LPM Online

Contents

1. Upcoming Events
   
   

   April 10, 2001 - 7:00 PM

   LP of Oakland County Executive Committee Meeting. All dues-paying members are welcome. Business begins at 7:00pm.

   Location: LPM Headquarters, 619 East Nine Mile in Hazel Park, just east of I-75.

   Contact: Chris Pellerito Phone: (248) 373-9411 E-mail: LpocChairChris@aol.com

   
   

   April 11, 2001 - 6:30 PM

   Libertarians of Macomb County monthly meeting. Drinks and dinner at 6:30 PM, business begins at 7:00 PM.

   Location: Miles World Resturant, 17689 Masonic, Fraser, MI 48026, 810-415-4500.

   Contact: Diane Barnes Phone: (810) 774-1625 E-mail: dbarnes98@aol.com

   
   

   April 12, 2001

   The Libertarian Party of West Michigan is NOT having its monthly meeting for April. The Liberty Banquet (April 7th) is taking the place of the meeting for this month.

   Location: -

   Contact: Jeff Steinport Phone: (616) 447-0721 E-mail: jeffs@pathwaynet.com

   
   

   April 16, 2001 - 4:00 PM

   Libertarians of Macomb County Tax Protest Event! Meet outside the post office and distribute literature to the poor souls mailing their tax returns.

   Location: Sterling Heights Post office (corner of Metro Parkway and Van Dyke)

   Contact: Paul Soyk Phone: (810) 977-3523 E-mail: paulsoyk@flash.net

   
   

   April 16, 2001 - 6:30 PM

   Tri-City Libertarian Party of Michigan. 6:30 PM Dinner Club 7:00 PM Guest Speaker 7:30 PM Regular Business Meeting and Election of Oficers

   Location: Howard Johnson restuarant M-81 and I-75 Saginaw MI

   Contact: Clint Foster Phone: (517) 671-TCLP E-mail: cooljay@triton.net

   
   

   April 17, 2001 - 7:00 PM

   Libertarians of Allegan County monthly meeting. Main order of business will be nomination and election of LAC officers. All Allegan County LP members are welcome to come and vote. Please come and meet with your fellow members. As always, we promise to keep meetings short and to the point.

   Location: The Blue Heron Coffeeshop in Downtown Allegan on the riverfront. Directions: The entrance to Riverfront parking is at the corner of Hubbard and Chestnut. Drive down and park behind Dockerty's. The Blue Heron is right next door to Docherty's, entrance on the riverfront.

   Contact: Rick Dutkiewicz Phone: (616) 673-5503 E-mail: rdoogie@datawise.net

   
   

   April 18, 2001

   Monthly meeting of the St. Clair County affiliate.

   Location: Figaro's is located at 1503 11th Street, Port Huron, MI 48060. TX: (810) 987-3588. Join us for dinner at 6:00 PM. Business begins at 7:00 PM.

   Contact: Richard Friend Phone: (810) 982-7178 E-mail: rfriend@advnet.net

   
   

   April 18, 2001 - 7:00 PM

   Regular Monthly Meeting

   Location: Olympia Greek Restaurant, Red Arrow Highway at Lake Street, Bridgman MI

   Contact: Glenn Whitt, Secretary Phone: (616) 473-2764 E-mail: trombonist1@juno.com

   
   

   April 19, 2001 - 7:00 PM

   The April meeting of the Van Buren County Chapter of the Libertarian Party. Everyone welcome! (food will be available at 6:30)

   Location: CT's Restaurant, South Haven (on the corner of M-140 and Blue Star Highway)

   Contact: Mike Dickson Phone: (616) 637-1788 E-mail: free@cybersol.com

   
   

   April 25, 2001 - 6:30 PM

   LP of Oakland County General Membership Meeting. Public welcome. Meet for dinner at 6:30pm, business begins at 7:30pm. General Membership Meetings are now NON-SMOKING.

   Location: Sila's Restaurant, 4033 W. 12 Mile Rd, Berkley. Sila's is 2 blocks west of Greenfield on Twelve Mile Road.

   Contact: Chris Pellerito Phone: (248) 373-9411 E-mail: LpocChairChris@aol.com

   
   

   More

   For more events, see the online calendar at:

   http://www.michiganlp.org/lpmonline/events.php

   
   

2. Proposal for Attracting More Voters in 2002 by Leonard Schwartz

   According to the Rasmussen survey last year, 16% of voters support libertarian positions on political issues. But few of these libertarians vote for Libertarian candidates.

   My own experience and recent articles in "Libertarian Party News" and "Liberty" indicate that our biggest problem is the "wasted vote doctrine." Even at our election night victory party there were LPM members who admitted that they voted for the lesser of two evils rather than for Harry Browne and Michael Corliss.

   We need to find good ways of encouraging libertarians to vote for Libertarians.

   Last year the LPM spent over $40,000 on radio ads. Although the ads were brilliant, Harry Browne got only 0.4%, Michael Corliss got only 0.7%, and only one of our 16 congressional candidates got more than 2% of the votes.

   My analysis: The ads were the wrong medium (radio), directed at the wrong audience (persons who listen to talk radio).

   My proposal on how we can best use our limited funds: We should focus on persons who are most likely to agree with libertarian positions and who are least likely to think that voting for a small party is a waste. Specifically, we should focus on young persons.

   1. Young persons are naturally rebellious and anti-authoritarian.

   2. They are more open-minded than are older persons.

   3. They are not addicted to voting for Democrats and Republicans.

   4. They are not so accustomed to Democratic and Republican hypocrisy and broken promises that they are no longer outraged.

   Specifically, we should pass out fliers at colleges and community colleges and place ads in student newspapers.

   The best time for student outreach is not a few weeks before the election, when students are busy with mid-term exams and term papers. Rather, student outreach should be at the beginning of each semester, when students have more free time.

   We should start test-marketing our fliers and newspaper ads in September 2001, to attract students to help with our petition drive. This will also help us create new campus affiliates and strengthen existing ones well in advance of the 2002 election.

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3. Platform Committee Appointments and Amendment Submissions by Tim O'Brien

   The Platform Committee will meet to consider modifications to the LPMI platform (http://www.mi.lp.org/platform/) on Friday, May 4, from 5:30pm until its work is completed. The committee will bring its recommendations in a report to convention delegates on Saturday, May 5, at 10:00am.
   
   Each affiliate is entitled to appoint a representative to the Platform Committee. The chair should be advised of appointments by April 30. Send notice to tobrien3211@home.com.
   
   Every party member is entitled to submit proposals for platform amendments to the committee for consideration. Delegates may also bring proposals directly to the convention floor (bypassing the Platform Committee); however, this is generally not an effective means of amending the platform as orders of the day and time constraints tend to make that approach impractical. It is strongly recommended that any proposed platform amendments be submitted to the committee chair (tobrien3211@home.com) for regular consideration.
   
   Affiliates who have not yet done so are encouraged to make appointments to the Platform Committee ASAP (and in no case later than April 30). Appointments already made:
   
   South-Central -- Ben Steele
   Macomb -- Keith Edwards
   Wayne -- Tim O'Brien
   Washtenw -- Larry Purdy
   Oakland -- Chris Pellerito
   
   If any affiliates previously submitted appointments that are not listed above, please accept my apologies (I lost some data in switching my ISP a few weeks ago) and send them to me again.
   
   Platfrom amendment proposals should also be submitted ASAP if you wish them to be included in materials distributed to the Platform Committee at the beginning of deliberations. Anyone choosing to bring proposals personally to either the committee or the convetnion floor should be sure to bring along enough copies for this purpose

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