Michigan Libertarian: December 2013, Volume 42:12

Welcome to the December 2013 issue of the online newsletter of the Libertarian Party of Michigan, the Michigan Libertarian. The newsletter is our main vehicle for sharing what's happening for Libertarians in Michigan. You may manage your subscription by going here or visiting our Website www.michiganlp.org).

"I have often wondered at the smugness with which people assert their right to enslave me, to control my work, to force my will, to violate my conscience, to stifle my mind—yet what is it that they expect to depend on, when they lie on an operating table under my hands?” — Dr. Thomas Hendricks, Atlas Shrugged

I would like to wish everyone a very happy holidays and I hope you and your family have a wonderful and safe holiday season filled with joy and meaning.

I would also like to send out a personal “THANK YOU!” to all the affiliates, donors, volunteers, members and candidates who generously gave their time, money and energy to the Libertarian Party of Michigan this year. We put together some great events (State Convention 2013 and Liberty Fest), had a couple of winning candidates and most important continued to carry the message of liberty.

Big government never takes a holiday and there is no better time than the present to plan to run for office in 2014. We are growing as a party and the Michigan Libertarian Party will continue to grow as interest in libertarianism and dissatisfaction with the status quo grow. We always need more supporters, new activists, and new dues paying members. Slowly we are getting them. What we now need more than anything, are candidates for office. Without candidates for office we cannot continue to grow. We will simply plateau which is what the big two parties want, for the Libertarian Party to simply be a debate society or just a meet up club.

In 2014 everything will be up for grabs (so to speak) - Governor, both houses of the State Legislature, all U.S. Congressional seats and a U.S. Senate seat that our own Jim Fulner has announced his candidacy for. There will also be many races for local office. Please be reminded that no candidacy is official until the person is selected at the State Convention that will be held in May in Howell, Michigan. However that shouldn’t stop you from finding out what is required ahead of time. If you wish to run for office, the best place to start is through your local affiliate. You can also me at chair@michiganlp.org and I will get you in contact with our political director Leonard Schwartz.

The LP of Michigan runs candidates in all races and we will try our best to get at least one candidate elected into the State House, but the focus should be on races for local office. City Councils, school boards, county commissions, etc. Local offices are not as sexy or glamorous as statewide or federal offices but they are hotbeds of over-taxation, over-regulation, over-spending, cronyism and corruption. Anyone who has an optimistic libertarian message, understands local issues and is able to run (or have someone run for them) and organized campaign will not only be competitive, but stands a good chance of winning. But the key is starting early.

I couldn’t end this message without another big “THANK YOU” to our webmaster Brian Wright who will be leaving us in January 2014. Brian the LPM can’t thank you enough for all the work that have done for us over the years. We will try our best to fill your shoes, but you can never be replaced.

Erwin Haas, City of Kentwood Commissioner On November 5, 2013, voters in Kentwood elected Erwin Haas Commissioner for the city of Kentwood, Ward 2. Erwin, a long time Libertarian activist and leader in the Libertarian Party of West Michigan, ousted the favored Dick DeVos-backed incumbent Maurice Groce by 68 votes. Erwin won this local race with very little money and media attention. This sends a message: if you’re an incumbent, there is no guarantee that you will be one after the next election even — in a local, non-partisan race.

Andy LeCureaux, Hazel Park City Council Andy LeCureaux was re-elected in an uncontested race for a third term to the Hazel Park City Council.

Alex Fera ran for Novi City Council and received approximately 6% of the total vote in a race featuring five candidates for three commissioner slots. Alex ran a positive campaign and is still a leading Novi booster. His ‘concession and thank you’ speech is located here, and he plans to be running for further office in the Novi area.

Former CNN investigative reporter Pat Clawson was the only Michigan Libertarian running in a partisan election in 2013. The campaign was well publicized, but scaled back due to health reasons. He finished with 4.2 percent of the vote.

The Libertarian Party of Michigan is excited to build on these successes by expanding membership and running ever-more highly qualified candidates in 2014 and beyond.

This year's Liberty Fest was held on Saturday, November 16, at the East Lansing Marriott (University Place 300 M. A. C. Ave. East Lansing, MI 48823. The banquet began at 7 p.m., and the speaker was noted Austrian economist and scholar Richard Ebeling, whose topic was: Liberty, Security, and the War on Terrorism Now. The capital area group managed the affair.

Defender of Liberty Awards Defender of Liberty Awards ("Libbies") were presented at the banquet as follows:

The 2014 national Libertarian Party convention will be in Columbus, Ohio in June. Michigan usually sends a relatively large delegation to the national convention. With next year's convention being within driving distance for most Michiganders the number of your fellow LPM members who are interested in attendance will likely be significantly more than normal.

However, their participation may be in jeopardy. The National Convention of the Libertarian Party, like the convention of most political parties, uses a complicated formula to determine the number each region (in this case state party affiliate) is allocated, and not merely a straight allocation based on population.

In the case of the LP our delegates are based on a formula that includes the number of supporting members to the national party that happen to live in your state, and the number of votes your state gave to our most recent presidential nominee in the general election. While former Governor Gary Johnson shattered all records for a write-in candidates in this state, he also broke records for the most votes by any Libertarian presidential candidate nation wide. Even with our record number of write-in votes, with Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson keeping the governors name off the ballot, resulted in us still having far fewer Michiganders vote for Governor Johnson as would otherwise be expected, and an even more significantly smaller percentage of the total votes for our candidate coming from Michigan.. As such our delegate allocation to the national party based on Gary's vote total is significantly delineated. According to State Chair Mary Buzuma the Michigan delegation is only being allocated 2 delegates based on this vote total.

The rest of our delegates will come from the percentage of the total number of sustaining members of the national Libertarian Party who live in Michigan as of December 2013. As such, if you want to ensure that more Michiganders are given an opportunity to represent the Libertarian Party of Michigan at the national convention in Columbus, given us a chance to set the direction of the Party through the bylaws and platform, and selection our national leaders, now is the time to officially become a supporting member, or renew your membership in the national Libertarian Party, whether or not you personally plan on attending convention 2014.

A sustaining member is currently defined as any one who has signed "The Pledge" and given at least $25 to the National Party in the last calendar year. While being a member of an affiliate Party has its advantageous, including being eligible to be seated as a delegate to the national convention, if you are not a dues paying member to the national LP your membership is not counted towards this allocation. As Libertarians are committed to a separation of power, not only in state/federal government, but even within our own Party/Affiliate status, membership in one does not automatically carry over into membership in the other.

As such, TODAY is the best day for your to officially become a sustaining member of the National Party, or to renew your dues if you are a current member. You can do so on the national party web-page here https://www.lp.org/membership In addition to helping Michigan obtain the greatest number of delegates possible you also get many added benefits, including:

On November 18, 2013 Libertarian Party of Michigan Vice Chair Scotty Boman appeared before the 36th District court to face trespassing charges. The hearing was in the court room of Judge Roberta Archer. Boman was charged with trespassing after being attacked by Wayne County Community District Police Officers at his place of work.

The charges were written up by Boman’s alleged primary assailant, Olivia Moss-Fort on July 30th, 2013. As reported in the August issue of the Michigan Libertarian, Moss-Fort had initially confronted Boman for taking pictures to document campaign violations by Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey. According to Boman, Moss-Fort and other officers then assaulted him when he attempted to hand out campaign literature where supporters of other candidates were doing so.

The prosecution offered to drop charges if Boman would concede that the arrest was justified. Their offer was rejected. Boman’s attorney, Douglas Hamel made a motion to dismiss, but Judge Archer denied the motion. There will be a pre-trial hearing on January 15th, and the Jury trial is scheduled for January 29th, 8:30 AM. The case number is U99941313, and court rooms can be found by looking at postings in the lobby of the 36th District Court (listed in order of Defendant last names).

The 36th District Court is located at 421 Madison. Detroit, Michigan 48226. Visitors should refer to the court website to see a list of prohibited items.

In addition to being LPM Vice Chair, Boman is Vice President of his local radio patrol (MEC Neighborhood Patrol) and a Board Member At-Large for the Morningside Community. More background on the case may be found in these articles:

Citing a desire to spend more quality time with his family and to more fully leverage the truth movement into the New Paradigm of peace, freedom, and abundance—and to start writing that long-awaited novel—, LPM Webmaster and Newsletter Editor Brian Wright announces his retirement from these roles, effective January 1, 2014. We are soliciting candidates for either or both of the positions; contact either Chair Mary Buzuma (chair@michiganlp.org) or Webmaster Brian (webmaster@michiganlp.org) if you are interested. The Webmaster position has carried a nominal $100 per month stipend, which would be expected to continue.

Detroit Liberty PAC is a new group in Detroit being established for the purpose of funding and promoting libertarian initiatives and candidates specifically in the Detroit area. Its first meeting was scheduled for November 23rd 2013 @ Noni’s Sherwood Grille in Detroit. The group will tackle a number of issues that pertain specifically to Detroit and its citizens. It will also plan a number of seasonal events to fund the promotions for the different initiatives its group will take on. Anyone interested in more specific information about the first meeting or about Detroit Liberty PAC in in general should contact Karl Jackson at BroKarl@msn.com.

Per Will White. The House introduced two new election bills which are in committee. The first one would add more types of picture ID cards that would be accepted when going to the polls to vote. It still allows for signing an affidavit however, if you do not have a photo ID. Last election there were over 12,000 voters who did not have photo ID's and signed the affidavit instead. The second bill has to do with filling candidate vacancies if a candidate dies or is otherwise disqualified to run AFTER HAVING BEEN NOMINATED TO THE OFFICE OF STATE SENATOR OR STATE REPRESENTATIVE AND BEFORE THE GENERAL NOVEMBER ELECTION. As usual though, there are different rules for Major and Minor parties. Click here for full story: http://old.michiganlp.org/?p=1572.

Take a stroll down memory lane with this excerpt from one of the longest-running state Libertarian newsletters. Today, check out the Christmas eve publication in 1976. Click on this link for the full PDF version of this newsletter.

Former editor and LPM archivist Greg Stempfle has compiled the entire body of available Michigan Libertarian newsletters up on this page of the LPM Website (we still haven't copied all the files to our Webpages, so if you have a particular issue you're interested in and it doesn't show up on the page, please contact Webmaster@michiganlp.org).

Movie Review
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Not Just a Yuletide Feelgood Movie 10/10
Reviewed by Brian Wright

The quote totally expresses the theme of It’s a Wonderful Life—the overriding importance of human beings in the economic picture. You can add to that theme the individual importance of men like George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) whose dreams have been subordinated out of consideration for others. But is the George Bailey decision to forgo his dreams of private adventure truly altruism in the negative Randian sense, where the ideal is held to sacrifice yourself and your values to the worst of those around you? Answer: I think the signals are mixed, the meaning is a bit uncertain. But it’s a fascinating question that I’ll return to.. [Full Review]

Book Review
StarTram: The New Race to Space (2013)
by James Powell, George Maise, Charles Pellegrino
Reviewed by Brian Wright
Humanity Strikes Back!

StarTram is a epochal modern book of human liberation—equivalent to Renaissance scientists explaining how to set sail for the New World. Back then, if you’ll recall, not everyone in the feudalist Old World was overjoyed to see their serfs given clear directions to alternative, oligarchy-free real estate. Today really isn’t much different: over the centuries the Medieval ownership class pretty much figured out how to climb back in the global saddle. The last thing the Syndicate, the Cartel, THEY—call it what you will—wants is millions and billions of productive people working together in freedom for an unparalleled future in the stars of health and wealth who don’t need THEM… their wars, their debt, their suffocating economics, their prisons, or their policemen pepper-spraying grandma. [Full Review]

LPM Leadership
State Chair – Mary Buzuma, chair@michiganlp.org
Vice Chair – Scotty Boman, vicechair@michiganlp.org
Secretary – Jim Fulner, secretary@michiganlp.org*
Treasurer – Kim Moore, treasurer@michiganlp.or
Webmaster – Brian Wright - webmaster@michiganlp.org
Political Director – Leonard Schwartz – leonard@leonardschwartz.us

Libertarian Executive Committee At-large Directors:
Tim Keirnan - mailtim@sbcglobal.net
Arnis Davidson - arnisdavidsons2@gmail.com
Christopher Sharer - christopher.sharer@michiganlp.com
Brad Wheelock - bwheeloc@emich.edu
Denee Rockman-Moon - denee.rockman-moon@live.com

Judicial Committee:
Bill Hall - whall@michiganlp.org
Bill Gelineau - freedomlover59@hotmail.com
Emily Salvette – salvette@umich.edu

Affiliate Contacts (counties served)

Capital Area LP (Clinton, Eaton, Ingham, Shiawassee)
Bob Broda, Chair, bob_broda@att.net
(contact Will White: whitewi5@msu.edu )
Website: www.calparty.org

Kalamazoo Area LP
William Holden, Temp. Chair, williamkholden@gmail.com
The new Kzoo group will be handling the former Calhoun County and Southwest Michigan LP for counties: Calhoun, Berrien, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, Branch, Cass, and Van Buren. Jack Worsham (worsham74@aol.com), Daniel Grow (grow.daniel@gmail.com), Bill Bradley and other leaders of the former affiliates will be working with the Kzoo affiliate.

*Jim Fulner prefers you contact him at:
jim dot fulner at member dot fsf dot org.

Affiliate Contacts (counties served, continued)

Lakeshore Libertarians
Mary Buzuma, mary.buzuma@att.net

LP of Livingston County (Livingston)
Rodger Young, Chair, Chair@LivingstonLibertarians.org
Website: www.livingstonlibertarians.org

Libertarians of Macomb County (Macomb)
Keith Edwards, Chair: keithmarni@wowway.com
Dan Flamand, Vice Chair: daniel.flamand@att.net

LP of Oakland County (Oakland)
Jim Young, Chair lpocmi@lpocmi.org
Website: http://www.lpocmi.org/

Straits Libertarian Party (SLaP)
James Johnson, Chair, minidu@gmail.com

LP of Washtenaw County (Washtenaw)
Larry Johnson michlibertarian@gmail.com
Justin Altman, sec. mczerone@gmail.com
Also contact Paul Giuliano, pgiulian@umich.edu
Website: http://lpwc.wordpress.com/

LP of Wayne County (Wayne, Monroe)
Ray Warner, Chair, raymondrand@yahoo.com

LP of West Michigan (Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent, Lake, Mason, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Osceola, Ottawa)
Mary Buzuma, Chair: mary.buzuma@att.net
Arnis Davidson, Vice: arnisdavidsons2@gmail.com
Website: www.lpwm.org

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 weekly LPMOnline and the printed-and-mailed ML. We will post the newsletter 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.michiganlp.org (or www.mi.lp.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 (888-373-3669). Subscribe/Unsubscribe to Newsletter [Note: Just send us a message via our Contact page, and we will add you to the list.] We respect all unsubscribe requests.