- 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
- 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.
Back to Contents
- 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
Back to Contents