Free and Open Society
- All individuals possess the inherent right to life, liberty, and justly acquired property.
- Citizens of Montgomery County should be free to make choices for themselves and to accept responsibility for the consequences of the choices they make. No individual, group, corporation or government may initiate force or fraud against any other. Our support of an individual’s right to make choices in life does not mean that we necessarily approve or disapprove of those choices.
- We support full freedom of expression and oppose all government censorship, regulation and control of communications media and technology. We strongly oppose any attempts by public entities within Montgomery County to illegally restrict public comment based on viewpoint. We favor the freedom to engage in or abstain from any religious activities that do not violate the rights of others. We oppose government actions which either aid or attack any religion.
- We support the right of the citizens of Montgomery County to be secure in their persons, homes, and property. Protection from unreasonable search and seizure or warrantless spying should include records held by third parties, such as email, medical, and library records.
- The only legitimate use of force is in defense of individual rights against aggression. We affirm the individual right to keep and bear arms without being questioned. We oppose all laws or intervention at any level of government within Montgomery County requiring registration of, or restricting the ownership, manufacture, transfer or sale of firearms or ammunition.
- We condemn bigotry as irrational and repugnant. No individuals’ rights should be abridged based on sex, wealth, race, color, religion, creed, age, diagnosed disability, medical condition, national origin, personal habits, political preference, or sexual orientation. Parents or legal guardians have the right to raise their children according to their own standards and beliefs, provided the child’s rights are not being violated. The government of Montgomery County has no power to define social institutions such as marriage or to impose any restrictions thereon.
Free and Open Markets
- All citizens of Montgomery County should have abundant opportunities to achieve economic success. A free and competitive market allocates resources in the most efficient manner which produces the most wealth and best satisfies everyone’s wants. Any person or group has the right to offer goods and services to others on the free market. The only proper role of county government in the economic realm is to protect property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework in which voluntary trade is protected.
- Property rights are entitled to the same protection as all other human rights. The owners of property in Montgomery County should have the full right to control, use, dispose of, or in any manner enjoy their property without interference, until and unless the exercise of their control infringes the valid rights of others. We oppose all controls on wages, prices, rents, profits, production, and interest rates. Competing currencies should not be prohibited.
- Education, like any other service, is best provided by the free market, achieving greater quality and efficiency with more diversity of choice at lower cost. Schools in Montgomery County should be managed locally to achieve greater accountability and parental involvement. We support the right of parents to choose the best system of education for their children, including homeschool, private schools, and charter schools.
- Transportation in Montgomery County should be encouraged through competition in method and availability. Where practicable, transportation infrastructure throughout the county should be privatized or maintained through public-private partnership. While transportation is vital to social and economic freedoms, there is no justification for the violation of private property rights through use of eminent domain by county and local governments or their agents.
- We support the freedom of individuals to determine the level of health insurance they want, the level of health care they want, the care providers they want, the medicines and treatments they will use, and all other aspects of their medical care, including end-of-life decisions.
Free and Open Government
- It is incumbent upon county and local governments in Montgomery County to practice fiscal responsibility, including balancing their budgets, reducing expenditures, and lowering or eliminating taxes.
- The administration of the government in Montgomery County and the actions of its Board of Commissioners should be open and transparent. All county government budgets and expenditures should be available for review by the citizens both physically and remotely on the Internet. Before voting for or against any bill, it is the duty of each elected legislator representing the citizens of Montgomery County to have personally read and understood the bill in its entirety.
- All elections in Montgomery County shall be free and equal. We oppose publicly funded primaries and laws that effectively exclude alternative candidates and parties, deny ballot access, gerrymander districts, or deny the voters their right to consider all legitimate alternatives. As private voluntary groups, political parties should be allowed to establish their own rules for nomination procedures, primaries and conventions, all of which should be funded by the political parties themselves.
- Public funding for education in Montgomery County, to the extent that it exists, should be allocated to students and not institutions. The unlimited power of levying local taxes should not rest solely in the hands of school boards.
- Law enforcement in Montgomery County should be limited to dealing with violations of the rights of others through force or fraud, or deliberate actions that place others involuntarily at significant risk of harm. Law enforcement officials should not serve in any capacity that may present a conflict of interest with carrying out their duties impartially. The rights of due process, habeas corpus, a speedy trial, legal counsel, trial by jury, and the legal presumption of innocence until proven guilty, must not be denied. It is unacceptable for law enforcement to violate individual rights in the course of their duties.
Omissions
- Our silence about any other particular government law, regulation, ordinance, directive, edict, control, regulatory agency, activity, or machination should not be construed to imply approval.