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MICHIGAN LIBERTARIAN
Volume 45:04
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You Might Be A Libertarian If…
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10 guidelines to help you find your true party calling.
Kasey Cross in 500 Words On on Apr 19, 2016
Do politicians exasperate you? Do you feel like you “don’t really have a dog in the fight?” Were you once a Democrat or Republican and suddenly got the nauseating sensation that your party had been hijacked? Do you have a mustache and/or a permanent grimace on your face?
Well, friend, you might be a Libertarian.
Let us take a closer look at your symptoms and see if we can’t identify the true party you belong to. Don’t worry; this shouldn’t hurt much at all.
You might be a Libertarian if–
1. You believe Capitalism is what truly makes America great—but you aren’t pro-big business.
Why? Because big business favors big government. And who are we against? You guessed it: big government.
2. You feel that the government is wasting a lot of your tax dollars by going after that kid on the corner with a joint in his hand.
Furthermore, we could take out the drug cartel (and make some pocket cash) if the government would look at this way: there are two businesses: Business A and Business B. Business A refuses to sell marijuana, even though there’s a huge market for it. Business B will happily sell marijuana, but also happens to be run by the drug cartel. So Business A finally decides “hey, maybe I should try selling marijuana.” And it does! It sells quality marijuana, makes some extra money off the consumer tax, and the consumers are so happy they ditch Business B. Business B fails because of natural selection. The drug cartel collapses. Feel free to “oooh” and “ahh.”
3. You support the Second Amendment. No. You really support the Second Amendment.
Why? Because who the hell is the government to come in your house and tell you what you can and can’t own? You have a right to protect your life and property. You also realize (like a functioning human with a brain) that banning guns won’t stop criminals from having guns. Just like banning marijuana has not stopped anyone from toking that fine green.
4. Government bailouts are on your list of pet peeves.
It’s natural selection. The failing businesses fail for a reason. Stop throwing them life jackets, and let them die off to make room for a business that can actually contribute to the economy. Wouldn’t it be nice to not be in trillions of dollars of debt for a change?
5. You agree with same sex marriage. Or you don’t.
The point is you don’t really give a damn who gets married, and think the government has bigger fish to fry than whether a man wants to marry a man or a woman. A man must do what a man has got to do. And you know, women gotta do it too. And if you’re a romantic Libertarian (like me) how dare the government get in the way of true love?!
6. You lie awake at night wondering why we’re still overseas.
Just why? Because if we’re there or not, wouldn’t the same things still be happening? Let’s face it. This isn’t our fight. Nope, don’t argue. This isn’t our fight.
7. You’re solid with the Constitution being your only contract with America.
Ah the draft. To take a jab at Southern Beale’s point on conscription: “I guess if a foreign army lands on American soil we can all just aim our personal tanks and nuclear missiles in the right direction and fire away.” That’s actually exactly what we were going to do. But seriously though, America isn’t the home of the damn sissies. The draft isn’t something we should be worried about, and we certainly shouldn’t be forcing people to go to war. Besides, that sounds just a little too tyrannical for my taste. There is also no imminent threat of world war– unless Donald Trump gets elected. Then there might be a threat of world war. But anyway, we cross that bridge when we get there.
8. You think the best way to solve the pollution issue is by fining the polluters.
Because what better way to get someone’s attention than by making them pay a huge chunk of money? When I turned 19 I got hit with a $250 speeding ticket. When all was said and done, it rounded out to about $350 in fees (parole fees, of all things) but guess who didn’t speed anymore? Yes, it’s me. When money talks, people listen.
9. You like Ron Paul but you were kinda bummed when he ditched the Libertarian party to go mainstream politics.
You understood, but you were still bummed.
10. You are not voting third party to get one of the other party’s candidates elected, for the love of Gary Johnson, and you wish people would stop assuming that you are.
No. Your plans are so much bigger than that—because Libertarians have big dreams.
Maybe you agree with all of this. Maybe you just agree with some of this. My point, and I do have one, is that this election is primed for Americans to open their eyes and see the lovely array of parties to behold. You can be Libertarian. You can be Green Party, Constitution Party, Independent—you name it. The American political system can be your oyster. Just know where you stand, vote with your gut, and give the third party system a chance to change the world. And hey, if you’ve discovered that you might be a Libertarian, we are all very happy to have you join the club.
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The 2016 Presidential Playoffs
Click HERE for a Special Link to an in depth analysis to the 2016 elections by Tim O’Brien – see below for a special note from the author.
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Dear Cyberian Compadre,
This is a truly weird primary season. Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Really? Is Allen Funt hiding somewhere with a camera?
So weird in fact that as a long-time, political activist and occasional newspaper opiner on such things scores of you (maybe it was only tens) have asked me about it. How did we get here? Where are we going? Why are we in this handbasket?
After finding myself continually modifying, copying and pasting, expanding, digressing, etc., etc., to respond I decided to come out of retirement long enough to put together an organized, coherent, and pretty thorough answer to all of the above.
Those who asked and/or are interested (okay, it might have been fives of you) should check out the attached pdf. Since I just bcc’d everyone in my email address book, if you’re a painting contractor or guitar player or someone who just doesn’t give a flying futon, sorry for the intrusion, please just hit delete.
I’m going back to preparing for this year’s bigger and better, vegetable garden behind my new homestead in God’s Country — happy to be a mere spectator of “The Donald & Hillary” reality TV show.Smiling face with smiling eyes
Some call me Tim
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Libertarian State Convention in Lansing May 14
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By Committee Member Will White
The annual convention of the Libertarian Party of Michigan will be at the Lansing Radisson Saturday, May 14. Delegates to the business meeting from 9 am to 4 p.m. will nominate candidates for the November election, discuss platform changes and elect a new state leadership team.
Following the business meeting, a banquet event will feature three of the top Libertarian presidential candidates in a forum moderated by senior Capitol correspondent Bill Ballenger. The party’s presidential nominee in 2012, former governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson, will be joined at the podium by liberty activist Darryl Perry of New Hampshire, and Austin Petersen, former associate producer for “Freedom Watch” on the Fox Business Network.
Brett Bittner will represent the Advocates for Self-Government as the luncheon speaker during a break in the business meeting. The Advocates are a leading voice in the liberty movement and provide vital resources for candidates and activists, like the World’s Smallest Political Quiz.
Seating is limited for the luncheon and banquet and only a few seats are left.
Gary Johnson will host a meet & greet at 7 p.m. Friday evening at the Radisson for a small fee. Voting delegates at the convention must be Libertarian party members thirty days prior to May 14. More information and tickets to the event can be found at https://michiganlp.org/conventions. We are hoping the other candidates set up a special event also.
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Building a Libertarian Future
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by George Phillies – Continued from March
Your Monthly Step for Liberty:
Now you have to find a path to reaching office. If the office is appointive, you need to find a vacancy or beat out an incumbent. You need to convince the people doing the appointments that you are a good person worthy of reward, as by doing positive things for your community and ingratiating yourself with the people doing the appointments. For example, if your community has a Facebook page, make positive contributions to it. If it lacks a page, start one. A more demanding effort is an electronic newspaper covering community events, notably the board on which you want to sit. If the people doing the appointments are running for office, and no real libertarian is running against them, work on their campaigns. Your work will advance you toward your position, and not incidentally let you see how real politics is done.
A Monthly Step Toward Victory—Winning Your Election
We take a step out of sequence, because this month we have a real example. William Goggin of Walpole, MA was just elected as a Town Meeting Member. In doing so, he became one of those rare elected libertarian officials who took office by beating an incumbent. There were five open seats in Goggin’s district. The defeated incumbent
finished seventh. Goggin attributed his victory to old fashioned shoe leather—he got out and met hundreds of his constituents.
William Goggin won, and so can you.
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When a Politician Takes Office
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]by Roger Snyder
When a politician takes office, their most important responsibility is to its citizens. Politicians are obligated to work with the budget the voters have approved. However, renegade politicians have no desire of honoring a budget. When politicians see that they need more money, they create unscrupulous ways to fund worthless programs and expand government.
Mayor Fredrick and former city council ignored the charter and started hiring outside administrators, such as City Managers Joe Fivas and Don Crawford. The Manager then created a new assistant manager position, gave the job to Adam Zettel, a person from out of town, whom I was proud to assist in getting rid of. The manager then appointed two consecutive out of the area inspectors. The inspectors drastically increased permits, fines, fees and expanded the area they rode roughshod over, such as signage, awnings, furnaces, air conditioners, water heaters ect. Inspectors charged hundreds of dollars for what amounts to nothing, then started requiring an architect for the simplest things that anyone could do. Outside contractors were awarded many of the jobs that our struggling local contractors could have done. Our city enacted an ill-fated ordinance that tried to micromanage new builds and existing homes. After a couple years the city recognized it was unnecessary and a deterrent to any one owning property in our town, so the city repealed it.
The city managed to pass another ordinance that was even worst, rental housing registration. Tenants and landlords tried to resist inspections, but were faced with huge fines or jail. This ordinance has stopped investors from buying foreclosed properties to remodel for rentals, thus lowering demand and causing a slow recovery in the rental sector. Rental property already has the burden of higher taxes due to our city retaining the high state equalized value assessed prior to foreclosure, instead of reducing s.e.v. to half of sale price like the Headlee amendment requires. Add another 18 mills (50% additional tax) for schools assessed on non-owner occupied homes and you can understand why rental property owners have no money to improve the exterior. Inspectors have cost the landlord thousands of dollars for many nonsense remodeling and repairs no one wants or needs.
Landlords may have recourse to recovering fines, fees, permits, and cost of repairs demanded by the city. Recently a federal judge ruled that the fourth amendment prohibits government agents from entering a home without a warrant. Let’s repeal this ordinance and let people have enough money for living expenses. The government is vacuuming every penny out of pockets of people and leaving them so they have trouble owning a car, replacing home necessities or even buying a meal at a local restaurant.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator border_width=”2″][vc_custom_heading text=”Quick Notes!”][vc_column_text]If you would like to submit a story for the newsletter please send submissions to: newsletter@michiganlp.org.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator border_width=”2″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
May Chair Letter
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Happy May,
The last month has been full of strong planning for the State Convention. We have filed with the State so they are aware of our convention so we may have ballot access with the ever growing number of interested candidates.
Along with the planning of the convention we have been making phone calls and sending e-mails. We’ve also reviewed the counties that we can to see where open seats may lie, where no one is running at all.
Over all the convention has been my focus this last month we already have more scheduled in attendance that we had the last 3 years, and it is still growing. We have guests from national that will be there and a wonderful day set up. I encourage anyone who has not yet signed up to do so at https://michiganlp.org/conventions.
Our Political Director has continued reaching out to people considering running as Libertarians in the general election this year. He has also held a paperwork session and a training session. We are looking at the political winds and do believe that we can make a difference this year. There are no real liberty candidates running in a large amount of races this year and we would like to provide those options to you. If you, or anyone you know, may be interested in running for an office at any level please contact Scotty Boman at politicaldirector@michiganlp.org.
We are still looking for more articles about legal proceedings, legislation, ballot proposals, and the libertarian philosophy. If you’re interested in sharing an information article please e-mail newsletter@michiganlp.org. We are a volunteer organization so submissions are always welcome.
Make sure to follow our website, our Facebook page and our newsletter for information on upcoming events. Please remember we are under construction on our website and new formats will be appearing over the next few weeks. Let us know how you are enjoying the new experience at webmaster@michiganlp.org.
Thank you.
Kimberly McCurry, LPM Chair
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