GETTING THE WORD OUT: SOME NEW WEB IDEAS

In August our competitors, the Republicans and Democrats, had their selection process that you paid for, called “primary elections.” As such our Libertarian candidates races really start now that we know who our opponents are. So how do we get the word out? Particularly now that print media is going away, people don't read junk mail, etc. etc.

Well luckily the corporate media has given us several tools we can use to help our fight: News websites, which allow open comments, and Google Alerts. Most news websites nowadays will give readers the option to "comment" at the end of most of their posts. This is great for them as it encourages people to visit their website more often to see what has changed since the last time they read an interesting article, thereby increasing the number of views of their advertisements. For us, it ensures that every article about our competitors results in a response that mentions your favorite Libertarian candidate.

Now spending all your day trying to read all the articles from the Detroit News, Freep, Oakland Press, Lansing State Journal, etc. would take a lot of work. This is were Google Alerts comes in. If you Visit http://www.google.com/alerts you can register your email address and tell them a word you want Google to find. Every time a new web/news post about that is found, Google will automatically notify you via email.

Example: If you put in the search terms "Gary Peters" every time a new article mentioning Gary Peters is found they'll send you an email. This will save you time, looking for it. This will allow our candidates/volunteers to easily keep tabs on what our competitors are doing, and, more important, make sure that we add comments at the bottom to mention our Libertarian candidates and why libertarian solutions are better in reference to whatever the article was about. That way the voters more easily have heard of and hopefully vote for our candidates.

Here is one recent article that I commented on in support of the Skosnik campaign. My recommendation is that, if you are running a campaign, you set up such an alert for your two competitors' names. If you are not a candidate I recommend picking one race in your jurisdiction and doing the same. If you have extra free time, pick a couple. Most of these sites will give you an option to register any user name you want.

Decide how you want to post, should it be very clear that you are that candidate with a user name like Allen4StateRep or should it be more anonymous like DudeLovesCars43. Again if you have more free time, maybe you'll have more than one user name so that "two people" can post multiple reasons why Ken Proctor is better than Virgil Bernero on education, for example. Use the tools they've given us, get the word out, we'll see liberty in our lifetime. — JF

ON THE LIBERTARIAN CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Is there any hope left for America? Have they dumbed down our society to a point where we will not be able to recover? I sit and watch people walking past me at the county fair as I try to appeal to them with a philosophy of political intellect. Which some just can not comprehend, I’m realizing I should really be worried s***less about the future of this country. However, what is encouraging is the amount of young people coming to our booth to talk with us, they are more informed than people twice their age. Some not even being old enough to vote, but engaging us on the issues. These young people are in search of truth and knowledge, so when it comes time for them, they can hit the ground running so to speak. Because as of right now in this society they have no future, so they are working hard to create one for themselves, and that is a promising sign. These young people are more open minded than generations before them, and thank God for that!

Another trend I am seeing this year is either Americans that have been raised in foreign lands or foreigners who support our cause and have an understanding of what’s going in the political realm here in America. They find it hard to understand Americans, and why we have let the government have the power and control that it has. I mean people that have lived under other governing systems, are beginning to question if we have lost our minds. Foreigners are asking if our democracy is broken! Is that not one of the signs of the apocalypse?

One thing is for certain! Libertarians are not doing enough to educate the people. We have been trumped by other groups, with the migration of disillusioned Republicans, who have been brainwashed within the two party system, we are not even on their radar!

You read the brochures and websites from these groups and they are advocating our principles! Libertarian candidates need to address these groups with that in mind. These groups are looking for an alternative option to what they have had, but if we are not advocating our position in the public arena, we will never win elections. Local affiliates have monthly meetings and pat themselves on the back say, “Hey aren’t we great, we accomplished nothing again for another month.”

We need to be more involved, we need to be present in the communities, in the public eye creating awareness preaching from our soap boxes. If you are a true candidate this year working hard to get elected, fantastic, but if you don’t win in the off years you have the experience, you are your party’s salespeople. You must stay engaged; you must remain the voice of the Libertarian Party in the public eye.

This is a call for awareness and motivation on our part, to understand that we are sitting in a fantastic position if we are aggressive, and capitalize on this opportunity in history! Time for playing by their rules and being nice is over, if we are true patriots, let’s start acting like some of them. So, tighten up those bootlaces, and let’s get aggressive politically and start pushing back! There is a line we can not cross, but that does not mean we can not come really close to it! Let your words be bullets and your actions be bombs!

Get out there and make some damn noise!

This column arises from two campaigns who are making "particular arguments" for the relative importance of the race they're in, and certainly not to diminish other important Libertarian candidacies in the state. Please review our list of fine candidates—most of them with Websites—at this page from the LPM Website (http://michiganlp.org/Shared%20Documents/candidates.aspx).
— bw

JIM ROGERS FOR US CONGRESS
by Bill Gelineau

The Libertarian Party of West Michigan is running a record number of candidates for public office this fall, but one campaign stands out as the most active – Jim Rogers for US Congress in Michigan’s 3rd District. Here’s a bit about Jim’s campaign – I hope you’ll agree that it deserves your support.

Jim is one of the most active and motivated Libertarian candidates in Michigan. While stepping into his first race for the Party, he has demonstrated a commitment to principles, put some skin in the game, and led the way in helping organize and motivate the West Michigan core activists to reach for their best showing ever. Jim has pledged to run a professional and active campaign to ensure that the Libertarian Party stays on the radar in West Michigan.

Jim’s main opponent, Republican Justin Amash, has talked extensively about liberty and personal freedom. Jim’s presence in the race will make sure that the rhetoric and pledges don’t drift into traditional West Michigan conservatism. Jim will go toe to toe in debates and other venues to ensure our message is heard. In a short time,

Jim has become an outstanding and articulate spokespeople for changing the expectations of voters about the purpose of government. He understands, as you do, that as long as government sells itself as the solution to all our problems, politicians will ask even more of taxpayers. This campaign is committed to an alternative vision. Let’s give Jim the support he needs to keep both his campaign and the Libertarian Party as serious contenders in West Michigan.

In addition to Op-ed pieces, appearances on the radio, and a planned radio blitz in October, we are at the beginning of a wider effort to bring the Libertarian Party fully into the discussion this year. We’ve already distributed over 1000 – “New Vision for America” Libertarian Party brochures. Please help us ensure that Libertarian ideas are part of November’s campaign. We need your help to make it happen.

Yard signs, direct mail, brochures, and advertisements are expensive. We hope to raise at least $10,000 to implement our plan – and we’re 50% of the way there. Your donation of $20, $50, $100 or $500 will go a long way to make sure that the voters in Michigan have an effective Libertarian choice. No matter what you can send, it will make a difference – we hope you might consider sending something. We want to have just as many contributors as the other guys.

FLASH UPDATE! At the Libertarian Party of West Michigan meeting Tuesday night, contributions pushed us over the FEC limit! In summary – Jim’s the right Libertarian candidate at the right time. He deserves our support. He’s doing his part – help him have the resources to give them a fight. Please help if you can, and do it today. It’s easier than ever…just go to our website and click ‘Contribute’ where you may either use a credit card or print a mail-in pledge form. www.rogersforcongress2010.com

Bill Gelineau, Campaign Manager
616-723-2776

HELP ME WIN FOR PRIVACY AND FAIRNESS
by Scotty Boman

Dear Loyal Libertarian Compatriot:

It’s election season and I know that both your e-mail box and snail mailbox will be stuffed with letters and literature between now and November 2nd, so let me come right to the point. I have the honor of having been nominated by the LP for what is – for us “minor” parties – the single, most important office in state government: Secretary of State.

Why, you may be wondering, when the voters will be electing a new governor (chief executive), attorney general (chief law enforcement officer) and an entire legislature (both houses), is the office of Secretary of State so important to us? Here are two, purely partisan, reasons:

1. This is the state office responsible for everything associated with elections – including both administering the voting process and regulating campaign finances. These are of much greater concern to us than they are to the well-connected, well-heeled, “major” parties.
2. The order of placement on the ballot of political parties is based on the number of votes cast for their candidates for Secretary of State in the preceding election. The Libertarian Party of Michigan has not run a candidate for Secretary of State recently. That is why our party, despite receiving far more votes for our candidates than all the other “minor” parties added together, is currently listed last on the ballot.

But this election is also an opportunity to raise a very important public policy issue that is uniquely relevant to the campaign for Secretary of State for two more reasons:

1. Although it has not received much attention from the mainstream media, there has been an enormous backlash among our fellow-travelers in the freedom movement – especially in the loosely organized “Tea Party” – against the federal “Real ID.” In fact this George W. Bush administration mandate that states modify their drivers licenses to allow them to be compiled into a single database became so radioactive that the Obama Administration has relabeled it: “Pass ID.” (What? You didn’t seriously think that the ‘Change we can believe in’ would be anything more than the name, did you?)
2. By making repudiation of this proposed national ID – enthusiastically supported by the (now termed-out) Republican incumbent, incidentally – our signature issue we can force the old party candidates (especially the Republican) to address it. This will do at least one of two things. Either move them to our position. Or if they stubbornly resist, get us a whole lot of votes. It will probably do both.

While out on the campaign trail I have already seen the power and effectiveness of this strategy. With the deluge of ads and media coverage surrounding the old party primaries you may not have noticed that they nominate their candidates for Secretary of State the same way we do – at state party conventions. So it's no surprise that their candidates for that office have been vigorously courting their party precinct delegates.

For an issue that doesn’t get much press the Republican candidates for Secretary of State have been climbing over one another, trying to convince delegates that each is the most pro-privacy/anti-Real ID in the field. As Libertarians, you and I know full well that once nominated these candidates will slip back into the same old routine, saying as little as possible to get past their major party opponent and into office. Whichever old party candidates finally secure the nominations will simply return to business-as-usual.

UNLESS… we are there to hold their feet to the fire! That is why it will be essential in the weeks leading up to the election that we offer a high-profile, Libertarian alternative. Your contributions will not only provide the usual (but essential) brochures, etc., to distribute at Tea Party events and such, but will also allow me to create “viral videos” (free distribution through the Internet!), as well as pay for as many carefully-targeted, “talk radio” commercials as we can manage to a sympathetic audience. Please contribute here: http://www.lpwm.org/ScottyBoman/contribute.php

In liberty,
Scotty Boman

PS: Whatever else may come of my campaign, I am absolutely determined to move the Libertarian Party back up the ballot to the top of the list of alternatives to the two, old parties. Please be as generous as you can in your support.

PPS: If you’ll provide the means, I’ll do the work. That’s one campaign promise you can count on!

MEDICAL MARIJUANA BEING THREATENED BY SCHUETTE AND OTHERS
by Carol Reed (a msg to all Libertarians in Michigan via the chair)

Dear Emily:

We need some help from Michigan Libertarians to keep Snyder and, especially, Bill Schuette, the Republican candidate for attorney general, out. Hopefully, the newsletter will do an article about the Medical Marijuana (MMJ) Law in Michigan being threatened by Bill Schuette and others. Tim Beck is the leader of Safer Access, a group of patients and caregivers for MMJ. Here is a link to an interview with Karen O'Keefe of the Marijuana Policy Project or MPP.

This program http://www.upnorthmedia.org/watchupnorthtv.asp?SDBFid=2198#vid is an August 5, 2010 interview with the Marijuana Policy Project's Director of State Policies. Their website indicates that "Karen O'Keefe manages MPP's grassroots and direct lobbying efforts in all 50 state legislatures." O'Keefe was the lead author of the 2008 Michigan Medical Marijuana initiative. Throughout this piece, we discuss the intent of Michigan's newly enacted medical marijuana law and the status of marijuana laws throughout the United States.

They wrote the law. We need to defend this law now, before the November election. I left the Libertarian Party as an activist because I never felt enough support for my issue of Marijuana as a medicine in Michigan. I found my place--Executive Secretary of Michigan NORML from the beginning in January 2003 to 2007, when I had to step aside for personal reasons. I found all the right people to accomplish my mission.

Now we need to defend this law. I am still on the Board and also a member of many support groups. We hope the Libertarians will show some support for all of the people that are now legal patients and cardholders. We are getting constantly hammered by our enemies. They hate that MMJ is legal and they have lost the goose that laid the golden age--arresting patients and pot smokers. You have the possibility of picking up members by supporting us (www.minorml.org) and our issue.

There are a lot of us out here and more still coming to get their cards. Last I heard there were about 20,000 new applicants. Great new magazine is Michigan Medical Marijuana Magazine. The editor is Rick Thompson. Great person and activist and source of good information. KUSH Industries, on Northend St. by Coolidge in Oak Park, has a collective I belong to--they keep all products, business (and the money spent) in Michigan. This is a huge money maker for our State.

Also found a VERY INTERESTING website: www.cchr.org "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death" Citizens Commission on Human Rights....free DVD at the site is offered. I know my husband killed himself because of the prescription drugs he was on: anti-depressants. I have been telling people this for years. I finally found some proof. MarvinMarvin gave me two DVDs from this site. They are horrifying. It exposes the horror of Big Pharma's plan to get all of us on their prescription drugs---that do kill. They are totally in it for the money. No one has ever been cured---only medicated. Costing us our lives and billions of dollars.

I am so glad to be able to communicate with you on this issue. We just have to get the facts to the people. I hope you will be able to help me get the word out.

Carol Reed
(carol@mcnorml.org)
586-630-2651

MARCH ON THE MACK... TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK!
by Dan Johnson
(dan.johnson40@gmail.com)

It's the "March on the Mack" on Sunday and Monday (9/5, 9/6, Labor Day weekend). Basically, the LPM will have a booth which we will be handing out fliers and lit. Additionally, at least one of our LP candidates will be vetted, most likely, two of them: Keith Shelton, Congressional candidate 1st District and Ken Proctor our gubernatorial candidate. They MAY have an opportunity to speak to the crowd. A bunch of LP/LP leaders/activists are going. We'd like to have as many people there as possible so that we can recruit hard and get a UP affiliate going. For more information, please contact me. Here is the Website for the march: www.marchonthemack.com. Please contact me. This will be a fun and memorable event in LPM history.

LIBERTARIAN TAKE ON THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT
by Texas State Chair Patrick Dixon via Emily Salvette

From Emily: I field a lot of questions about the Tea Party movement. Here's a pretty good statement by the state chair of Texas, Pat Dixon. Pass it on:

I remember when the Iraq war protests began. Protesters would march up Congress Avenue and surround the Capitol announcing their opposition to this war. As time went on, I noticed how the protests evolved. I would start to see people joining these protests carrying signs opposing capitalism, environmental policy, global trade and all manner of policies that had little to do with the war. I also noticed how angry these people were, and the display of signs that showed President George W. Bush depicted as a Nazi.

When the Libertarian Party of Illinois lit the match that became the tea party bonfire, the idea was to promote the principles of the Libertarian Party in protest of continued growth of government, bailouts, a nightmarish taxation system and other policies promoted by Republicans and Democrats. It now has evolved to include protesters on immigration policy, gay marriage, foreign policy, abortion and all manner of policies that do not match those of the Libertarian Party. We also see angry signs depicting President Barack Obama as a Nazi.

Movements like these are not easily controlled. They can evolve and splinter such that they no longer reflect their origins. This is also true of the tea party. As far back as February 2007, discussions on the Libertarian Party of Illinois' email list mentioned a modern-day Boston Tea Party. In late 2008, the party decided to hold a tax protest called the Chicago Tea Party and scheduled it for tax day, April 15, 2009. In January 2009, they began to promote the event through Meetup groups, Facebook and elsewhere. Then on Feb. 19, 2009, CNBC commentator Rick Santelli, during a live televised broadcast from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, mentioned the idea of a Chicago Tea Party. The broadcast resulted in rapid proliferation of the idea on the Internet, and the event exploded into a mass movement.

It should be noted that the tea party movement started long before the health care debate and while Republicans still controlled the federal government. There was already outrage over the decisions being made in government at federal, state and local levels prior to the swearing in of Barack Obama. At its origin, it was a Libertarian movement. The founders and participants were socially liberal and economically conservative. Today we have many organizations calling themselves the tea party. There are competing tea parties in several states. The state of this movement today is confusing and uncertain.

It has become a prized demographic for talk radio and Republican political groups to romance. It therefore is subject to infusion of those who would coax it toward their opposing ideology. There is no unified tea party platform. Much of what we see promoted by its presumed leaders is not Libertarian. It has veered in many directions away from its original intent.

The Iraq war protests and the tea party share several attributes. They were both founded with focused concerns. As they grew, they were infused by those with other agendas in order to romance the followers of the movement. They were not centrally controlled, and they diverged into a widening and contradictory set of platform positions that were tangential to the original purpose. The tone became angrier and the messaging more extreme with the use of Nazi labels for their opponents.

What is yet to be determined is whether the tea party will have the same impact as the war protests. My observation is that the war protests don't appear to have had any significant effect on policy. Therefore, it is hard to predict how the tea party will influence the November elections. It will depend on whether supporters of the tea party are committed to the Libertarian origin of the movement. If so, votes will go toward those with a Libertarian (socially tolerant, fiscally conservative) platform which challenges incumbent politicians. If not, incumbent politicians will continue imposing anti-free market and socially intolerant policies on us and future generations.

If that happens, the party is over and it won't matter who lays claim to it. I, for one, won't want any part of it.

LP OF WASHTENAW COUNTY MEMBERSHIP SURVEY
by Paul Giuliano

The officers of the LPWC are working to maintain an effective time and location of membership meetings for its county constituents. They have designed a membership survey so that you may provide your opinion on meeting time and location. You can find the survey here, http://tiny.cc/lpwcsurvey. In addition, the LPWC is updating its membership database in order to more effectively keep in contact with its members. There is an option at the end of the survey to provide updated contact information. Please help out the LPWC by filling out this survey if you live in Washtenaw County. Please contact Paul Giuliano, pgiulian@umich.edu, if you have any questions.

DETROIT PUBLIC TV INTERVIEWING LP CANDIDATES
from Whitney Wild of MiVOTE.org and Detroit Public Television
wwild@dptv.org

I am writing this email in addition to my previous phone call (to Scotty Boman) with some follow up information. We would like to invite you to participate in our site by coming in and doing a brief Q&A session that we will tape and put up on our site along with a profile that we have already created for you. We will be calling others from the Libertarian Party as well to get their participation. Many others from varying parties have already participated and we would like to extend the same opportunity. The tapings will commence September 7th 2010 and will end September 10th. Time slots in 30-minute increments are available from 12:00 P.M. until 4:00 P.M. each day. We would also like to invite you to send us a brief biography and photo to complete your profile.

Every LPM candidate who wants coverage by Detroit Public TV, please contact Whitney.

On September 11, I will be filming LP candidates (especially for the west side of state)... at the studios of WKTV, 5261 Clyde Park SE in Wyoming, MI, (use your Google or whatever to find directions). Begin at 10AM and finish at 5 PM Candidates bring your speeches on thumb drives formatted in Text format only for the teleprompter.

Duration no more than 10 minutes, preferably 1 minute if you want to have people actually look at your stuff. I have no problem with folks filming themselves giving several speeches for various purposes. I'll edit them and put 'em up on my Youtube site so you can point your literature to that. Otherwise, I can make DVDs of them and send it to you, but if you want a hard copy, bring some sort of cardboard mailer with postage and your address on it (available at the post office) so that I don't have to struggle with the paperwork.

Wear medium colored shirts or coats; I intend to shoot against a black background and put text in under your speech that will be white in color, so the contrast is important. I'll use a podium behind which you will stand; an audience of your peers will be available to ask questions in the style of a press conference. Any questions, please email in. Looking forward to reacquainting myself with many of you from around the state.

Erwin Haas, 2456 E. Collier SE, Grand Rapids, Mi, 49546, Ph. and fax: (616) 942 7674

MICHIGAN POLITICAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM OFFERS APPLICATIONS
by Linda Cleary

The Michigan Political Leadership Program (MPLP) at Michigan State University (MSU) is distinguished as one of only a handful of multi-partisan leadership training programs in the nation. Graduates take with them the knowledge and skills needed to make sound public policy decisions and to be effective leaders of the future. Applications are sought from individuals who are interested in enhancing their leadership and political skills in order to better serve communities, constituencies, or causes. The program is administered and supported by MSU's Institute for Public Policy and Social Research in the College of Social Science.

Annually, a diverse group of 24 individuals are awarded the opportunity to participate in a hands-on curriculum that incorporates personal leadership development, public policy process and analysis, governance, and campaigning. Practical skills training is emphasized. Fellows participate in team and coalition-building activities to foster communication and the exchange of ideas. The MPLP faculty is comprised of elected officials, political activists, MSU faculty, media, and business professionals from across Michigan.

MPLP fellows are required to attend one weekend session per month from February thru November, generally beginning with dinner at 6 p.m. Friday evening and meeting through Saturday afternoon until 4 p.m.

Considerable financial resources and time are donated to support each fellowship which is valued at $15,000. The fellowship covers the participants' lodging, meals and program costs, however, accepted Fellows are asked to pay an administrative fee of $1,000 to participate in this program. Scholarship funds to defray the administrative fee are available on a limited basis and may be formally requested upon applying to this program. Travel and some parking expenses are the responsibility of the participant.

To apply for a MPLP Fellowship you may download an application from our website at www.ippsr.msu.edu/MPLP and mail the completed application along with supporting documentation to Program Administrator, Linda Cleary, 321 Berkey Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. Applications must be received no later than Friday, September 10, 2010 for consideration. Should you have any questions regarding the application process or the MPLP Program please contact, Program Administrator, Linda Cleary, at clearyl@msu.edu or by phone at (517) 353-0891.

DALLY IN THE ALLEY IN DETROIT
by Scotty Boman

Date: Saturday. September 11th (rain date: September 12th)

Table hours 9AM to 9PM (get there early for setup)

Event hours 11AM to 11PM Location: Northern Cass Corridor Just South of Wayne State University. Block bounded by W. Forest, Anthony Wayne Ave., Second Ave., and Hancock St. Detroit, MI 48201. For event details visit: http://www.dallyinthealley.com/ Contact: Scotty Boman. 313-247-2052. scottyboman@hotmail.com

To all Libertarians of West Michigan, Libertarians of Michigan and all fellow Patriots. I regret to announce that Debbie Hemstreet contacted me early this morning to inform me of the passing of her husband Rich. Those of us who knew him were inspired by him. As a human being, Rich was kind, thoughtful and sincere. As a Libertarian, Rich was passionate and patriotic when it came to the ideals of what he believed to be the intent of our Founding Fathers and how the government was to be under control of "We the people."

I was both saddened at her loss and the loss of Rich to his family, while at the same time encouraged by Debbie's resolve and realization that Rich has lived a truly inspirational life, and is now in a better place for having lived life the way that he did. With love, compassion and caring for his fellow man and a steadfast faith in his ideological and moral beliefs. On a personal note, I can say having spoken with Rich so many times while also having seen him and his family in the hospital, that he was an amazing man.

My wife and I are better people for having known him and I am confident that all who did get to speak with him and Debbie would agree that our lives were made better and that he was a true Patriot in every sense of the word. I encourage you (if you have not already) to read Debbie's blog and if you feel it appropriate, to leave a message for her on her blog regarding Rich. Thank you for your compassion to Debbie and to Rich's family at this difficult time. With great sadness and in liberty. Here is the obituary in the Grand Rapids Press.

The family has asked that In lieu of flowers, please send checks to Baptist Mid Missions, POB 308011, Cleveland, OH 44130, clearly marked for the mission work of John Dannenberg.

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. — Thomas Paine

Suburban Michigan street person? Sort of the last work-from-home job available these days. I think this guy is a former computer programmer in Birmingham (except for the pot and hooker part). Note: Please submit photos and cartoons for inclusion in the monthly newsletter by sending them to E-Newsletter@michiganlp.org.

The following review excerpts are courtesy LPM Webmaster Brian Wright's commentary and review site, The Coffee Coaster. If you would like to submit book or movie reviews please notify the editor.

Book Review
Unequal Protection
The rise of corporate dominance
and the theft of human rights
by Thom Hartmann

Many people do not realize the Boston Tea Party was a revolt against corporate privilege. Queen Elizabeth chartered the East India Company (EIC) in 1600; into the 1700s it dominated trade by Britain with America. Tea became a huge import to America by the mid-1700s and EIC wanted all the business. Several acts prohibited Americans from acquiring tea from other sources. In 1773, the Tea Act exempted EIC (of which the king was a stockholder), but not colonial merchants, from taxes to the crown. The tea partiers were telling the Crown and the EIC stick their cheap tea where the sun don’t shine.
[full review ]

Movie Review
Shawshank Redemption
The second-best movie of 1994? __ 10/10

No point in sugarcoating it. Prisons—particularly prisons in the United States—have next to nothing to do with punishment for real crime, rather next to everything to do with inflicting systematic state aggression upon the disobedient. Disobedient to whom? To the state. And there are few movies that make the true purpose of state "corrections" facilities so evident as The Shawshank Redemption. And the setting is four thru seven decades ago!!! Imagine Prison World now with 40 years of the War on Drugs. Talk about hell holes. How can civilized persons accept such an ongoing atrocity in our midst?
[full review]

Take a stroll down memory lane with this excerpt from one of the longest-running state Libertarian newsletters. Today, check out the July-August issue of 1983. Click on this link for the full PDF version of this newsletter.

Newsletter editor Greg Stempfle has compiled the entire body of available Michigan Libertarian newsletters up on this page of the LPM Website.

Appeal to Republicans first:

... I hate to say it but you should take a page from the Democrats (ugh) and learn the meaning and uses of incrementalism. First you get the vote, then you implement your policies. You don't campaign by confusing the electorate, airing your least palpable agenda items or alienating the Republicans who are more likely to vote with us on our most important issue: FREEDOM FROM GOVERNMENT.

This should be your campaign slogan and your only slogan. Stay on this point and keep hammering at it. Stop talking about legalizing marijuana, trashing Reagan or any of the other issues certain to lose you any serious support and side track you from your main intentions - getting elected and getting this onerous, evil, oppressive and increasingly collectivist government off our backs....

Did not leave first (or last) name... probably not a member of NORML--bw.

We would like to hear feedback from you, real people, on any little thing, preferably with something short and punchy. Please voice your comments or opinions to the newsletter editor, Greg, via email by the 25th of the month... and we will post them.

The Michigan Libertarian is published/posted on the first of each month. Send calendar events and news/articles to e-newsletter@michiganlp.org by the 25th of the prior month.

The Michigan Libertarian is one of the longest-running Libertarian newsletters in the country, debuting in 1973 shortly after the founding of the Libertarian Party of Michigan. The "new" Michigan Libertarian (a predominantly online version) debuted on August 1, 2009 and replaced the monthly LPMOnline and the printed-and-mailed ML.  We will post on the Website and deliver via email on the first of every month. A printed version of the new Michigan Libertarian will be sent free to anyone who signs up, which you may do at the LPM web site www.mi.lp.org (or www.michiganlp.org).

LPM members who need a hard copy may request one be mailed to them by contacting
e-newsletter@michiganlp.org or calling the LPM toll-free number 888-Free-Now.

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