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The Official Newsletter of the Libertarian Party of Queens County
Vol.3, Num.3 May/June 1997
Three Messages of Liberty Heard at Convention Luncheon
Convention Produces Common Sense but No Candidates
Three Messages of Liberty Heard at Convention Luncheon
The New York City Libertarian Party convention was attended by some 60 enthusiastic, attentive persons from the city and elsewhere. It opened at 11 AM on Saturday, April 19, in the ninth floor solarium at 3 W. 51st. Street, John Clifton was emceeing.
LPNY Chair Lloyd Wright began proceeding by reporting on the trends of party membership figures. With the Unified Membership Program (adopted pending a bylaws change by the LPNY convention), state membership officially jumps to about 1,000. He said the Ithaca location of the upcoming LPNY convention was chosen in part to help organize the western part of the state, where local party building has flagged lately.
Schulz: New York State Needs a Constitution of Freedom
Robert Schulz, president of All-County Taxpayers' Association (ACTA), next told us about the recent establishment of a people's New York Congress, interacting with local committees, to promote a "yes" vote on this Novembers ballot question on whether to hold a state constitutional convention. The consensus of the congress has been that delegates to such a convention should not be officials of government or of state established political parties. However, unlike the League of Women Voters, Schulz thinks the importance of holding a convention makes it impolitic to condition its being called on disqualification of such officials. Among reforms he'd like to see, he ranked highly open ballot access, tighter controls on incuring of new debt, ending cronyism, and a unicameral legislature. He also supports initiative and referendum, with some reservations.
Next heard were two of this years New Jersey LP nominees: Steve Nagel, for State Senate in their 10th. district, on the shore; and Murray Sabrin, for governor. Prof. Sabrin's "On the Money" show airs from 8:30 to 9:00PM Sundays on WVNJ, 1160AM. To us he made the point that New Jersey government influences New York's; this January's one-week clothing sales tax holiday was held only because New Jersey has no such tax.
Next John Procida made what was to become a familiar (but necessary) pitch for donations, symbolically $97 at a time. He later echoed the plea, specifically to pay for our speakers, who had to travel quite a distance.
Larry Parks, president of the Foundation for Advancement of Monetary Education, which advocates a gold standard, countered a notion recently propounded by mega-financier George Soros: that financial markets are inherently unstable. Having lived through the most repressive regime in history-that of the Nazis- Soros has founded the Open Society Institute, whose open drug policy seminars I attended at the Lindesmith Center at 888 Seventh Ave.; but his current statements provide a possible excuse for the mega-state, as per Franklin Roosevelt, whose face would like to get off dimes. (Remember Liberty Dimes?)
Carol Berger, the 1996 Conservative nominee for U.S. House from New York's 18th district, said Libertarians' idealism leads to bickering, holding us back from political gains. She brought up the differences in the Republican Party between New York and the rest of the country, and she recommended that the LP and conservative Party nominate the same candidate for mayor.
Elena Suhir then told us about the activities of the Gramercy Park Republican club, which can be reached at www.gprc.com.
Norquist: The "Leave Us Alone" Coalition
You may have read Grover Norquist's exposition in recent months in Imprimis and Reason of the "Leave Us Alone Coalition" which he has helped co-align for the past two decades, but there's nothing like hearing it from this witty and informative speaker in person. He said (with details of inside stories to back up his assertion) that we came very close in recent years to having the "Takings Coalition" get a majority of the country in its pocket, dependent on forcibly redistributed wealth for sustenance, in which case we would become like a European social democracy. As is , he says about 75 percent of the left is tax financed, and he reviles European politics.
Norquist explained that the religious "right" is mostly not statist, but is actually an element of the Leave Us Alone Coalition, which originally organized around 1977-78 in reaction to moves by the FCC, the IRS, and other agencies against religious broadcasters and schools. The organizations have kept getting bigger and more sophisticated. Norquist detailed the progress now going on nationally in areas such as farm, fiscal, and electric utilities policy, which changes actually help build the constituency for Leaving Us Alone. Unfortunately, it has difficult to garner broad co-operation from civil liberties groups in these regards, and Norquist said politicians have no comfort with drug reform leadership.
Norquist expects the IRS to take a bigger hit then they expect from the heat they're now under. He uniform tax rates are desirable because such rates are harder to increase than individual non-uniform rates, on which divide and conquer tactics can be used.
Andre Soleil (known to some of you as Andre Myles), chair of the Kings County Libertarian Committee, told us that in Africa, women were traditionally the traders. He also pointed out that Crispus Attucks, who was killed by the shot heard round the world that began the hostilities of the American Revolution, was of black African descent.
Richard Boddie: Libertarians, Wake Up!
Richard boddie next gave a good example of his motivational speaking in that the substance captured here couldn't possibly reproduce his effect. He says black males in this country get attention more easily than other people do; he certainly has no difficulty! He wants to concentrate on raising our emotional quotient. He doesn't denigrate the role of less-sociable libertarians in the movement, but thinks they should be kept offstage.
In contrast to other speakers, Boddie gave examples to show that elected officials can lead on narcotics reform. He also thinks we can appeal to so called "Liberals" and even socialists with our ideas, because the "Democratic Party" (as he calls it) is dead. He recommended a book by Claire Wolfe, 101 Things To Do Till the Revolution. Boddie also did not hesitate to criticize those in national LP activity who are concerned primarily with making money by sustaining current organization, and emphasizing vote counts, rather than growing membership.
By Robert Goodman
LPNY Convention MAY 31st. to JUNE 1st.
The 1997 Libertarian Party of New York convention will be held at the Statler Hotel in Ithaca, New York at the end of this month. Well known libertarian author James Bovard will be the keynote speaker; LP National Chair Steve Dasbach and Sam Kasman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute will also address the convention.
Convention Produces Common Sense but No Candidate
Gorman says: Run to Win!
A speech by Don Gorman, the Libertarian who served four terms in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, led off the convention's afternoon business sessions.
He began by asking everyone present who has ever been to public office to stand. No one stood. That , he said, is what's wrong with the LP today.
Many of our political activities are futile and counterproductive, Gorman said. Libertarians often insult members of other parties, run on the extreme end of extreme issues, and run "paper" candidacies (getting on the ballot but not campaigning). These things will not get us anywhere. What we must do is work realistically in the political arena. That means running in races we can win and getting political experience.
There are five issues, Gorman said, that we should run on "Taxes, taxes, taxes, regulation, and whatever local issue the people are concerned about at the moment." To learn which regulatory issues concern the voters, question small-business operators. Then campaign on the common themes in their responses.
Each of the 32 community school districts in New York City has an elected board. Estimating that each board has 10 members, there are some 320 slots to be filled. If three libertarians were to win seat in each district we'd have nearly 100 people in elective offices throughout the city. After winning elections like these, Gorman said, our candidates can run on their records and win elections for higher offices.
Gorman stressed the importance of experience: "You can not learn how to swim by walking down to the ocean and looking at the waves, or by working in a bathing suit factory manufacturing bathing suits. Th e only way you're going to learn how to swim is to jump into the water. You have got to be a candidate. You have got to run to win."
Next, Gorman discussed strategies for winning. In nonpartisan elections (such as school board), work to build your name recognition. Meet people, listen to their problems and tell them how you'll address them. In partisan races, join the party thats going to win, even if it means running as a Democrat.
And here is the challenge: "Who will be the candidates?" he asked. Each one of us, he said, should run for a winnable office. We can't wait for someone else to do it. "You can run; you can win. You can be successful. You just have to do it. Campaign and win."
Gorman acknowledged that some won't like running and will never want to do it again. But others will enjoy it and get a taste for politics. The first group will have learned something about politics from direct experience. They'll be effective in supporting other candidates in the future. And the second group will go on to become effective candidates and office-holders, and will be able to run realistic campaigns for higher offices.
Gorman reminded us of why we're doing this: for personal satisfaction, for this city we live in, but most of all, for the children. A whole generation of Americans is being poorly educated. "You are going to bring liberty and freedom to a generation of young people in this city who do not understand what it's all about. And if you don't do it, if you turn these children over to the socialists who are controlling this city now, then I ask you a simple question: who in hell is going to do it?"
Finally, Gorman noted that we're lucky to have two great backdrops for events: the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. They're both symbols of liberty, and we should use them. Have picnics there. Get well-known speakers. Get some media attention.
After Gorman's speech, Doug Green, of Cures Not Wars, spoke about his organization's support for medical marijuana and related reforms. CNW's annual protest here will take place on May 3rd.; information is available at www.cures-not-wars.org.
Murray Sabrin next spoke about his run for governor of New Jersey. He is emphasizing taxes and regulation in his campaign.
Joe Brennan, the LP's 1992 mayoral candidate in New York City, spoke briefly about his experiences in that campaign. He feels that, notwithstanding Gorman's advice, it's impotent to run for high offices, and that we can use our ingenuity to get the most mileage from our efforts.
Robert Goodman, emcee of the conventions afternoon session, next spoke about '98 Counts. '98Counts is the LPNY's effort to secure statewide ballot access for the next four years by getting at least 50,000 votes in the 1998 gubernatorial election.
Nominating Session: No Candidates Fielded
The nominating session for citywide offices in New York came next. The LP members present, acting as an ad hoc body (there is no official citywide LP organization), elected Goodman as chair and Bradford Arter as secretary. Hugh Loebner was the only member who expressed interest in running. Loebner had recently come to the attention of LP activists for some of his libertarian views and his desire to run for mayor.
Addressing the convention, Loebner said that he disagreed with Gorman about the issues we should emphasize and about running unwinnable races. "I think there is a valid purpose in enunciating a program of what is right," he said, "and that there is a constituency in New York for decriminalizing prostitution and drugs, as well as running an efficient government." But when questioned about rent control and gun ownership, his responses dissatisfied many members. He said that although he isn't a libertarian on all issues, he is outraged by the erosion of individual rights and the disregard for the rule of law that are taking place in America, and would like to speak out about these issues.
A vote was taken between Loebner and None of the Above. The result was Loebner,5; NOTA,8. The convention then declared vacancies in all citywide offices and elected a committee on vacancies.
LPQC Annual Convention
The LPQC's annual convention was the final business session of the day. Two maters were before us: amendments to our bylaws and electing officers for the coming year. Two bylaws amendments-one expanding the portion of the year in which we can hold our annual convention, the other increasing size of the executive committee-were approved.
The officers elected were: John Clifton, Chair; Joe Quinn, Vice Chair-Programs; Jim Strawhorn, Vice Chair-Publications; Ed Velez, Secretary; Bob Knipe, Treasurer; and Bradford Arter, Representative to the LPNY. Siegie Kress and Elliott Werner were elected as councilors. The offices of Vice Chair; Vice Chair-Campaigns; and Membership Secretary were not filled. John Procida, our Vice Chair last year, and Todd Ginnis, who has agreed to serve as Membership Secretary had had to leave before this session and were not elected in absentia.
Just before adjourning, at about 5:15 PM, we presented John Clifton with a framed certificate which reads: The Libertarian Party of Queens County extends its heartfelt thanks to John Clifton for his heroic work in making the 1997 New York City Libertarian Party Convention a reality. April 19,1997
By Jim Strawhorn
LPQC News
Jim Strawhorn, Editor
John Clifton, Contributing Editor
Bradford R. Arter, Associate Editor
Elloitt 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
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