——Michigan Libertarian——
November 2015, Volume 44:11
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Online newsletter for the Libertarian Party of Michigan
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Welcome

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Welcome to the November 2015 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).

Chair Report

Happy November,
Fall has finally come to Michigan. You may think that the Libertarians are being quiet but you would be quite surprised to find that the Washtenaw Area Affiliate had our former Attorney General Candidate do a wonderful presentation on how to operate in a time where both people and police feel the tension from the media driven envisioned war on police. This was not about how to confront anyone but to learn to make everyone remaining feeling calm during an encounter you may or may not agree with.
We have also been working with Roll the Vote to set up another table and support them at their next even in Flint which was moved to November. We will also have a small presence at the Halloween Campaign for Liberty Event in Southfield. We've had a few committee meetings that we will have reports on at the November LEC Meeting.
And of course we cannot forget to mention our upcoming Liberty Fest. We have a wonderful speaker from Hillsdale College talking to us about what we can do when we get the wrong type of people in office. This will help us to understand what we can do even when we don't have a vote at the legislative level. If you would like to attend or have someone you would like to nominate for a Libby you can check out information here: http://michiganlp.org/?page_id=73.
Besides going out and making ourselves more visible when we can we are also working to put our own candidates in the special elections for State House Districts 75, 80, & 82. We'll keep you informed on the candidates and what they would like to do for you in their own article announcements.
Unfortunately we do have some not so great news also. A few new tax bills have passed the State House and now the corresponding State Senate bills can be adapted to get these taxes pushed through.
Being Libertarian all tax increases tend to perturb us; but these do so even more. Why? Because these bills should make most Michigander's blood start boiling. Back in May of this year the people, the voters, of this state overwhelmingly voted "no" on increases in taxes to support the neglected roads in Michigan. Roads that could have been repaired with the money that was already set for roads but used on other "transportation" items. Roads that could have been repaired by companies hired doing proper maintenance and warranty up keep. We understand that looking toward other methods of doing business can be difficult at first; it is evident that the traditional tax and spend does not lead to proper use of funds as they are always asking for more. Every voter in Michigan should be taking note of these bills and that the party (Republicans) that claims they are for small government and less taxes are the ones who by a wide majority voted for these bills to give a new tax to you. Remember, 2016 is another year that you can give the Libertarians a chance to show you what we can do for you.
Our Vice Chair Karl Jackson has stepped down from his position. Though he has great hopes for this party he is unable to fulfill the duties of an officer at this time. I would personally like to thank him for all of his ideas even if we were not able to execute them all at this point. We will be accepting letters of interest from those interested in either the Vice Chair Position and/or an At Large Position and will be making decisions at the next LEC Meeting on November 22, 2015.
Thank you all for your support and I hope to meet you soon. Kimberly McCurry, LPM Chair.

Liberty Fest Reminder

Don't forget to checkout Liberty Fest 2015: http://michiganlp.org/?page_id=73
Our guest speaker Dr. Butters was introduced in the last month, and we are excited to have someone that will be speaking to us on what we can do when 1) we are not in office ourselves and 2) people who are less than desirable are in positions of power.
We also look forward to awarding a few well deserving people awards for their work in Liberty. If you would like to nominate someone for one of the below mentioned rewards please go to the link above or mail to Liberty Fest 2015 Libbies, PO Box 27065, Lansing, MI 48909.
  • Spokesperson for Liberty Award : To a member of the community whose patriotism and conviction have inspired contributions to the cause of liberty.
  • Promoter of Liberty Award : To a libertarian whose efforts have done the most to promote the LP and Libertarian principles
  • Producer of Liberty Award : To a dedicated, behind-the-scenes Libertarian whose quiet labors over the years exemplifies the backbone of the LP.
Thank you and we look forward to seeing you there.

Candidate Intro: Arnie Davidsons

Hi.
My name is Arnie Davidsons. Many of you already know me. I am the LP candidate for the March 8th special election for state House seat District 80, which is most of Allegan County.
I am running to give the voters an option besides the "business as usual" crowd that has filled the primary ballot. Too many of those running in today's primary are funded by the establishment crowd that loves taxes. Lansing does not listen to the people. In May, we gave them a very clear NO vote on raising taxes for "roads", (along with other pork!) Now they are going to ram it down our throats anyway! I would fight ANY tax or "fee" increases if elected.
All for now, thank you.
Arnie

Candidate Intro: Tracy R. Spilker

Hello Fellow Libertarians,
I am obliged to introduce myself to you all. My name is Tracy R. Spilker, and I am running as the Libertarian candidate for State Representative for Lapeer County - 82nd District, in the March 8th, 2016 election. I am 35 years old. I have an MS in Clinical-Behavioral Psychology from Eastern Michigan University. I currently work in mental health as a case manager doing coordination of care, monitoring and assessing my clients, linking them with resources and services, and advocating for them when needed. Previously, I worked for the Department of Human Services, first as a welfare caseworker, then as a CPS Investigator, until I resigned in December 2013. I also have experience teaching conflict resolution and anger management to children ages K-12, and I completed my practicum at McLaren Oakbridge Partial Hospitalization Program in the adolescent ward.
I am a single mother to a three-year-old daughter, Ramsay, and five-year-old son, Sage. As cliché as it might sound, they are the light of my life, and my reason for breathing.
I have always voted Libertarian since I was of voting age. I grew up with parents who were pretty conservative, and it began that I recognized that I couldn't agree with the Democrats' fiscal policies, but could not in good conscience support the Republicans' social policies. So before I voted for the first time, I did some research on other parties, and Libertarianism hit all of the so-called "check boxes" for me. Over time, I've come to recognize that Libertarianism is so much more than that. I subscribe to the Non-Aggression Principle, and the idea of Voluntaryism. To my mind, Libertarians are the only political party who have a well thought-out philosophy that adheres to the principles of logic, and consistently defends the Rights of all human beings.
I decided to run for State Representative in Lapeer County, because I learned that there was no other candidate for the Libertarian party in the upcoming election, and I could not turn down the opportunity to represent our party. I am eager to inform and educate the constituents of Lapeer County about what the Libertarian party stands for, as I feel we are often misunderstood, but I am also eager and prepared to do much more listening than talking.
I look forward to giving all of you the opportunity to get to know more about me in the coming months, and I hope to have your support in the upcoming election.
Sincerely,
Tracy R. Spilker

Irwin Allen Schiff (February 24, 1928 - October 16, 2015)

By Scotty Boman
On October 16th anti-tax activist and writer Irwin Schiff died as a political prisoner at the age of 87. He leaves behind his son Peter Schiff who is also active in the anti-tax movement. I had the privilege of meeting Irwin in 1996 at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington DC where he was seeking our party's nomination. He had been very ill with lung cancer for the last few months, but Federal authorities ignored pleas for compassion and insisted that he die in prison rather than with his family.
Here are a couple articles and a video about Irwin Schiff and his death:

Patrick Clawson (November 5, 1954 - October 29, 2015)

By Kimberly McCurry
It is sad that we are going to recognize two Libertarian Members in the same way in one Newsletter.
Patrick Clawson was not considered to be a perfect Libertarian by any means, but he was passionate about reducing the size of government, even if he didn't want to take it as far as the rest of us. He was always looking to become more active.
Though I do not know much of his personal life I am including a link to a different type of obituary. Many people have left their fond memories of the main on the funeral home's page below. If you remember having progress conversations with him that helped you see something in a different way, or if you would simply like to send your thoughts to the family please check out the obituary.
Thank You.

We All Have Credit Now

By Erwin Haas
We all have credit now, and that's less than nothing
"Die Moor Soldaten" was a song written during the 1930s by international socialists imprisoned by German national socialists.These political prisoners were worked to death, forced to dig ditches all day and fill them back in at night. These poor wretches would have understood the difference between credit (debt), and money(cash). Debt, or borrowing, is a negative, a ditch from which one must make a greater back breaking effort to move dirt up and out as the hole becomes deeper and the nearby mountain of dirt becomes higher each day.
Money is a positive, the bulge that a hill of dirt makes above the field from which it's easy, in the short term at least, to move dirt downhill back into the hole. Too bad that modern economists, who don't understand the difference, wallow nostalgically in the Keynesian and Hayekian landscape of "money" of "printing money" and of "managing money" as though it were an important commodity in modern economies. It's not. We use plastic at stores and borrow to buy houses; no one pays with 100 dollar bills. Money, be it old money, gold, rapidly depreciating Venezuelan Bolivars, a balance in a checking account or savings at a bank is wealth. It is better than nothing. One can dispose of the stuff easily, spend it like a drunken sailor, just like our Moor Soldaten found it easier to push the loose soil back into the hole. It flows effortlessly through our hands like dirt followed gravity in those north German moors.
Government historically diluted the gold and silver in their coinage or issued fiat currencies and so could cause money inflation, effecting citizens' economic behaviors in the short term. Keynesianism worked (maybe) before modern economies converted to borrowing.
Credit, be it on a card, bank loan, mortgage, or an obligation to pay a defined benefit pension is less than nothing; it's a negative, a hole in the ground from which one it takes increasing effort to dig deeper to move the dirt out of the hole and onto the hill. As debt became better understood by average people during the recent financial unpleasantness, it acquired a reputation as a burden and fewer took on. I'm old and established, one of the few who still carry a credit card; it's paid off monthly. Young people at the check out counter in stores no longer carry credit cards; they use debit cards (cash in the bank) because they've learned to fear digging a hole of debt for themselves. Home ownership in the USA is shrinking.
The Fed no longer prints money but rather asserts that it creates credit, assuming that consumers, businesses and lenders would continue to use the "easy money." But credit creates money only if it borrowed into existence. Borrowing is no longer fashionable. The Fed's Keynesian policy pretends that the hole created by citizens taking on more debt wasn't getting deeper and that lifting the dirt out of the hole wasn't growing beyond normal human capacity. Trying to stimulate spending by making credit readily available depends on convincing the wretches in the hole that they are on level ground easily pushing dirt around. But those prisoners have been squeezed by the financial unpleasantness of the last few years and see that the field is not level, that moving dirt uphill is harder the more of it that there is. So, personal debt in many advanced countries shrinks as folks pay off their credit cards and rent instead of taking on mortgages. Consumer spending is stable or shrinking, confounding the Nobel prize winning economists who fantasize creating cheap credit to "stimulate" the economy into high drive (and also Ron Paul who has predicted the inflationary blowout for 40 years now.)
The Japanese "stimulated" the economy with low interest rates and high spending in 1990 and have been in deflation for 25 years now. Most European countries, following the same formula after the 2008 panic, are in deflation. Our Fed in the USA is still trying to get us Americans to shovel the same old dirt of cash and money. It's not working. It pretends to "stimulate" the economy with cheap credit and worries publicly about deflation as our consumer price inflater hovers around 1.6%. The Fed plays in its own sandbox with an outmoded financial model, stubbornly ignoring today's economy.
Credit is not money. The US economy is not outside of history
Erwin Haas

How Libertarians CAN Win

If this post got you fired up, thinking that I'm a defeatist who sees nothing good coming from the efforts of Libertarians/libertarians and other grassroots candidates, keep reading. I rarely identify a problem, oppose an idea, or "play pessimist" without having an alternative or a plan.

Civic Involvement

Anyone considering a run for office should attend meetings for that office, long before announcing or qualifying for the post. Our civic involvement should have others asking us to campaign and lead, rather than being an afterthought once already committed to running. Not only will we garner the attention and favor of those already involved, this is an opportunity to get to know the intricacies of the procedures and practices of the body, the "power players," and to have people know you. How many of you know why your City Council or County Commission uses a "consent agenda"? I vaguely and briefly noted my advocacy (in the aforementioned companion post) for serving in a volunteer capacity in an appointed position prior to seeking elected office, but I would like to strongly state that this is a result of involvement at the local level and a way to further build your network and name recognition in the community. Additionally, it removes the need to run strictly with a platform of philosophy and promises on which you may not be able to deliver.

Planning For the "Long Game"

You may have noticed that, thus far, my suggestions seem aimed at municipal and county level races. there is a reason for that. politics is a "long game," and the people you see running for congress or governor have put in a lot of effort, time, and planning to get to that level. excepting the very wealthy, the famous, and various mixtures of both, there is no realistic expection to win a high-level office the first time you run. the very wealthy can "buy" the recognition and press they need to seek a statewide or federal office, and famous former athletes, actors, and musicians have "built in" name recognition due to their efforts in pre-political life. if either the very wealthy or famous label apply to you, skip ahead two paragraphs. i noted above that seeking an appointed office before running for an elected one helps you with your first campaign. first, it builds your reputation and name recognition within the community, as well as the existing power structure, by showing all that you are genuinely interested in serving your city or county. the board or commission on which you serve does not matter, because this is an opportunity to" get your foot in the door" and start a voting record.
You can also similarly accomplish these goals outside the government by being actively involved in an issue-based group, like a taxpayers group, focusing on issues of taxation for the city or county, or an ethics watchdog group, focused on the actions of elected, appointed, and hired officials within the city or county, as a couple examples. The issue-based group route is a little trickier, because it could pigeonhole you as a single-issue candidate, when you decide to seek elected office, but it can be beneficial if there is a lot of cronyism in your local government.

Keep You Aim Realistic

With no "name ID," money, or network to speak of, the best plan is to run for Congress or Senate, right?
Wrong.
Keep your aim realistic. In fact, take your aim and bring it down a level or two. Just because Senator Do-Nothing or Congressman Votes The Wrong Way got you "off the couch" and interested and involved in politics does not mean he or she should be the opponent you seek right off the bat. Keep in mind that they have years and years of experience legislating, raising funds, and building the campaigns necessary to win the votes of the masses and you do not.
There is nothing wrong with starting small. It might even be better, as you work to unseat the petty tyrants at the local level that probably have more influence over your liberty at the local level. You may find that you can make more of a difference in your town by serving on the City Council. Even if that is not the case for you, you are an elected official with an established record on issues that will bolster your campaign and platform for higher office.

Be Friendly With The Media

"...never quarrel with a man who buys ink by the barrel."
In 2012, former Indiana Congressman Charles Brownson's quote is more appropriately adapted to be "never fight with someone who buys server space by the terabyte." Making contacts with the media, being available ANY TIME they have a question, and being a useful source for good quotes/soundbytes, as well as related news that may not be directly beneficial to you are how I maintain fantastic relationships with the news media in my area.
There is no reason to expect "equal coverage" as a candidate if you are not doing something newsworthy. Newspapers, radio stations, and television outlets are not required to cover your campaign, especially when they stand to benefit from the 2-person "horse race" perspective on stories. This is not a recommendation to "make news" for the sake of receiving coverage, but you should issue timely, well-written press releases on the issues of the day. Seeking to provide commentary on with your established contacts will help you to get your name in front of voters. This goes for the time prior to your candidacy as well, as it helps build that important metric of "name ID."
There are far more ways that libertarians can win elections, but this should be a starting place for most of us interested in influencing public policy in a more libertarian direction.
Calendar

 

 

More... For all events, see the full online calendar on the Website:
http://michiganlp.org/?page_id=61. Note for those who do not have online access, please contact your local affiliate representative or call the office at 1-888-FREENOW (373-3669) to get a description of events in your area. The Michigan Libertarian ONLINE is distributed on the first of each month. Send calendar events and news articles by the 25th of the prior month to: e-newsletter@michiganlp.org

 

Note: The final print edition of the Michigan Libertarian is available online at http://www.michiganlp.org/Past%20Newsletters/
Michigan%20Libertarian%2038.2%20summer%202009.pdf

 

 

About the Michigan Libertarian
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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 October 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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Newsletter URL (Webpage address for this issue of the ML):
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