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February 2000 Libertarian Party of California, San Diego Region v.XV i.2 The Libertarian Party of California Convention
Approximately 300 Libertarians will gather in San Diego over President's Day Weekend, February 18-21, to attend the Libertarian Party of California's annual state convention at the Doubletree Hotel San Diego. "It's a presidential election year, it's two weeks before the primary, and 114 Libertarians are on the March ballot, so we expect this convention to be our biggest ever," predicted Libertarian state chair Mark Hinkle. "And our program will appeal to Libertarians and non-libertarians alike." Delegates chosen by local party organizations will discuss changes to the state party platform and bylaws, as well as elect representatives to the state's Executive Committee and choose delegates for the party's National Convention this summer. In addition, convention attendees will have the opportunity to listen to a stellar roster of speakers, from syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington to author Nathaniel Branden. The convention kicks off Friday night, Feb. 18, with a reception featuring James Bovard, author of "Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen." Libertarian Party founder David Nolan will give the Keynote Address on Saturday morning, Feb. 19. Huffington will be the featured speaker at the annual Convention Gala Banquet on Saturday night. Her new book, "How to Overthrow the Government," will be published in February by Regan Books (Harper Collins). Branden, author of "My Years with Ayn Rand," will be addressing a luncheon crowd earlier that day. Sunday evening, Feb. 20, features a panel debate among the candidates for the Libertarian presidential nomination, moderated by Orange County Register senior editorial writer Alan Bock. Convention business is scheduled to recess at noon on Monday, Feb. 21, followed by the 19th Annual Samuel Adams Society Awards Luncheon. Other confirmed presenters include: talk show host Geoff Metcalf, author Jacob Sullum, Pacific Research Institute president Sally Pipes, Pacific Legal Foundation CEO Robert Best, Libertarian National Director Steve Dasbach, and representatives from a number of March ballot measures. The Libertarian Party of California is the largest state affiliate of the Libertarian Party, accounting for approximately 20 percent of national membership. The annual state convention is held in accordance with state party bylaws. Register online at http://www.ca.lp.org/conv/2000/, or call: (202) 234-3880 to register by phone. Check the web site for more details on packages, program schedule, and hotel registration! For even more information, e-mail convention@ca.lp.org. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Libertarianism and the Hispanic Community" Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, and Daniel L. Munoz, Sr. is editor of La Prensa San Diego. They will be speaking February 9, 2000, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Westin Horton Plaza, 210 Broadway Circle, San Diego. The seminar's theme is "Libertarianism and the Hispanic Community." Hors d'oeuvres will be served from 7 to 7:30, with the speakers following. Reservations are required, and admission is $10 per person. Reservations can be made through e-mail afalkof@fff.org, fax 703-352-8678 or phone 703-934-6101. "Open Minds on Open Borders"
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Despite the fact that we had a shortened schedule for our annual convention this year, we had a very good turn-out. We shortened it to an evening event this year since the State Convention follows very shortly. Looking back at 1999, we have accomplished a great deal. We have a full slate of partisan candidates for the first time in several election cycles. Enough signatures were obtained by each candidate to make the filing fees lower than they have probably ever been. We even have a few running for non-partisan seats. In 1999 we defeated the Prop L sales tax, several local school tax hikes and won a lawsuit against the Poway school tax advocates. In the year 2000 I look forward to a victory. Lynn Badler will be running for Lakeside Fire District Community Planning Board. It is these types of non-partisan races that are winnable and provide building blocks for future electoral victories. I know the seat is not as glamorous as a Congressional election, but these types of races do control large amounts of money and can serve as privatization models. We are fighting school tax propositions in Cajon Valley, Oceanside and Cardiff. These can easily be defeated IF the "no" votes turn out. If you live in these areas please vote. Support your partisan candidates as much as you can. The races for Congress, Assembly, State Senate, etc. serve as great tools to get the message out. Many Libertarians are have volunteered to run for these seats and deserve our support. We are looking forward to great success this year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hike
We'll be hiking up Mount Gower and back, a total distance of about five to seven miles, depending on how far we want to go. There are very good views of San Diego Country Estates, an upscale community east of Ramona. This hike was scheduled for March 1997, but I hiked alone because nobody else showed up. DIRECTIONS: Take Highway 67 north to Ramona. Turn right on Tenth St. (This intersection is also the end of Highway 67 and the junction with Highway 78.) Follow Tenth Street (which becomes San Vicente Road) for about six miles to a small golf course. Turn left on Gunn Stage Road and follow it about two miles to the Mount Gower Open Space Preserve parking lot, where we will meet (Thomas 1153 H7). The nominal starting time is 10:00 AM. I will be at the parking area by 9:45, and at 10:15 we will hit the trail. There will be the usual optional meeting at an ice cream parlor after the hike. Call 619-289-1212 for the latest weather information. Wear sturdy hiking shoes and suitable clothing and take water, lunch and sun protection. Take a camera if you wish. Call or send e-mail if you have questions. CONTACT: Philip Erdelsky at pje@acm.org or 619-282-8611. For more extensive and up-to-date information, including maps, point your web browser to www.efgh.com/hike. Note: We haven't had serious injuries on our hikes, but the insanity of current liability decisions prompts the following: These hikes are not officially sponsored by any group or individual. No one assumes liability for anyone else. So don't tease the rattlesnakes and don't pet the mountain lions! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Call 619/390-9121 or e-mail pursuitoflife@access1.net for your set today. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The West and the Eastern Establishment
When I was a wee lad attending elementary school in the Los Angeles area, one day a new classmate told me: "I'm from Chicago." My retort was: "That's back east." This classmate promptly advised: "Chicago is in the west." Being a third generation Californian (native?) this idea was impossible for me to comprehend, as I knew that I lived in the west and Chicago was some 2000 miles to the east. A western reference applied to a state in the Eastern Time Zone, such as Indiana (just east of Chicago), is beyond the pale, but continues to be the mindset of the Eastern Establishment. This archaic geographic reference, of course, is due to our nation's east to west settlement. The lands between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River belonged to the original 13 colonies. These lands were organized into territories and settled under the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which promptly led to statehood. The purchase of the Louisiana Lands from France in 1803, the Oregon Compromise with England in 1846 and the cession of lands by treaty after the Mexican War in 1848 established the shape and size of the United States. In the 19th century, federal laws encouraged the settlement of the west by establishing a system of disposal and disbursement of the land. Examples include the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Desert Lands Entry Act of 1877. Growing concerns that rapid development was threatening the resources that would be needed for the future, led to establishment of the Forest Reserves in 1891 under the General Land Office in the Department of Interior. The administration of the Forest Reserves was later moved to the Department of Agriculture and renamed National Forests to be managed by the newly created Forest Service. The Grazing Service (first known as the Grazing Division) was established in 1934 to administer rangeland. It was combined into the General Land Office in 1946 to form the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Only 4% of the 312,608 square miles of the13 original Colonies is Federally owned, while 47% of the 1,178,184 square miles of the 11 Western States (CA, OR, WA, ID, NV, AZ, UT, WY, MT, CO & NM) is federally owned. The most flagrant case of Federal land ownership is Nevada at almost 83%. Looking at the overall picture for the 435 House of Representatives members to be elected in 2002 (after the 2000 census), the losers and winners are: New York and Pennsylvania will each lose two seats. Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin will each lose one seat. Arizona and Texas will each pick up two seats. Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Nevada and Utah will each pick up one seat. California, with just under 12% of the total U. S. population, will retain its number one status and continue to have 52 House Members. Texas with just over 7% of the U. S. population will go from 30 House Members to 32 and become the 2nd most populous state. New York with just under 7% of the U. S. population will go from 31 to 29 House Members, falling to the 3rd most populous state. The fourth place title will be retained by Florida even as they go from 23 to 24 House Members. While the 19th Century saw the disbursement and conveyance of federal lands to the States and private individuals of about 1.73 million square miles, this trend was reversed in the 20th century as the central government adopted more collectivist and Constitutionally questionable policies. Is it detrimental for the Federal Government to continue to own so much western land? From the Cato Institute Handbook for Congress: "The Forest Service and the BLM are very poor stewards of these lands. (The Forest Service is notorious for spending hundreds of millions of dollars on logging roads in forests the timber harvests from which do not produce sufficient revenues to recover the costs.) The BLM's policies encourage overgrazing. Both environmental and multi-use goals can be secured as part of privatization. Deed restrictions, for example, can require the purchasers of forestlands to continue to provide access for multiple uses-hiking, hunting, and forestry. Especially environmentally sensitive BLM and Forest Service lands (where commercial operations cannot be economically self-supporting) can be set aside for sale to environmental groups." The Cato Institute Handbook references a very conservative 1989 Reason Foundation figure of $160 billion for these lands. This figure could be well over $200 billion today, which would significantly reduce the National debt created by the welfare state. The federal bureaucracy and the tax burden would be greatly reduced, by elimination of the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT
Plus the SDLP gets a cut of the action.
Politics as Usual
Punched Out
Reuters, 1999: The Year in Wacky News
Smoke This!
The State is sending tax bills to Californians who have legally purchased cigarettes over the Internet. The state is attempting to collect $384,000 for purchases made in the year 1999. California is sending 3,200 letters to individuals demanding an average of $112 per customer. Government as Nanny The government thinks fewer middle-class kids would skip breakfast if schools provided it to all students free, and it's looking for some schools willing to try the idea at federal expense. "Kids need diapers ... but that doesn't mean there should be a federal diaper program," said Darcy Olsen, who studies education issues for the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Associated Press, 1/17/ 2000
Government Regulations Cut the Cheese
A French company called Fromages.com sells many cheeses on-line to customers worldwide. Certain cheeses are illegal in the United states so American shoppers are steered to a truncated list of federally-approved cheeses. The New York Times, 11/25/1999
Save Gas - Drive Yourself
The idea that we can save energy by taking public transportation is being undercut by the Department of Transportation itself. The September 1998 DOT Transportation Energy Data Book calculates the following energy use per passenger-mile statistics for various methods of transportation: Automobiles use 3671 BTU/passenger mile whereas Transit Buses use 4,501 BTU/passenger mile. Competitive Enterprise Institute newsletter, November
1999
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Membership
The 21st Century shall belong the Libertarian Party as Cyber Space breaks down the government monopoly on the dissemination of political news. People are awakening to the fact that “Government Doesn't Work", we saw it first hand with the collapse of the Soviet Union. I believe it was Thomas Paine who said the business of government goes on quite well when the people are sufficient ignorant, as they will do what they are told. He also said something like this, that government will go quite well if the people are sufficiently intelligent, as reason obeys itself. Well, people are becoming more aware of just how detrimental big government can be. I personally think most Americans want smaller government at this juncture, and we are going to be there to give it to them. The best way to expand our numbers is for each of us to bring in a new person to the party, and they in turn bring one in etc. This is a real grassroots type of growth, and once the media see us move, they will jump on our band wagon also. You can bet these campaigns we are running all over the country with Harry Browne, our likely candidate for President, that things will explode on the national scene. I personally am looking forward to a fantastic year of Libertarian growth. There are many opportunities for you to help us grow. You can volunteer on a campaign, donate some money to your favorite candidate, or to the party. Call Michael Benoit at 619-390-9121 and tell him you would like to participate in membership growth. We will be looking for volunteers to work on several projects during the year, such as swap meets, petition gathering, registering new Libertarian voters, campus outreach programs, the gun shows, the Del Mar Fair. The list of opportunities to help free America is unlimited. Make a call and help us grow. RICHARD RIDER NOTE: In San Diego County, the Libertarian Party retains its title as the fastest growing political party, based on the latest county voter registration figures. Comparisons are possible viewing all parties only over the last three years as two new parties, Natural Law and Reform, were just getting qualified for the ballot in 1996. The county Registrar of Voters have been cleaning up the voter registration lists, eliminating outdated address registrations or deceased voters. As a result, the registration figures in San Diego County have actually DROPPED 9.47% since January 1, 1997. During those three years only four categories of voter registrations have increased, and leading that group is the Libertarian Party at 8.31% During that same three year time frame, the Democrat Party decreased 10.81% and the Republican Party dropped 11.99%. Similar results are apparent for the 1999 year as well. The Libertarian Party again led the pack (all categories lost voters due to the ROV purge, but the LP lost the smallest percentage).
3 YEAR
1 YEAR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Nationalization of Income
http://www.fff.org/editorial/ed0699d.htm July 1999 It's election time and Republicans are making their quadrennial call for income-tax cuts. Democrats are opposing them because the federal government needs the money to shore up Social Security and Medicare. The entire debate obscures an uncomfortable truth - that in 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution effectively nationalized the income of every American. Although most Americans honestly believe that the income they earn in their jobs and investments belongs to them, nothing could be further from the truth. Because by having the power to determine how much money people are permitted to keep, the federal government, not the people, has become the ultimate owner of everyone's income. People are born with certain talents and abilities that they use to sustain their life through labor. For example, suppose a farmer plants crops on land he has acquired. When the crops mature, he sells the produce to others in return for money that he then uses to purchase clothing and other essentials. Although society benefits from the farmer's production of food, it is self-evident that the personal talents and abilities that the farmer uses to bring the crop to maturity are his and do not belong to "society." That is, other people have no "right" to force the farmer to devote his life and energies to them. The same holds true with respect to the crops -- they belong to the farmer, not society, because they are the fruits of the farmer's own talents and abilities. Suppose, however, that the government passes a law that decrees, "All farmers are now required to devote their efforts full-time to government service. All crops are now owned by the government, but farmers and their families will be provided their housing, food, medical care, and other necessities of life." Most people would agree that this would constitute the very essence of slavery. After all, isn't that the relationship that plantation owners in the Old South had with their black farmhands? The enslavement of people in a representative democracy such as the United States has required much more sophistication because it has necessitated the consent and approval of the very people who are being enslaved. Nevertheless, by empowering their own government officials to control how much income they will be permitted to keep, the plight of the American people is no different in principle from that of other slaves in history. In essence, the federal government has decreed to the American people: "You are free to work for whomever you want and to make as much money as you can. However, you and your employer are required on pain of fine and imprisonment to send us a certain percentage of the fruits of your earnings. We will periodically advise you of the exact amount of the percentage." If the percentage were to be set at 100, every American would easily be able to recognize his enslavement. He would be devoting all of his life's energies to serving people he had been forced to serve rather than serving others voluntarily in the marketplace in the process of serving himself. To put it another way, if slaves in the Old South had had the right to elect their taskmaster (who undoubtedly would have advocated "reform" during election time), they might have been considered "free" in a political sense but certainly not in an economic one. What do Americans receive in return for their enslavement? The same thing that slaves throughout history have received - a promise that their masters will take care of them (with the money that has been taken from them). In fact, government officials now use the promise of government-guaranteed care as the principal justification for the perpetual existence of the income tax and the IRS. What we need in this country is not the customary quadrennial discussion over tax cuts and tax reform. What we really need is a national debate over such fundamental issues as the meaning of human liberty and the role of government in a free society. Mr. Hornberger is president of The Future of Freedom Foundation (http://www.fff.org). Article reprinted with permission. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Wednesday, February 9 - "Libertarianism and the Hispanic Community". Guest / Speaker: Jacob G. Hornberger and Daniel L. Munoz Sr.. 7pm at the Westin Horton Plaza, 910 Broadway Circle, San Diego. For more info, e-mail Andy Falkof at afalkof@fff.org, and make reservations through FFF: fff@fff.org; tel: 703-934-6101 or fax 703-352-8678. Thursday, February 10 - "The Border and Beyond". Speaker Jacob G. Hornberger. 12pm at the University of San Diego. For more info, contact Kenneth P. Serbin by e-mail kserbin@pwa.acusd.edu Saturday, February 12 - Candidates Brunch. at Matt & Nancy
Greco’s residence: 3596 Sidney Place Normal Heights, San Diego
Monday, February 14 - Business Meeting of the SDLP. 7pm 10969 Red Cedar Drive, San Diego. For more info, e-mail Richard Rider at rrider@san.rr.com or call 858-530-1776. Thursday, February 17 - Liberty Forum of Rancho Bernardo presents Gail Lightfoot, Libertarian Candidate for US Senate. 6pm at Valentino's Restaurant in the Mercado Center, 11828 Rancho Bernardo Road. For more info, contact Cinthia Duroche at 858-487-6169. Friday, February 18 thru Monday, February 21 - LPC Convention. DoubleTree Hotel -- 7450 Hazard Center Drive in Mission Valley area, San Diego. Register online at http://www.ca.lp.org/conv/2000/, or call 202-234-3880 to register by phone. Check the web site for more details on packages, program schedule, and hotel registration! For even more info, e-mail convention@ca.lp.org. Saturday, February 26 - Hike at Mount Gower, Ramona. Arrive 9:45am for 10:15 departure (1996 Thomas Bros. 1153 H7). For more info see Page 2, e-mail Philip at pje@acm.org or call 619-282-8611. CONTINUING EVENTS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PRIMARY ELECTION - MARCH 7, 2000
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Veto The Governor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leadership Libertarian Party of California, San Diego
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