of kicking down doors creates unnecessary risk for everyone involved. It’s also important to recognize that most of these raids are for suspected drug offences. As libertarians, we believe that “victimless crimes” are not crimes. Police time and effort should be directed towards crimes against people and property. We believe in ending “no-knock” raids.

Lower Spending and Taxes:

 

All taxation is theft. If you don’t have a choice on whether or not to pay - you are being robbed. We seek to minimize the amount of socially sanctioned theft.  Most services provided by the government would be more efficiently and effectively provided by private actors - either businesses operating in the market or private charitable organizations. If it can be provided on a voluntary basis, we believe it should be.

 

At a minimum, the expectation for any government expenditure should be that it is not taken lightly.  Your representatives should be good stewards of your tax dollars and only intervene where truly necessary. If the government is going to take your hard-earned money from you against your will, shouldn’t they at least spend it wisely?  

 

In practice, the government is notoriously profligate. As is to be expected with a monopoly, money is wasted and services provided are of low quality. They often expend resources in areas where outcomes are intangible or impossible to measure.  Governments at every level spend far more than they take in - running up huge public debts. We demand accountability and transparency in government in an effort to minimize government waste. We support every reduction in government spending and every proposal to lower taxes. 

 

End Public Sector Unions

Private sector unions which operate as voluntary worker associations are completely legitimate. Public sector unions are entirely different. The funds which support public sector unions come from taxpayers and are used primarily to advocate for increasing the wages and benefits for the union members – ie: for increasing the amount of funds being expropriated from taxpayers.  Nevadans should not be forced to pay for a monopoly group which exists solely to attempt to take more of their money. Furthermore, public sector unions have a long history of blocking sorely needed reforms, protecting bad actors, and engaging in partisan political activity unrelated to their specific industry.  Ultimately, to allow the existence of public sector unions is to create taxpayer-funded political power centers which exist to further fleece the taxpayer.