KC Libertarian

Reason... Season... Lifetime...

2009-10-10T21:08:00.002-05:00

A friend from my high school days led me to this inspirational writing. **Thanks Vicki** While it didn't change my situation - it certainly helped changed my perspective on things and, in time, help me move forward.

Moving forward is the greatest challenge many people face after any loss... Whether Love, career, life.

There's often a reason for it that will materialize in the future. Maybe you were meant to learn a lesson in those roles and you‘ve learned it. Maybe you were meant to meet someone (a future client, a new friend or a future soul mate) and you've met them so it's time to move on. Or maybe you were meant to help someone -and having fulfilled your duty it's time to move on. You won't know the reason until years later - or never at all. So just accept the decision and accept that there may be a grander plan being played out... and move on.

When dealing with any kind of loss we know that time is a great healer. And with time, people who have lost (jobs, friends, family) often come to realize that what once seemed like a disaster, in fact happened for a reason. And that quite often, redundancy was not a set back, but the start of a brand new season..

*********

The short story I am referring to:

A Reason, a Season, or a Lifetime

People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which one it is, you will know what to do for each person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON . . . It is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are! They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrong doing on your part, or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.

Sometimes they die.
Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.

What we must realise is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered. And now it is time to move on.

When people come into your life for a SEASON . . .
Because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace, or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount
of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the
person, and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Author Unknown

Been a long while

2009-10-09T19:10:00.004-05:00

Been a while since I have blogged - needed the break for personal reasons.

I am going to get active again by noting other blogs comments that I particularly like and there will be original postings on and off as well.

Now that I am no longer state chair - I will post in a blunt, cynical way that reflects my personality. I will post ideas and thoughts outside the mainstream and outside "politically correct" standards that permeate the environment today.

thanks for your patience in waiting while I settled into the real world for a bit.

Ah yes - FREEDOM!

LPKS 2009 State Convention

2008-11-12T18:30:00.001-06:00

LPKS 2009 State Convention

Date: March 7th, 2009

Please add to your schedules and plan to be there! I am letting you know early so there will be no excuses. 8-)

Place: Emporia State University
ESU Union - Heritage Room
Emporia, Kansas
Time: 11 AM to 4 PM (if we need the entire time)

This meeting will have the elections of all officers, and this is the meeting where we have traditionally had the chance to change the state by-laws, statement of principles, and/or constitution. All proposed changes must be sent to the chair *in writing, so that we can prepare for the convention and to give all LPKS members as much notice of possible changes being discussed.

Note: ALL OFFICERS are up for election in 2009.
The eight voting officers today in the LPKS constitution today are Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Congressional District 1 Coordinator, Congressional District 2 Coordinator, Congressional District 3 Coordinator, and Congressional District 4 Coordinator. These eight are the people who vote on all spending for the LPKS. They are also the voting members of any internal issues that come up between conventions.

Please note that the procedure for electing these eight people is split into two formats. All those LPKS members in attendance from across the state will elect the “name” officers. (Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer) Only those members that live in each district elect that District Coordinator to represent them.

If you have an interest in running for one of these positions – please let me know ASAP as we want to keep everyone notified of all possible candidates available.

For the party to grow at its most beneficial pace, we need competition for all officer positions, while it may be the easy way to elect officers without a competition – it is not necessarily the best way.

I have been asked by several people to run as chair again. At this time, I do not plan to run again. If I receive many solid commitments to work to grow the LPKS – I would look again at running for third term. Jason Peck (Vice-Chair) will not be running for another term.

With this in mind, we need many new people to step up, lead and help us grow. Keeping the same executive committee (repeatedly) has a tendency to trend to group complacency, and we must be vigilant that we keep growing and not become stagnant as an organization. New leadership always comes to a group with an enthusiasm missing from the old group and a sense of direction that may or may not have been there before.

If you have an interest in being an officer – please let me know ASAP, so I can compile a list of candidates to announce.

Thanks for all you do for the LPKS!

Rob Hodgkinson - Chair

It's a great time to be a Libertarian in Kansas!

Top 100 LP Blogs.... I am on the list!

2008-11-11T16:51:00.005-06:00

Sarah Scrafford at WebPreneur Names Top 100 Libertarian Blogs

At least someone is noticing. Sarah has put together her list of the Top 100 Libertarian blogs & I was told today that I made the list.

Link to that list is: http://www.webdesignschoolsguide.com/library/the-top-100-libertarian-blogs.html

This is interesting to me as once we get past the internal LPKS party elections in March, I should have time to blog more than I have been doing.

I look forward to the challenge of growing the readership here.

Kansas election results

2008-11-08T14:59:00.000-06:00

We elected one libertarian in Kansas in 2008. Fredrick Campbell was (re)elected to the County Attorney position in Anderson County.

We retained ballot access for another 2 years due to Randall Hodgkinson’s 3rd place showing gaining 2.1% of the vote (24,946) in the statewide race of US Senate.

Other good showings included Sheri Stearns (Gardner) who had just under 13% of the vote in a 3-way race with the R & D’s. The best showing we have had in a 3-way with the R’s & D’s in the race in a long while if not ever.

We are making progress (even if slow) to getting the message out that the Libertarian Party is not a protest vote but a good vote. This election showed that we need to concentrate on lower level races so we can start winning and take that success to higher levels as we grow.

Speaking of lower level races --- Now that the fall elections are over, it is time to start thinking about the spring races. These spring races are non-partisan meaning you do not run with an R, D or L after your name on the ballot.

These races include most City Councils, School Boards, Community College Trustee’s, Water Boards, and other races as well.

We need candidates for these races next spring.
Most of the filing deadlines are early January 2009 so you need to decide quickly.

If you plan to run in a non-partisan race this spring – please let the LPKS know.

Mark off March 7th and leave this as an open date on you calendars - why coming soon!

Rob Hodgkinson - Chair

It's a great time to be a Libertarian in Kansas!

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PLEASE FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS MESSAGE

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HOW TO DONATE TO THE KANSAS LIBERTARIAN PARTY
If you'd like to donate to the Kansas Libertarian Party just sign up by going to (click on): http://www.lpks.org/Donate/DonateToday/tabid/1061/Default.aspx
and choose a one time or monthly donation method. The donation website (PayPal) is encrypted and is a secure site.

Election Night Party!

2008-11-01T20:26:00.000-05:00

You are invited to a LPKS PARTY!

Tell your friends and be there!

Join us at a Election Night Party to celebrate the hard work and our LPKS political successes in 2008!

Date: Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Time: 7:00pm - 11:00pm ??
Location: Granite City Food & Beverage
Street: 1701 Village West Parkway
City/Town: Kansas City, KS 66111

Granite City is in the Legends (by the racetrack) across from Nebraska Furniture Mart.

If you plan to attend - please RSVP to Rob Hodgkinson --- Chair@lpks.org

It's a great time to be a Libertarian in Kansas!

Libertarian VP candidate Wayne Root on ‘the battered voter syndrome’

2008-10-27T18:20:00.001-05:00

“He lies to me all the time. He takes my money and tells me that I can’t spend it as well as he can. I’ve watched him spend us into financial ruin, giving money to his friends. Wasting money on irresponsible schemes. We’re so far in debt, we’ll never get out.”

“I work extra long hours to support him. I bring home all the money, yet he tells me what to do all day long. He winds up controlling almost every aspect of my life. He even tells me that I don’t know how to properly raise my own children.”

“When he needs me, he’s nice to me. He tells me how he wants the same things I do. After he gets what he wants, he goes back to his real personality. The truth is that he couldn’t care less about me. He couldn’t care less about anyone or anything. He only cares about himself. He uses the rest of us to get what he wants.”

“He keeps hurting me and I don’t know what to do. I’m really scared. But he has me convinced that anyone else would treat me worse. He’s probably right. So I stay.” “It’s probably all my fault. I just need to show him that I support him 100%. Maybe than he’ll treat me better.”
Everyone has heard of “battered spouse syndrome.” Battered spouses lack self-esteem or confidence, and actually choose to stay in disastrous, depressing, dangerous, and even deadly relationships. In many cases, the more loyalty they show to their abusive spouse, the worse they are treated and the more abuse they absorb. Most of us cannot understand how someone can choose to stay in a relationship with someone that torments them, hurts them (physically or psychologically), or threatens to kill them (or their children).

But the tale of woe you just read above is not from a battered spouse. This person is suffering from “battered voter syndrome.”

Both Republicans and Democrats fall victim election after election to such abuse.
Let’s start with battered Republicans. How many times can conservative or free market libertarian voters be lied to, without waking up to the deception? Year after year, at election time Republicans trot out candidates who portray themselves as libertarian conservatives standing for free markets, smaller government, lower spending, lower taxes, and more freedom. But after they are elected, they govern very differently than they promised. The reality is that Republicans talk about smaller government, but once elected, they expand government just like Democrats. They treat us like battered voters.

Even one of my heroes was guilty of this offense. Remember when Ronald Reagan said, “The nine worst words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” Then he was elected and oversaw a dramatic expansion of government. Reagan also said he’d eliminate the Department of Education. It is still standing almost three decades later- not only standing, but growing at an alarming rate. The budget of the Department of Education is $80 Billion dollars almost 3 decades after Reagan pledged to eliminate it. Eighty billion dollars.

Remember when George H.W. Bush (daddy of W) said, “Read my lips, no new taxes.” Then after his election, he promptly raised taxes.

Remember George W. Bush’s promises to cut government and reduce spending. Then he was elected and went on a spending rampage that would embarrass a drunken sailor. The first veto of his Presidency was against stem cell research. But earmarks, pork, waste and bloated budgets never seemed to bother W.

Now we have John McCain- yet another Republican Presidential candidate promising to be a conservative free market libertarian. But in his prior political life McCain voted against tax cuts; supported amnesty for illegal aliens- whose demands for government spending and entitlements threaten to bankrupt our nation; supported more government regulation, more bureaucrats, and higher taxes in the name of global warming; supported violations of our civil liberties (like warrantless wiretaps); and created a campaign finance bill (McCain Feingold) that eroded our free speech.

And that was all BEFORE McCain joined with Barack Obama to support the trillion-dollar government bailout- the greatest rip-off of taxpayers in American history.
Yet the specter of socialist radical Barack Obama has once again been used by Republican campaign consultants and strategists to frighten conservatives and free market libertarians reluctantly into the arms of McCain and Palin. I keep hearing those sad, pathetic words (that are trotted out every 4 years by Republicans), “well they are the lesser of two evils.” But is that good enough? Republicans threaten us with the specter of bigger government- then they get elected and give us bigger government. Should anyone be surprised when President John McCain governs in much the same way as prior Republican Presidents once elected? Any fiscally conservative, small-government advocate that votes for John McCain is certainly suffering from battered voter syndrome.

But it isn’t only Republicans who suffer from battered voter syndrome. Democrats have spent their fair share of time being abused by their own heroes too. Democrat politicians promise responsible government that will help “the little guy,” and then give us Congressman Barney Frank to oversee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while his lover runs the very programs that put the housing market and financial system into crisis.

Then there is Obama- the man of “change.” Well he has raised over $600 million dollars in change- smashing all-time records for campaign contributions. Who gave him $600,000,000? What do they expect in return? How did he do that in the worst economy in our lifetime? Does this ring any alarm bells in your mind? When Obama promises to “spread the wealth around,” to whom will he give your money?

Is Obama really for the “little guy?” He has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of contributions from Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac. All of them were at the very center of our credit crisis, investment banking meltdown and Wall Street bailout. Why did they choose to give so much money to Obama? What did they expect in return? Did all that campaign cash prevent Obama from speaking up about the looming financial meltdown?
Obama comes from the Chicago political machine- a modern day Tammany Hall. The economy of Chicago and the state of Illinois have been wrecked by this corrupt Democratic machine- with bloated budget deficits; out of control spending; unfunded state government employee union liabilities; among the worst public schools in the country; among the highest taxes in the country; the highest murder rate in the country; and one of the biggest population exoduses in the country.

If you like Chicago, you’ll love America with Obama as President. If you think Obama is the man of change, you are a battered voter.
Do you see a pattern? Republicans promise smaller government and more freedom from Big Brother. But once elected they bring us bigger government and the Nanny State. They expand government in order to help their friends- defense contractors, oil companies, pharmaceutical companies and agribusiness (billion dollar farm conglomerates). The small business owners that Republican politicians talk about at election time are thrown overboard in favor of corporate lobbyists.

Democrats promise to take care of the “little guy.” But once elected they throw the little guy overboard and hand the country over to trial lawyers, teachers unions, federal and state employee unions, radical environmentalists, and entitlement addicts. Democrats swear they will raise taxes only on the rich in order to spread the wealth around. But once elected, you become “the rich.” The reality is that Obama wants to spread the wealth around from those who work hard, achieve success and create jobs to those who don’t- because those are his voters. His economic philosophy isn’t about “fairness,” it is simply about BRIBERY.

Polls show that 90% of Americans now believe we are on the “wrong track” as a nation. That’s the highest rate in history. Yet if you’ve been voting for the same 2 choices- Republican or Democrat- for the last 20 or 30 or 50 years…if you’ve been voting all these years for “the lesser of two evils”…perhaps it’s no coincidence why we are on the wrong track. You’ve been voting for the wrong track.

Voters who choose the same 2 flawed choices of Republican or Democrat year after year are starring in “Groundhog Day.” You make the same choices election after election, yet you keep expecting different results! You fall for the same deceptions, lies and fraud year after year, yet you’re shocked that nothing changes. You still believe it when the politician offers “CHANGE” without asking what is his track record, and exactly what is the change that is he now offering? You are a battered voter.

But there is another choice. There is a way out. There is a right track. The Libertarian Party is here to end the abuse. As “America’s Third Party” we offer you the relationship with government that you’ve always desired.

We don’t deceive or lie or defraud voters. We support smaller government, reduced spending, lower taxes, school choice and more freedom. We do not support special interest pork-barrel spending or corporate welfare. We don’t just talk about these principles of limited government. We don’t just trot out actors (known as “candidates”) to portray a love of these principles every election day. We live these principles every second of every day. And once elected, Libertarians have a proven track record of actually doing what we said we’d do.

The Libertarian Presidential ticket of Bob Barr and Wayne Root could never hope to raise the $600 million dollars like Obama. Doesn’t that tell you something? Follow the money. Whoever gets the big corporate contributions is expected (or required) to return the favor- only one thousand times bigger (with taxpayer’s money).

Barr/Root isn’t bought or paid for by special interests or large corporations. Our campaign and convention were not funded with your tax money. We don’t owe anyone anything. Our only interest is you- the American citizen and taxpayer.
Isn’t it time that you supported a candidate who actually cares about you- the taxpayer? A candidate who actually says what he or she means- not just at election time, but after the election too. Isn’t it time you supported a candidate who is actually committed to a set of principles- not just to using principles as a “marketing tool” to get elected. Someone who actually pledges to make their own office less powerful, less important- so they can give the power back to the citizens and taxpayers.

The Libertarian Party and the Presidential ticket of Bob Barr/Wayne Root want a long-term healthy relationship with you. Together, we will build a future that is better for our children and better for our country. No, we’re not going to win this Presidential election. Not this time. But we have achieved all-time Libertarian Party records for media appearances and exposure to mainstream American voters. We are building a foundation of credibility for future victory at the national level. And it’s what that foundation is built upon that should be most important to you. We offer you the unique opportunity to take power back from the politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers, lobbyists and special interests.

We don’t batter our voters. We better them.

I started my campaign 18 months ago by announcing a 16-year detailed plan to win the White House. A small businessman and home-school dad from low-tax Nevada, who has never collected a government paycheck, or been corrupted by the “Beltway Insiders” or special interests in Washington D.C., is now the Vice Presidential nominee of a major third party ticket. I’d say that’s one heck of a successful start for my plan. November 4th isn’t an end, but rather the beginning of my long-term vision to give power back to the citizens.

Join us in starting the process of recovery from battered voter syndrome. You can do it. You can leave. You can change the self-destructive pattern. You can stop wasting your vote on the two parties that 90% of American voters agree have led us in the wrong direction. It’s never a wasted vote to choose a candidate that you really like, instead of someone you neither like nor trust. You actually have a choice. A third choice- the Libertarian Party is “America’s Third Party.”

Stop accepting the battering and abuse. Stop accepting the lies and deception. Choose a positive, healthy relationship with Bob Barr, Wayne Root and the Libertarian Party. On November 4th, come home to us.

Make your vote count. Go to www.LP.org and join us today.

Wayne Allyn Root is the Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee on the Libertarian Presidential ticket of Bob Barr/Wayne Root. His web site is: www.ROOTforAmerica.com

Candidate forums and answers to questionnaires

2008-10-12T08:02:00.002-05:00

Rob Hodgkinson campaign update:

I have been busy with forums, going door to door, putting up yard signs and answering questionnaires for my campaign in 2008. I have had mailers go out to the "Unaffiliated" *likely voters households * in my district - when I get a chance I will post a copy on my web site - feedback welcome!

*Likely voters households are those that have voted in the last two general elections - in Kansas you can choose no party by registering to vote unaffiliated.

We also have a mailing going out to ALL 19,000 likely voter households regardless of voter registration soon. Still can use donations to pay for postage! http://www.vote-hodgkinson.org/donate.htm

Here are a couple links to some of the forums and questionnaires that have been posted. (more will be posted as they become available)
http://www.voteolathe.org/report_candidate_answers_detail.php?raceid=30&respondentid=42

Video of a forum recently taped (45 minutes in length)
http://www.vote-hodgkinson.org/debate.htm

Advance voting in Kansas starts Wednesday Oct 15th.

All the hard work should pay off when the votes are counted on Nov 4th.

Brothers Combine Resources, Ideology in Separate “Senate” Runs

2008-10-09T19:13:00.001-05:00

For: Hodgkinson for Kansas Senate
& Hodgkinson for U.S. Senate
From: Christopher Carter (913) 980-0401
Release verification and candidate availability…
Rob Hodgkinson/ (913) 980-9269

Brothers Combine Resources, Ideology in Separate “Senate” Runs

Stilwell & Topeka, Ks. -- How opposed to wasteful spending are brothers Rob and Randall Hodgkinson? Enough that yard signs for the two simply say “Hodgkinson, Senate.” Never mind that Rob’s run is to represent the 37th Senate District in Kansas, while Randall’s aiming for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Pat Roberts.

“One large allotment of signs cost less than two smaller ‘customized’ orders,” said Randall, at 41 the younger of the Hodgkinsons, “so there seemed little point in spending more when the signs work equally well for both.”

It’s typical of the common sense approach the two Libertarian candidates are highlighting as they woo voters for the November 4th general election. A core message that Libertarians today are not the party of radical, offbeat ideas that’s kept them on the political “fringe” in the past.

“We, that is Libertarian candidates and leaders, are redefining the party rather than allowing it to define us,” said Rob, whose 37th Senate District encompasses a sizable portion of southern Johnson County. Moreover, Rob would know -- he’s chair of the Libertarian Party in Kansas, as well as a candidate.

“My stance on many issues reflects general population sentiment,” said Rob, “and most Johnson Countians are surprised when they hear me speak to the need for strong public education, less taxation and a sensible approach to the social issues, a common sense approach that gets much less attention than it deserves.”

Most startling of all, to many mainstream voters, according to Rob, is the willingness -- enthusiasm, even -- of Libertarians to work within the system as they try to change it. “The notion that Libertarians are anti-government to the point of anarchy simply is outdated and has been for some time,” Rob continued. “I believe in government, but small government,” he said, “and dissatisfaction with programs such as ‘No Child Left Behind’ among both Republicans and Democrats underscores how the country is moving in the same direction Libertarians always have promoted.”

Taxation (Rob supports the repeal of sales tax on food, calling it “regressive”), local control of schools, and limiting the power of eminent domain (for private use) lead Rob’s 37th Senate District profile. Brother Randall’s issues are of national, rather than local, scope, but the “less is more” brand of Libertarianism marks his approach to governing, too.

“Libertarians, as a party, were the first to oppose U.S. involvement in Iraq,” Randall said. And he noted that the Party’s new progressive stand on many issues -- making the Internet tax moratorium permanent, decoupling health insurance from employment (he sees a role for government in providing healthcare) -- were touted by Libertarians, and the Hodgkinsons, long before being embraced by many in the traditional parties. Randall’s call for federal involvement in protecting the environment speaks to the open-mindedness about the role government can play.

Randall’s principal issue is one of, well; principle…and one that’s particularly close to his professional passion: the “Rule of Law,” which he asserts has been seriously undermined by the current White House administration.

An attorney employed by the State of Kansas, Randall expressed concern about a wide gamut of Fourth Amendment and human rights issues brought to the fore by recent Justice Department decisions. He pointed to allegations of torture in U.S. treatment of foreign detainees, and to what he calls “arbitrary” application of the Patriot Act. But most important to Randall is the “disconnect” he believes exists between such actions and the public.

“Too little attention is paid to how these uses -- abuses, really -- of power affect you and me,” Randall said. “One can, and should, be concerned about the specifics of how domestic spying can affect individuals in a real, day-to-day way,” he continued, “but equally important is the ‘culture’ of government abuse that can take root. We have accepted government intrusion into our lives far too easily.”

On that point and others, such as the need for greater fiscal responsibility at all levels of government, the Hodgkinsons do hearken to the Libertarian tradition. It’s in evidence when Rob calls personal freedom his “true North.”

It’s an independence honestly founded. Fifth-generation Kansans (growing up in Hutchinson), the Hodgkinsons share a family history of “doing for oneself,” including a great-grandmother who wrote about the family experiences and importance of true local support of a community school, when none was readily available in the family’s rural community.

As for seeing the possibilities of winning election, the brothers agree that Libertarians in Kansas are moving past the point where just “spreading the message” is enough. Current polls place Randall at a level that would officially guarantee “major party” status for Libertarians by the state in 2010 if the candidate for Governor garners the same support levels.

It would be an important milestone, according to Rob. “While we rarely aspire to patterning ourselves after Republicans and Democrats,” he said, “major party status is one similarity we would welcome.”

Why Wayne Flaherty is Voting No on the Triangle Tax

2008-10-05T09:41:00.000-05:00

I am in agreement with Wayne on this one - Rob

*******************

October 4, 2008

There is an old adage about a political mess, “The more you stir it the more it stinks.” And so it is with Johnson County’s Triangle proposal. The more I learn about it and the people pushing it, the more it stinks. I began my objection to the tax based on 2 simple concerns; it is another (the third) “forever” tax in Johnson County and there is no meaningful governance. I had planned to just vote no on this tax proposal but as more details are brought out in the open, I can no longer sit in silence.

Now, I find that my 2 primary concerns are closely intertwined since any “forever” tax basically has no governance. Once it is passed, that’s it. As with the Triangle tax, there may be some kind of yearly accounting by the spenders but there is nothing a taxpayer can do to hold the spenders accountable. Remember Enron and the S & L scandal. Those companies were audited yearly and produced the required yearly accounting reports – and look what happened.

The “Subprime” mess is an excellent example of inadequate accountability. When the federal law was changed to decrease regulations on the Wall Street money changers, it was like giving them a license to steal. Couple that with government pressure on lenders to make “subprime” housing loans to people who could not afford them and you have a formula for disaster – a $700 billion disaster. Warren Buffet pointed this out last week in an interview with Charlie Rose when he told Charlie that all you had to do with some of the financial instruments Wall Street was selling was to plug in any numbers you wanted to show any profit you wanted. Buffet also pointed out that AIG was a sound, well managed company before they got into derivatives. Then he said, “If AIG had never heard of derivatives, they would still be in excellent shape.” (NOTE: Derivatives are financial instruments whose values depend on the value of other underlying financial instruments.) When the derivatives are based on housing loans to people with no money or people who overextended themselves to buy a lifestyle they really couldn’t afford, there will certainly be a day of reckoning. Today is that day and I reckon its you and me who will have to pay for it. To learn more about your government’s involvement in the subprime crisis, read the Boston Globe article at http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/09/28/franks_fingerprints_are_all_over_the_financial_fiasco/ and the Fox News article at http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,432501,00.html.

We have been told, “An appointed board will oversee the Triangle project.” Loosely translated this means the spenders and their friends will appoint some of their own kind to examine what each other are doing. The board will answer to no one – not even the regents of the colleges involved. We are also told the board will be made up of elected officials. That’s true but they will not be elected to the board and they can not be removed by any action of the people. We have a board like that now. It’s called MARC (Mid America Regional Council) and, it too, is immune to any action by citizens, voters, taxpayers, etc. Since there are no consequences, there is no accountability.

I recently spoke in opposition to the Triangle tax before an Olathe group where Senator Karen Brownlee spoke for the tax. During the Q and A session someone asked the senator, “What happens if the tax fails?” Her reply, “The Triangle will still get built. It will just take longer.” I find it interesting that the purpose of the tax is not to make the project possible; it’s just to speed it up. This is not a conditional tax. You and I will continue to pay this tax “forever” even if the Triangle never comes to pass or if it is created and produces little or none of the pie in the sky promises its promoters have been shouting about. In fact, if it is created and becomes wildly successful, you and I still get nothing tangible. We don’t share in the profits. They will pay little or no tax. Nothing tangible comes back to the county. Olathe is donating 80 acres of the people’s park land to the project and then giving them a tax abatement. I thought I had heard everything – but I was wrong.

One of the leaders on the push for the Triangle is Bob Regnier of the Bank of Blue Valley. His bank has just been downgraded to a D minus, which is like being wheeled into intensive care. Today, in the Kansas City metropolitan area, there are 24,000 homes on the market (it’s usually around 15 or 16 thousand). The average time on the market now is 11 months. With a glut of houses on the market few homes are being built so banks are hurting. The “forever” Triangle tax would be like a shot in the arm, providing cash they so desperately need. Ol’ Bob is taking no chances. He is over in KCMO with the Greater KC Chamber hustling the light rail tax just in case Johnson County comes to its senses and votes this Triangle Turkey down. The light rail tax is another boondoggle with lots of taxpayer cash to go around. I take no pleasure in the misfortunes of anyone but neither do I feel any responsibility to provide them with tax money to fix their problems – which brings up another point.

Triangle spokesperson Mary Birch recently told a neighborhood group that if they (the Triangle) needed more money, they would be back. They don’t even have the tax but are already planning to pick our pockets again. I bet you thought “forever” would be long enough for them.

Lets look at the tally sheet: A third “forever” tax, free land that used to be a park, tax abatements, plans to ask for more money, no sharing of any profits, no accountability, save a bank that’s in trouble, and only 2 guarantees – we’ll pay and they’ll spend. And just in case you think that’s the end of the story, I’ll give you 8 to 5 that everyone who builds in the Triangle will want a TIF, and why not since it seems to be open season on us taxpayers.?

Now I’m absolutely certain I will vote no on the Triangle tax.

Wayne

Open House -- Bar-B-Que for Rob Hodgkinson

2008-09-27T12:38:00.000-05:00

Please join us for an open house with State Senate District 37 candidate Rob Hodgkinson.

Date: Saturday, October 4, 2008
Time: 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm **BBQ burgers and brats at 5 PM**

Location: David Huston Home
Street: 11809 Rosehill Rd
City/Town: Overland Park, KS

RSVP: (913) 469-0173 or davidh9946@everestkc.net

This is a reception with light BBQ and drinks. If you want to meet Rob or just drop in and show your support, we would love to see you there.
Pass this along to your all your 37th district friends who might be in the neighborhood.

Contributions are not necessary, but any help that you are able to offer would be appreciated. We look forward to seeing you there!

Please RSVP to David Huston. (above)

[Please note campaign finance laws limit contributions to $1000 per individual.]

Rob Hodgkinson
Candidate for Kansas State Senate - 37th District
www.vote-hodgkinson.org

It's a great time to be a Libertarian in Kansas!

My answer to a wasted vote question....

2008-07-17T15:39:00.002-05:00

The question asked me "Rob, please explain why I should waste my vote on a candidate who isn't going to win. Why does that make sense?

I support a multi party system in this country. I hope I see it in my lifetime. But the other parties are going to have to build a following before they run candidates. It would also be smarter to start with local races and grow from there rather than running a failed candidate in the presidential election."

My answer:

There is no such thing as a wasted vote...

The only thing that you would have a chance to convince me was a wasted vote - would be someone writing in a person or thing (think Ron Paul or Donald Duck) that the Secretary of State will not count. Even then, the protest value in this case is worth something.

A vote for Bob Barr for President is a choice
A vote for Randall Hodgkinson for US Senate in Kansas is a choice
A vote for Joe Bellis for the KS 3rd congressional district is a choice
A vote for Rob Hodgkinson in the KS 37th is a choice

Voting FOR any of the above is NOT a waste - the vote will be counted, the vote will be recorded, and a vote could (I'll admit, a long shot) elect someone from outside the two party system. We just have to get enough people to see the folly of our current path that has us in this mess.

Telling me you have to vote for a probable winner is like saying all Kansans have to be NY Yankee or New England Patriot fans - or you just wasted your time/money etc.

Voting is a hell of a lot more important than sports. Take a chance on an (this) underdog - it will pay off in many positive dividends for the future of this state.

Rob Hodgkinson
www.vote-hodgkinson.org
It's a great time to be a Libertarian in Kansas!

Independence? or Dependency - by Steve Shute

2008-07-05T10:05:00.001-05:00

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. - The Declaration of Independence

232 years ago today - on July 4, 1776 - a truly momentous event occurred in the history of the world. A small, rag-tag band of colonists, comprising no more than 3 percent of the population of American subjects of the British Crown, had shown the rank audacity to take on the collective might of the most powerful nation on Earth at the time. The stage had been set over a year earlier, on the fields of Lexington and Concord in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, as Massachusetts Minutemen militia members engaged British troops on the North Bridge and fired the “shot heard round the World.”

When the 56 members of the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence and pledged their Lives, [their] Fortunes, and [their] sacred Honor to formally support the Revolution, they were truly risking everything. The second that they put pen to paper in Philadelphia and endorsed that seditious document with their signatures, they were in effect signing their own execution orders, for the penalty for high treason to the British Crown certainly was death. These men had plenty to lose - most of them were prosperous landowners, in some cases with vast properties and estate holdings. Many would lose their estates, their wealth, members of their families, and some even their own lives in the ensuing years of conflict.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

So what exactly would have moved such men to literally risk everything for an abstract principle of freedom?
By the time the Declaration was signed, the colonists had attempted by all possible diplomatic means and appeals to the British Parliament to have their concerns heard, only to have a deaf ear cast toward them. In fact, the louder their grievances became, the greater the pressure the British authorities brought to bear on the colonists. First, oppressive taxation was imposed, without the consent of the colonists. Then, to enforce the collection of the taxes and to quell increasing dissent, the king dispatched British Army garrisons to the colonies. Then trade to and from the colonies was strictly curtailed, and a virtual blockade was imposed by the British Navy on all goods entering and leaving Boston Harbor. Trials for British government officials in Massachusetts were arbitrarily moved to other colonies or even to Great Britain, which in practice prohibited those who were harmed by these officials to testify against them in a court of law. Finally, the Massachusetts legislature was effectively dissolved by the Crown and replaced with an authority reporting directly to Parliament. This last affront was the final straw for many of these men, who felt that if Parliament could arbitrarily dissolve one legislative body, they could remake any colony’s legislature by force of whim.
Quite frankly, these men had a choice to make. They could either do nothing, and surrender unconditionally to a despotic King who could not have cared less about the welfare of the colonists, or they could take a stand. For liberty. For self-determination. For freedom.

The Tyranny of Complacency

Against us are all timid men who prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty. We are likely to preserve the liberty we have obtained only by unremitting labors and perils. - Thomas Jefferson

So, today, as we look back over the last 232 years, what have we as a people done with that great sacrifice borne by those 56 men, and by all of those other innumerable Patriots - at such places as Valley Forge, New Orleans, the Alamo, Antietam, Gettysburg, the Argonne, Normandy, Guadalcanal - that have lost their lives in the centuries since that moment when we declared our freedom.
For most of the last 232 years, we developed and nurtured a “grand experiment” in our Constitutional representative republic that was the envy of the entire planet. It was so admired that many millions of people from distant shores risked everything to come here and make a new life for themselves and their families. We welcomed them into the great American “melting pot” with open arms, only asking that they participate fully in our society and contribute their labor and vigilance to the continuation of the “experiment.”

But, somewhere in the last 80 years, something has gone wrong.

We have become too comfortable - too self-assured - too arrogant.

We have allowed powerful and influential interests in industry and politics to pervert the democratic process to benefit themselves, while allowing ourselves to be seduced into believing that they were doing this to benefit us. We have seen government expand its reach and control into every aspect of our daily lives, and far beyond what the Founders believed was proper. We have developed an ‘entitlement’ mentality, and ascribed “rights” status to things such as “free” medical care, “free” education with assured equality of outcomes, and “free” retirement. We have allowed our national and economic sovereignty to be sacrificed at the twin altars of multicultural diversity and globalism. We have been cowed into allowing the most sacred protector of our individual freedoms, our Bill of Rights, to be trampled on and shredded in the name of patriotism and security.

In our complacency, we have forgotten that true freedom, true self-determination, must be defended through educating ourselves about the workings of our republic and being intimately active in the process of government.
And so, while we have had our backs turned and our heads in the sand (or in the television set); the experiment has gone terribly awry. We have allowed ourselves to be bound with velvet handcuffs, and in the name of safety and security, we have accepted abuses and usurpations on the part of our own Government that those 56 men who risked their lives for freedom would have found beyond reprehensible.

A New Birth of Freedom

The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite. - Thomas Jefferson

So, now, as a nation we find ourselves in the same position as those signers of the Declaration were 232 years ago. We have a choice to make. Neither road will be easy.

We can choose to do nothing, and surrender unconditionally to being ruled by a despotic elite that does not have the nation’s interest at heart, but instead is interested in corrupting the political process for its own gain; to depend on government to provide our every need, but at the terrible price of the confiscation of the fruits of our labor and the loss of our ability to determine our individual destinies; and to ultimately trade our hard-fought freedom for a comfortable existence in slavery.

Or, we can do as the Founders did, and declare our independence.

We can wake up, tear ourselves away from the Wii's and the televisions and the computer screens and the bread and circuses that the entertainment wing of the corporatocracy have given us to dull our senses and lull us to sleep, and begin to challenge their newspeak that intrusive government is good, that they are here to help us and to make us happy, and that we don’t need to think for ourselves.

We can fill ourselves with righteous anger and funnel it to constructive purposes, such as getting educated and active, and we can move to reassert ourselves in the body politic.
We can find the true patriots of our age, or even better, be the true patriots of our age, and be willing to support those people in their runs for political office or run for office ourselves.
We can work to inoculate ourselves from the inevitable siren’s calls of corruption that will come from those who will want us to forget why we are being called to serve, and carry ourselves with the same kind of self-sacrificial spirit that those 56 men displayed in Philadelphia. We can wage war against those enemies of our freedom who wish to tighten the hold of those velvet handcuffs.

Even though the experiment has gone awry, it is not at all unsalvageable. We are still a shining beacon of hope to the world, of rugged individuality, of self-reliance, of entrepreneurship, and ingenuity. These have always been the hallmarks of the independent spirit of America, and they are our greatest and most enduring assets. It is now up to us to take up the tools at our disposal and work to recreate the Republic as the Founders intended, and retake our God-given freedoms unto ourselves. Yes, the task is daunting, and will seem close to impossible at times. But, as that rag-tag band of colonists found over 200 years ago, daunting tasks are not futile ones.

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom; go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen. - Samuel Adams

****************

Note – This was reprinted with permission from the author. The author and I have chosen different paths (at this time) to try to restore our freedoms. Steve is active in the Republican Party and I with the Libertarian Party in Kansas. We need more people like Steve whatever political party we chose to work with.

-- Rob --

The Rob Hodgkinson campaign is moving ahead….

2008-06-28T11:41:00.000-05:00

We need your help!

The Committee to elect Rob Hodgkinson needs donations and active volunteers for both walking the district and making phone calls in the campaigns behalf.

The campaign has already ordered and paid for 10,000 push cards and they will be used for the door-to-door (and other events) that we can do into.

We have already designed and paid for our yard signs as well.

The 37^th Kansas Senate district is ½ rural & ½ urban in makeup.

The next set of campaign donations will be used for mail purposes in the general election to reach the areas we cannot walk effectively. I need to raise $10,000 or more to be effective with the mail outreach.

All spending of donations we are receiving will be for active campaign purposes only – I am personally underwriting the costs of my campaign advisor (who has run winning campaigns in Kansas for both R’s and D’s and is looking forward to helping a Libertarian win).

http://www.vote-hodgkinson.org/

Please help us out and lets get a libertarian elected to the Kansas Senate!

Bob Barr for President

2008-05-12T18:59:00.001-05:00

If there ever was a time that the Libertarian Party was at a crossroads – now is that time. In Denver May 2008, the LP has a chance to make itself politically relevant or continue the irrelevancy of the past.

In a state like Kansas that is a big republican state – yet very, very wary of a McCain – A Bob Barr could pull off a vote percentage similar to what Perot did in KS (18+%) but it would take a candidate with the real world credibility/respectability of a Bob Barr to make it happen.

** we have a Democrat governor as proof Kansans will walk differently than in lockstep with the majority political party here **

Here is what I am looking for in a presidential candidate in 2008; as they will not win in 2008, let’s look at the best-case scenario for a LP presidential candidate’s effect in Kansas. (Obviously my opinion)

They must relate to the real world voters to gain a high percentage of the vote count and then people will start to look at the LP much more seriously. Unlike the Reform party that only had the momentum with Ross Perot’s funding and personality -- the LP has years of hanging in there as a third political party. With the great people that have come on board in the last 3 ½ years while I have been chair, we can make a huge difference politically going forward. All the LP volunteers in Kansas have been getting ready for this new interest in an old third party.

There is only one candidate running for the LP nomination that can accomplish massive growth of the Kansas Libertarian Party – That candidate is Bob Barr.

I wholeheartedly endorse Bob Barr to be our Libertarian Presidential candidate for 2008.

As a candidate on a lower political level for the LP (State Senate), I believe that there can be a positive trickledown effect from our presidential candidate.

Having met and listened to most of our LP candidates -- I believe that our best option for the 2008 political season is Bob Barr.

I believe that we need someone who has media savvy, someone credible to those outside the LP world, someone who can debate McCain and Obama and present himself in a compassionate, reasonable and intelligent manner in representing the Libertarian Party.

I will be voting (in Denver) for Bob Barr as our Libertarian Presidential candidate!

Heartland Libertarian Conference

2008-03-22T18:29:00.003-05:00

WHAT: The 2008 Heartland Libertarian Conference

WHEN: Friday, April 4th through Sunday, April 6th

WHERE: The Intrigue Park Place Hotel (1601 North Universal Ave., KCMO - near I-435 & Front Street)

CONTACT: Mike Ferguson at mike@mikefergusononline.com or 816.668.9495 (cell)

LP National Chair Bill Redpath, Former US Congressman Bob Barr Among Featured Speakers; Libertarian Presidential Hopefuls to Debate

(Kansas City) - One of this year's premier third-party political events will take place in Kansas City in April and will feature one of the key debates in the race for the Presidential nomination of America's third-largest political party.

The Libertarian Party of Kansas and the Missouri Libertarian Party are teaming up for the 2008 Heartland Libertarian Conference, which will feature the debate, an impressive lineup of speakers and workshops for libertarian activists and candidates.

Former US Congressman Bob Barr, best known for leading the impeachment effort against President Bill Clinton while serving as a Republican from Georgia, joined the Libertarian Party after leaving office and is now a member of the Libertarian National Committee. Mr. Barr will be the event's keynote speaker on Saturday, April 5th.

Libertarian national Chairman Bill Redpath will be among the lineup of speakers and will be available to the media both Friday, April 4th and Saturday, April 5th.

Other speakers include Missouri LP Chair Glenn Neilsen, Kansas LP Chair Rob Hodgkinson, 2004 Libertarian Presidential nominee Michael Badnarik, 93.9 "The Eagle" (in Columbia, MO) Program Director/ talk show host and former LP Presidential candidate Gary Nolan, Mark Rutherford, Chairman of Atlas! Liberty PAC and current president of the Indiana Public Defenders' Commission, Sharon Harris, President of the Texas-based Advocates for Self Government and Libertarian candidate for Vice President of the United States Chris Bennett.

The entire lineup of speakers can be found at www.lpmo.org/heartland2008 and the schedule of events can be found at www.lpmo.org/heartland2008/schedule.htm.

On Saturday the 4th, the conference will feature a debate with the top contenders for the Libertarian Presidential nomination. The debate will be broadcast live on KCXL (1140 am) and simulcast online at www.kcxl.com.

Among the confirmed participants in the debate are:

* Professor George Phillies. Dr. Phillies is a professor of Physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. He is also a former Congressional candidate.

* Wayne Allyn Root. Mr. Root is an entrepreneur who built successful businesses in Las Vegas, including a sports odds making enterprise and a television production company. He is a regular contributor to FOX News, CNBC and and CNN.

* Christine Smith. Ms. Smith is a freelance writer from Colorado. In 2000, she was the recipient of the Amigas Power Peace Prize for her humanitarian work.

* Mike Jingozian. Mr. Jingozian is an entrepreneur who founded AngelVision Technologies in Portland, Oregon. He and his company's success have been featured in some of America's top business magazines.

* Mary Ruwart. Ms. Ruwart is a research scientist, author, and ethicist. She is best known in the Libertarian Party circles for her libertarian primer, Healing Our World (2003 edition), which hit Amazon.com’s best-seller list in October 2005, reaching the #1 position in Amazon’s “Economic and Political Development” and “Practical Politics” categories.

This event is proudly sponsored by ATLAS! Liberty, a political action committee dedicated to electing Libertarian candidates to public office. Visit http://atlas-pac.com to learn more about this organization.

Contact Mike Ferguson (contact info listed above) with any questions about this event, with requests for technical or other accommodations needed for news coverage or to arrange interviews with speakers and/or candidates.

Mike Ferguson
http://www.missouriviewpoints.com - Public affairs television...online!
http://www.mikefergusononline.com
816.668.9495 - cell

816.817.1817 - voice mail

Big Tent KSLP

2008-01-24T13:50:00.000-06:00

I have been amazed at the reaction to the information posted on a couple blog’s about Kansas Libertarian - Bennie Lee “Ben” Ferguson.

Kansans in general are very tolerant of others - not counting Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist clan; however, we even let them spout their nonsense while we vehemently disagree with their approach to gaining media attention.

I believe that Ben is one example that shows that the Kansas Libertarian Party is “the big tent” party that is needed and severely lacking in the Kansas political arena. Ben’s choice of clothing may indicate he has a unique personality to many in Kansas, however, I think that is a plus. Who wants to be just like everyone else?

Another thing that I think these postings show is the fact that issues are also not a dividing factor in the KSLP; we can civilly disagree without getting personal. Ben is a supporter of the Iraq war. I would bet 80% + LP’ers will disagree with that position, (I do) but, we get along fine being on opposites of this specific issue debate. I have worked side by side with Ben at our state fair outreach booth many times – because Ben and I have differing opinions it gives us a great opportunity to discuss the Libertarian Party with whomever walks up to the booth. If someone walks up to a LP booth that supports the Iraq war and you immediately tell them they are a fool – what do think will happen? They get defensive and will walk away thinking “what a bunch of SOB’s. With Ben and I both working together if someone comes to the booth and they believe that the Iraq war is a proper use of the US armed forces, they have someone who can empathize with them. What happens then is they tend to drop their initial defenses to a new concept (libertarianism) and are able to “listen and hear” all the benefits (outside their position to current war policy) that make us right for America. If someone walks up that is opposed to the war – the same empathy with my position happens. By working together to grow the LP we can cover the wide range of issues that are important to the voters of Kansas.

Does all the KSLP get along perfect in our membership? Not hardly, we (just like all LP organizations) have our group of “purists” who believe they are the only people that have the correct stance on various issues. They are a minority and have not held back the overall growth of our membership, volunteers and effective lobby efforts we have been doing the last three years.

Ben is not the first or last LP’er to have differing opinions of either a platform position or others in the LP.

Mike Kerner, our 3^rd District Coordinator and voting member of the Excom and I disagree on another possibly personally divisive issue – abortion. Mike is Pro-Life and I am Pro-Choice. Mike as a LP candidate has received the endorsement of Pro-Life groups. Mike and I also have worked well together, side by side at outreach events and we also gain the same ability to talk to anyone that walks up to us and asks about abortion. We have someone on both sides of (what could be or in reality is) a divisive issue for the person to get comfortable with initially – and then we really have the ability to reach and teach that person about the LP and how much better we are from the two big bozo parties overall.

I am so proud to be part of the freedom movement with the KSLP as my main venue to express the need to positively change the direction of our government.

The Kansas Libertarian Party is the big tent party we need to make major change for the future!

Atlas!Liberty Awards Twelve Political Scholarships

2008-01-17T20:35:00.000-06:00

I am the Advisory Board Chair for Atlas!Liberty and below is one recent project that we are doing and can use your help with.

Please help us by donating soon - as you can see below we are spending the money wisely to help people from across the nation get political training to help the LP grow!

-- Rob --

*********************************
Atlas!PAC has changed their name to Atlas!Liberty. Their mission is to give Libertarian candidates the tools they need to win elections. Atlas!Liberty is committed to educating their members in contemporary campaigning technology and techniques. Toward this end, they have awarding scholarships to the Campaign and Elections annual seminar “The Art of Political Campaigning”. The scholarship covers the registration fee, transportation to and from Washington, DC, hotel and some incidental travel expenses. Here’s a list of twelve recent scholarship recipients:

Whitney Allen, Plainfield, Indiana,. Senior business major at IUPUI. Hired by MTV as part of a special program the network is launching to cover politics through the 2008 presidential elections. Created web site for Libertarian Timothy Maguire for Indianapolis City-County Council At-Large in 2006.
Jaenelle Antas, Rochester, Minnesota, part-time employee with Libertarian Party of Indiana. Full-time student at IUPUI in Indianapolis. Plans to attend law school in Wisconsin. Volunteer co-coordinator Tim Maguire for Council 2007.
Jeremiah Arn, Columbus, Ohio, VP Business Development, First Ohio Home Finance, Ohio LP Communications & Media Director and Fundraising Director . He has a background in marketing, managing budgets and overseeing customer experience projects – both short-term and long.
Emily Cowan, Austin, Texas. Former Cato intern and then Director of Intern Program. Campaign Staffer for Michael Badnarik in 2006 Congressional run. Founder and leader of the Libertarian Longhorns at the University of Texas.
Marc Goddard, Denver, Colorado, relocated to Colorado from Washington, D.C. seven years ago. Managed Libertarian gubernatorial campaign of Dawn Winkler. Currently fundraising director of Colorado LP, working on several fundraising events and is the volunteer coordinator for a City Council election for the town of Golden.
Allison Maguire, Indianapolis, Indiana, administrative assistant, candidate for Libertarian office, At-Large City Council in 2007, key volunteer for Tim Maguire campaign.
Tim Maguire, Indianapolis, Indiana, financial planner and small business owner, candidate for Libertarian office, including At-Large City Council in 2007.
Michael C. Munger, Durham, North Carolina, Chairman of the Department of Political Science at Duke University. For the last several years he has published four essays per year on libertarian economic principles at the Liberty Fund web site. He has been active in the Libertarian Party of North Carolina since 2004, working on obtaining signatures and fundraising on ballot access. He is seeking the Libertarian nomination for Governor of North Carolina in 2008.
Richard Shepard, Tacoma, Washington, attorney Shepard Law Office, P.L.L.C. Member of the LP since 1980. In 1986 helped organize the LP national convention in Seattle. In late 1980s ran for the state legislature 3 times as an (L). In the early 1990s served as State Chair for the LP of Washington State. In 1996 and in 2000 ran for State Attorney General as an (L). Has representing the LPWA for seven years in a continuing battle over Washington's primary election system. (Cases cited in the resume). He has been fully involved in all phases of the case, including most strategy sessions with the D & R attorneys, and attending US Supreme Court arguments on 10/1/07. For the 2006 election cycle he advised the Washington candidate for US Senate regarding FEC requirements.
Jessica Mears, Lima, Ohio, student at University of Cincinnati majoring in communications. Currently working to organize a University of Cincinnati Campus Libertarians. Actively supporting a Libertarian presidential candidate at UC.
Matthew Robinson, Springfield, MA, Vice-President of the Ohio State Libertarian Studies Organization before graduating with Master's in Physics in 12/06. Worked on 2006 campaign of the Libertarian Candidate for Governor of Ohio. Moved to New Hampshire with the Free State Project and started getting involved politically by attending city council and state legislature meetings. Change if jobs and moved to MA in 7/07. Organizer for the Springfield, MA Ron Paul Meetup. He’s looking to move back to NH and hopes to run for political office in next few years, starting at the local level.
Mike Smitley, Van Wert, Ohio, has served the Libertarian Party of Ohio as NW Region Chair, Van Wert County Development Coordinator and as Treasurer. Ran as a libertarian Republican for Congress in a special election in 2007. Attended two Leadership Institute seminars in 2007. Wants to focus Libertarian efforts on local development and creating new county parties with the means and training necessary to elect Libertarians.

A Libertarian's New Year's Resolutions

2008-01-10T20:44:00.000-06:00

A Libertarian's New Year's Resolutions

by Harry Browne

1. I resolve to *sell* liberty by appealing to the self-interest of each
prospect, rather than *preaching* to people and expecting them to suddenly
adopt my ideas of right and wrong.

2. I resolve to keep from being drawn into arguments or debates. My purpose is
to inspire people to want liberty -- not to prove that they're wrong.

3. I resolve to *listen* when people tell me of their wants and needs, so I can
help them see how a free society will satisfy those needs.

4. I resolve to identify myself, when appropriate, with the social goals
someone may seek -- a cleaner environment, more help for the poor, a less
divisive society -- and try to show him that those goals can never be achieved
by government, but will be well served in a free society.

5. I resolve to be compassionate and respectful of the beliefs and needs that
lead people to seek government help. I don't have to approve of their subsidies
or policies -- but if I don't acknowledge their needs, I have no hope of
helping them find a better way to solve their problems.

6. No matter what the issue, I resolve to keep returning to the central point:
how much better off the individual will be in a free society.

7. I resolve to acknowledge my good fortune in having been born an American.
Any plan for improvement must begin with a recognition of the good things we
have. To speak only of America's defects will make me a tiresome crank.

8. I resolve to focus on the ways America could be so much better with a very
small government -- not to dwell on all the wrongs that exist today.

9. I resolve to cleanse myself of hate, resentment, and bitterness. Such things
steal time and attention from the work that must be done.

10. I resolve to speak, dress, and act in a respectable manner. I may be the
first libertarian someone has encountered, and it's important that he get a
good first impression. No one will hear the message if the messenger is
unattractive.

11. I resolve to remind myself that someone's "stupid" opinion may be an
opinion I once held. If *I* can grow, why can't I help *him* grow?

12. I resolve not to raise my voice in any discussion. In a shouting match, no
one wins, no one changes his mind, and no one will be inspired to join our
quest for a free society.

13. I resolve not to adopt the tactics of Republicans and Democrats. They use
character assassination, evasions, and intimidation because they have no real
benefits to offer Americans. We, on the other hand, are offering to set people
free -- and so we can win simply by focusing on the better life our proposals
will bring.

14. I resolve to be civil to my opponents and treat them with respect. However
anyone chooses to treat me, it's important that I be a better person than my
enemies.

Reply to a Kansas City Star Op-Ed

2008-01-09T14:20:00.000-06:00

This is written by the Vice-Chair of the Kansas Libertarian Party - Jason Peck

*******************

In an editorial that appeared under the "as I see it" section of the 1/3/08 edition of the Star, Brandon Keing extols the virtues of our two party system.

He claims that the system is the best way for a representative democracy to function. Unfortunately, he ignores some of the facts in his argument.

First and foremost, the two party system does NOT represent everyone. The growing number of independents and third parties is proof that voters are becoming increasingly disenfranchised with both of the two major parties. Secondly, the two major parties that currently seek to represent us are supposed to have distinct philosophies, which are the left vs. the right. The reality is they represent one ideal, and that is to get themselves re-elected.

During the few times in which their philosophies truly conflict, the left tends to believe in civil liberties and social freedom but not as much economic freedom, whereas the right tends to believe in financial freedom but not social freedoms. Many, if not most Americans are neither left nor right, but believe in freedom of all kinds. Some Americans actually believe in less freedom of both kinds, and yet more consider themselves "centrist".

The fact is the two party system is a power monopoly controlled by the elite. They have, over the years, created an unlevel playing field thereby protecting their common interests by excluding any real dissent.

I would like encourage Mr. Keing, and all Americans to consider an alternative to our current system.

The Libertarian Party is the 3rd largest and fastest growing 3rd party in the nation. It seeks to promote a free market economy, civil liberties, and a foreign policy of peace, free trade, and non-intervention. We are neither left nor right, and we believe our solutions are the most effective and compassionate in the political realm today.

Sincerely,

Jason E. Peck
Vice Chair
The Libertarian Party of Kansas

Why vote for the Libertarian Party?

2007-12-22T15:51:00.000-06:00

Let’s face reality. The two-party system is a myth; we no longer have a two party system. In name, we have the Republicans and Democrats. In practice, we have one party system where the politician’s actions belie that public spin.

The political battle between conservatives and liberals is no longer an issue worth discussing. Except for rhetoric, there is little substantive difference between them. The hype, scare tactics, and fear mongering used by both sides is merely for the purpose of raising money and electing people to positions of power. However, neither side has any real plans to change public policy or the overall direction of the country.

How long have we voters heard democrats and republicans warn us of the imminent dangers of the other party while assuring us that they and they alone can be trusted to save the country? It's the same redundant message every two years, and has been for as long as I can remember.

Increasingly, people struggle to understand the differences, if any, between the Republicans’ and Democrats’ stance on many issues. One can sometimes discern some ideological differences between the most conservative and liberal legislators, yet on the important role-of-government issues, those issues which historically have divided the two parties -- the legislative branch now falls into the "distinction without a difference" category. Indeed, while lawmakers identify themselves as Republicans and Democrats ideologically, their actions are, for the most part, indistinguishable.

We have been bombarded by the media recently with their so called “political defections” – these growing defections, are simply proof that there is no real difference between a republican and a democrat. The old retail store tag line really comes to mind when someone asks me what the difference between the two are – my response is “republican, democrat – It’s the same thing!”

Neither Democrats nor Republicans are making the tough decisions to correct inherited problems or enlightening the electorate. To get elected, politicians in both parties continue to take advantage of peoples emotional blind spots. They tell people what they want to hear. Neither party has been able to bring about effective change.

Elected Republicans and Democrats no longer seek power to advance their principles, or to help the people they represent, but simply for power. The R’s & D’s have alienated the people so much that the people have given up on the system – they no longer register with a specific political party, the second largest voting block in Kansas is now unaffiliated due to the massive discontent with both the R’s & D’s.

It’s time for “real” change. But it’s not going to happen by choosing a lesser of two evils. The Libertarian party offers you a realistic choice. You will not get real change by voting either Republican or Democrat. You will only get change if you vote Libertarian and send the message to our elected officials -- “Enough is Enough”.

Vote for Individual Liberty and Personal Responsibility --- Vote Libertarian.

Don't Quit

2007-11-25T08:55:00.000-06:00

I had the following sent to me and I wondered - how many libertarian activists and leaders get oh so close to a major political breakthrough and then quit? I think we have had way too many. I also at times think that sometimes we will never get there and then I notice of someone (or a group) that is doing such good for political change and that new information gives me a positive motivational lift.

As I talk to voters around Kansas they tell me they are looking for an alternative to the republican (especially in KS) and the democrat parties. I really believe we are sooo close that we have to keep chipping away at the current system.

It's a great time to be a Libertarian in Kansas!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won if he'd stuck it out.
Don't give up, though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are -
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

Author Unknown

DOLE INSTITUTE EVENT TO FOCUS ON THIRD PARTY POLITICS

2007-10-13T10:27:00.000-05:00

Polls show that voters are frustrated with “politics as usual” and are taking a closer look at alternatives to the Democratic and Republican parties. The Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas will host a day of programming devoted to this trend on Thursday, Oct. 25.

“I’ve been struck by how many visitors to the Dole Institute comment on their feelings of alienation from the two major parties,” said Jonathan Earle, interim director of the institute. “I sense there is a lot of frustration out there that could lead to openings for alternative parties in the coming election cycles.”

The afternoon event will begin at 3 p.m. in the Simons media room and feature several academic experts discussing the history and potential for third-party success in coming elections. The afternoon will feature Lisa Disch, professor of political science at the University of Minnesota and author of “The Tyranny of the Two-Party System”, John H. Aldrich, the Pfizer-Pratt university professor of political science at Duke University and author of “Why Parties?”, J. David Gillespie, professor of political science at the College of Charleston and author of “Politics at the Periphery”, and Bob Beatty, professor of political science at Washburn University and expert on Kansas’ three-party system. Moderating the panel will be Jonathon Earle.

The evening event features a roundtable discussion moderated by Bill Kurtis and begins at 7:30 p.m. in Hansen Hall. The panel at the roundtable discussion includes David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Institute, and long-time Libertarian activist. The panel will also include Richard Winger, who has been a prominent national activist for Libertarian and third party ballot access.

Both programs are free and open to the public.

The Libertarian Party of Kansas (LPKS) applauds KU and the Dole Institute for providing a forum for alternate political party solutions. The LPKS has increased outreach activity and expects to step up local activity over the next election year. Recently two members of the party were elected to positions in their hometowns “We are gaining momentum across Kansas,” says Rob Hodgkinson, State Chair of the LPKS. “Kansans are ready for real change and we are ready to give them a viable third party option.”

I like working OPH (Operation Politically Homeless) booths

2007-09-22T12:51:00.000-05:00

I have to admit that I have what could easily be described as an unnatural affinity to working OPH booths. What do I mean?

I love working these booths. I actually enjoy meeting the people off the streets, giving the world’s smallest political quiz (WSPQ), talking about libertarian issues and explaining how they would make Kansas better.

I spent seven of eleven days in OPH booths, the first day in Olathe Kansas at the Old Settlers Days celebration. This 3-day event has an attendance of over 200,000 people. This year our booth was very well received. While people have been upset about the other two political parties, they are finally mad enough to start actively looking for alternatives. We have several new volunteers and I enjoy the talks I had with the R’s and D’s and how they are now worried we (the KSLP) will affect the 2008 elections.

The other 6 days I spent in an OPH booth was in Hutchinson Kansas at the Kansas State Fair. We have had a LPKS booth at the state fair now for over 20 years. The KS State Fair has an attendance of over 500,000 people in ten days. I have personally volunteered at the state fair only for the last seven years and this year was by far the best state fair I have ever worked. We now have a great location in the building we are in (the Meadowlark building). I personally helped over 35 people change their voter registration to the Libertarian Party. I gave the quiz myself at least 250 times. I had 14 people tell me that they are considering running as LP candidates in 2008 (six committed to running; however, we will see who follows thru).

New handouts this year helped to fuel the positive reponse we received. We have a new tri-fold full color brochure made for the KSLP this year and we had the new 8-page “Discover Liberty” tabloid that is being published by the Advocates for Self Government. Folks, this new tabloid from the Advocates is (in my opinion) a necessary (must have) handout to give someone after they have taken the quiz. We also have several new banners that are much easier to read and see from a distance that decorated the booth. The combination of the great location of the booth and the discontent of the voters made for a completely relaxed and enjoyable time to discuss politics in an off election year.

I am going to push, push, push for our local LP groups to really plan for OPH booth opportunities in 2008. Voters want a change, voters know that they cannot get change with the R’s & D’s; we must reach out and let them know we are active and willing to be that change! (Staffing these booths and working the supporting event parades with floats is one great way to support the LP)

I really have been recharged by the public and their current political discontent. I was amazed at how many people came up to me a said “KEEP IT UP”, or ‘WE NEED YOU” and even “THANK GOD YOU ARE DOING THIS”. I knew there was a simmering of discontent, however, I am now seeing the boil over starting and when people are upset they act! We are in the right place at the right time to help the public solve their problem with the government.

IT’S A GREAT TIME TO BE A LIBERTARIAN IN KANSAS!

Looking forward to Vegas & the Atlas Board meeting

2007-08-19T11:11:00.000-05:00

This Friday I will be flying to Las Vegas to a face-to-face board meeting for the Atlas! PAC.

I always look forward to these national group types of LP meetings – It recharges my batteries (so to speak) about the positive efforts all LP’ers are trying to make in the world of politics.

The Atlas board members are from all over the country – that varied perspective is great because each area of the nation has their own political personalities; here in Kansas the “conservative” (read religious right) is very much attempting to take control of Kansas politics. It is the issue that is most discussed in the KS press right now. So, to get back to my point here – the east coast, southern, and west coast perspectives are actually a refreshing addition to my thought processes because these “alternative” ideas are actually thinking outside the box for Kansas politics and Kansas media.

I know better than to think only one plan/idea works to grow the LP. I know that that there is more than one-way to get our candidates elected. I hate to think that I get into a rut sometimes in my planning, recruiting and or my outreach efforts. The *getting away* from the KSLP, and into a national group setting, helps me look at my KS situation in a logical, detached way that I think is helping our growth overall. I love the KS people and the organization we have grown into in the last 2 ½ years I have been the chair, however we need to keep stepping it up in our efforts to reach the disenfranchised voters.

Add the fact that we (Atlas) are all on the same page of helping viable LP candidates try to get elected - it become a very enjoyable time for me.

See Ya in Vegas!

If this doesn't make you proud to be a Libertarian .. .

2007-07-17T18:49:00.000-05:00

Dear LNC members and State Chairs:

I was just scouring Google News before hitting the rack and came across the following story that is going to keep me up for another few hours out of sheer pride for our elected Libertarians.

This handful of Libertarians down in Florida remind me why we’re all in this. I am damn proud of and sincerely grateful for these guys.

Best,

Shane Cory

______________________________________________________

Government wants to give you money (honest)

By Charlie Whitehead contact

Monday, July 16, 2007

Your government wants to send you a check.

It’s a small part of your government, and it’s a small check, but members of the Lee Soil and Water Conservation District hope it sets a big precedent.

The district made headlines early this year when the five-member elected board voted to eliminate its one major expense and axe its Mobile Irrigation Lab. The board, driven by a new Libertarian Party majority, decided the service was too inefficient and too expensive.

Lee County commissioners considered saving the lab, but voted 3-2 against it. The Collier Soil and Water Conservation District stepped in to save the lab and now collects the grant funding from the South Florida Water Management District, Lee County and the City of Cape Coral to keep the program going.

“It’s the same people sitting at the same desks doing the same thing,” said Jack Tanner, chairman of the Lee district. “We sold their vehicles so Collier must be providing them.”

Tanner said once the expense of the lab was off the books, the district found it had around $100,000 in its accounts.

“It’s been building up for years,” he said. “Like many government agencies we have money in a lot of places. When we got down to terminating the money coming in we looked at the money we had and what to do with it. We figured the property owners could use it better than we could.”

The lab was eliminated after the Libertarian majority came into power at the beginning of the year. Tanner was already serving on the board, as was fellow party member Kim Hawk. Tom Clark, the Libertarian party chairman in Lee County, was elected in November.

Hawk is currently vice chairman of the county party. Tanner is treasurer. The district vote to return the money was 4-0, with one member absent.

Tanner said the district couldn’t figure out how to split the money between the hundreds of thousands of property owners in Lee County. The board opted to send it back $10 at a time on a first-come, first-served basis.

As of the weekend, 86 checks had been sent.

“I think people are filling out the form just to see if it works,” Tanner said.

There are conditions. You must be a property owner in Lee County, since past funding for the district came from property taxes paid to the water management district or to the county. Only 200 checks will be sent out per month, because after 225 bank transactions a month the district has to pay.

And you have to ask. To do that, go to http://leeswcd.homestead.com/CHECK.html

Libertarian Lists Survey results

2007-07-14T07:34:00.000-05:00

Libertarianlists has conducted a survey recently and they are still working on analyzing the data.

To look at the raw results for the survey, simply visit libertarianlists.com/surveyresult1.

There are also a couple of blogs that are discussing the results (gordonunleashed, freeliberal, Kn@ppster and lastfreevoice) and you can see from the “comments” on these different blogs that there are two divided camps in the LP. One that thinks RP is helping the libertarian movement – one thinks he is hurting the movement.

My personal take on the results was: OK, no surprises here.

If you are active at all in the LP (as I am), these numbers are simply a verification of the overall feeling that I have had anyway.

The info from this survey points out that LP’ers in general are excited about Ron Paul’s presidential campaign (duh) – and that the RP campaign has basically sucked the life out of all the announced Libertarian presidential candidates campaigns.

Many people are waiting for the RP campaign to play itself out before they really take a good look at the LP candidates. I understand that perspective. (I hope that RP pulls out early in the spring and does not pull a Kucinich and run a protest campaign all the way to the R convention)

No LP candidate has been able to break through the RP hype and that, to me, simply means they are not worthy as a national candidate. If they cannot break thru the Ron Paul hysteria, how are they going to compete against viable candidates from the R & D’s?

As a State Chair, I have met many of the LP pres candidates (and have read up on and will meet the others) and if I had to vote today to decide the LP Presidential candidate, I believe that “none of the above” would get my vote.

Maybe someone will step up in the next 10 months before the convention in Denver and fire up the base and pull the party together as a presidential candidate. Aaron Russo’s campaign in 2004 took off the January before Atlanta – maybe there will another person out there that can fire up a group of supporters (as Russo did) with a late start. We will see.

KS republican unity pledge

2007-07-13T19:38:00.000-05:00

For those off you in the LP **like me** that think the usefulness of the non-initiation of force pledge that the LP uses is way out dated – a blogger for the Kansas Republicans (at least those from the right/wing-nut coalition) have decided that it is time for a new oath for the silly republicans that cannot think for themselves.

The party of Ron Paul is showing its true colors.

There are republicans in Kansas actually worried enough to list the Libertarian Party as one of the “not available to switch to parties”, which means we must be making some headway in the KS political scene, and that more republicans are considering the LP rather than the democrat party. (We did have one elected (R) official change to the LP in 2004 – Anderson County Attorney Fredrick Campbell)

As the republican party continues loosing its grip on Kansas politics, we will see more and more of the republican “purists” spout off in this fashion. It is only a good sign for Kansas LP’ers that the R’s continue to try to self-destruct.

Do you agree with me - Isn’t this oath just precious?

**********

GOP Unity Pledge

I, _______________, promise never to abandon my present Republican Party affiliation for the purpose of political gain. The Republican Party, both nationally and domestically, was founded on sound and principled ideals, that include but are not limited to, personal liberty, individual freedom, responsive and citizen-based Government, life-affirming values, economic growth, strong and cutting edge military, low taxes and a mutual respect for fellow Republicans. Because of that, I will, at no point in my political or personal future, find cause to transfer my Party loyalty to any other affiliated organization.

I will not, at any future moment, become a registered Democrat for the purpose of seeking any political office. Additionally, I will not change my Party affiliation to that of any peripheral political party, such as the Reform Party, the Green Party or the Libertarian Party. Such a move would be not only opportunistic, it would be an unjustified trampling of everything that I previously claimed to stand for.

I care far too deeply about the previously espoused Republican ideals as well as the thousands of hard-working Republican citizens all over the State of Kansas to ever consider changing my political Party affiliation. I look forward to a life of citizen-serving, Republican political involvement. I thank the Kansas Republican Party, including all of the registered Kansas Republicans, for their years of service, good will and friendship.

I solemnly pledge to always be a Republican, no matter what promises are made by external forces seeking only to undermine the Republican values I stand for. I can have reasonable disagreement with members of the Republican Party; however, at no point will ‘Party switching’ or quitting of the Party be tolerable.

Signed,

X __________________________________

HAPPY DEPENDENCE DAY

2007-07-04T18:18:00.000-05:00

HAPPY DEPENDENCE DAY
by Chuck Muth

Cook-outs, fireworks, parades. For all too many Americans, that's what Independence Day is all about. Oh, excuse me. The 4th of July. Don't want to be caught promoting actual "independence" on a government-sanctioned holiday.

Still, for those who today celebrate the Declaration of Independence - NOT the Declaration of July 4th - it's important to reflect not only on the epic battle for freedom our Founders fought and won on our behalf, but the slow erosion of those freedoms ever since, an erosion fully anticipated by the Founders.

Thomas Jefferson, you'll recall, warned us that "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." In other words, if we don't keep our eyes open and stay on guard constantly, we could well end up losing the freedoms way too many of us now take for granted.

And Ben Franklin famously replied, when asked what type of government the Founders had established for us at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, "A Republic, if you can keep it." The key words, of course, are "if you can keep it." Franklin, too, realized that eternal vigilance and hard work would be necessary to keep a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

So how goes our eternal vigilance these days? Not so hot.

Columnist Steven Greenhut of the Orange County Register reminds us that the government established by our Founders isn't quite the same government we have today. As you grill up those burgers and oooh-and-ahhh the fireworks tonight, you'd do well to consider the Founders' historical warnings and Greenhut's modern-day observations. Eternal vigilance demands it, lest we lose our Republic. From Greenhut's column this past Sunday...

"Clearly, by comparison with most countries, Americans do pretty well. There's no Gestapo, dictator or prison camps for dissidents. There's talk of building a wall at the border, but to keep people from coming in, not to keep them from getting out. Still, I think Americans would benefit from thinking more closely about the state of our liberty. Every few years, I write a column that updates the erosion of our freedoms. It mostly deals with simple, everyday stuff, but it's rather telling. Here is my latest installment:

"If I want to build a new house, I need to petition any number of government agencies and commissions, and can build only what they allow. Those agencies decide not only if my project conforms to some basic, easily understood rules, but whether it conforms to their own preferences regarding style, color, historical influences, size, number of stories, and so forth. If I ever want to add on or improve that house, I must wait until a government inspector approves it. If I am a developer, and want to build a larger number of properties on a site, I must fight for years to get approvals - and usually the final project will bear little resemblance in style or design to my original vision.

"If I want to start a new business, I not only will have to pay a large portion of any earnings to the government, but I must first get all the necessary approvals from myriad governments. I must pay my employees a minimum rate determined by the government. They may only work the number of hours set by the government. If it's a restaurant or business that serves the public, I must get a conditional-use permit - a long list of conditions that micromanage exactly how I run the place, from the hours to the number of tables, based on the whims of the commissioners who must approve the business.

"The government can, at any time, take my home or business and give it to someone else if officials, for any reason, prefer the new use to my use. The government can, at its discretion, steal all the value from my property by declaring it a wetland or by finding on it some 'endangered' rodent or other species. No compensation need be paid as long as I still have any use of the land.

"The government's officers can launch a 'no-knock' raid of my home (if they get a tip about, say, a drug deal) and can shoot and kill me if they say that they viewed me as a threat. Abusive federal agents or local police officers can, by law in California, keep all their disciplinary records secret. Those same agents can arrest me and throw me in jail for decades for possessing those 'drugs' that the government determines to be illegal. Meanwhile, the government maintains files on all my personal and financial data and will use them to assure that I pay the amount of taxes the government determines that I must pay.

"If I refuse to pay the full amount, I will become a ward of one of the biggest growth industries in the country: the government-run prison system. I am free to pay about half of all my earnings to the government, which will use those taxes to erect a multitude of offices and pay its workers salaries and benefits that are far more than most of us will ever earn. The government's 'child protective services' workers are free to take anyone's children away from them based on their discretion. Parents are then forced into a totally secret court system, in which they must prove their innocence rather than having the government being forced to prove guilt.

"We are all free to travel where we choose after government agencies search, poke and prod us. We can drive on government roads, pay government tolls, fly out of government-owned airports and pay for government-issued bond debt. We are free to pay for the government schools, which teach our children what the government wants them to learn.

"The government can seize our personal property and not give it back even if we are cleared of any crime, and even place us in permanent detention, without any hope of legal representation, if the government determines that we are an enemy combatant. The government can bomb any government it chooses, based on any shoddy pretext (i.e., weapons of mass destruction). We are free to speak and write as we choose as long as the government doesn't decide that we broke campaign-finance laws or engaged in 'hate speech.'

"The 18th century German poet Johann Goethe said: 'None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free.' Am I off-base to wonder whether we are careening down that road?"

As Yogi Berra might say, if Jefferson and Franklin were alive today they'd be rolling in their graves.

Kansas Libertarian Party Report for the LNC July 2007 meeting

2007-07-04T08:50:00.000-05:00

The Kansas Libertarian Party has what I believe will be some wonderful opportunities to reach out to the disenfranchised voters in our state in the next three months.

The KSLP elected two people (in non-partisan races) to office this spring – Larry Manes, Allen County Community College Trustee and Mike Wilson, Saline County School Board Member. At our state convention in April, I was unanimously re-elected to be the Kansas State Chair for two more years of duty. Our state convention was well attended (especially for an off election year) and we had an attendance at the business meeting of around 35 members.

In the next few months, we are doing more OPH booths than we have ever done. One big event is the Kansas State Fair in September, where if I have my history accurate, we will staff a 10-day long booth for the 18th year!

We will also be working (thanks to Travis Nicks - Colorado Chair) the Vans Warped tour event when it comes to Kansas City on Aug 15th. We are also staffing at least 5 other (new to the KSLP working a booth) venues for outreach.

We are in the process of creating a new tri-fold brochure that is specific to the KSLP – the staff at LPStuff (Webb Garlinghouse business in Topeka) is the creative and printing help for us to upgrade the brochure we have today. The old one was 2-color piece on plain white paper – the new one will be a 4 color glossy brochure.

Earlier this year we started a “subscription club” donor program via the LPKS.org website (using Paypal). I believe that like all LP organizations that our donations are slower than I would like, however this new program is starting to take off for us. I am lucky (depending on your view I guess) that as a state party we were very small when I took over as chair 2 ½ years ago - so our expenses have been very low – while we are not cash flush by any definition – were are financially sound today.

I am very pleased that we are going to start a new “local” group in a rural area of Kansas; the inaugural meeting will be July 28th. This is a new opportunity for the KSLP in that all of our local groups today are in urban areas and this will be the first chance in a very long time to start to reach people that we have not spent much time attempting to reach. Having grown up in “God’s Country” I know we will do well as a political party once we get a foothold there.

We have already started our push to recruit candidates for the 2008 election and my personal goal is to shatter our record of LP candidates in Kansas. We are off to a good start in this regard – due to the Kansas government ethics committee (GEC) rules, I am not at liberty to announce names yet – I do however already have many verbal commitments and that give us a solid base to build the 2008 election numbers on.

One other thing I am working on – I have started the process of putting together a multi-state convention in 2008 for the 4 states of Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska & Kansas to be held in the Kansas City area. A date is still being pinned down and the other states must approve that date and whether or not they will participate. I have hopes that it will work as well as the 3 state convention we did in 2004 (lead by Bob Sullentrup, which means I have high goals for the quality of the event).

Rob Hodgkinson
Chair - The Libertarian Party of Kansas
Individual Liberty -- Personal Responsibility
www.lpks.org

"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure."

HAVE YOU PLANNED TO WORK THE LPKS KANSAS STATE FAIR BOOTH IN 2007?

2007-07-01T09:13:00.000-05:00

The Kansas State Fairgrounds are in Hutchinson Kansas.

The dates will be - Friday September 7th thru Sunday September 16th.

I believe that this will be our 18th year to have a booth at the state fair!

More voters than ever are upset with the current R's and D's and their continued legislative failings at all levels of government. Are YOU ready to help continue our growth in Kansas and help build our continued inroads to change the political monopoly?

Two years ago, we had 2 people working nearly every shift of the fair and that is much better as everyone needs to take a break (food bathrooms etc.) You will also want time to walk the fair and see all the other booths, food, concerts and carnival action yourself.

I have some plans to "upgrade" our booth this year with new banners, brochures and other things.

For those of you that worked the booth last year - we have been moved down the wall from the location we were at last year (we will NOT be in front of the knife guy and his speaker system) It should be easier to talk to new people this year.

I really enjoy working the fair as you meet people from all over and very seldom are they rude! I have personally put in over 200 hours working the state fair in the last 6 years - I mean it when I say it is enjoyable!

I know it seems to be a long way's away, however it is coming quicker than you think --- plan to work at least a couple days & shifts and go to Hutchinson and help us out.

Start to let me know ** SOON ** when you can work this booth so we can fill the staffing schedule!

Thanks

Rob Hodgkinson
Chair - The Libertarian Party of Kansas
Individual Liberty -- Personal Responsibility
www.lpks.org
chair@lpks.org

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

Atlas! PAC

2007-06-30T09:21:00.000-05:00

We founded Atlas! PAC to provide Libertarian affiliates at all levels the practical, nuts-and-bolts support necessary to become an effective force in local politics. Because Atlas! is not a think tank, our focus transcends ideology, positions, and principles to focus on the mechanics and hard work of real politics and the knowledge and resources our affiliates need to win elections.

Atlas! will provide training on fundraising, a complete walk-through of how to become an FEC filer (which everyone must to do when they are effective fund raisers), voter registration, lobbying, and much more of the heavy lifting of successful retail politics. The mission of Atlas! PAC is simple: provide Libertarians with a desire to win elections the resources, money, and training to do so.

Atlas! PAC federal PAC supporting Libertarian committees and candidates by raising money to help give Libertarian committees and/or activists the following benefits:
a. Database Training
b. Fundraising Training
c. FEC compliance Training
d. General Campaign Training
e. Implementation of Small Business Initiative Training

Atlas! PAC has already sponsored people to attend the Campaigns and Elections 3 day seminar in Washington DC the first of June this year.

I am the advisory Board Chair for this Political Action Committee. There will be a board meeting in Las Vegas on the weekend of August 25 and I will be there to attend.

If you can help us grow by donating to Atlas! PAC please go to our web site to do so. The federal limits and reporting requirements are on the donation page.

Check us out and if you have any questions, there is a “contact us” page on the web that you can use.

The web site is at http://www.atlas-pac.com/

Membership to the National LP

2007-06-29T19:25:00.000-05:00

If you are a Libertarian in Kansas you need to go to the LP.org web site and donate at least $25 between now and December 31st. (the $25 level is the minimum that will work for the below)

The reason I ask that this happen is that on December 31st – the National LP will “freeze” the membership numbers to use for allocating each states number of delegates to the 2008 national convention. The more people that have donated at least $25 between now and December 31 will help Kansas have a larger delegation of voting delegates. With the 2008 convention in Denver (and a reasonable drive for us) – I expect that we will have a bunch of LP’ers from Kansas that will want to go as our “official” delegates to be able to vote on who our next presidential candidate will be.

Those of you that are current members -- check your membership expiration date. When I look at the member data, there are a large number of Kansans memberships that will expire in November and December. We need those people to make sure they renew – and we need those that have not done so to donate in the next six months.

We need all the LP’ers to donate soon so that we can have a large delegation – in 2006 (Portland) the total number of allowed delegates (national total) was trimmed – we were allocated 15 to Portland – under the new rules that would have been pretty close to 11/12 instead.

Help us – donate at least $25 to national ASAP it will help all Kansas LP’ers to be able to have a larger voting block representing us that will make a difference nationally.

Libertarian State Leadership Alliance

2007-06-27T21:02:00.000-05:00

From My Friend Jim Duensing - LP State Chair Nevada

BTW - The LSLA is very much worth your time to attend - Plan ahead and be there - I will be!

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2008 LSLA in VEGAS baby VEGAS!

A great place to live, but I wouldn't want to visit. Yep, I'm talking about Las Vegas. Home of the 2008 LSLA conference. Negotiations with Sunset Station are almost final. Here is what I can guarantee at this early date:

1) The convention will be at Sunset Station (which is actually in Henderson near the airport).
2) Over Presidents' Day Weekend 2008 (Feb 16-18)
3) The largest LSLA conference in LP history.
4) The most information in LSLA history. It will be physically impossible to see it all.

I view the LSLA or Leadership Conference as a gathering of party organizers and candidates all attempting to improve in their respective roles, to train replacement leaders, to build camaraderie amongst ourselves, to trade successful ideas, and for fun.

It is an event that every State Chair, every member of every Executive Committee and every county officer should go to. This is the event where we are free to discuss practical effective techniques and strategies to grow our respective parts of our entire organization.

At the 2008 conference, there will be four separate 8 hour tracks of information for everyone to learn. Presently, the four tracks of instruction are classified as

1. Candidate Training - including everything from dress, body language, the green zone, tone of voice, lessons for radio and television, debate techniques and the most effective method of expressing the Libertarian message ever devised. (I fear I may not be complementing this track
adequately.)

2. Treasurer / Secretary - this track will include information on how to keep acct. books, how to take quality minutes, how to file with the FEC, Roberts Rules for Conventioneers and other as of yet undetermined subjects.

3. Outreach / Fundraising - this track may include all of the following and more: creating a monthly pledge program, ballot base, legislative directors, how to write a fundraising letter, marketing / branding, organizing new affiliates / energizing longtime Libertarians into organizers and candidates, etc.

4. Institutional - this track is designed to discuss what Stephen Covey would call quadrant II activities - things that are important but not urgent. These consist of the most important problems and greatest opportunity that any organization or individual faces. Tentatively, this track will include presentations / discussions on an affiliate agreement, the work of the platform committee and bylaws committee prior to the May 08 convention, maximizing our use of the national database, etc.

These are obviously not set in stone. Once the details with the hotel are finalized, I'll be able to devote more time to planning these tracks in more detail. Also, if any of y'all have any good ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Also, because I want every county officer in every state to attend this meeting, the LSLA will be offering group discounts on tickets. More details on that will be available as soon as the ink is dry on the catering contract.

I believe our record attendance is around 100. I want to double that. 200 people is only 4 per state. My state brought 5 from NV to Orlando and 4 to Phoenix, so I know it is possible. And, we're a small state. We only have 5 electoral votes. 200 should be easy.

Imagine if we brought 200 Libertarians to a meeting designed to improve their ability to communicate our message and expand our party right before an election where the popularity rates of the other two parties is around 30% each. That spells progress period.

We can do it if each of you begin selling this meeting to all of your members. Push it to your general membership. When they get to Las Vegas and meet all the people working for our party, you'll not only have a new energetic activist, you'll have one who is well trained and who can train others.

This may seem like a gargantuan Leadership Conference, compared with prior years, but I think it is just a continuation of the direction we have been heading. In a few more years, I do not believe we'll be able to get by with only four tracks of information. And, the level of training of our organizers and candidates will require increasingly more nuanced and advanced training sessions. The classes outlined above are mostly what I would consider a 101 level political course. Before long we'll need 400 level classes.

The point of this email is to let everyone know the date of the event and to get all of you to begin selling this event to all of your members. By the way, to figure out what number of people you'll need from your state to get us to 200, take 40% your electoral college vote. This will give you a rough estimate. For my part, I know I'll bring more than two people. That should lessen the load on some of you and entice the rest of you to outnumber NV. I'm trying to outnumber CA, and from talking to the new state chair, Kevin Takanega, that may be difficult. However, I know I can beat CO. You want to go double or nothing on our other bet Travis? This time I get the odds - not because it's fair, but because you got 'em last time. By then Super Tuesday will be over and I can collect both bets in one weekend.

Thanks for suffering through another characteristically long email from me. I'll see everyone in Vegas in 08.

Jim Duensing
Chair NVLP

Van’s Warped Tour

2007-06-25T20:59:00.000-05:00

The LPKS will be staffing an Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) booth this summer at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater for the Van’s Warped Tour on Wednesday August 15th. This event is a one-day gathering in Bonner Springs Kansas that brings a bunch of regional bands together in one place. Their web site is at: http://www.warpedtour.com/warpedtour/index.asp

I am interested in how the booth will do as this will be an 18 to 25 (in general) crowd. In the past when I have worked the OPH’s in Kansas – it is not the young people that generally stop to talk to us.

I am pretty good at working these type of outreach – however if anyone out there has ideas on how to reach the young people better – I am listening. I have had pretty good luck talking to High School Advanced Placement (AP) government classes and to college political science classes, however, I believe they are tuned into politics much more than the average student is. Maybe I am wrong on that assumption and if so, I will have a ball working this booth.

Kudos’ go out to Travis Nicks the Colorado State Chair for helping get us a booth at this event, I believe that Travis knows one of the organizers of the Vans group and he leans heavily libertarian.

I believe that this will be a gathering of very liberty minded people. I really look forward to taking the day off from work and meeting all the new people that can help us continue our LP growth in Kansas.

Ron Paul LP savior or saboteur?

2007-06-24T14:42:00.000-05:00

I lean to saboteur;

I have debated with many people about the “Ron Paul effect” and my belief that if we let it - this “Ron Paul effect” will destroy the Libertarian Party. I see that effect starting in Kansas and nationally.

Our actions have consequences and we will pay the devil for these poor decisions to follow another party’s candidate. We have a former state chair that is trying to walk the borderline and has not even realized he has stepped over it. Here is someone that was intricately involved with writing the by-laws and state constitution and yet he ignores it (as a matter of convenience). Other “officers” are also backing RP. (Supposedly as the person and not as the “officer”) However, the reality is this; how does the media (or anyone else) separate the two? They don’t, so in crossing the line to back another political party candidate, you have betrayed the LP.

My reasoning;

First - Ron Paul is a Republican, and he is running as a conservative republican, not a libertarian republican. People that say that RP is helping the LP cannot validate those claims with any substantial evidence. There is not a surge in LP voter registrations, no surge in LP donations or any growth in LP volunteers that can be directly attributed to RP. The claims that RP is helping create positive LP media is false. RP was in KC and the only mention that had libertarian used as a word in it, was used only to say he ran for president before as an LP'er (and the intent of using Libertarian was as a verbal slight, not as a descriptive term) & there were no mentions of the word libertarian on the TV clips. RP only brings up the LP if he HAS to talk about it - he does not volunteer that info. The claims that RP is doing good in polls is also not true as they are internet polls that let someone stack the results - real polls have RP numbers at dismal levels.

I have no control over republican internal politics (and I would not want any control there anyway) The fact that RP has zero chance means I would rather spend my time doing something I can control and that is to work to grow the LP just like I have done for the last 8 years. I have no problem personally with RP - except that he is a republican and that is all I really need to say.

*** Second - National LP and State LP bylaws state that we cannot endorse another party candidate - PERIOD.

I will not jeopardize our status as Kansans need the KSLP as a third political foil. (the Reform party in KS is just a protest vote and is not an effective alternative)

*** Third - the presidential race is a federal candidate race and we (the LPKS) will not be actively backing the LP presidential candidate (whoever it turns out to be) due to the FEC rules that impose major reporting issues if we were to back a federal candidate.

Therefore, even if RP was running as a Libertarian presidential candidate we (the LPKS) would not/could not actively endorse him unless major internal changes happen and we become a FEC filing entity.

Folks, politics are politics and there are ground rules.

Keep politics separate from your personal feelings.

There is no Libertarian "savior"!

This is actually one of the best signs I have seen in a long time. We are starting to make a difference - if the republicans are willing to try to disrupt us with Ron Paul (and by getting LP’ers to waste their time trying to get RP in the R debates) they are getting desperate, and that means we are close to a major breakthrough. We need to stay focused on growing the KSLP and not playing into the republican hands by getting distracted and stopping what we have been doing.

LIBERTY is only what WE work to make happen -- Ron Paul will not do it for us.

-- Rob --

Going to use this for more communication

2007-06-23T09:53:00.000-05:00

I am going to try to start keeping this blog much more up-to-date than I have been.

Sooo...

This week I attended the Tri-county Libertarian meeting in Lenexa KS and they are starting to get very active in their outreach efforts. They have multiple county fairs and other events planned to staff Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) booths at. They will be working with other local LP groups to make these efforts a success – The Free State LP and the Libertarians of North East Kansas (LNEK) are involved in staffing outreach volunteers this summer also.

This is the time for the LP to be working hard to gain new people to the LP as activists and candidates. This effort today will reap many rewards when the campaigns start really kicking into gear in 2008. We need a ton of volunteers to help the candidates in 08 – the candidates running are the most effective way to get our message out and when we start getting elected – the “glass ceiling” we deal with as a “minor” party in Kansas will crack.

Interesting – our domain provider (for lpks.org) is being hammered by a DDOS attack. (DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service. A DDoS is carried out by instructing hundreds or thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of computers to send traffic to a target site or IP address. From a virus infection – you now see why you have to keep your virus protection up-to-date) – with the DDOS attack - the LPKS website is down and email to the domain is stalled (if not lost). I hope that this problem will be solved soon.

I will be attending the LNEK meeting next Thursday evening in Topeka KS. I look forward to meeting the LP’ers there, as I have not been to the Topeka area in a while.

More to come as I get into the “blog” mode.

-- Rob --

States challenge national driver’s license

2007-02-07T14:51:00.000-06:00

WHY ISN'T SOMEONE IN THE KANSAS LEGISLATURE PUSHING THIS?

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By LESLIE MILLER, Associated Press Writer

A revolt against a national driver’s license, begun in Maine last month, is quickly spreading to other states.

The Maine Legislature on Jan. 26 overwhelmingly passed a resolution objecting to the Real ID Act of 2005. The federal law sets a national standard for driver’s licenses and requires states to link their record-keeping systems to national databases.

Within a week of Maine’s action, lawmakers in Georgia, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Vermont and Washington state also balked at Real ID. They are expected soon to pass laws or adopt resolutions declining to participate in the federal identification network.

“It’s the whole privacy thing,” said Matt Sundeen, a transportation analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures. “A lot of legislators are concerned about privacy issues and the cost. It’s an estimated $11 billion implementation cost.”

The law’s supporters say it is needed to prevent terrorists and illegal immigrants from getting fake identification cards.

States will have to comply by May 2008. If they do not, driver’s licenses that fall short of Real ID’s standards cannot be used to board an airplane or enter a federal building or open some bank accounts.

About a dozen states have active legislation against Real ID, including Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.

Missouri state Rep. James Guest, a Republican, formed a coalition of lawmakers from 34 states to file bills that oppose or protest Real ID.

Though most states oppose the law, some such as Indiana and Maryland are looking to comply with Real ID, Sundeen said.

The issue may be moot for states if Congress takes action.

A Two Party Quandary

2006-12-31T09:55:00.000-06:00

A response to “Neither party offers us a way out of the wilderness”.

All the angst experienced by Johnson County voters over the local republican political shenanigans is very saddening. The yearning for a real choice at the polls has been building for years. Our collective common sense tells us that we have a serious problem with our current political system. We have been like a substance addict who denies the problem because admitting it and opening up to real change is tough. “Waking up” means shedding a lifetime of media and government school indoctrination that venerates the two-party system and ridicules alternatives. That paradigm is collapsing under the weight of its own falsity.

I am sorry it is taking you and many others so long to realize that the so-called two-party system is really one party with two names. We’ve become so accustomed to the “lesser of two evils” status quo that we have forgotten a lesser evil is still an evil. An American citizen—living in the world's freest, most advanced, most prosperous country—ought to have something positive to vote for when he or she steps into the voting booth. Holding your nose—election after election—and pulling the lever for the lesser evil is the very definition of a wasted vote.

Our government—the product of the lesser of two evils approach—continues to engage in eminent domain abuses, pursue senseless wars, intrude into our private lives & and impose taxes spiraling out of control.

Fortunately, you have a viable alternative to the Republicans and Democrats in both Kansas and Missouri – The Libertarian Party. The LP turned 35 in December and is the third largest political party in America. (larger than all the other third parties combined)

You are starting to see well-known, lifelong Republicans and Democrats switch to the Libertarian Party. Bob Barr, former Congressman recently made the switch. Many successful people—leaders in their fields—have identified themselves as libertarians. They include John Stossel, Clint Eastwood, Mary Ruwart, Neal Boortz, Milton Freidman, Mark Skousen, Toni Nathan (the first woman to receive an electoral vote), Dave Berry, Wendy McElroy, Mark Cuban, and many others.

We have seen exceptional libertarian growth and activity in 2006. The Kansas LP ran 13 candidates in the last election in the Johnson County area and received more positive press coverage than ever before. The political climate in Kansas is ripe for change. Is third party involvement and voting a waste? I think not.

Remember the line attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." We are working our way past the first two areas as a political party today and expect to see more R’s and D’s start to fight against us, as we were the vote difference in races in both Missouri and Kansas.

Your Two Party Quandary, your political dilemma has a positive solution – Take a serious look into the Libertarian party today!

Rob Hodgkinson
Chair - The Libertarian Party of Kansas
Individual Liberty -- Personal Responsibility
www.lpks.org