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The Liberty Pledge News

The Liberty Pledge News is produced monthly for members of the National Libertarian Party's Pledge Program, Independence '88 and the Torch Club. It is also distributed to National Committee Members and State Party Chairs, in appreciation of their contributions and to make available information on activities at Headquarters and on libertarians in the news. Clippings and other items of interest are appreciated. Libertarian Party Headquarters 301 W. 21st St. Houston, TX 77008 713-880-1776 HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOUR PLEDGE? WANT TO RAISE IT? CALL 1-800-682-1776

September 1987 Third party tries a 5th campaign By S.A. Paolantonio The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia, PA lt "ter Voter who want to"khow. -abottl•Ron Patti need biloOk no , born in Pittsburgh in 1935, once a flight surgeon in further than what he said on the 'floor of the House,-Sept. 19, the Air Force and a former member of Congress from Texas, 1984, in his farewelladdresS aftdrfour terms as a representative has given up on the Republican Party and its most recent from Houston... contribution to the presidency — — and de- "Government is literally out of Control."said Paul. "Spending, cided to run fur the White House himself. taxes, regulations: monetary inflatinh, invasion of our privacy, But voters looking for Paul will not find him elbow-to-elbow welfarism to both thd rich and". the poor, military spending, with the presidential .aspirants of the two major political foreign adventurism around theworld will one day precipitate parties. He does need .money, and sure, he would take a few a crisis that will truly test our will to live in a free society." photo opportunities. But Paul does not want delegates. For him, Paul sounds like Ronald Reagan until he talksabout Ronald there are no primaries. He has already been nominated. • Reagan. . At a convention last weekend in Seattle, the Libertarian "Ronald Reagan," says 'Ron Paul.""has assumed a role like Party, a relatively new third party, handed Paul its fifth Caesar's in the Roman Empire. ignOring the wishes of Congress presidential nomination. It began putting candidates on the and resurrecting what our Founding Fathers feared most: the national ballot in 1972. imperial presidency. ... Reagan's record is disgraceful. He In 1980, Clark collected 920.859 votes — three times tbe votes starts wars, breaks the law, supplies terrorists with guns made collected by presidential candidate of the at taxpayer's' expense and lies about it to the American people." Citizens Party and more than 20 times the total of Communist For years, the Libertarian Party has struggled to become the . After the election, the Libertarians proclaimed them- voice of those disenchanted with niainstream political think- selves the third-party alternative. • ing. It developed a consistent set of political principles, a blend of conservative fiscal policy and strict adherence to--Gonstitu- A costly split tional protections of privacy, no government intervention at home and less foreign intervention abroad. In 1984. the party split over the nomination of a presidential But in its 16 years, the Libertarian Party has been unable to • candidate. of finally won the nomi- develop support outside a solid corps of followers. nation. But it was expensive. Koch and his money pulled out of The party was spawned out of the living-room meetings of the party's presidential effort. In 1984, Bergland got 228,000 City economist and historian , who votes, about a fourth of Clark's total. since the early 1960s had preached the objectivist philosophy of A year later, fewer than 300 people attended the Libertarian author Ayn Party national convention in Phoenix. Nationwide, just 55 I.ibertarians currently hold elective office, none higher than Three-tenet approach the county level. Turney said. But Poole and others say that Clark's campaign in 1980: by Objectivism has three basic tenets: reason. and depending on Koch's wealth, may have "artificially inflated" capitalism. And Rand wrote about those principles in several the appeal of the Libertarian Party. Now, they say, the party is detailed works of nonfiction and fiction. including the roman- back on a growth path set during the late 1970s. tic novel Atlas Shrugged. in which the hero. John Galt, fights Henry Haller, a financial consultant from Pittsburgh who against the injustices of a welfare state run amok. chairs the Pennsylvania Libertarian Party, said there were In 1971, the party was formed in Denver and the next year ran plenty of local issues to pursue. Libertarians advocate abolish. a presidential and a vice presidential candidate. They got one ing the state Liquor Control Board and oppose the tax-subsi- electoral-college vote in 1972. It was cast by Roger MacBride, a dized construction of the Philadelphia convention centerc• Republican from "who could not bring himself to vote And with Paul as its presidential candidate, the Libertarians for ," said -James Turney. a Virginia businessman say they can depend on a new • infusion of supporters and who is chairman of the national Libertarian. Party. MacBride money. As founder of the Council for Monetary Reform;chalr- ran for president in .1976. man of the Committee to Abolish the Fed, Paul publishes the The Libertarian. movement grew in the West in the late 1970s Ron Paul Investnient Letter and is counting on a network of his with the taxpayer revolt in California and the Libertarian associates in investment circles to donate to the Libertarian presidential candidacy of in 1980. effort for 1988. • — • Clark's running mate was David•Koch. an oilman and rancher . His goal: Raise at least 55 million and eclipse Clark's totals in from Kansas .who brought his considerable wealth to the the 1980 election. But he also is working to build an organiza- campaign. They spent S3 million, most of it Koch's money, and tion that can win on the local level and is always preaching the the Libertarian. Party was on the ballot in all 50 states. Libertarian message with a current twist: Get Navy ships out of "It was the right idea at the right time." said Robert Poole, the, the Persian Gulf. "I am sick of U.S. lives .and .taxes being editor. of Reason magazine,.a nonprofit publication dedicated to expended unconstitutionally on a foreign war,".Paul says. , • free-market thinking. UnfortunateIy, Poole said, the spotlight Get back •the for the dollar. "Create a sound •iof Clark's third-party :candidacy.was•stolen .hy..atiother third-- :money system, define the dollar,".he says. party candidate, John Anderson of Illinois. And, Poole: ,..•And get rid of big government. "Some people say I want to Clark's appeal was "siphoned off by Reagan himself." take a chainsaw to the federal budget," Paul says. "How right "At one point," Poole said, "the Reagan, campaign Ltsgcl the Aherare.•Big• government is running-away with our freedom same anti-government slogan created for the Libertarian Pali), and our money." in• 1980: 'a New Aleginning.'" Daily Star Progress Fullerton man to seek Senate nomination La Habra, CA

By Larry Peterson TWA Freedom News Service Jack Dean of Fullerton, for- mer state Libertarian Party, Libertarians plotting nation's course for next 15 years chairman and veteran political only of the short term, only to get elected." rules, the airlines had to provide services to small organizer and strategist for the he Libertarian Party nominated its candidate monetary system collapse. All that debt will have to for president Saturday at its national Needless to say, very few Libertarians get elected. towns in order to be able to fly on more profitable be repudiated; we simply don't have the assets to pay party, will seek its U.S. Senate T convention in Seattle. If you don't already know That doesn't bother Nolan, however. Getting routes. What's wrong with that?" it off. The new money will be backed by something of nomination next year. who they chose, you probably don't care. elected isn't the point, though he doesn't complain "It creates unrealistic expectations. What's wrong real value." Dean, who announced his bid I don't care either. But I figured the convention when a Libertarian makes it into a state legislature, with making a decision to live in the country and 111 "There's very little doubt that we're entering a at the party's executive board offered a chance to find out as happened in . "The only time people listen knowing it's going to mean a drive to the city to catch new war era, though it's a tossup whether the war meeting in Redwood City this what is all to political news is during the political process, the an airliner? Why should people who live in cities will be in Central America or the Middle East. elections. It's our ideas we want to inject into the Libertarians will be in the forefront of both past weekend, became the first about. So I went up there and subsidize air service to rural areas? The whole asked. process, as much as our people." government system has become how to grab the most prevention and the anti-war movement of the 1990s, announced candidate for the par- I wound up talking with Dave And have they been successful? You bet. At least for yourself and put the cost off on someone else." because we're against all the major instrumentalities ty's nomination for the seat now Nolan, who helped found the according to Nolan. "If you look at some of our early I turned to a different tack. "You say that 15 years that permit war: taxation, conscription and the held by Republican Pete Wilson. party in the early '70s. I asked platforms, you'll find that they were considered too ago you advocated changes that have since come issuing of unbacked currency to finance the war.- Although others may enter the him what led him to start a extreme in their day, but they've become accepted about. Fifteen years from now, what changes will ■ "The income tax may well be repealed in the Libertarian Party's June 1988 third party. wisdom." have come about that you're advocating now?" next 15 to 20 years. It's a very unpopular tax. It Senate primary, Dean begins as "In the Republican Party, the He rambled off these examples: Ending the draft. Unlike the way he responded to my previous doesn't tax wealth, it taxes productivity; it keeps the key words are Get EIrcted. In Allowing Americans to own gold. Decrirdinalizing questions, he actually had to pause and think about poor from getting rich, and lets the rich get richer." the favorite because of the rec- the Democratic party, too, for drugs. ("We've seen some backsliding on this one," he that one. He made these predictions: I suspect some of Nolan's predictions are right on; I ognition and friendships he has that matter. If you're going to admitted.) Repeal of the Fairness Doctrine. "Even U "We're going to see an increasing collapse of won't be a bit surprised if these collie to pass. But I'm developed during more than a advance in the party, you've got then, we were questioning the idea of America as government-run schools, which will be replaced by both amazed and exasperated at the way they have decade as a party activist. to be willing to go along — to Illorecciageaszralezcz world cop. That was almost heretical 15 years ago, private schools — church, community, industry- simply banished greed and avarice by ignoring it. ring doorbells and drum up but it's now seriously discussed in mainstream sponsored. The failure of public schools is becoming I'm not sure it's fair to judge Libertarians against Dean, 39, spearheaded the The News Tribune 1979 voter-registration drive support for a candidate even if Columnist politics as is the idea of dropping out of the U.N." glaringly evident, both in content and effectiveness." any sort of ideal. After all, the Republicans gave us you think he's a two-faced, Also, the Libertarians are in favor of deregulating He insists that "the marketplace" will provide Nixon, who couldn't tell the truth, and Reagan, who that qualified the party for a lying bastard. private enterprise and privatizing many — even most schools for the disadvantaged. I suspect that if you can't tell the truth from peanut butter. permanent position on the state "When it comes time that you want to be a — of the government's functions. "We've certainly get government "off our backs" the way the The Libertarians couldn't do much worse. ballot, along with Republicans, candidate yourself, if you take a stand on principle seen a lot of both of those," Nolan added. Libertarians want, greedy capitalism will result in Democrats and two other minor and the party thinks it dooms you as a candidate, you I decided to play devil's advocate for a while. children in sweat shops, not schools. He disagrees. Ralph Seeley's column appears Mondays, parties. get no support. So you are constantly asked to think "Let's talk about deregulation," I said. "Under the old M' "Quite possibly, we're going to see the whole Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Since then, he has run the glingrelersiarieneriNerailenliNilk campaigns of two Libertarian Party candidates for state that the constitutional rights against unrea- RNC Axes 40 Staff Members treasurer, one for U.S. Senate Campaign Industry News Appointee prow sonable search and seizure were not nec- ber one priority, the 1988 presidential election." and one for Assembly, and essarily violated by the temporary The last place one would have ex- According to Schmermund,the party still has served two-year stints as chair- roadblocks. Each case must be reviewed pected to see "belt tightening" is the 235 talented people to support the eventual man of the party in Orange individually, the high court said. Republican National Committee, but Republican presidential ticket, and "relative to County and later as state chair- of libertari n t Six months after his roadblock ruling, the impossible has happened. A com- the Democrats, we are still much better off." man. He also was a leader in the Mahady received national attention when he bination of factors has led to a Schmermund went on to say that the overall campaign of Costa Mesa attor- By DANICA KIRKA took them to Newport in an attempt sentenced James Bushway, a Burlington decrease in contributions from mem- ney David Bergland, the party's Free Press Staff Writer to examine them for signs of child rapist with a tragic background, to between bers of the party, and the results 1984 presidential standard- During a recent hearing in which abuse. 18 and 20 years in prison. The grocery store manifested themselves in the form of Direct mail fundraising is down tabloids criticized him for reportedly agoniz- bearer. he rejected a plea agreement, Frank "The civil liberties issues were so pink slips, and more than a few letters from last year, but, "The overall up a philncnphy that starkly ing to the point of tears over the decision. "I've decided that now is the Mahady summed delineated," Mahady said of saying, "Your services are no longer quality of our support for has characterized much of his career the scheme. During the same year, the former prob- time for me to step up to the needed." Republicans will not be W as a Distrist Court judge. In an opinion written July 2, 1984, ecutor again rose to prominence when he At the summer meeting of the e

front line and put the knowledge permitted the use of the "necessity defense" diminished." c "I'm a civil libertarian," he said, Mahady — who earned nicknames Republican National Committee, the ould I've gained into a campaign of `!and proud of it." such as "Freedom Frank" and "Your Le- in the trial of the so-called "Winooski 44," a membership overwhelmingly ap- quality of services offered by the RNC will not

group of anti-war protesters who staged a n' my own," Dean said. ---,,-Following his appointment to the niency" following the decision —said the proved a revised budget reflecting a be adverselyeffected, and that no major services sit-in in the Winooski office of Sen. Robert are going to be eliminated all together. "For ex- t Typically, Libertarian candi- Vermont Supreme Court Thursday, state violated the First and Fifth amend- projected eight percent decrease in resi ample, dates for state office get 2 to 3 Mahady said he would retain his ments when it failed to prove that everyone Stafford, R-Vt. revenues. The RNC originally in- if we had a monthly publication, under percent of the vote and view commitment to these beliefs and use rounded up in the raid was a member of an Using this tactic, the defense was per- tended to raise $35 million in 1987, but the new budget it might only come out six or st seven times year, research services might take run their campaigns primarily as his experiences in the criminal courts organization with illegal practices and that mitted to argue that the protesters com- at the current rate of receipt, revenues two days instead of one, but the overall quality vehicles to spread their move- •in his next position on the high court. each person carried out those practices. mitted an act of civil disobedience in order will only total $32 million. ni of our support for Republicans will not be n

to avert the greater evil of U.S. intervention g ment's philosophy of maximiz- Mahady's open devotion to the He said the decision also reaffirmed the The missing $3 million translated diminished." in Central America. thi ing individual freedom by state and federal constitutions has independence of the judiciary. into the loss of 40 jobs, and the The RNC cited competition in direct mail been a key element in his conduct in The protesters were acquitted of the severance of several RNC consulting s minimizing government and "I think it showed the judiciary is willing fundraising and the political crisis of the Reagan o some of the most controversial cases charges. ne! taxes. — even in difficult situations — to enforce contracts. In addition to the 40 presidency as the two major causes for declin- in the state. Dean said his campaign will constitutional gurarantees," he said. employees laid off, 10 consultants ing revenue. With seven declared presidential In •what is probably the most Mahady also invoked the U.S. Constitu- Free Press were informed that their services were candidates competing for the same political oppose U.S. intervention in the celebrated case of his five-year ca- tion in January 1984 when he ruled that Burlington. VT no longer required, and as many as 20 contributions, it was to be expected that their affairs of other countries, im- reer as a District Court judge, Maha- roadblocks set up by police to snare drunken other consulting contracts were efforts would overlap. The projected loss in migration restrictions, tariffs dy ruled that the civil rights of drivers were illegal because they turned reduced. revenue, $5.4 million less than 1985's total of and other trade barriers, manda- members of the Northeast Kingdom motorists into "sociological guinea pigs" and Explaining the cutbacks, RNC $22.5 million, was brought about by the simple WO testing for drugs or AIDS, Community Church, now called the violated privacy rights. press secretary, Bob Schmermund fact that the RNC is competing with George arid the minimum wage. Church at Island Pond, were violated The state Supreme Court ultimately said that, "It is not as if the RNC will Bush, Pierre DuPont, Jack Kemp, , when the state raided the sect three overturned the decision, however, saying cease to offer vital services to our Paul Laxalt, and even Pat Robertson, for a years ago, rounded up juveniles and members... Obviously, our efforts limited number of donors. have to be concentrated on our num- •, Means accepts Libertarian post Register-Guard SE ATITE— American Indian activist Russell Means, who lost Eugene, OR the Libertarian Party nomination for president, on Sunday accepted the post of honorary chairman for the party's vice presidential nominee. Former Republican Rep. Ron Paul, who had spent about $230,000 campaigning for the nomination, got the nod Saturday as the party's presidential nominee in balloting at the national Liber- tarian convention, which concluded Sunday. , a for- mer Alaska legislator, will share the ticket as the vice presidential nominee.

Libertarians Look to Restart the Frigine By TIM W. FERGUSON Its blood letted in adolescence, the Lib- Ron Paul, the former Houston-area con Candidates are still getting in and out of ertarian Party never fully matured. Dis- gressman, sports some of the trappings the presidential races of the major par- putes worsened among the faithful after (e.g., money) of major-party politics. In ties—in 's case maybe getting the 1980 race. Money from the energy- this race he is considered the right-winger, out and in—but by the end of next week the wealthy Koch family of Wichita, Kan., which he was not when Phil Gramm Libertarian Party will already have its which had sustained the big drive, was trounced him in the 1984 GOP Senate pri- nominee chosen. First will come a rather concentrated on other endeavors such as mary in Texas. The characterization stems colorful showdown within the biggest of the the . Several activities and more from the flavor of his rhetoric (pro- nation's third parties. • • ?: publications associated with the broader hard money, anti-State Department) than Former Republican Rep. Ron. Paul of political movement withered or died. from the substance—he opposes U.S. gov- Texas and 4merican Indian nationalist The party has been static since, a few ernment involvement in Nicaragua (and Russell Mean are the prime contenders members winning minor offices, but the elsewhere) and limits on social liberties, for the party's bid at its convention, in Se- diehards remain as fractious a lot as : and he favors unsubsidized trade with attle beginnit. Wednesday. see in any ideological grouping. Alleged communist countries. Dr. Paul believes Reg,istrati totals aren't a very helpful deviationists are constantly getting read,: abortion is killing, however, and once indicator because of the vagaries of state out of the circle by their opponents. An- voted against "gay rights" for the District election laws,' but the Libertarians haven't other split took place even during the of Columbia, so this ob-gyn is not every been growing of late. For a while, the sleepy 1984 campaign, when GeorgetoWn Libertarian's brand of medicine. party's 1971 laissez-faire founders heard Prof. , a respectable critic!of Some party activists, to whom suits and Liberty Bells ringing: Its nominees won a interventionist U.S. foreign policy, lost the ties are not daily attire, are sympathetic to fluke vote, in .1972, got party's nomination after he was criticized the natural rebelliousness that Mr. Means nearly 6% in the California gubernatorial for maintaining ties to the Eastern Estab- symbolizes, according to Mike Holmes, ed- race in 1978 and had momentum going into lishment, including an incriminating mem- itor of the newsletter American Libertar- the 1980 presidential campaign. bership in the Council on Foreign Rela- ian: But Libertarians "doesn't want to go That year, a recent high-water mark for tions. An affable Orange County, Calif., through another nonexistent campaign," big-government-bashing, the national lawyer, David Bergland, got the nod (and he says, and Dr. Paul's more professional ticket eventually made the ballot in every 228,000 votes on 39 states' ballots). operation appeals. The view in the Paul state. The party spent $3.7 million, a lot of This year poses an opportunity for a camp, he adds, is that "Libertarians have it for network television ads, to promote an comeback of sorts. The Libertarians don't enough trouble getting people to take us, Arco attorney, Ed Clark, for the White have the money they had in 1980, but they seriously without having a guy show up in House. Mr. Clark got -more than 920,000 do enjoy the prospect of a Washington in- turquoise and braids." votes, but not the three million to five mil- sider atop the Republican ticket and a Success magazine published some sur- lion some enthusiasts were shooting for. name of sorts heading their own. vey data this spring showing a remarkable Libertarians blame the media fascina- Russell Means, once known more for his number of young business people in the tion with John Anderson's candidacy that Indian militancy at Wounded Knee and U.S. identifying themselves as libertarian. year for siphoning off the discontented. elsewhere, is signaling a hybrid agrarian- To date, such sentiment has not had a de- Ronald Reagan helped do them in, too. The ethnic populism that plays on fears of cen- finable impact on American politics. After man who has played many roles for many tralized, technocratic authority. His candi- the squabbling in Seattle is over, the phi- audiences over his political career ap- dacy carries with it a hope of branching losophy's ostensible political arm will be peared enough of a small-L libertarian (he Out from the white and generally comfort- due for another market test. once called himself that in a Reason maga- able Libertarian core, but some party blue zine interview) to draw wavering foes of bloods question the sincerity of his conver- Mr. Ferguson is features editor of the Washington back to the GOP. sion to their cause. Journal's editorial page.

The, Journal