Individuals are inherently free to make choices for themselves and must accept responsibility for the consequences of the choices they make. Our support of an individual’s right to make choices in life does not mean that we necessarily approve or disapprove of those choices. No individual, group, or government may rightly initiate force against any other individual, group, or government. Uniters reject the notion that groups have inherent rights. We support the rights of the smallest minority, the individual.

Individuals own their bodies and have rights over them that other individuals, groups, and governments may not violate. Individuals have the freedom and responsibility to decide what they knowingly and voluntarily consume, and what risks they accept to their own health, finances, safety, or life.

We support full freedom of expression and oppose government censorship, regulation, or control of communications media and technology. We favour 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.

Uniters advocate individual privacy and government transparency. We are committed to ending the government’s practice of spying on everyone. We support the rights to be secure in our persons, homes, property, and communications. Protection from unreasonable search and seizure should include records held by third parties, such as bank account, email, medical, and library records.

Parents, or other guardians, have the right to raise their children according to their own standards and beliefs, provided that the rights of children to be free from abuse and neglect are also protected.

Government force must be limited to the protection of the rights of individuals to life, liberty, and property, and governments must never be permitted to violate these rights. Laws should be limited in their application to violations of the rights of others through force or fraud, or to deliberate actions that place others involuntarily at significant risk of harm. Therefore, we favour the repeal of all laws creating “crimes” without victims, such as gambling, the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes, and consensual transactions involving sexual services. We support restitution to the victim to the fullest degree possible at the expense of the criminal or the negligent wrongdoer. The constitutional rights of the criminally accused, including due process, a speedy trial, legal counsel, trial by jury, and the legal presumption of innocence until proven guilty, must be preserved. We assert the common-law right of juries to judge not only the facts but also the justice of the law. We oppose the prosecutorial practice of “over-charging” in criminal prosecutions to avoid jury trials by intimidating defendants into accepting plea bargains

We oppose the administration of the death penalty by the state. Only an infallible God can ensure that the party pronounced guilty is guilty. The death penalty is irreversible and as such is an unwise power to vest in the hands of any man or woman.

The only legitimate use of force is in defence of individual rights — life, liberty, and justly acquired property — against aggression. This right inheres in the individual, who may agree to be aided by any other individual or group. We affirm the individual right to responsibly keep and bear arms and oppose the prosecution of individuals for exercising their rights of self-defence.

Uniters want all members of society to have abundant opportunities to achieve economic success. A free and competitive market allocates resources in the most efficient manner. Each person has the right to offer goods and services to others in the free market. The only proper role of government in the economic realm is to protect property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework in which voluntary trade is protected. All efforts by the government to redistribute wealth, or to control or manage trade, are improper in a free society.

As respect for property rights is fundamental to maintaining a free and prosperous society, it follows that the freedom to contract to obtain, retain, profit from, manage, or dispose of one’s property must also be upheld. Uniters would free property owners from government property taxes and restrictions on their rights to control and enjoy their property, as long as their choices do not harm or infringe on the rights of others. Eminent domain, civil asset forfeiture, governmental limits on profits, governmental production mandates, and governmental controls on prices of goods and services (including wages, rents, and interest) are abridgements of such fundamental rights. For voluntary dealings among private entities, parties should be free to choose with whom they trade and set whatever trade terms are mutually agreeable.

Competitive free markets and property rights stimulate the technological innovations and behavioural changes required to protect our environment and ecosystems. Private landowners and conservation groups have a vested interest in maintaining natural resources. Governments are unaccountable for damage done to our environment and have a terrible track record when it comes to environmental protection. Protecting the environment requires a clear definition and enforcement of individual rights and responsibilities regarding resources like land, water, air, and wildlife. Where damages can be proven and quantified in a court of law, restitution to the injured parties must be required.

While energy is needed to fuel a modern society, the government should not be subsidizing any particular form of energy. We oppose all government control of energy pricing, allocation, and production.

All persons are entitled to keep the fruits of their labour and spend their earnings as they see fit. To this end, Uniters wish to limit the Government to revenues of no more than 10% of all individuals earnings to fund spending on public goods and services that will ensure a safe, clean and orderly environment wherein everyone may live, work and retire with dignity in a truly free and fair market economy. To fund humanitarian crises, including the proper nutrition, education, healthcare and housing of the poor, Uniters propose that Government collect a sales tax of 10% which shall be designated for these purposes only. No child should be denied the benefit of basic education, good nutrition, decent housing or healthcare. The parents (father and mother) must be held accountable, but the child should not suffer in the process.

The government should not incur debt at interest, but should instead operate on a balanced budget formula of 10% of the income generated by residents and print only as much money as can be absorbed by true productivity growth while protecting the purchasing power of senior citizens by avoiding artificial inflation, devaluation and deflation at all cost.

We favour repealing any requirement that one must join or pay dues to a union as a condition of government employment. We advocate replacing defined-benefit pensions with defined-contribution plans, as are commonly offered in the private sector, so as not to impose debt on future generations without their consent.

Economic freedom is one of many catalysts for true prosperity in societies. We recognize this and thus move to empower the Government's Regulatory role by ensuring that no force, fraud or breaking of just and objective laws goes unpunished in our society.

We favour free-market banking, with unrestricted competition among banks and depository institutions of all types. Markets are not free unless fraud is vigorously combated. Those who enjoy the possibility of profits must not impose risks of losses upon others, such as through government guarantees or bailouts. We support ending student loan guarantees and special treatment of student loan debt in bankruptcy proceedings. Individuals engaged in voluntary exchange should be free to use as money any mutually agreeable commodity or item. We support a halt to inflationary monetary policies and unconstitutional legal tender laws.

Uniters support free markets. We defend the right of individuals to form corporations, cooperatives and other types of entities based on voluntary association. We oppose all forms of government subsidies and bailouts to business, labour, or any other special interest. The government should not compete with private enterprise.

Uniters support the right of every person to earn an honest and peaceful living through the free and voluntary exchange of goods and services. Accordingly, we oppose occupational and other licensing laws that infringe on this right or treat it as a state-granted privilege. We encourage certifications by voluntary associations of professionals.

Employment and compensation agreements between private employers and employees are outside the scope of government, and these contracts should not be encumbered by government-mandated benefits or social engineering. We support the right of private employers and employees to choose whether or not to bargain with each other through a labour union. Bargaining should be free of government interference, such as compulsory arbitration or imposing an obligation to bargain.

Education is best provided by the free market, achieving greater quality, accountability, and efficiency with more diversity of choice. Recognizing that the education of children is a parental responsibility, we would restore authority to parents to determine the education of their children, without interference from the government. Parents should have control of and responsibility for all funds expended for their children’s education.

We favour a free-market health care system as opposed to the existing system that does not support freedom of choice. We recognize the freedom of individuals to determine the level of health insurance they want (if any), 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. People should be free to purchase health insurance from whom and as they see fit.

The protection of individual rights is the only proper purpose of government. Government is to be constitutionally limited to prevent the infringement of individual rights by the government itself. The principle of non-initiation of force should guide the relationships between governments.

Retirement planning is the responsibility of the individual, not the government. Uniters would phase out the current government-sponsored system and transition to a private voluntary system. The proper and most effective source of help for the poor is the voluntary efforts of private groups and individuals. We believe members of society will become even more charitable and civil society will be strengthened as the government reduces its activity in this realm.

We support the maintenance of a sufficient military to defend our country against aggression. We should both avoid entangling alliances and oppose any attempt by any country to act as a policeman for the world. We oppose any form of compulsory national service.

The defence of the country requires that we have adequate intelligence to detect and to counter threats to domestic security. This requirement must not take priority over maintaining the civil liberties of our citizens. The Constitution and Bill of Rights shall not be suspended even during a time of war. Intelligence agencies that legitimately seek to preserve the security of the nation must be subject to oversight and transparency. We oppose the government’s use of secret classifications to keep from the public information that it should have, especially that which shows that the government has violated the law. We oppose the use of torture and other cruel and unusual punishments, without exception.

Jamaican foreign policy should seek a Jamaica at peace with the world. Our foreign policy should emphasize defence against attack from abroad and enhance the likelihood of peace by avoiding foreign entanglements. We oppose any policy of foreign intervention, including military and economic aid. We recognize the right of all people to resist tyranny and defend themselves and their rights. We condemn the use of force, and especially the use of terrorism, against the innocent, regardless of whether such acts are committed by governments or by political or revolutionary groups.

We support the removal of governmental impediments to free trade. Political freedom and escape from tyranny demand that individuals are not unreasonably constrained by government in the crossing of political boundaries. Economic freedom demands the unrestricted movement of human as well as financial capital across national borders.

Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of individual liberty, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to agree to such new governance as to them shall seem most likely to protect their liberty.

Uniters embrace the concept that all people are born with certain inherent rights. We reject the idea that a natural right can ever impose an obligation upon others to fulfill that “right.” The government should neither deny nor abridge any individual’s human rights. Members of private organizations retain their rights to set whatever standards of association they deem appropriate, and individuals are free to respond with ostracism, boycotts, and other free-market solutions.

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.