Formerly LPQC News
No. 5
July 2002
|
QUEENS LIBERTY Formerly LPQC News |
Vol. 7 No. 5 July 2002 |
In This Issue:
LPQC Endorses candidates at 8th Annual Convention
Pledge of Allegiance Should not be required in Government-Run
Schools, LP Says
On 8 June, the Libertarian Party of Queens County held its annual convention at Pasta Lovers' Trattorios in Kew Gardens. In addition to electing the current year's crop of officers, party members listened to requests for endorsement from Joseph Dobrian (candidate for the proposed 14th Congressional District, covering the East Side of Manhattan and parts of Queens) before settling down to a lunch menu that included hot and cold antipasti, choice of chicken or pasta, coffee, and dessert.
 Joseph Dobrian |
 Scott Jeffrey |
 Imad A. "Dean" Ahmad |
Luncheon and keynote speakers included LPNY gubernatorial candidate Scott Jeffrey, Geniece Hovak and Diane McKeough of Armed Females of America, Chris Garvey, Sam Sloan, and Imad A. "Dean" Ahmad of The Minaret of Freedom. Hovak and McKeough discussed methods of regaining our Second Amendment rights inch by inch, followed by Garvey's statistics directly relating gun control to genocide throughout world history.
Sloan discussed some of the differences between the Judeo-Christian Bible and the Koran, and how political issues between Islamic nations, Israel, and the United State are being confused with -- or recast as -- "religious" issues that are contradictory to the teachings of Mohammed; Ahmad painted the philosophical issues of personal freedom as originating with the Golden Age of Islam (9th-16th Centuries C. E.), described some of the political and theological issues facing today's Muslims and presented ideas of how to reach out to Muslims of libertarian beliefs.
WASHINGTON, DC - The Pledge of Allegiance should not be required in
government-run schools, Libertarians say, because a nation in which a government
can coerce religion or patriotism is no longer free.
"America is made great by its freedom, not by a flag," said Steve Dasbach,
Libertarian Party Executive Director. "Our children should have the freedom
to pledge or not to pledge, and freedom to worship or not to worship."
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday struck down a California school district's policy of requiring teachers to lead children in the Pledge of Allegiance. The court found that the reference to "one nation under God" -- added to the pledge by Congress in 1954 at the height of the Cold War -- amounts to an official endorsement of monotheism.
Though the ruling specifically addressed only the religious aspect of the pledge, the debate quickly broadened to one over the pledge itself as America struggles with the war against terrorism. On Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats universally deplored the ruling. The Senate unanimously approved a resolution expressing support for the reference to God in the pledge, and House politicians gathered on the front steps of the Capitol to recite the pledge en masse.
"Libertarians have enormous respect for the values that the U.S. flag represents, and we understand that the way to honor those values is by preserving liberty, not by limiting it," Dasbach said. "Real religious freedom includes the right to not be religious, and true political freedom includes the right to not pledge allegiance to a political symbol.
"Politicians who rail against this ruling and claim they're
defending the flag are confused by the difference between a symbol and the
freedom for which it stands."
Dasbach conceded that during a national crisis, it's natural for politicians to
sacrifice individual freedom in favor of government coercion.
"Interestingly, politicians were much more tolerant of dissent before September 11," Dasbach noted. "In 1998, for example, a proposal to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning garnered 114 'no' votes in the House, and was killed in the Senate. But today they're unanimous in their protection of the flag. Have that many politicians suddenly discovered 'patriotism' -- or are they trying to exploit an anguished American public?"
After all, politicians frequently try to use national crises as an opportunity to expand the power of the government, he noted. "One way to do that is to suggest that anyone who criticizes a government action -- such as a government-mandated pledge in a government-run school -- is somehow unpatriotic," he said. "But there's a big difference between criticizing your government and criticizing your country, and it's a difference."
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