No. 1
February / March 2000
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LPQC News | Vol. 6 No. 1 February / March 2000 |
In This Issue:
Assemblyman Speaks at LPQC on Ending Draconian Drug Laws
In Loving Memorial
From The Chair
A New Politics for a New Millennium
The guest speakers at the recent December and January meetings of LPQC were among the best received in the organization's six year history. December's session with economist Stephen Kagann was easily its best attended "regular" meeting to date, and the subject of a lengthy write-up in the Western Queens Gazette's December 29 issue. Equally momentous (and also attended by the media) was the appearance of NYS Assemblyman Jeffrion L. Aubry (Democrat, 35th District) of Corona, to speak on his efforts to end the Rockefeller drug-sentencing laws that have been on the books since the early 1970's. Mr. Aubry spoke at length on the injustices of these laws, and the burden they place on the judicial and correction systems throughout the state. 80% of the 71,000 prison inmates in the state are locked up due to drug issues, according to Mr. Aubry. Judges are given no choice but to issue minimum sentences for any offense involving drugs, and the accused have little access to the appeal process. Plea bargains are often entered by defendants, to avoid going to court and facing the sentencing system. Female inmates are particularly victimized by the current system, as 70% are incarcerated due to being "drug couriers"-sometimes unknowingly. The resulting felony record hampers future career options of defendants, thereby encouraging recidivism. These remarks were well-received by all who attended. Mr. Aubry is sponsoring reform legislation, to replace the Rockefeller laws with new guidelines that allow judges more discretion in sentencing, and switch to a treatment-based approach to drug addiction. If you wish to show support or learn more about his bill, please contact his office at: (718) 457-3615.
The LPQC laments the tragic passing of Gail Bova, former State Chair of LPNY. May her spirit rest, in Peace and Freedom.
The changeover to a new calendar year always takes some getting used to. It always takes me a few weeks to get in the habit of putting the correct year on documents. But, thanks to the preparations made by industry-and, yes, by government agencies and government-sanctioned monopolies-the change-over to 2000 has not involved scrounging for food, water, or fuel. Y2K is starting out more or less like any other year. But in some very important respects, this is not like any other year. First, it's a major election year. We will elect a new President, House of Representatives, and a third of the Senate. Second, we are beginning this year with the greatest numerical strength in the Libertarian Party's history. That means we are poised to end our status as a fledgling third party and begin a new chapter in our party's impact. We can ensure a solid start to this new era by participating in our conventions and by supporting our candidates more vigorously than ever. Having said that, I'm embarrassed to report that plans for the LPQC's 2000 convention are incomplete. It will probably be held on one of our regular second-Saturday-of-the-month dates at Bohemian Hall, and the theme is likely to be policing in a (theoretically) libertarian New York City. Would you like to help work on this convention? The LPNY (state) convention is set for April 29 at the Royal Regency in Yonkers. Presidential candidates will speak, and we will choose delegates to the LP convention and nominees to the Electoral College. The LP (national) convention, to be held June 30-July 3 in Anaheim, California, will consider changes to the LP's platform and by-laws, and will nominate the LP's Presidential candidate for the November election. If you'd like more information on any of these conventions-or if you'd like to help, especially with the LPQC convention-please let us know. We'll get you the information you need and/or put you to work! After the conventions, there will be plenty of opportunities to help the Party grow. We'll have to gather signatures to get our Presidential candidate on the ballot in New York, and then we'll need to go all-out to support him or her going into the fall elections. All of these activities will help to build the Party in the current year, but they aren't just for this year's elections. Looking ahead even further-a sine qua non in real politics-the work we do in 2000 will build a foundation for the 2001 elections, in which nearly all of the New York City Council will be newly elected. If we build strong networks of volunteers and contributors now, we can position ourselves to elect the City Council's first Libertarian in 2001. Now that's a reason to make 2000 our best year ever!
Government was invented about 5500 years ago, simultaneously in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Isn't it about time we got it right? Originally, humans were hunter-gatherers with life-styles not much different from that of packs of wolves and troops of chimps. Then people became rancher-farmers who abandoned their pastoral wanderings and temporary villages for long-term city-states. Tribal patriarchs became, ideally, political statesmen. The creation of government was a genuinely good thing in human history, and constituted true progress and evolution. It's usually far better to have objective written laws based upon principles of abstract justice than to be subject to the arbitrary, capricious, dictatorial whim of some clan's alpha male-who may or may not know or care much about fair and evenhanded rule. Government, at its best, is far more oriented towards, and efficacious at, defending individual rights and social liberties than even the worst tribal council and chief. So why is the history of government one of almost unbroken tyranny? Why is America a version of that now? Unfortunately, precious few people actually realize what the purpose of government is: to protect freedom. Liberty, justice and individual rights are the total raison d'`etre of proper legitimate government. Everything else-however beneficial and welfare oriented-doesn't work and constitutes slavery. But few people today understand that. All current governments worldwide are based upon the false and evil political theories of Marx, Engel's, Lenin, etc., and upon the concomitantly false and evil economic theories of Keynes, Galbraith, etc. Thus the Big Brother disaster of today's society. After 5 1/2 millennia of government history and 1 1/2 centuries of socialist rubbish, isn't it about time we finally solved this governance problem? Certainly Republicans and Democrats have no solutions. At best, Republicans and conservatives are fair-weather friends of partial economic freedom-and virtual opponents of social freedom. At best, the Democrats and progressives are fair weather friends of partial social freedom-and virtual opponents of economic freedom. Ultimately, both are dedicated enemies and destroyers of liberty-your liberty. It's high time we finally got it right. It's high time humanity embraced a socioeconomic and political order based on voluntary interactions and libertarian cooperation. it's high time for a social compact and government based upon the noble, uplifting principles of life, liberty and property. It's time, in the third millennium, for a politics of freedom.
If you have the time, editing and writing abilities
(and a PC), we are interested in your helping us publish LPQC News. Contact us at (718) 670-3270, fax (718) 746-5211, email us at
LPQC@aol.com LPQC@lpqc.org, or come to our upcoming meetings
to tell us what you can do.
Deadline for the next issue of LPQC News is: March 15.
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