News and Views of the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin July 2021
Compiled and written by Kevin Litten / Newsletter Editor
Perhaps many of you are following the tempest in a tea pot at national surrounding the New Hampshire LP. To put things into perspective, the LP has been around 50 years and this isn’t their first rodeo. Yes that was a mixed metaphor and No it won’t have any effect on the hard work and dedication our own members are showing toward this state party. Keep up the good work Wisconsin.
And about hard work. At the Executive Meeting on June 20 Neil Harmon was elected to serve as Vice-Chair of the LPWI. Harmon, formerly an At-Large Representative, is a member of the Fox Valley, Kettle Moraine, Milwaukee, and Waukesha Affiliates. He is a volunteer and Libertarian activist.
Other State Party News
Our national Party has requested that each state party using CiviCRM, which we are using, appoint a contact or liaison person to control its usage. Michael Chianese has stepped forward and volunteered for the duty.
Joseph Ecklund was appointed as Affiliate Coordinator for the Southern part of Wisconsin. Stephen Ecker is coordinator for Area 2 and Michael Conard is coordinator for area 1.
Tom Rasmussen is now a candidate for Assembly 87, having filed paperwork earlier this month. To contact the campaign, email sally@lpwi-taylorco.org. A website and Facebook page are forthcoming.
Affiliate News
Submission by Jonathan Shaw, who is starting up a Marinette County Affiliate:
“I am 20 years old with high political ambition and determination for the Liberty movement. I look to a future of American people who abandon ideology as their identity and recognize freedom as the chosen alternative, Americans will no longer seek control of other American lives and instead see that their freedom is their own as well. This is the only way, I believe, to stop the tribal culture war we see every day, and achieve what our founding fathers both gave and asked of us. I consider my strong determination a great asset to the movement, but I know it will be challenging. Setting people free from the chains of ideological lenses is a great feat that can only be accomplished with the strong determination of freedom lovers”
Reach Shaw at exlernathan@gmail.com
If your LPWI affiliate is active, the state party wants to send you $200. Ideally they’d like you to acquire or add to your event kit. If your affiliate has other ideas that’s okay too. There are some requirements to show you are active, one of them being meeting with the state Chair, Jacob VandenPlas before the end of the year. Reach him at JakeLiberty2022@gmail.com
Events
Sad news. The Kettle Morain Affiliate tried valiantly to set up a fund raising activity at the Washington County Fair for July 23-25. The plan was to direct traffic at the fair’s parking areas for several hours each day. Ultimately, despite a party-wide email being sent out, not enough people volunteered. We congratulate them for making the effort.
The camp out / Liberty Festival being planned for August 13-15 has been postponed, probably until next year. Our speaker(s) backed out, possibly because of the brew-ha at national.
The Fox Valley Affiliate is planning a Timber Rattlers Baseball outing for Wednesday, Aug. 11. Tickets are $13 if you reserve your spot by the end of the day (July 21). If you miss that deadline, don’t worry. You can still attend at a slightly higher price. Contact Brian Defferding at fvlp@protonmail.com for more information.
The Southeastern Wisconsin affiliate of LPWI is looking for volunteers to help man their booth at the Racine County Fair (July 28 – Aug. 1)! They are looking for people to help out from 4pm-10pm on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as well as all day on Saturday. Please reach out to Jim Sewell at sewellja@tds.net if you’re interested in helping out!
Short Bits
Just so you know, Brett Knudson is running for congress in the 3rd District. He sounds like a Libertarian but he is running as a Democrat.
John McAfee, who ran for the LP presidential nomination in 2016, was found dead in his cell in Spain on June 23. He was the editor’s choice as the other major parties were running weird and crazy candidates. It didn’t seem right for our party to run a sane one.
Finally – did you forget to follow our state party Twitter account? Do so! @LPWI
Why we run for Office
Perspective / Kevin Litten
Some Libertarians make the worst philosophical statements. “We are going take over the government so that we can give it back.” No, we are going to rule, and not everyone is going to be happy about it, especially us. Harry Browne, in his LP presidential run, would ask voters, “Would you be willing to give up your favorite government program if it meant never paying income tax again?” To his surprise, many people said no.
Have no doubt about this. We want to take over the government.
Sometimes Libertarians scare people. “How can we have roads without government and taxes?” We don’t want to eliminate government; remember we are getting elected to take it over. “Instead of taxes, how about if we funded it with user fees? Wouldn’t that be fairer?” No one in the party wants a return to the stone age.
If a majority of Americans voted tomorrow to set up a tax payer-funded, government-run healthcare system with universal coverage and high quality of care. What would we do? We would work to make that program be the least bureaucratic, have the most personal responsibility, and the greatest freedom of choice as possible. In short, we would try and make it libertarian.
There will always be someone in charge. Let’s see; worst libertarian versus what ever it is we have now? Easy choice to make.
Do not believe in things that are impossible to prove or outlandish. Never let our political enemies tell us what we believe. We know that most of the problems facing us today were caused by the parties now in power. We know that a libertarian future will not be perfect; it will be a better, more comfortable, freer place. That will be a world worth fighting for. Let’s take over the world.
