LPM OnlineOctober 30, 2001 |
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Contents
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"Libertarian" has many meanings. This essay discusses two of them.
One meaning is a person who supports the Libertarian Party. Another meaning is a person who supports the principles upon which the Libertarian Party platform is based.
There are some persons who support the Libertarian Party, but who do not support the principles upon which our platform is based. Some merely prefer our platform a little more than any other party's platform. Some are merely disgruntled Democrats and Republicans. Some may not even fall within the libertarian quadrant of the Nolan (diamond) chart; but they feel more strongly about the libertarian planks that they support than about the planks that they do not support.
There are some persons who support the principles upon which the Libertarian Party platform is based, but who do not support the Libertarian Party. Some believe that the ballot access laws and campaign finance laws favor the Democrats and Republicans so much that there is no way that the Libertarian Party can affect government policy. Some believe that libertarians should merely support libertarian educational and lobbying organizations. Some believe that libertarians should infiltrate the Democratic and Republican parties and run as Democrats and Republicans.
I welcome supporters of the Libertarian Party even if they do not support the principles upon which our platform is based. I agree with the following: "One principle, strongly supported by the entire strategic planning team, was that the Libertarian Party should welcome new members who fall anywhere within the libertarian quadrant. Several members noted that over time, LP members tend to become more consistently libertarian in their views." Steve Dasbach, Libertarian Party News, Sept. 2001, p. 26.
And I wish good luck to libertarians who try to infiltrate the Democratic and Republican parties and run as Democrats and Republicans. But libertarians who get elected as Democrats or Republicans tend to abandon libertarian principles. (One exception was Greg Kaza, who served six years in the Michigan legislature.)
Although libertarian educational and lobbying groups are important for changing public opinion and government policies, so is running candidates as Libertarians.
Libertarians are interesting people. For months it
seemed I couldn’t get anyone to petition. And then I
couldn’t get them to stop! Four people showed up at my
house on Sunday with stacks of petitions. Well Monday,
October 29, at approximately 11:00 a.m., the Libertarian
Party of Michigan filed 46,258 signatures with the State
Elections Bureau! (See for yourself:
http://www.michiganlp.org/PetitionReceipt.jpg) Affiliate $$+Sigs. Goal % 0f Goal Allegan 218 560 38.9 Berrien 464 560 82.9 Branch-Hillsdale 689 351 196.3 Clare-Gladwin 273 320 85.3 Ionia 28 240 11.7 Kalamazoo 591 1013 58.3 Lapeer-Genesee 1589 1413 112.5 Livingston 1212 1732 70.0 Macomb 4748 5784 82.1 Mid-Michigan 1185 2852 41.5 Midwest Michigan 452 560 80.7 Oakland 14542 10688 136.1 Ottawa 58 800 7.3 S. Central Michigan 152 1652 9.2 Shiawassee 3019 293 1030.4 Saint Clair 78 693 11.3 Traverse Bay 86 773 11.1 Tri-Cities 1712 1173 146.0 Upper Peninsula 458 1119 41.0 Van Buren 510 426 119.7 Washtenaw 2859 2799 102.1 Wayne 3972 8422 47.2 West Michigan 2551 2799 91.1Our affiliate winner is (obviously) Shiawassee County – achieving an astonishing 1000% of their “fair share” goal! They will be receiving a very nice 2x6 foot, 2-color banner. Name Points ---- ------ Albert J Titran 2436 Leonard C. Schwartz 2345 Sheldon Rose 1505 Ben Steele 1222 Jerry E Bloom 1110 William W. Hall 1042 Irving Rose 1000 Greg Dirasian 955 Richard E Jozwiak 623 Christopher Pellerito 600 Violet Steele 549 Benjamin Bachrach 528 James B. Parker 517 Malcolm Johnson 506 Trafton Jean 501 Gary Bora 500 Leigh Rodney 500 Erin Stahl 500 Barbara B. Goushaw 500 Rosemary Racchi 500 Fred Collins 500 Benjamin Steele 450 Mickey Hall 398 William White 396 Bill Gelineau 344 Paul Hitch 341 Andrew LeCureaux 337 Constance Catalfio 321 James L. Hudler 320 Michael Dickson 310 Lloyd Sherman 307 Charles Goodman 306 Leslie Rose 303 Mark Scher 302 Ken Bisson, MD 300 Stephen Townsend 296 Tom Quinn 290 David James Eisenbacher 288 Gregory Creswell 274 Laura Reeds 262 Jean Paul Denoyer 259 Helen A Hubbard 251 Nancy O'Brien 236 Trevor Peck 230 Nathan E. Allen 227 Dennis P. Manko 224 Mark Owen 215 Joseph Server 214 Trish Marie 206 Larry L. Ball 203 Paul Arends 202 Charles Gelman 200 Joann M. Karpinski 200 James M. Rodney 200 Keith Wesselmann 200 Jon C Boehmer 196 Daniel LaFavers 191 Emily H. Salvette 186 Robert Broda 185 George Sise 184 David Collver 182 Scott Beavers 173 Timothy O'Brien 172 Ray Kirkus 165 John Wesley Loosemore 138 Brian Goluska 135 David S. Thompson 129 Ghazey Aleck 127 Lynn Fitzpatrick 123 Charles M. Jensen 118 Loel Gnadt 116 James F. Montgomery 116 Eric Larsen 116 Scott A. Larry 116 Nick Contaxes 115 Renae B Coon 114 David A. Light 111 Don Eichstaedt 104 Bruce Campbell 104 Jeffrey Gilbert 104 Jack E. Elder 103 Ray Okonski 102 Arno Buhrer 101 Patrick Dewan 100 Christopher Gonzalez 100 Mark W. Rutherford 100 Brian R. Wright 100 William H. Bradley 100 David L. Gillie 100 Richard Blumenstein 100 Peter Porcaro 100 Dean C Fisher 100 Lewis C Rudel 100 Richard Gach 99 Robert Beebe 97 Elisabeth Larsen 95 Shane Mieras 94 Heather R Pauli 92 Jon Addiss 91 Jay Gajda 91 Charles Kainz 90 Dianne Szabla 90 Jim Allison 88 Wendy Morisi 84 Rick Secula 84 Jason Miller 83 Bill Nichols 80 Ron Heeren 80 Bert Dunn 80 Bruce A Hoepner 79 Dorothy Mongan 79 Donald Smith 78 Helen A. Weaver 78 Chris Carr 76 Charlamaine 75 Richard Todd 74 Michael Rafferty 72 Joel Stanesa 71 James Miller 71 David S. Hamburger 70 Randy Szabla 70 Ann Rowe 70 B Brumley 69 Steven Hooley 68 David Nagy 68 Nicholas Sundquist 67 Timothy Keirnan 67 Wendy Adams 67 Richard Durant 67 Craig Aaron Yope 66 Ronald Retka 66 Robert Schwannecke 66 Joel Goodall 66 Charles Kainz 66 Gerald W Barycz 66 Willis Clark Jr 66 James Carney 66 Tullio Proni 64 Rian C. Klefstad 62 John Durant 62 Arthur Dubin 61 Brian A Kluesner 61 Mike Brinkman 61 Jim Lee 60 Jeff Steinport 60 Victor Cervenak 59 Laura Reeds 58 Jerry Taylor 58 William Wichers 58 William J. Shotey 57 Ronald Texter 57 David M. Miller 56 Ralph J. Telling 56 Steve Wixom 55 Jim Mills 53 George J. Pollak 53 Rick & Krystal Dutkiewicz 52 Robert Scripter Jr 52 Gary Goss 52 Matt Huff 52 David R. Gimby 52 Cindy Anderson 52 James Pike 51 Fred Martin 51 Charles F Morton 51 Michael Hignite 51 Walter C. Wylie 50 Joseph S Bommarito 50 Philip Skomra 50 Greg Robinson 50 Eric Christensen 50 Donald S Pratt 50 Rosemarie (Rae) Jozwiak 50 Kenneth Lewis 50 Stanley C McDonald 50 William H Bouma 50 John Sargent 50 Lynne Bradley-Horan 50 Corliss Karin 50 Sara Sjoberg 50 George Weiss 50 Theresa Bora 50 Katie Byrne 50All individual award winners (50 or more signatures/dollars) will receive a lapel pin with our party logo. Everyone who contributed 200 or more signatures/dollars will also receive a Statue of Liberty replica. And everyone who contributed 500 or more signatures/dollars will also receive a custom-made, hand-embroidered “Champion of Liberty” polo shirt. In addition, our top three petitioner/contributors will receive special recognition awards. First place finisher Al Titran has won a “Gold” package to the next national convention that will give him full access to every event and function -- including breakfasts, lunches and the banquet. Second place winner Leonard Schwartz will receive a full package to the next LPM convention – also including all meals and the main banquet. The third place finisher Sheldon Rose won two tickets to LibertyFest (east or west). However, Sheldon’s health does not allow him to get out much, so he graciously asked that his tickets be handed on to the next highest finisher – Ben Steele. Affiliate chairs -- take a look at the names above. You may want to offer some special recognition at your next meeting to those members who set the pace in your affiliate. Congratulations to all 183 LPM members whose willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty earned them special recognition. But, even more important, they earned the sincere gratitude of the entire party for leading the way to the successful restoration of our position on the ballot as a legally qualified political party. Enjoy your restored ballot status, everyone. You are certainly entitled to it!
The free market Mackinac Center for Public Policy has
added a very useful new capability to its web site called
“Michigan Votes” (http://www.michiganvotes.org/). It
contains concise, plain-language, accurate and objective
descriptions of every bill, amendment, roll call and voice
vote in the Michigan legislature.
We must now give the caterer the final count for the
Liberty Fest Banquet at the Automotive Hall of Fame in
Dearborn. The Banquet starts at 6:30pm on Saturday November
10. |
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