November LPWIre

‘Remember, remember the fifth of November of gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gun powder treason should ever be forgot.’

Ah those were the days when people could be real insurrectionists, not just poorly behaved protesters. Many Libertarians have donned the Guy Fawkes mask, perhaps parroting a character in the movie “V for Vendetta.” In the best libertarian tradition, any excuse for a party is probably a good one. Will we remember the events of January 6 the same way our brothers in Britain do Guy Fawkes day ? Probably not.

Our Mission Statement Finalized

The Libertarian Party of Wisconsin will be the leader in our state’s Liberty Movement. Our goal is nothing more nor less than a world set free in our lifetime.

Bylaws Committee Report

The Bylaws Committee reminds everyone that the deadline to get any new or revised bylaws onto the floor of our state convention this April is the last week of January 2022. Currently the committee has one new bylaw, three revisions, and is waiting on “a new idea” from its author for consideration.

This year, for the first time, bylaws proposals may be amended from the floor at convention. The members of the party voted themselves this right last year. Will it work out? In theory it should be a great improvement over our old way of doing things. Those who have seen or participated in our national party’s affairs know that theory and reality can often be at disparate ends of the spectrum. The committee believes that the members of this state will let the better angels of their nature show national how this should be done.

Kevin Litten
By-Laws Committee Chair

News from the Jo Jorgensen Campaign

The War on Drugs has dragged on now for more than 100 years. Politicians refuse to let it go – despite widespread recognition of its failure.

We now have an easy, fun and powerful tool that could quickly change that. Carla Howell, the Communications Director for Jo Jorgensen’s 2020 presidential campaign and long-time libertarian activist, has just released an amazing music video for her original song Yak Yak Bourbon. Share this video with people who aren’t yet convinced the War on Drugs has been a failure. Where reason hasn’t worked, a silly song just might.

Gerrymandering and Choice

All the voters in Wisconsin should by now be aware that our state is one of the more gerrymandered. It is once again time to redraw the districts. One of the political parties believes that they have a moral obligation to pick the voters instead of the voters choosing their politicians. Another party believes that eventually the tide will turn and they’ll be able to set the dials in the back of the voting machines. When those conversations come up, remind your friends what George Washington said about political parties. Also remind them that both of those parties continue to put obstacles in the way of candidates outside of their closed club running for office. We will never be free with only two parties in office. Two parties is equal to no choice.

“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

– George Washington his Farewell Address 1796

Marketing & Membership Committee Report

This committee has a lot of irons in the fire. There are of things that need to be done continually. We also have received great ideas for additional projects. The biggest hold up on getting things done is lack of folks to help get them done.

Our committee has been working on a wallet size info card project to promote the party and libertarian ideals. These cards would then be printed up and distributed to members and affiliates. A variety of card designs with various types of info are being reviewed. Our committee members have done the basics on this project. We need people with experience in MS Word, Avery templates, and especially graphics design or paint programs. We hope a couple individuals or an affiliate would get on board with this idea and run with it. No luck so far. This project will probably be shelved unless additional people come forward.

Fundraising is also back under the umbrella of this committee, at least for now, so we need to start planning for our convention raffle. Our party needs this! We usually have a couple people working on this but, what can I say, candidates running for office always steal your best help. It would be preferable to have someone as coordinator if possible. If you would like to give this a shot, or be able to help out, please let us know. Last years raffle ticket sales were just under $3000.

One of the ideas being kicked around for the raffle is for the prize(s) to be a cache of coins, actual silver coins. (dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars minted in 1964 or before) Precious metal, sounds like a libertarian prize, doesn’t it? Whether or not this would fly depends greatly on the amount of coins we could acquire. A couple committee members have already pledged silver dollars from the 1920s. If you might be able to donate a coin or two, please let us know. We will be discussing this possibility at our next committee meeting on 11-29 so we would like to have some idea of what we might be able to acquire. You can reach us by email at info@lpwi.org.

This Committee also now has the responsibility of locating, organizing, and managing the two State Party event kits that are available for use. Again, it would be nice to have one person in charge of this.

There are a lot of options if you want to get more involved.

Mike Hammond
Marketing & Membership Committee Chair.

Call To Action

The Fox Valley Libertarians are excited to present “An Evening with Jo Jorgensen – 2020 Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate” on the evening of January 8, 2022 at Benvenuto’s Italian Grill in Oshkosh. Event details and tickets can be found on Eventbrite.com. This is a great opportunity to invite liberty seeking friends and family to an event. They’ll have the opportunity to hear Jo Jorgensen and 2022 Congressional Candidate Jacob Vanden Plas speak, plus a Q&A and meet and greet with Jo! We hope you can join us and bring a new to the party guest along! Questions? Please contact David Grover at fvlp@protonmail.com.

Convention Committee Report

As we approach ticket sales starting on Jan 1 the convention committee has been very busy finalizing the details of the convention. We have also added a convention tab to the top of the LPWI website so you can stay up to date with one easy click.

I am honored to have a record amount of new volunteers joining our convention planning meetings. Our group is growing by the day, but we are still looking to fill a few roles at the convention. One of these roles is event photographer. If you or somebody you know is a professional photographer and would be interested in capturing our 3-day event let us know!

As always, convention committee meetings are open to any member that wishes to attend, and I encourage you to do so by emailing us today. Our next meeting is scheduled for November 29th at 8PM via zoom. Hope to see you there!

Nathan Gall
Convention Committee Chair

The Ed Thompson Liberty Award

The Ed Thompson Liberty Award is given to someone or some group who bucks the status quo, and by doing so promotes libertarian ideas to the people of Wisconsin. This award has been given to a farmer who sold raw milk, to 3 women who sold cookies out of their home kitchen, and to a group working to expunge the records of non-violent felons.

Who do you know worthy of receiving this award? The ExCom will decide who the winner will be in the next 4 months. As of now, no names have been put forward. Wouldn’t you like your nominee to be the one? What have you seen in the news or heard about from friends? Send your thoughts to info@LPWI.org

Short Bits

Imagine if my husband monitored my bank account, forced medical treatment upon me that I didn’t want so that I could work, and charged me by the mile every time I drove ….. wouldn’t you want me to get out of that abusive relationship?

If yes, then why do we let the government do it to us?

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck. It is in fact, according to Facebook fact checkers – a squirrel. Anybody else having their comments deleted?

-Anonymous
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“I became converted because I was ripe for it and lived in a disintegrating society thrusting for faith.” That was Arthur Koestler writing in 1949 about his love affair with Communism. The same might be said of this new revolutionary faith. And like other religions at their inception, this one has lit on fire the souls of true believers, eager to burn down anything or anyone that stands in its way.

– Bari Weiss speaking about the Woke Revolution.
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“I coined a new term today. – Libertaranoia.
Definition: Extreme cautiousness in daily activities caused by fear of the state. A portmanteau of libertarian and paranoia.

E.g.: Gary refuses to get an email address because of his libertaranoia.

FYI, I admit that I have late stage libertaranoia.”

– Alicia Dearn
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My latest at Libertarianism.org— “Liberalism encompasses fundamental principles born of the Enlightenment: individual freedom, equal rights, the rule of law, constitutional government, separation of powers, civil liberties, free speech, free and fair elections, free markets, private property and free exchange, and international free trade.”

– Andy Craig
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The LP WIre is published monthly. Permission to publish has been given by the LPWI Executive Committee. Editor in Chief is Kevin Litten. The editor of this newsletter may be reached by email at kdlitten@charter.net . Submissions are welcome but are subject to editing for applicability and length. Copyright © 2021, permission to copy only given for research, scholarship, criticism, or comment.

This newsletter is intended for Wisconsin Libertarians and interested persons.

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