LPM Online

February 9, 1999

Contents

  1. Upcoming Events
  2. Property Development Rights and Urban Sprawl
  3. Know Your Government
  4. LPSC Changes Meeting Dates
  5. LPSC Elects Officers
  6. Libertarian Party of Oakland County Elects New Officers
  7. PRESS COVERAGE!!!
  8. Press Release: Richard Friend for US Congress
  9. Press Release:Richard Friend, Libertarian, for U.S. Congress

  1. Upcoming Events

    February 10, 1999 - 6:00 PM
    Libertarians of Macomb County monthly meeting. Drinks and dinner at 6:00 PM, business begins at 7:00 PM.
    Location: USA Grill and Bar (810-775-2220), 27454 Gratiot Ave., Roseville (between I-696 and 12 Mile Rd.)
    Contact: Paul Soyk Phone: (810) 977-3523 E-mail: paulsoyk@flash.net

    February 10, 1999 - 6:00 PM
    Libertarian Party of Oakland County Executive Board Meeting
    Location: East Side Mario's, 12 Mile and Southfield Rd.
    Contact: David Collver Phone: (248) 542-9274 E-mail: Disarm01@aol.com

    February 11, 1999 - 7:00 PM
    Monthly meeting of the LPWM
    Location: Brann's at 131 and Leonard in Grand Rapids
    Contact: Haas Phone: (616) 942 7674 E-mail: haas@iserv. net

    February 13, 1999 - 7:00 PM
    The monthly meeting of the LP of MidWest Michigan will be held at the Kountry Kitchen. Guest Speaker TBA
    Location: Kountry Kitchen Restaurant, Cadillac
    Contact: John Willis Phone: (616) 775-0187 E-mail: adsman@netonecom.net

    February 18, 1999 - 6:30 PM
    Van Buren County Libertarian Party. Dinner (no charge for guests) and monthly meeting, planning for Lady Liberty Float.
    Location: Home of John and Linda Cohen, 401 North Shore Drive, South Haven. Call or E-mail for reservations/directions. See you there.
    Contact: Bill Bradley Phone: (616) 637-4525 E-mail: bbradley@cybersol.com

    February 20, 1999 - 7:00 PM
    LPSC Monthly Meeting
    Location: Nancy's Family Restaurant, Durand
    Contact: Ben Steele III Phone: (517) 288-5616 E-mail: bsteele1@tir.com

    February 24, 1999 - 6:00 PM
    Libertarian Party of Oakland County Monthly Public Meeting
    Location: East Side Mario's, 12 Mile and Southfield Rd
    Contact: David Collver Phone: (248) 542-9274 E-mail: Disarm01@aol.com

    March 2, 1999 - 6:30 PM
    Monthly Meeting - LP of Wayne County. Dinner at 6:3Opm, Program at 7:45pm Elect New Officers.
    Location: La Trattoria Restaurant - Dearborn MI
    Contact: Joann Karpinski Phone: (313) 925-6917 E-mail: Ben45@aol.com

    March 10, 1999 - 6:00 PM
    Libertarians of Macomb County monthly meeting. Drinks and dinner at 6:00 PM, business begins at 7:00 PM.
    Location: USA Grill and Bar (810-775-2220), 27454 Gratiot Ave., Roseville (between I-696 and 12 Mile Rd.)
    Contact: Paul Soyk Phone: (810) 977-3523 E-mail: paulsoyk@flash.net

    March 11, 1999 - 7:00 PM
    Monthly meeting of the LPWM
    Location: Brann"s at 131 on Leonard in Grand Rapids
    Contact: haas Phone: )616) 942 7674 E-mail: haas@iserv.net

    More
    For more events, see the online calendar at:
    http://www.michiganlp.org/lpmonline/events.php

  2. Property Development Rights and Urban Sprawl by Chris Pellerito

    -- Washtenaw's Misguided Initiative

    While Detroit's Living wage initiative and the three statewide ballot proposals invoked intense public passions, high profile campaigns and constant media attention, a proposal on the Washtenaw County ballot received far less attention. Proposal 1, which would have implemented a plan to subsidize the market value of farmland in the name of impeding "urban sprawl," fell to a narrow and almost invisible defeat.

    Perhaps Proposal 1's supporters preferred to remain quiet. Its supporters -- mostly Ann Arborites, not Washtenaw County countryside residents -- sought to create a scheme whereby commercial and residential property owners pay into a tax fund which is then redistributed to regional farmers. The idea is that, since acreage is likely to be more valuable to commercial and residential developers than to farmers, the holders of farmland should receive a subsidy equal to the difference between the assessed value of their land and what developers might be willing to pay for it.

    This approach has already been adopted in parts of Wisconsin and in other regions of the US, so it is not new. Moreover, the proposal's strong showing in Washtenaw County is likely to generate interest in such a proposal in Oakland County, where the pace of economic growth has extended into once marginal areas, and the rural townships of a generation ago have been transformed into suburban cities of up to 80,000. Since the issue of property development rights, and of how to address urban sprawl in general, will not go away anytime soon, the time is right to address this issue.

    The PDR approach to curbing urban sprawl assumes that, if sprawl continues unabated, all farmland will ultimately disappear. This reasoning involves an economic fallacy, one that not even Adam Smith could see through. Smith remarked that an economist might never understand why gold is priced higher than iron in the market, when iron is far more useful.

    This failure to distinguish between the average and the marginal bar of metal applies to land use as well. Gold costs more than iron because society's lot would be improved more if an ounce of gold was added to the existing stock than if an ounce of iron was added; that is, gold has a higher marginal value. The same reasoning applies to the use of land; the fact that developers can outbid farmers for land does not mean that land is categorically less valuable to farmers than to developers.

    As farmland becomes scarcer, its market price rises. Ultimately, substitution will bring the price of farmland closer to the value placed on it by developers. The converse is also true: as developers are squeezed for space, the price of residential and commercial land rises. Therein lies the problem with the PDR proposal. If the subsidy to farmland does indeed limit developers' appetite for land, then property prices on residential land should likewise increase. Thus, the longer the PDR program remains in place, the greater the subsidy -- and the tax -- will have to be.

    Of course, the most basic indictment of a PDR approach centers upon entrepreneurship itself. Entrepreneurs constantly seek to take items of lesser value and transform them into objects of higher value. This is precisely what developers do; subsidizing the owners of less valuable land simply reverses the natural entrepreneurial order, and in doing so destroys wealth.

    *****
    

    Chris Pellerito is the Libertarian Party candidate in the upcoming 13th District Michigan Senate special election. You can contact him at pelleritoc@aol.com.

    Back to Contents

  3. Know Your Government by Tim O'Brien

    The following article is the latest in a series of Op-ed articles written by LPM Chair Tim O'Brien and submitted to news outlets across the state for publication.

    In one of what has become a seemingly unending series of assaults on our traditional, American way of life in the name of the War on Drugs, a new federal database of banking transactions first went on-line right here in Detroit in April of 1996.

    Called the Suspicious Activity Reporting System, banks are now required to submit five pages of information to the federal government on any cash transaction over $10,000 -- including the "suspicious" individual's name, address, date of birth, social security number, drivers license, and justifications for the transaction.

    A moment's reflection will show that, if we are to prohibit what Robert Nozick (in a wonderfully pithy phrase) called "capitalist acts between consenting adults," such measures are all but unavoidable. Prohibition laws, after all, criminalize transactions in which there is no party coming forward to make a complaint.

    The problem for law enforcement in this is that we have in essence expanded the definition of "crime" (an act which harms another) to include vice (an act which harms oneself). Whether the prohibition is of gambling, prostitution, pornography, drugs or anything else, there simply is no way to defeat such commerce other than by utilizing undercover agents, eavesdropping, in short, domestic espionage.

    Next come decoys, police profiles, checkpoints, stop-and-frisk, warrantless searches, no-knock laws, and so forth. Virtually the entire Bill of Rights and all of the cherished freedoms and protections that have made American society unique and the envy of the world have fallen before the all-corrosive War on Drugs.

    Ultimately, limiting the spying to only suspects becomes problematic when virtually everyone is a potential suspect. The scope of surveillance must be expanded to include everyone. It is inevitable.

    And it necessarily follows from this that the final protection which must be sacrificed is the one that is foremost in the centuries-old common law: presumption of innocence. If voluntary trade is to be restricted, all of us must be considered guilty and required to prove to authorities that we aren't. The goal cannot possibly be achieved by any lesser means.

    Thus, the Suspicious Activity Reporting System.

    Now, those who are engaged in an illicit trade are not successful at it by being fools. And it wouldn't take a Bill Gates or a Donald Trump of the cocaine business to figure out that he should limit cash transactions through the banking system to less than five figures.

    So the government has found the current reporting system, though not yet three years in effect, insufficient.

    Last month the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation published proposed new regulations in the Federal Register called "Know Your Customer."

    These will compel all financial institutions to develop complete customer profiles in which everyone will be required to disclose all of his or her sources of income (employer, pension, social security, interest and dividends, etc.) and "customary" expenditures (mortgage or rent, utility payments, auto or other loan and credit card payments, insurance premiums, etc.)

    All of your financial transactions will then be continuously monitored. If you deviate significantly from your usual banking patterns -- say, for instance, by depositing the proceeds of a Christmas bonus, an inheritance or from selling a used car -- your name will be sent to federal authorities who will be calling on you to account for your suspicious financial activity.

    Such is the orwellian world that must follow when society attempts to use its police powers in a quixotic quest to save the terminally stupid from the consequences of their own bad habits.

    The truly tragic irony in all of this is that while our liberties are in tatters, there is not a single shred of evidence anywhere in recorded history that this crusade to save people from themselves can be anything but utterly futile.

    Just how far can it go? No one knows. However, based on the rampant drug trafficking that goes on there, we can say for certain that matching the level of security inside a prison will not be enough.

    Meanwhile, some few of us would readily risk losing our money in a bank failure and trade the federal deposit insurance in exchange for keeping some modicum of the little privacy that we have left.

    I know that between now and April 1st when the new Know Your Customer rules take effect, I'll be watching for bank ads that end with the disclaimer: "Non-member FDIC."

    Unfortunately, I'm told that other federal rules have already effectively mandated participation in this federal "insurance" program and there are no such financial institutions remaining.

    So maybe I'll just have to learn how to sleep on a lumpy mattress.

    Back to Contents

  4. LPSC Changes Meeting Dates

    The Libertarian Party of Shiawassee County has changed its monthly meeting date from the third Thursday of each month to the third SATURDAY of each month. Meetings are still being held at Nancy's Family Restaurant in Durand and still begin at 7:00 p.m. Next meeting is on February 20-- Hope to see you there!

    Back to Contents

  5. LPSC Elects Officers

    At the January meeting of the Libertarian Party of Shiawassee County, Ben Steele III was reelected as Chair and Trafton Jean was reelected as Treasurer. David Keyes was elected Vice-Chair, and former Vice-Chair Ben Steele Jr. was elected Secretary. Ben Steele Jr. replaces Max Dollarhite, who ran twice for the 85th District House of Representatives seat. Dollarhite says he is taking a well-earned break.

    In other business, the LPSC decided to purchase copies of the book, “More Guns, Less Crime,” by University of Chicago School of Law Professor John R. Lott, to be delivered to the Shiawassee County Gun Board, which is given authority to issue or deny permits to carry concealed weapons. The book by Professor Lott is the result of his study of the effects of liberal “concealed carry” laws, which allow all citizens who have no criminal records or mental illnesses to carry concealed weapons. Professor Lott found that in areas where citizens are allowed to carry concealed weapons, crime is lower. Brass Roots, a state-wide gun owners’ rights organization, is providing the books as part of a program to increase awareness of the connection between liberal concealed carry laws and lower crime rates.

    In January, 1997, the LPSC held a public forum on the issue of the concealed weapons law, with speakers representing both sides of the debate, including members of the Shiawassee County Gun Board. The overwhelming majority of the public attending that forum voiced their support for a less restrictive concealed weapons law. Although some counties issue permits for most applicants, Shiawassee County is notorious for its extremely conservative gun board.

    Back to Contents

  6. Libertarian Party of Oakland County Elects New Officers by David Collver

    The LPOC elected new officers at their January public meeting. David Collver was elected Chair, John Ward Vice-Chair, Dianne Szabla Treasurer, Lorna Tate Secretary, and at-large members Lloyd Sherman, John Robertson, and Gary Bora. We need ideas and volunteers. Come get to know us!

    Back to Contents

  7. PRESS COVERAGE!!! by David Collver

    The Chris Pellerito for State Senate campaign got a mention in the Friday, Feb. 5, edition of the Detroit Free Press. An article by Hugh McDiarmid, Jr., entitled "Kaza's clouded candidacy will face a fresh legal challenge," (found on page 7 B) mentions that "Libertarian Chris Pellerito will be on the general election ballot." This is the time to write letters to the editor demanding that the Free Press cover our candidate!

    Back to Contents

  8. Press Release: Richard Friend for US Congress

    Richard Friend, Libertarian, for U.S. Congress, urges the
    public to just say no to the “Know Your Customer” rule 
    
    R. Friend 2000	
    P.O. Box 611323
    Port Huron, MI  48061
    (810) 982-7178
    rfriend2000@advnet.net
    
    Port Huron, February 5, 1999:    
    

    Richard Friend, Libertarian, for the Michigan 10th District, U.S. Congress, is urging members in his voting district, which includes St. Clair and most of Macomb Counties, to contact the Federal Insurance Deposit Corporation in protest. Why? Because the FDIC is proposing to implement the “Know Your Customer” rule that, if put into operation, would require banks and other financial institutions to develop customer profiles, monitor customer’s accounts and report any “unusual transactions” to federal law enforcement agencies like the DEA and IRS. The federal government’s purpose for such a regulation is to spy on customers just in case they are into drug dealing or money laundering.

    “Once again the federal government is going to ignore the Constitution which requires that a warrant be issued prior to a search and seizure and that the search and seizure be reasonable”, says R. Friend. “This ‘Know Your Customer’ proposal would mean that everyone is now guilty until proven innocent. This boils down to nothing more than a ‘Prove-Your-Not-A-Criminal’ law”.

    The “Know Your Customer” rule is scheduled to go into effect on April 1, 2000. However, before such, the FDIC is opening themselves up for public comment regarding the matter. The public is welcomed to comment on this proposal by either writing, faxing or e-mailing the FDIC. Concerned citizens have until March 8, 1999 to voice their opinions. R. Friend informs, “This new government proposal is as ridiculous as pulling over every driver just in case someone was drunk or searching every home just in case someone was hoarding stolen goods. This is something we might expect in China or North Korea but not in a supposedly free country like the United States. We have to flood the FDIC with complaints before the Big Brother fiction of George Orwell becomes a reality”.

    How to contact the Federal Insurance Deposit Corporation:
    
    * E-mail: comments@FDIC.gov
    
    * Write: Robert E. Feldman, Executive Secretary, Federal
    Deposit Insurance Corporation, 550 17th Street, NW,
    Washington DC 20429
    
    * Fax: (202) 898-3838
    
    Back to Contents

  9. Press Release:Richard Friend, Libertarian, for U.S. Congress

    Richard Friend, Libertarian, for U.S. Congress, endorses the position of gun manufacturers, not over-reactive mayors.

    R. Friend 2000	
    P.O. Box 611323
    Port Huron, MI  48061
    (810) 982-7178
    rfriend2000@advnet.net
    
    Port Huron, February 7, 1999:    
    
    

    Almost a year ago, a number of mayors around the country announced that they would be filing a joint lawsuit that would try to hold gun manufacturers responsible for everything from medical costs to prosecutor fees when it came to any violent crimes involving a gun. In response to this, Richard Friend, Libertarian, for U.S. Congress, has announced today that he is endorsing the position and rights of gun manufacturers and not government misinformation.

    “The mayors seem to be suggesting that guns are animated objects that can jump off the shelves and fire all by themselves”, says R. Friend. “This type of lawsuit reduces personal responsibility, in that, we should only hold the criminal responsible and not the manufacturer. If we were to hold the manufacturer responsible, what’s next? Suing automobile companies for every drunk driver that slides into a family of six?”

    The mayors have chosen to blame the gun manufacturers by claiming that they are marketing small, easy to conceal handguns to street thugs and that the manufacturers know exactly what these guns will be used for. The mayors have also chosen to model their lawsuit on the one that was recently brought against the tobacco companies. “Filing a lawsuit because you claim to know what small guns will be used for would be like suing automobile manufacturers for building a fast car that was used in a bank robbery get away,” says R. Friend. “The mayors are so frustrated with crime in their cities that they have resorted to extortion instead of accepting responsibility themselves for not providing for a crime free community. Politicians seem to be the only people who just do not get it. Criminals cause crime, not guns. It’s time to hold criminals responsible and them only.”

    Back to Contents

To unsubscribe, send email to markfheil@worldnet.att.net

Return to News Archive



Return to LP of Michigan Home Page