LPM OnlineMarch 7, 2000 |
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3/6/00 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Tim O'Brien (313) 562-5778 DEARBORN. The Libertarian Party of Michigan will open a state campaign headquarters in Hazel Park next month for the duration of the 2000 election season, according to state chair, Stacy Van Oast. "We have simply grown too big," Van Oast said, "to try and coordinate races across the entire state without any kind of central office." The LPM expects to nominate more than 150 candidates for public office to appear on the ballot under the party banner next November. In addition to our presidential candidate [to be nominated at LP's national convention in California next summer] we will be contesting all U.S. Congressional seats, as well as all of the state-wide races," Van Oast continued, "including U.S. Senate, Sate Board of Education, and all the university boards." The LPM's last candidate for U.S. Senate, Jon Coon, got nearly 5% of the vote -- drawing hundreds of volunteers and coordinating his campaign from a headquarters in nearby Madison Heights. Michael Corliss, the leading contender for the LPM nomination in the senate race this year has said he hopes to run as active a campaign as his predecessor. "In addition," the LPM chair said, "we will be contesting more than half the state rep seats and fielding candidates for numerous county and local offices. "We want to be able to make available literature, yard signs, and general campaign support for all of our candidates. And it only makes sense to have a central location from which all of our activities can be "We're also going to want a place where we can do get-out-the-vote phone banking," she added. "After seeing the results Jon Coon was able to get by spending a few dollars to have a campaign office -- and considering that our membership has doubled again since then -- we decided that it was the cost-effective thing to do." Ms. Van Oast said that the new Hazel Park location would simply be a campaign headquarters through the election with the party offices remaining at their present location in Dearborn. However, the LP's executive committee is considering the possibility of moving to the location permanently, if the party does as well as expected next November.
Seven Libertarians from Ottawa County, joined by Derek Hollemans and Bill Gelineau, held a meeting on February 29 to lay the foundation for a new affiliate. The support is present and the first official meeting will held March 14. Bylaws will be adopted, officers will be elected, and hopefully state party officials will attend and re-affiliate Ottawa County on April 25. If you would like more information or plan to attend a meeting, please email Jason Miller.
Only three counties have entered their candidates into our web-based candidate list! As many of you know, Greg Dirasian has set up a web-based candidate list. Each affiliate can designate one person to access the candidate list and input your own candidate information: candidate name, the office they're seeking, their address, etc. An accurate candidate list is crucial to our filing process and will also benefit us in preparing our slate brochure and other outreach efforts. To access and use this terrific technology, each affiliate needs to have one person serve as their official candidate list keeper. When you know who that person is, please email me and I'll give them instructions. Don't wait to enter your candidate information. The sooner your information is in, the sooner we can determine which seats are filled, and more importantly, which seats we still need candidates for. Three important notes regarding candidate information: 1) The web-based list will also ask you to note whether each candidate's district is located entirely within one county or not; we must have this information to determine where the paperwork needs to get filed (at that county or at the state). 2) You no longer have to send your candidates names to anyone!! Just enter them yourself on the web-based list described above! This will help ensure that we fill our slate, that we avoid duplications, and it will let me know where we need to work harder to get our slate filled. 3) The on-line list also requests candidate membership numbers, just to make you aware, so that you can obtain that information from potential candidates. I'll continue sending monthly progress reports to each affiliate Campaign Coordinator, just so everyone knows where we're at. The 2000 election cycle is upon us! Please help make sure it is the best yet for the Libertarian Party of Michigan. And, don't forget, I've committed us to running 150 Libertarian candidates... tiny Indiana plans to run 250! Yikes!!!! Contact Stacy Van Oast at stacyvo@eesc.com.
If you're not surprised, puzzled, and even downright offended by the 2000 Census form, it's probably because you haven't seen it yet. The questions range from strange ("Do you take a ferryboat to work?") to invasive ("Do you have trouble bathing?") to downright un-American("What is your race?"). The Census Bureau says it's your civic duty to answer these snooping questions. In reality, it's your patriotic duty to refuse to answer. You can strike a blow for privacy, equality, and liberty by declining to answer every question on the Census form except the one required by the Constitution: How many people live in your home? The U.S. Constitution says the purpose of the Census is to make an "actual enumeration." That is, to take an accurate count of Americans for the purpose of apportioning congressional districts. But the federal government has gone far beyond that mandate. The long version of the Census -- which one in every six households will receive -- contains a whopping 52 questions. That's 51 more than the Constitution requires. Maybe that's why compliance with the Census had plummeted to just 65% by 1990. In a desperate effort to reverse that trend, Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt recently held a press conference in Washington, DC. He pleaded with Americans to view the 2000 Census -- which is now being mailed to 120 million households -- as "the nation's first major civics ceremony of the new century." The results of the Census, lectured Prewitt, "affect power, money, group interests, civil rights; in short, who gets how much of what." That's exactly what's wrong with the Census -- and why Americans should boycott almost every question. The government uses Census information to dole out an estimated $180 billion in taxpayers' money, to justify and expand wasteful government programs, and to allow politicians to discriminate against Americans based on their racial or ethnic background. The racial questions, which appear on both the short and long form, demand Americans pigeonhole themselves into 15 "official" racial categories: white; black/African-American/Negro; American Indian or Alaska Native; Spanish/Hispanic/Latino; Asian Indian; Chinese; Filipino; Japanese; Korean; Vietnamese; other Asian; Native Hawaiian; Guamanian or Chamorro; Samoan; or other Pacific Islander. Such racial data provides the statistical blueprint for race-based government programs, like the mandatory 10% minority set-aside for federal highway projects, quotas for college admissions, and even decisions on whom to hire and fire. Refusing to answer such questions is a good first step towards ending such government racism. Other questions, while not as offensive, still deserve a vigorous "None of your business." Question 17a, for example, asks whether "because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition," does anyone in your home have any trouble "learning, remembering, or concentrating?" Question 17b asks whether you have any difficulty "dressing, bathing, or getting around in the home." Question 24b asks how long it takes you to get to work. Question 23 wants to know how you get there -- and there are an astounding 10 choices, including streetcar, bus, railroad, ferryboat, or taxicab! Presumably, politicians will use this data to justify squandering billions of dollars on new transportation boondoggles. The form even includes nine income-related questions -- more than appear on the IRS's 1040 short form. So let's say you decide not to answer those prying questions. What happens? Unfortunately, the government has ways of making you talk. Title 13, Chapter 7 of the U.S. code mandates a $100 fine for those who decline to answer Census questions, and Prewitt says the bureau will "consider whether to prosecute" on a case-by-case basis. What kind of government demands, under penalty of law, reams of personal data -- including racial characteristics -- from its citizens? Ours does. That's why it's time for some polite, patriotic civil disobedience. If you care about privacy, genuine equality, and old-fashioned American liberty, the arrival of the Census form is your chance to literally stand up and be counted. Tell them how many people live in your home, and that's all. Maybe $100 is a small price to pay for making a principled stand for privacy and freedom. Matt Beauchamp www.LPChicago.org
Martin Howrylak has been going door to door in Troy meeting potential voters and asking if he can put up campaign signs. He is the consummate campaigner, constantly working his way through neighborhoods to spread the word. This race is VERY WINNABLE! But we need your help. We have two activities coming up that require raw manpower. First, this Wednesday, March 8, we will begin hand addressing envelopes to absentee voters. Please join the LPOC at Sila's on Wednesday where we will begin addressing envelopes after a brief executive committee meeting. Our second project that requires manpower is a lit drop to the entire city of Troy - all 32 precincts. If you have done lit drops before, you know that you can walk a precinct in a few hours - if we get an early start, we can meet for lunch afterwards. The lit drop is scheduled for Saturday, March 25, 2000. We will provide more information as the date gets closer. We need your help to make this WINNABLE campaign a reality. Please join us. If you have any questions, please contact Greg Dirasian at: greg@newsnetpipeline.com |
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