Michigan Libertarian: January 2014, Volume 43:01

Welcome to the January 2014 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

Happy New Year! The late Harry Browne wrote a pretty good list of New Year's resolutions for libertarians to present themselves and their message to the world in an attractive and humble way. The list was titled “A Libertarian’s New Year’s Resolutions and the piece is as relevant today as it was 15 years ago when it was first published. There are 14 good resolutions and although it’s not always easy to keep them, it’s good to remind yourself every now and then. I hope the piece is reprinted in this newsletter and if not, there are plenty of places you can find them.

For number 2, he said, "I resolve to keep from being drawn into arguments or debates. My purpose is to inspire people to want liberty - not to prove that they're wrong."

I admit that I get suckered into this more often than I'd like. I don't think I can ever completely stop because sometimes I feel it is necessary to defend myself and my ideas. But I need to remind myself that there is no point in arguing with someone when it will not change the person's mind. If they’re not buying what you’re selling it’s best to move on and agree to disagree. However, a good technique that I’ve learned from some libertarians (still need to practice it more) is to try and pose thought provoking questions that places the burden on the other person.

Another point made by Harry Browne that stuck out at me was number 7. He said, "I resolve to acknowledge my good fortune in having been born an American. Any plan for improvement must begin with a recognition of the good things we have. To speak only of America's defects will make me a tiresome crank."

This can be a problem for some libertarians. They always talk about the bad things. They don't offer the benefits of liberty enough (other points that Harry Browne made). They complain about America, when they really mean the U.S. government. They don't acknowledge the benefits of living in America, even today.

When I was in the U.S. Navy I visited a lot of “arm pits” of the world. America is still the best, or one of the best, places in the world when it comes to free speech, freedom of religion, free press, gun ownership, and individuality.

If I could add a number 15 it would be “While it’s important for libertarians to educate others on the benefits of liberty, don’t forget about yourself.” There’s a lot out there: books, videos, podcasts, etc. I try to learn something new every day (sometimes it takes a week). It can be a little overwhelming and sometimes distracting.

Which leads me a personal resolution to all of you: I will be more communicative in 2014. So if you send me and email I will acknowledge it within 24-48 hours. I may not be able to answer to your question right away, but at least I will acknowledge that I got your request. Former chairs failed (not their fault) to tell me that every day your in box gets inundated with stuff! Also I get a lot phone calls. Mostly from people who are fed up with our government and what it’s doing to them. I hoping that these phone calls turn into people joining the Libertarian Party. So by the time I get to an email it’s already buried again. So I got a new system that will keep important things on top so I don’t miss them.

There’s a lot to do and look forward to in 2014. Elections (we need a plan to start supporting candidates), state convention (May 2014) and national convention (June 2014), and you’ll be hearing more about them soon. Wishing you a happy, prosperous, and free 2014. Mary

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.

Obama’s so-called “Affordable Care Act” (BKA Obamacare) is devastating to many working class Americans. Unfortunately, the unions we pay to represent us, are not speaking up about this since they have become tools of the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party along with some Republican accomplices have betrayed labor, but labor would rather betray the rank and file then break the chains that keep them beholden to their political masters.

I am one of Obamacare’s victims. This is my story. If I am the only victim, then it’s no big deal…. but I have a feeling I have lots of company. I have never read about this in the mainstream media, but this is the truth.

As a part-time college professor, I have been teaching at two institutions to earn a decent income. I have been able to use that money to buy my own insurance. Since the law passed my premiums have increased significantly with no significant new benefits. But that is the least of my problems. The ACA requires employers to buy health insurance for any employees who work three-fourths of full time or more. So many employees are having their hours slashed by employers who don’t wish to face penalties for giving their employees too many (sic) hours. Most people would expect this to force employers to restrict their part-time employees to 29 hours per week, since most people think of 40 hours as full-time. Such an intervention is bad enough, in principle, and a person struggling to make ends meet in the current depression may not be able to afford any loss in income. Nonetheless, the reality is even more outrageous.

According to the ACA college faculty who teach over 11.5 hours per week are categorized as three-fourths full time. No, that’s not a typo. According to bureaucrats, the law says eleven and one half hours are three-fourths full time! Since my regular course load involved two six hour classes (12 hours total) per week, my hours have been nearly cut in half at one of the places where I teach. Fortunately, the union local at the other college refused to cave in and I still have all of my hours there.

If I can’t find additional work in the next couple weeks, I may be faced with bankruptcy. Meanwhile I have had to forgo Christmas shopping in preparation for this impending financial crisis. The rank and file need to stand up and tell their unions to withhold endorsements from any candidates who supported the ACA or any part of it’s implementation. Workers of the USA unite! We have plenty to lose.

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:

The new Wordpress platform has simplified the tasks of Webmaster to the point we have suspended actively seeking a replacement, and Brian Wright has agreed to stay on as interim Webmaster, unfunded, pending LEC direction otherwise. Brian has committed to writing--by January's end--a full job and operations description for the Webmaster position to facilitate handoff down the road. The Party continues its search for a newsletter editor; please notify Mary Buzuma of your interest in writing.

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. 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 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://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 (most if not all of the newsletters have been transferred over to the new site if you have a particular issue you're interested in and it doesn't show up on the page, please contact Webmaster@michiganlp.org).

Book Review
End the Fed (2009)
by Ron Paul
Reviewed by Brian Wright
No more money out of thick air!

As we examine the US central bank, the Fed, we need to keep in mind that all of the Western, and non-Western[3], central banks function more or less in subordination to “the Central Bank”… structured as a diffuse hierarchy with control channels in every subordinate institution, but headquartered in the City of London. Who is “it?” Who is “the Central Bank?” Later. For now, let’s simply call it “the R”… and recognize that it owns/controls $100 trillion to $500 trillion[4] of current economic value. That’s a fact, Jack. [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 Davidsons - 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
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