LPQC News

Representatives from all local affiliates are expected to attend, Contact information and literature will be available on these and other libertarian-oriented organizations in the metropolitan region.

The convention fee is $45 at the door; $40 advanced registration. This fee covers admission to the luncheon portion of the convention. For LP members who wish to attend only the afternoon sessions. There is no charge. Proceeds will go to the LPQC (chief organizers), to other participating city LP affiliates, and to the candidates nominated at the convention.

This is an ambitious undertaking. It will take the Libertarian Party to a higher level among the recognized political forces in the greatest city in the world. Invitations will be mailed shortly to all LP members in New York City. If you'd like to register right away. Mail your $40 fee now, payable to the Libertarian Party of Queens County. And if you want to participate in the organizing, contact the LPQC at (718) 670-3270. There is plenty of work to go around!

Are you/Do you..?

To name just a few. So take that extra step-make a list of your skills and interests, and put them to work in LP Campaign '97! To volunteer, call or write to the LPQC at the phone number and address on page 3.

Large or small, your efforts will make a difference!

By Siegie Kress

Back to Top

Free Markets Provide a Helping Hand

One problem libertarians often face in trying to win converts to our small-government philosophy concerns the natural compassion most people feel for the less fortunate. Someone who is otherwise sympathetic to the message of freedom might say, "Sure, you and I would have a higher standard of living without government meddling, but what about the handicapped? I don't mind having to pay a little to improve the lives of people who have gotten a rough break in life." Beyond convincing this person that you do believe in private charity and are not a social Darwinist, it is important to explain how voluntary exchange works best in distributing goods and services to handicapped people, just as it does for the rest of us.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal contained a marvelous example of better living through free markets. According to the story, catering to conventions of disabled people has become a profitable niche business for some hotels. One featured group was the Little People of America, an advocacy group for dwarfs. When a person who is four feet tall visits a hotel, he has difficulty with tasks that most of us take for granted, from seeing over the reception desk to reaching the elevator buttons. The Adam's Mark Hotel in Indianapolis spent thousands of dollars to make its facilities more accessible to this large group of small guests. If you think that the government forced the hotel to accommodate the group through the Americans with Disabilities Act, you would be mistaken. As hotel general manager Steve Salaman said, "This was simply very good business," and it produced respectable profits.

Undoutably, some hotel operators who host these events believe they are doing a good deed by catering to a handicapped clientele. But it's unlikely that they would provide additional services for these groups without the prospect of turning a profit. As Adam Smith argued, people will provide services for profit that they would not provide for charity. If it makes them feel benevolent as well, then so much the better.

Some hotel operators have discovered that guests with disabilities tend to spend far more of their time-and money-inside the hotel than other guests do because many of them are relatively immobile. This justifies the added expense. Also, a handicapped group is likely to return to a hotel where it has a positive experience, often building a long-term, trusting relationship.

These hotel operators saw a need and figured out a way to serve it while making a profit. They also happened to make a number of handicapped people very happy. Now what if government got involved and forced all hotels to put in Braille elevator buttons, swimming pool lifts, and enough wheelchair accessible rooms for 100 conventioneers? The cost would be staggering. Hotels that could not pass these costs on to guests might be forced to shut down, reducing competition and raising hotel rates. And most of this equipment would go unused since the vast majority  of hotel guests do not need it.

So tell your concerned friends that there is no conflict between limited government and compassion, that free markets are perfectly capable of serving the needs of the handicapped. Government regulation causes as much suffering as it purports to alleviate. It's vastly preferable that human needs-even dire ones-be met through voluntary exchange.

By Todd Ginnis

Back to Top

The Random Murder of a Young Poet

Shortly after the ball fell in Times Square, New York City experienced its first random shooting of 1997. Three teenagers waiting for an elevator in a housing project in the South Bronx were shot by a masked gunman, apparently without provocation. Two of the youngsters survived. The third , my good friend and the student editor of my schools literary magazine, languished under life support at Jacobi Medical Center. Four days later he died.

Tony Nixon was just eighteen years old. He was about to graduate from high school and was applying to several colleges and universities. His life had been difficult, and he had many personal demons to fight. Just when it seemed he would overcome, he was cut down by a senseless, random act of evil. He is sorely and grievously missed by his family and his many friends. He was a positive leader of his peers, a kind and gentile who always tried to keep to the positive. Having his sharp witted presence in my classes and on the staff of our magazine was a real joy.

"And what has this to do with the Libertarian Party?" you ask. Political discussions are a regular event in my classroom, and Tony was openly sympathetic to libertarian thinking. Tony and his friends often spent hours discussing thorny issues and debating my provocative assertions. These discussions became raucous when I urged students to register to vote and to learn about the positions of all the political parties. Many of my students like the Greens; others are stubbornly committed to the Democrats because they have a heart for the poor man."

Tony, however, boldly proclaimed that the government does not care about the poor, and that he and his friends were imprisoned in dangerous projects and inferior schools designed to keep young black men down. A quiet filled the room. Tony went on to denounce the injustice of marijuana laws, police harassment in the projects, and the stupidity of not being allowed to defend himself with a firearm. Tony was no thug, and he desperately wanted to finish high school and go on to college. At my advice and that of school councilors, he refrained from carrying a gun, as do his friends. Although many of our students are in our alternative school because they were caught with weapons, they enjoy a safe and peaceful school environment, free from the arbitrary searches and harassment by disrespectful security guards that are the norm in many public high schools. In the long run, unfortunately, it was perhaps this false sense of security and Tony's desire to stay out of trouble that were his undoing.

The shooting was apparently a sudden ambush. The three teens would likely not have been able to defend themselves even if they had had weapons. But now the discussions in my classroom are about gun control. Few of my students understand my unflagging defense of the second amendment. Can we live in a society that is saturated with guns and the kind of random violence that ended the life of our good friend? Certainly not. Yet neither can we live under the tyranny of a myopic government that creates dangerous environments and then takes away our right to defend ourselves from lawlessness and brutality.

We libertarians know that there are no utopias. We know that drug prohibition is the primary cause of the current culture of gun violence. We must not be tempted to further regulate and weaken our basic rights because we fear the random evil that took Tony Nixon's young life. Uncertainty is a fact of life, and we must be free to take the responsible measures that we as individuals deem necessary to preserve our lives and our liberty.

By Bradford R. Arter 

Back to Top

LPQC News

Jim Strawhorn,  Editor

John Clifton, Contributing Editor

Bradford R. Arter, Associate Editor

Elliott Werner, Web Site Editor

LPQC News is published quarterly by the Libertarian Party of Queens County. Subscriptions: included free with LPQC membership;$6/year to non-members. Deadline for articles is the second Saturday of the month preceding publication. Opinions expressed in LPQC News are not necessarily official positions of the membership or the officers of the LPQC. Please direct all correspondence to LPQC News, c/o Procida Realty Corp., 161-09 29th. Ave.,Flushing, NY11358; or call (718) 670-3270

Upcoming Events | Newsletter Archive | Bylaws | Membership Application | Webmail | Home

Return to Top of Page

For comments and suggestions, click here
URL: http://www.lpqc.org/Newsletter/V3N2.shtml
Last Modified: Saturday October 18 2003.
Copyright © 1995-2004 Libertarian Party of Queens County
Site provisioning by The Web Warren.