October 2008 The Official Monthly Newspaper of the Libertarian Party Volume 38/Issue 8 Ten Things You Can Do on Election Day - Page 14 Libertarian Politics in the Classroom - Page 3 Candidate’s Ballot Access Battles Rage On Corner ................Page 2 By Sean Haugh Republican Secretary of State, Jay hurricane. Political Director Dardenne, is trying his hardest to Thanks to our attorney in print ballots without the Bob Barr this case, Mark Brown, we ap- and Wayne Root ticket. pealed this decision and won. e can take it as a sign of Affiliate News At issue is the filing of pa- our success that Democrats However, without even holding a ................Page 4 W perwork certifying our electors by and Republicans alike are launch- hearing, the 5th Circuit of the US ing unprecedented attempts to a deadline that fell during a time Court of Appeals overturned our knock Libertarians off the ballot. when all state offices were closed positive ruling, insisting that we and much of the state was under should have shown up to Baton Libertarian Party Obviously they are more worried about the Libertarian effect on evacuation orders during Hur- Rouge in the middle of a manda- Candidates ricane Gustav. Dardenne’s office tory evacuation order anyway. ................Page 8 our elections than ever before. We are on the ballot in 45 states, insists on upholding that deadline Currently our appeal rests but the last five have presented although his office was officially with Supreme Court Justice us with the strongest legal chal- closed that day and Governor Antonin Scalia, who has received lenges in history. Bobby Jindal had issued an execu- briefs from both sides in this case. UpComing In Louisiana, where the tive order delaying all state dead- A ruling should be issued by press Inside the Cover ...............Page 15 Libertarian Party supposedly lines and the September Congres- time. Although it is always tough is already ballot qualified, the sional primary in advance of the * Continued on Page 3 PERMIT NO. 1541 NO. PERMIT Washington DC 20037 DC Washington OKLA CITY, OK CITY, OKLA 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 200 Suite NW, Avenue, Virginia 2600 U.S. POSTAGE PAID POSTAGE U.S. Libertarian National Committee, Inc. Committee, National Libertarian NON PROFIT ORG PROFIT NON Libertarian Party News October 2008 PAGE 2 CANDIDATE ’S CORNER A Financial Iceberg those two firms. the process. Ready to Renew Both Goldman and Mor- Companies now will run Your By Bob Barr gan Stanley won permission to to the Treasury Department be- Membership? become bank holding compa- fore taking tough steps to clean nies, allowing them to accept up their own balance sheets. deposits along with increased After the automakers joined in- Renew through the mail: Send a gift of $25 or more to: regulatory oversight. Last surer AIG and investment bank Libertarian Party ongress passed the $700 month, Bank of America spent Bear Stearns in winning their 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, billion Wall Street bailout, $50 billion to acquire Merrill own federal bailouts, what com- Suite 200 C Washington, DC 20037 supported by both Senators John Lynch, which had unloaded its pany will not expect a handout McCain and Barack Obama. bad mortgage backed securi- from the taxpayer? Who will Please note “Renewal” on the The U.S. stock market promptly ties in the summer, well before bail out Uncle Sam when all of memo line if paying by check. dropped. Over the following Congress stepped in. his bills--well over $100 trillion To renew online: weekend, the financial crisis Even more dramatically, in unfunded liabilities--come Go to our web site at www.LP.org. Click, “Member Center” at the top threatened European banks, and a bidding war has broken out due? right and then click “Renew Your stock prices across Asia and between Citigroup, which had Far from bringing change Membership.” Europe tanked. been tapped by the Federal Re- to Washington, the election of You may also start a monthly pledge So much for the argument serve to save troubled Wachovia either Sen. Obama or McCain online by clicking on “Make a that the bailout was necessary to Donation” bank, and Wells Fargo, which would mean more of the same: on the main page of LP.org then selecting calm the markets. jumped in with an unexpected More political interference in the option to start a monthly pledge. Yet, while politicians $15 billion purchase offer. The the economy; more special Monthly pledgers automatically renew. were putting the taxpayers ever two are now battling in court interests running government Renew over the phone: more at risk, we have seen the over the right to buy a bank economic policy; more taxpayer Call the National Office at possibilities of a market work- (202) 333-0008 between the hours seen as financial road kill only bailouts; more politics as usual. of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. eastern, out. For instance, Warren Buffet last week. The bailout represents Monday through Friday. invested $8 billion in investment There is much more to be done just the tip of the proverbial If calling after hours, please leave a bank Goldman Sachs and manu- to clean up the economic mess iceberg of fiscal irresponsibil- message and we will return your call facturer General Electric. He flowing from the housing mar- ity in Washington. Indeed, the as soon as possible. imposed tough terms, but he has ket crash, but the ill-considered national debt already exceeds solidified the financial futures of federal bailout is likely to slow * Continued on Page 5 Libertarian Party News SEND NEW S , ARTICLE S , (ISSN 8755-139X) is the official Essa Y S OR monthly newspaper of the LP News PHOTOGR ap H S : Libertarian Party® of the United Libertarian Party States. Opinions and articles LP NEWS: 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 200 published in this newspaper do not A publication of the Washington, D.C. 20037 necessarily represent official party Libertarian Party Phone: (202) 333-0008 positions unless so indicated. E-mail: [email protected] Produced by: Libertarian Party NATIONAL CHAIR: Headquarters SEND ADDRE ss CH A NGE S TO: Libertarian Party EDITOR EMERITUS: William Redpath 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 200 Karl Hess • 1923-1994 2600 Virginia Ave, NW, Suite 200 Washington, D.C. 20037 Washington, D.C. 20037 Or call: (202) 333-0008 E-mail: [email protected] The Mission Statement of the Libertarian Party: “To move public policy in a libertarian direction by building a political party that elects Libertarians to public office.” Libertarian Party News October 2008 PAGE 3 Libertarian Politics in the Classroom Ballot Access Update *Continued from Page 1 the ballot in Pennsylvania. Two other New England es Benedict, Executive Director a positive ruling by Scalia would A similar attack is being states where we have to sue our way of the Libertarian Party of Texas, have a profound impact on federal waged against Edward Martin, the onto the ballot are Maine and Con- visitedW Inness Mitchell’s Political Com- Libertarian candidate for U.S. House necticut. Gary Sinawski is our attor- munications teacher at St. Edwards ballot access cases across country. in Kentucky’s 3rd District. There University in Austin, Texas. Republicans are also go- ney in all three New England cases. “When presenting the Libertar- ing all out to knock the Barr/Root our enemies claim that Martin is In Connecticut, at issue is the ian Party to students, I usually start out ticket off the ballot in Pennsylvania. ineligible to run because he was not incredible incompetence of the town by giving everyone the World’s Smallest There, our party followed the well- registered to vote as a Libertarian clerks and the Democratic Secretary Political Quiz and displaying the results established procedure of starting our when he filed, in direct opposition to of State. The state office has lost as of the class on the board. That’s pretty petition before the convention using the relevant laws in that state, which many as 126 petition sheets (with much all it takes to get the conversation local stand-in candidates, who were allow us to nominate anyone regard- room for 30 signatures per page) going. Then it’s just a matter of giving later replaced by Barr and Root. less of registration status. We won between the time we turned them lots of short answers to questions,” said We won the lawsuit chal- that case in state court and now the in to the town clerks and when they Benedict. lenging our substitution procedure in Republicans have appealed to the counted the validated signatures. “I think the smiles in the photo- Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, Kentucky Supreme Court. Their report also contained basic graph at the conclusion of a 75 minute Lawsuits over substitution presentation clearly show Libertarian thanks to our attorneys Sam Stret- math errors concerning the number have also been filed in Massachu- politics can be presented in a way that in- ton and Marc Arrigo. Cumberland of valid signatures obtained. Mean- terests young people,” said Wes Benedict. County GOP Chair and an army of setts and New Hampshire. We won while, the town clerks did a very This was Benedict’s third time in four very well paid Republican lawyers our case in Massachusetts, after the inconsistent and often sloppy job of years presenting to Mr. Mitchell’s class. have appealed to the state Supreme Democratic Secretary of State there verifying the signatures. Of course, showing a YouTube Court, alleging that we committed first said we could substitute Barr/ We turned in almost 13,000 video of Mr. Benedict’s recent testimony fraud by having different candidate Root after completing our petition, signatures in Connecticut, with 7,500 before the Austin City Council using a names on the petition even though then arbitrarily changing their minds valid ones required.