Libertarian Party of Michigan

Newsletter of 5/12/1998

Contents

  1. Upcoming Events
  2. Communicating Our Message on the Campaign Trail
  3. Sex, Drugs, and Consenting Adults
  4. "Bill of Writes" the Common Conservative
  5. Art Bell Radio Show Response

  1. Upcoming Events

    May 12, 1998 - 7:00 PM
    Meeting of the Committee to Elect Diane Barnes to State Board of Education. All people interested in working on this important campaign are encouraged and welcome to attend.
    Location: LCMA Headquarters (also Brass Roots) at at 1035 Hilton Road (West of I-75 between Eight Mile and Nine Mile Roads) in Ferndale.
    Contact: Paul Soyk Phone: 810 977-3523 E-mail: LNUSGMB.ZZYQNH@gmeds.com

    May 13, 1998 - 6:30 PM
    Meeting - Libertarians of Macomb County. We will be viewing the second half of the Academy Award nominated film, WACO: The Rules of Engagement.
    Location: Fire Station Restaurant, 31185 Utica Road, Fraser (on the southwest corner of Utica Road and Groesbeck, just north of 13 Mile Road.
    Contact: Paul Soyk Phone: 810 977-3523 E-mail: LNUSGMB.ZZYQNH@GMEDS.COM

    May 14, 1998 - 7:00 PM
    The monthly meeting of the LPWM will be held beginning at 7 PM.
    Location: Brann's on Leonard street in Grand Rapids
    Contact: haas Phone: 1616 9427674 E-mail: haas@iserv.net

    May 21, 1998 - 6:30 PM
    Van Buren County Libertarians - A Double Bill! Stacy Van Oast, Vice-Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Michigan will be in town to visit us. Also, Mr. Kenneth Maxwell owner of Accutek Inspection Service of South Haven will talk to us on the subject of "Home Inspection, Private and Public". Mr. Maxwell also writes a regular column featured in the Herald-Palladium. This should be another good program!
    Location: CTs Restaurant - Blue Star Hwy & M-140 - South Haven
    Contact: Bill Bradley Phone: 616 637-4525 E-mail: bbradley@cybersol.com

    May 25, 1998
    Farmers of Cass County will hold a Hemp Rally on Memorial Day, 1998. The Andrews University Libertarians, LP of Berrien County, and South Haven Libertarians will be participating. The rally is for the promotion of legalised growth of industrial hemp. All other LPM members are welcome to support these farmers in Cass County.
    Location: Cass County
    Contact: Scott Beavers Phone: 616 944-1852 E-mail: scottbeavers@qtm.net

    May 26, 1998 - 7:00 PM
    Meeting of the Committee to Elect Diane Barnes to State Board of Education. All people interested in working on this important campaign are encouraged and welcome to attend.
    Location: LCMA Headquarters (also Brass Roots) at at 1035 Hilton Road (West of I-75 between Eight Mile and Nine Mile Roads) in Ferndale.
    Contact: Paul Soyk Phone: 810 977-3523 E-mail: LNUSGMB.ZZYQNH@gmeds.com

    May 27, 1998 - 7:00 PM
    Monthly Meeting of the Berrien County LP and the Andrews Univ. Libertarian Society. Discussion of plans for the Berrien County Youth Fair to take place.
    Location: Beijin Palace Chinese Restaurant, Downtown Berrien Springs MI
    Contact: Glenn Whitt Phone: 616 473-5708 E-mail: whitt@andrews.edu

    May 28, 1998 - 7:00 PM
    LPSC Monthly Meeting. Guest Speaker: Jack Down, President of Citizens Against Repressive Zoning.
    Location: Risto's Bistro, 113 S. Washington, Owosso
    Contact: Ben Steele III Phone: 517 288-5616 E-mail: bsteele1@tir.com

    May 31, 1998 - 7:00 PM
    LP of Berrien County will host a candidate training seminar for those who are on the 1998 ballot and feel they need training but have been unable to attend previously held traning seminars at the state and national conventions. There is plenty of room. Anyone feeling the need for training is welcome to attend.
    Location: James White Library, Andrews University, Berrien Springs
    Contact: Scott Beavers Phone: 616 944-1852 E-mail: scottbeavers@qtm.net

    June 10, 1998 - 6:30 PM
    Meeting - Libertarians of Macomb County
    Location: Fire Station Restaurant, 31185 Utica Road, Fraser (on the southwest corner of Utica Road and Groesbeck, just north of 13 Mile Road.
    Contact: Paul Soyk Phone: 810 977-3523 E-mail: LNUSGMB.ZZYQNH@GMEDS.COM

  2. Communicating Our Message on the Campaign Trail by Harry Browne

    Sometimes someone will cite a government program that seems to be working well, one you know nothing about. Or he'll propose a government program that seems plausible, but that can't be refuted without more details. Or he'll cite an example where someone has been helped by a government program. Or he'll assert some "fact" of history that can't be checked and refuted in the course of a conversation. Or he'll say, "Don't you think government should protect . . . ?" Or he'll ask several implied questions in one, such as, "Before government stepped in at the turn of the century, we had child labor, sweat shops, environmental pollution, and large trusts that drove out competition."

    In any of these cases, you need a fall-back position -- an all-purpose answer that will suffice in the absence of more specific knowledge regarding the claim being made. Here are some fall-back positions I've found valuable.

    * Government doesn't work. It doesn't deliver the mail on time. It doesn't keep the cities safe. It doesn't educate our children. It has made a mess of everything it touches. Why should we expect it to work any better in the program you want?

    * We shouldn't be talking about what government _should_ do or what we wish it _could_ do. We should recognize what government _can_ do. And government has proven that it makes a mess of virtually everything it touches. So whatever it is we may _want_ government to do, we have to look for better ways to achieve it.

    * Whenever you turn anything over to the government, it is no longer a scientific, medical, commercial, or ethical issue; it is now a _political_ issue -- to be decided by Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Newt Gingrich, Teddy Kennedy, Jesse Helms, and the rest of the political hacks. So don't be surprised that there will be a federal building for West Virginia in it, to satisfy Senator Byrd -- and a subsidy for Archer Daniels Midland, to satisfy Senator Dole. Is this what you want -- to transform a serious issue into a political boondoggle?

    * It's easy to see how someone has been helped by money taken from someone else, especially when we can't see the people whose lives have been hurt by taking that money away -- the family who now can't afford braces for their child's teeth, or who must move into a smaller home, or who can't afford college educations for their children. Or the businessman who has been driven out of business by government regulations and taxes. As long as you ignore the people who have been hurt, any government program might seem worthy.

    * Ask the government to take care of these things [whatever they may be] and the next thing you know, we have a trillion-and-a-half-dollar government and a 5-trillion-dollar debt. You must first ask yourself: do you want smaller government? If you do, you will never get it by proposing new government programs or arguing for the retention of current programs.

    * The cost of a government program to the average American isn't a few cents a day, or a couple of dollars a month -- as the politicians say in order to trivialize the price. You can't have this program without everyone else getting his favorite program as well. And all those programs add up to a trillion dollars a year in income tax, a five-trillion-dollar debt, and a lifetime tax rate for your children that economists estimate will be 70 cents out of every dollar they earn. There has to be a less expensive way to get the benefit you want.

    * Where in the Constitution is the federal government authorized to be involved in . . . ? If you allow the government to ignore the Constitution in this area, you shouldn't be shocked when it ignores the Constitution everywhere else as well. Nor should you be surprised that the government costs $1.7 trillion a year and there's a $5 trillion debt.

    * You may feel this program does something good. But does that justify forcing other people to pay for it? If the program is so wonderful, why couldn't you entice people to support it voluntarily?

    * You apparently believe government invented air conditioning and the technology necessary to increase production and improve working conditions. That's a very imaginative notion, but it has nothing to do with the fact that government is much too big today, too expensive, and too oppressive -- and we need to have huge spending cuts now, huge tax cuts now, and a balanced budget now. Or do you believe it's okay for government to confiscate 45% of the national income?

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  3. Sex, Drugs, and Consenting Adults by Peter McWilliams

    A NOTE FROM PETER McWILLIAMS ON THE MOST IMPORTANT HOUR OF TELEVISION THIS YEAR

    This is a personal note about what I think will be the most important hour on television this year. It's John Stossel's ABC-News special, "Sex, Drugs, and Consenting Adults." It airs Tuesday, May 26, 1998, at 10:00 PM. The question examined: "Should adults be imprisoned for acts that do not physically harm the person or property of non-consenting others?"

    Although I have not seen the special, Stossel has for almost two decades--in one excellent piece of highly rated journalism after another--heroically presented a pro-freedom, pro-responsibility, libertarian view. I have no doubt that by the end of "Sex, Drugs, and Consenting Adults," millions of Americans will be wondering, "Why on earth are we spending $50 billion a year to arrest 5 million Americans for drugs, prostitution, gambling, homosexuality, and pornography?"

    The low point of the show, I have no doubt, will be me. On the day I was interviewed, I had a terrible flu and a temperature so high I had to get in my hot tub to cool down. Apparently, however, they were able to salvage something from my meanderings, so I'll be there, along with my book, "Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do; The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country." (Free at www.consenting.org). Nevertheless, I am certain the rest of the show will be well worth watching.

    Remember, this show will be everywhere. This is not cable. This is not even PBS. This is ABC. John Stossel is one of the most popular journalist in the country. His ABC News Specials regularly draw audiences of 20 million people. That's more than ten percent of the adult population. Stossel is also one of the most honored television journalists-a Peabody Award and 19 (!) Emmys top a long list.

    But perhaps most importantly, he is one the most effective and persuasive journalists around. If you have not yet seen, for example, his brilliant celebration of free economic markets, "Greed," by all means do so. By looking at lifeguards (of all things) Stossel explains the wisdom of capitalism as persuasively as Adam Smith or Milton Friedman. (Transcript of "Greed" at www.abcnews.com/onair/specials/html_files/spe0203a.html. This show is available on video tape from the Laissez Faire Book's online catalog, along with several other Stossel freedom classics, at http://laissezfaire.org/stossel.html.)

    This is the show you can recommend to everyone you know. Those who have seen the light of personal freedom will relish this breath of fresh air on network television. Those friends, coworkers, and especially relatives, who have not yet had an awakening may find this show an enjoyably packaged alarm clock.

    Please contact every organization you know that's devoted to liberty--from CATO to COYOTE, from ACLU to UCLA, from NRA to ERA, from MADD to FAMM--urging them to get out the word on this program. Post the information on your web site and encourage posting on other sites. Call, write, or send e-mails to elected officials, asking them to watch. (Yes, Stossel is that persuasive.) Ask your local newspaper television critic to review it. (They usually do so in advance, which will increase viewership.) Suggest that print publications use the show as a launch-point for a broader article--or set of articles--on consensual crimes. Call you favorite radio talk show host and ask for a program about consensual crimes.

    Maybe once a year network television broadcasts a truly educational program on our Constitutional freedoms and responsibilities. This is one of them. Let's make the most of it.

    Thank you.

    Enjoy,

    Peter McWilliams

    peter@mcwilliams.com

    www.mcwilliams.com

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  4. "Bill of Writes" the Common Conservative by Bill Kelly

    My name is Bill, and I am a staff writer for a website called the Common Conservative (http://www.commonconservative.com)Twice each month, we publish commentary from a group of regular writers plus several guest columnists. "Libertarian" is not synonymous with "conservative," and you may generally oppose  “conservatism.” However, the May 1st issue has several columns that will be of interest to libertarians, and I invite you to read what these writers have written.  

    The first column that I highly recommend is called “ The One Rule” (http://commonconservative.com/guest4.html) I wish I had written this column because it is an exceptionally creative, effective defense of one of the most important amendments in the Bill of Rights. I won't spoil it by telling you more, but I urge you to read it.

    The second column that I recommend is written by a libertarian. The title is “Why Americans Don't Think Clinton Did Anything Wrong" (http://commonconservative.com/guest1.html). The writer makes the point that if conservatives wonder why there is no outrage over Clinton’s breaking the law, they should consider that Americans are jaded by too many laws.

    A third column with a libertarian slant is called “Overreaching of the Do-gooders” (http://commonconservative.com/guest2.html). This column gives two examples of prosecution of teenagers over sexual incidents. The writer asks the Common Conservative’s readers to consider whether the laws that resulted in these prosecutions are wise or necessary.

    One of our regular columnists, Charles Perry, is a Libertarian Party member, and his column, “Tax Bytes” (http://commonconservative.com/taxula.html) appeals to a broad range of readers. I recommend this column as well. 

    The rest of the site is conservative, but our goal is to refine conservatism as well as to promote it. Since conservative ideas are similar to libertarian ideas in many areas, you may find other interesting columns in this and other issues. 

    Thank you,

Bill Kelly
"Bill of Writes"
the Common Conservative

    PS. For those who may receive this e-mail on a service that does not support the links (blue text) in the body of the letter, our website address is "www.commonconservative.com." You can easily find all of these columns from that address.

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  5. Art Bell Radio Show Response by Ben Bachrach

    Harry Browne appeared on the Art Bell show on Tuesday Night - Wednesday Morning.

    22 people from Michigan called the National 800 to ask for more info.

    I don't recall ever getting a response lilke this before.

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