Libertarian Party of Wake County, North Carolina

Munger Money Grenade Brigade

2008-07-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

The following is a message from Michael Munger:

As you know, I have been working to run for Governor of North Carolina, as a Libertarian, for the past two years. Well, we got the 105,000 signatures, and we got on the ballot.

But then things got…weird. I was invited to the final debate, in October, at Queens College in Charlotte. But then that debate got cancelled, and ANOTHER debate, only without the Libertarians in it, got scheduled instead.

The state of NC is really dragging its feet in getting out new forms, so Libertarians can register. The state Board of Elections will barely meet with us, and the county Boards of Elections won't accept checks for filing fees for our candidates. I put up more than $1,000 worth of yard signs, and the state took them all down, because (get this) there is "no election going on at this time"! Ouch.

The only thing that can change this is participation at the grassroots.

And the only kind of participation that matters is….small contributions, from lots of folks!

That's why we are running a small money bomb tomorrow. It's so small, it's really just a money grenade.

Won't you join the Munger "Grenade Brigade"? Here's what you do, ANYTIME ON JULY 3 or JULY 4. Yes, ANYTIME:

Go to http://www.munger08.com/

Click on "contribute"

Give $25, or less (the amount doesn't matter as much as the fact you show your support for democracy and free choice in politics!)

That's it. That's all I need.

Please help! Even if you have already given, PLEASE just give something. It isn't the money, as much as it is the message that lots of folks care

Mike Munger
http://www.munger08.com/
munger4ncgov@gmail.com

----- end of message ------

Click to activate ------>

Related posts:
Munger's Keynote at the LP National Convention
Libertarian Party Back on the Ballot in NC
Munger on News 14 Carolina
Munger on Fox 8
Michael "The Body" Munger

NC Libertarians File List of 2008 Candidates

2008-07-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

[CONTRIBUTED BY BRIAN IRVING]

The race for North Carolina governor is now officially a three-person contest. The Libertarian Party of North Carolina formally presented its list of 38 candidates for the 2008 General Election to the State Board of Elections June 30.

Dr. Michael Munger tops the list as the LPNC gubernatorial candidate. Dr. Munger is joined by Phillip Rhodes, running for lieutenant governor.

Libertarians will also contest 25 seats in the General Assembly, 14 in previously unopposed contests. Six of the legislative candidates are contesting seats in the Triangle.

Chris Cole is the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate. There are five Libertarian candidates for Congressional seats, including two in the Triangle.

The Libertarian candidate for President of the United States, former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, will be on the ballot along with his vice-presidential running mate, Wayne Root.

Here are the Triangle-area Libertarian candidates for US Congress, NC House, and NC Senate:

US Congress 2
Will Adkins
103 Shotts Court
Cary NC 27511
919-522-4674
wadkins@virtucorp.org

US Congress 4
Maximillian Longley
427 Lebanon Circle
Durham NC 27712-2645
919-475-8234
mlong11@pride.hofstra.edu

NC House 29
Justin Lallinger
31 Lansgate Ct.
Durham NC 27713
919-423-0596
jlallinger@gmail.com

NC House 30
Sean Haugh
1821 Hillandale Rd. 1B-332
Durham NC 27705
919-286-0152
seanhaugh@mindspring.com

NC House 38
Susan Hogarth
5901 Penny Road
Raleigh NC 27606
919-906-2106
hogarth@gmail.com

NC Senate 15
Janice Mackay
1009 Lightfoot Court
Wake Forest NC 27587
919-342-0403
jan@bikersusa.com

NC Senate 17
Brian Irving
206 Clancy Circle
Cary NC 27511
910-987-5844
brian@libertypoint.org

NC Senate 20
David C. Rollins
911 West Club Boulevard
Durham NC 27701
919-994-4858
dcrollins@gmail.com

Join the Munger Grenade Brigade!

2008-06-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

Learn more about the Munger Independence Day "money grenade" on Michael Munger's campaign blog or just click the "money grenade" to donate to his campaign Anytime on July 3rd or 4th.

7/2 Update: Munger Money Grenade Brigade
(message from Michael)

Related posts:
Munger's Keynote at the LP National Convention
Libertarian Party Back on the Ballot in NC
Munger on News 14 Carolina
Munger on Fox 8
Michael "The Body" Munger

Voting Libertarian in 2008

2008-06-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

According to a recent survey by Public Policy Polling, more North Carolinians are planning to vote Libertarian this year. These are the LP candidates we'll be able to vote for in Wake County:

National Candidates
Bob Barr & Wayne Allyn Root for President & VP
Chris Cole for US Senate
Will Adkins for US Congress District 2*
State-level candidates
Michael Munger for NC Governor
Phillip Rhodes for Lieutenant Governor of NC
Brian Irving for NC Senate District 17*
Janice MacKay for NC Senate District 15*
Susan Hogarth for NC House District 38*

* To find your House and Senate districts, check your voter registration information on the Wake County Board of Elections website or the NC Board of Elections site.

Update: The list above was updated on July 1st for Wake County voters. For a list of Libertarian candidates in the Triangle area, see this post. All LP candidates standing for office in NC are listed on the left sidebar of LPNC.org.

Bob Barr on Headline News

2008-06-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

Glenn Beck interview of Bob Barr on Headline News

Bob Barr's YouTube channel

Video about LP vice-presidential candidate Wayne Root on Bob Barr's website: Meet Wayne Allyn Root

Michael Munger's Keynote at the LP Convention

2008-05-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

Michael Munger, the Libertarian candidate for Governor of North Carolina, delivered one of the keynote speeches at the national Libertarian Party Convention in Denver. The text of that speech is copied below, and better yet, now there's now an audio version and a podcast of it at Munger08.com.

NEW! Video of this Keynote speech (added 6-22-08)

Libertarians, What Are We For?
May 23, 2008

Friends, it's great to be here, today. I know a lot of you already, and I hope to get a chance to talk with the rest of you soon. I look around this room, and I see a lot of friendly faces, a real sense of shared purpose. It's exciting.

Unfortunately, the reason that so many of us feel that spark of purpose is that we're having hard times. This administration in Washington is a really great recruiter for our party. Everywhere I go, people are disgusted.

They glance around, to make sure no one is listening, and then tell me, "You know, I never considered voting Libertarian before. But when I see the Patriot Act, when I see the casualties in the war in Iraq and the war on drugs, then I start to think Libertarian."'

The government is not providing the basic services that our more optimistic fellow citizens have come to expect. When I talk to people in the cities, Latinos and African-Americans, people who send their children to schools that look like war zones, schools that may be the single most disastrous examples of the failure of statist social engineering, I hear it: "I'm starting to think Libertarian."

Of course, some folks also ask me, "Why don't Libertarians care about real people? The Democrats and Republicans are interested in real people."

I answer, yes, Democrats and Republicans are interested in real people. And fleas are interested in real dogs. We don't elect them mayor.

Why would you think that if I care about you, I should want to run your life? Or, if I don't want to run you life, why would you think I don't care?

As I said, this year is a great opportunity for Libertarians, for an alternative. The humorist PJ O'Rourke was researching farm subsidies, a remarkably expensive program with essentially no real benefits. While O'Rourke was doing research, he visited a farmer, who was going to artificially inseminate a cow. While the farmer was doing what he needed to do to inseminate the cow, at the cow's hind end, he asked PJ to hold the cow's head. The farmer, of course, was manipulating a two-foot-long plastic turkey baster, in the part of the cow where it needed to go. PJ, holding the head, said that he would never forget the look on that cow's face.

But that look was familiar. And then PJ recognized it, and you recognize it, too. Millions of taxpayers have the same expression that cow had, every April 15th. And for the SAME REASON!

That same reason, for taxes, for failures in foreign policy, and for disastrous corruption at every level of government, is the reason that people are starting to think Libertarian.

If people are presented with a better choice, then they will make a choice. And a lot of those people in America today are thinking of making a LIBERTARIAN choice.

But what will our message be? How will we present that "better choice?" What are the ideas that we want to communicate to all those voters, to all those people who never even considered voting for us before. Friends, we stand at a crossroads. We have an opportunity we may never have again. Our message has to come down to the answer to one question, the response to four simple words. Those four words…you've all heard them. Those four words….we often stumble over our answer.

The question….the four words we have to face….it all comes down to this: What are we for?

What are you for?

Our success, our very future as a party, is going to depend on how we answer those four words in the next five months.

The simplest and best answer I can think of is this. Libertarians are for the American dream. For everyone, all over the whole world.

The American dream is simple, at its core. If you work hard, you will succeed. And hard work multiplied by merit will bring you success beyond your wildest dreams. In spite of all its flaws, all its taxes and regulations, America itself is still, STILL, the greatest human invention for producing wealth that the world has ever seen.

In the America that I am for, that I work toward as a Libertarian, no one can tell you what to work on, and no one can take away the fruits of your success.

Now, when you present this message, when you tell people what we are for, you will have a problem. You have to accept that we are confronting the accumulated nonwisdom of decades of a state-controlled educational machine.

And you will get questions. You all know the questions: Who will take care of us? Who will organize the society? We need the government to tell us what to do….

This message, of needing a government to tell people what to do, seems to have permeated the very souls of our nation. Even if we are advising people in developing nations, you can see it. Remember, these poor folks are desperate to become free and prosperous, to have enough liberty to raise their children and enough money to support them.

What do we tell them, when they ask about the American dream? That they need the rule of law? That they need to guarantee private property? That they need honest judges, and a system for adjudicating disputes that is fair and predictable. And a private banking system, to mediate complex financial transactions and provide the loans and liquidity necessary for growth?

No. Our leaders tell developing nations that what they need to copy, the first thing they need to do is….have elections! Sweet fancy Moses! Look how well that works for us!

We tell developing nations to adopt the worst, most dysfunctional part of our system, our electoral system, and expect them to climb that stairway to the American dream. Just have elections! You'll be rich in no time.

As is all too evident in daily news, this path has led them not toward the dream we all prize but toward the nightmare we all fear. Nations that have tried to develop by adopting majority rule institutions have nearly always failed unless they have already put in place the other institutions necessary to guarantee liberty.

Why? Because, by itself, without judges and rule of law, majority rule is always two wolves and a sheep deciding what is for lunch.

Libertarians are not "for" majority rule, as any kind of moral principle. In a democracy, we are sometimes forced to use majority rule as a way to decide things. But it is not the core of our system. Majority rule can be a protection against tyranny by an elite, but it creates another danger that may be greater. There is no moral force in the majority; it is just what most people happen to think. This cannot be the bedrock for a party that wants to stand for what is truly American.

Then, what are we for? What is the system that we think other nations should look to, and adopt? It's democracy, not majority rule. What do I mean by democracy? Let me tell you a brief story. Examples of this story, almost exactly the same facts, have happened all over the world, over and over again.

In the late 1990's, a number of people were living in a town called "Niono," in the west African nation of Mali. A number of Peace Corps and other aid agencies worked to help the 50,000 residents of Niono. One problem they faced was the control of water. There was a large drainage ditch that didn't really drain anywhere. But it was a huge collector of animal carcasses, human waste, and mosquito larvae.

A Dutch group installed a pump, and it made a huge difference in the quality of life in the village. Waste water was cleaned up, malaria and other diseases were greatly reduced, and when rain water did collect in this ditch it could be pumped out for irrigation for crops. After the pump was installed, the drinking water supply was no longer fouled by floods of waste.

The aid agencies, one by one, moved on to other projects, other villages, maybe even other parts of the world. They left the care and maintenance of the Niono pump up to the local government officials.

When one of the Peace Corps workers returned to the village, five years later, things looked pretty much the same. Same streets, same trees. But the pump had broken, years ago. And the agent of the government had made no move to fix it, preferring to keep the taxes for himself.

All the pump needed to work again, and solve the problem, was a machined part that cost less than $100. But because no one fixed the pump, 10% of the town contracted malaria every year. That's every year, mind you. New cases.

The returning Peace Corps worker asked why no one had fixed the pump. The people of the town said that they were waiting for the government to do it. And they were very angry, because they were sick and weak, because no one would help them. Far from lifting them up, the help of the NGOs had only left them more dependent on government, less able to care for themselves.

You see, once a society comes to believe that no one has the power to fix things, and that we have to wait on the government, we ALL become sick and angry. Those people in Niono, they could have worked together, pooled their resources, and fixed that pump. But they have no sense of private, personal empowerment. They have been taught since birth, since their grandparents' birth, to think of themselves as children in a family headed by the state.

The well-intentioned help of the Peace Core volunteers only made this worse. The towns-people sat around waiting in vain for the government to save them, dying of malaria. If when the pump had been installed the Peace Corps workers could also have talked about self-reliance and liberty, many lives would have been saved. Once started, that process is self-perpetuating. Once I can use my own money, my own ingenuity, rather than waiting for the government…well, that is the stairway to the American dream.

In 1831 a Frenchman, named Alexis de Tocqueville published a memoir of his travels in the U.S. It was called, called "Democracy in America," but it could have been called, "How Americans Get Things Done." Tocqueville marveled at how Americans worked together privately to solve civic problems.

Now, Tocqueville was no fan of majority rule. The problem with political democracy, he said, is that citizens are isolated and feeble. They can do hardly anything by themselves, and they can't force others to help them. He admired the American solution to this problem: organize into private groups, and leave government out of it.

I'm quoting now: "They all, therefore, become powerless if they do not learn voluntarily to help one another. If men living in democratic countries had no right and no inclination to associate for political purposes, their independence would be in great jeopardy (pause to restate: nations have to defend themselves from external aggression), but they might long preserve their wealth and their cultivation: whereas if they never acquired the habit of forming associations in ordinary life, civilization itself would be endangered."

Translation: TO HELL WITH POLITICS, AND VOTING! Equating democracy with majority rule misses the point completely. Private voluntary associations are the essence, the very essence, of liberty, and hence of authentic American society. Citizens freely associating promote liberty, protect liberty, and provide increased welfare for everyone.

And that is what we are for – and why we joined a party dedicated to liberty. If you want to go out and persuade some people to work with you, and all voluntarily work for the benefit of each, then that is libertarian democracy. If someone wants to drop out, and form a different association, then they are free to do so.

Tocqueville criticizes his countrymen in France. He had seen, in the legacy of the French Revolution, the damage that political democracy and a reliance on majority rule could do.

But when I read his critique today, I get a sick feeling. His criticism on France in 1831 is an even more scathing indictment of American society today. We have become a political democracy, where voting is the extent of civic action, where interest group lobbying for power and wealth is the only route open to solve civic problems.

Tocqueville said that the mistake the French made was to believe this: The more enfeebled and incompetent the citizens become, the active government ought to be, so that the state can do what individuals can no longer do for themselves.

Friends, that has become the very core argument of American politics. It was false in 1831, and it is absurdly false today. But it sounds like a Presidential campaign speech, for any of the major candidates.

The truth is that, if we accept the lie that people are weak and useless, and that only government can help us, we end up like those forlorn townspeople in Niono, Mali. We are waiting for the government to come save us. And we are fooled into believing that the bigger the problem, the more money we take out of private hands and give to government, so we get help faster.

What happened in Mali was extreme, but you recognize it also in the U.S. In fact, it's typical: No one solves the problem and the money the government has received goes to produce more ineffective government, and even more enfeebled citizens.

The real answer is not more, but less, government. Given the freedom to do so, and the responsibility to act, citizens organize to solve problems. Look, after Hurricane Katrina, thousands of people tried to help. They organized mountains of contributions of food and supplies, they donated money to rent trucks, and they gave their time to drive those loaded trucks towards New Orleans. And they were turned away. Turned away! Instead of keeping order inside the ruined city, the one job government really does have, the one thing it can do, federal troops "kept order" by turning away relief supplies at the borders. That's not in Mali, that's in America.

The depth of the conceit that Tocqueville punctures is remarkable. Many of you know the political economist John Stuart Mill, a sometimes libertarian thinker. But he had a blind spot about things the government had to do for citizens. In 1850, he wrote that it was obvious, just as if OF COURSE, the state had to provide lighthouses for navigation.

He just sat in his study and wrote that, because looking out his window, by himself, he became convinced that no private person could collect fees from the ships as they pass the lighthouse. That meant that no lighthouse keeper could charge the fees needed to live, even though everyone valued the service.

At the time that Mill wrote that, take a guess, what proportion of lighthouses were privately owned? 5%? 10%? Try 75%! Fully three quarters of the lighthouses in England were privately owned and operated. By what miracle was this accomplished? By private, voluntary organization, a subscription service run in cooperation with the provisioning concession in local ports.

Many academics, even today, still point to Mill's admission that government was required to produce lighthouse services. But Mill was mistaken! It was not true, and it is not true now. Voluntary private organizations are better for nearly every purpose than coercive government organizations.

Imagine a group of shipowners, losing ships on the rocks in the foggy airs off the English seacoast. They are losing money, losing time, and losing ships. They figured out a way to raise money for lighthouses. Sure, some ships that didn't pay ALSO benefited, but it is always that way with voluntary solutions. There's more to go around, for everyone! Small voluntary groups are more flexible, and better solve Olson's "collective action" problem, than large government "solutions," no matter how well-intentioned.

That's what we are for, ladies and gentlemen. We are for the kind of private organizations that arise, in all their profusion and richness and complexity, in the absence of government decree. Churches, not-for-profits, for-profit firms, clubs, partnerships…the list goes on and on. That's what we are for.

I talked about this in a lecture at one of our universities this semester, because I think the comparison is so striking: The man who said lighthouses couldn't be private lived in a country where three quarters of the lighthouses were, in fact, private!

A student in the audience raised her hand and said, "But that is really a government solution, isn't it? Anything that involves more than one person is the government. Libertarians just believe that we should all be by ourselves, as individuals, right?"

As a college professor, as you can imagine, this was a proud moment for me. We are turning out graduates who have no frame of reference on the nature of the state. How could it be, how could anyone believe, that the spontaneous, voluntary organization of a group for mutual benefit, is identical to coercion, to taking by force?

They are as different as night and day. And, exactly as Tocqueville said, the more we come to depend on government, more we become dysfunctional, and the less we are able to organize ourselves to solve local problems.

The spirit of America does not allow for sitting back and waiting for the state do it. If you are my neighbor, I'll help you. And you'll help me. We have a direct, powerful voluntary connection. Reciprocal obligations, complex organizations, relationships voluntarily negotiated and ended.

Government crowds those out. If the government is supposed to take care of all of us, then I have no moral obligation to pitch in, to help out. I see you attacked, and I look up and down the street and cluck to myself, "Why don't the police do something?" If I see a bad school, I wonder why the state doesn't improve it. If I see a broken pump, I wait with my neighbors, and we watch our children die of malaria.

The great Murray Rothbard diagnosed the problem perfectly when he said that leaping from the necessity of social connection (that's real; we need that), to claims about the necessity of state action is the world's greatest non sequitur. It does not follow. It is false. Yet it is accepted in our schools, and in the halls of our government, as if this lie were self-evidently true. Not just true, mind you. Self-evidently true.

Well, back to the main question: What are we for? Libertarians are for voluntary action, always. It is because we are for society, a vibrant, active society that we resist the expansion of state power.

It is because we are for giving people a chance to reach their full potential that we doubt the motives and effectiveness of government. Political coercion corrupts the human spirit; political leaders tell us they take our wealth for our own good, and straitjackets independent thought – the essence of liberty.

We are for individuals, working together in complex, interconnected organizations that they have designed, trying to solve problems. We are for liberty, for celebrating the infinite and infinitely varied capacities of the human mind.

Libertarians are for a limitless sense of the possible, for the idea that for a society of truly free and responsible citizens, nothing is impossible.

Now, when we all go back to our home states, people are going to disagree with us. Hell, we disagree with each other! But as David Nolan said last night: There are NO enemies in this room. We are all for smaller government, personal autonomy, and groups of people working together as equals, as partners. And we are the only party that is for those things.

The Republicans and Democrats are the ones who are (as our own Michael Cloud puts it) tied up in their own nots. Our opponents are all knotted up.

They think we should NOT be able to ride a motorcycle with a helmet. Not just a helmet; an approved helmet. We cannot ingest, or even possess, plants that grow wild in nature. We can't start a business, hire whom we want, produce what we think is a good product.

They will not let us run our own schools, live our lives. They will not let us sell our property, and they may even take our property to transfer it to some other person or group, NOT caring at all about the so-called doctrine of "public purpose."

In short, it is the actually the positions of our opponents that can be reduced to lots and lots of nots.

Libertarians are for the rights of individuals. As Thomas Jefferson said, "It is to secure our rights that we resort to government at all." Not establish, not create: "Secure."

Government, if it is to be legitimate, must secure our rights to our persons, our property, and our consciences. As Tocqueville argues, and the experience in Mali proves so painfully, any government that tries to do more than that paradoxically does less. A government that tries to engineer a society always destroys society, because the constitution of society and the nature of the state are antithetical.

So, when your neighbors back home say that they disagree with one or another of the things Libertarians are for, agree with them. Understand their position. As the great Harry Browne put it, of course we disagree on some things. No two people agree on everything. But you, and I, and our neighbors back home, do agree on something, something very fundamental. We agree on what we are for.

We are for a Libertarian society, where a couple wakes up, in their own home, on land that they control, on property that they can defend. This couple formed a bond, by mutual consent, without needing the license or endorsement of any outside agency. They send their children to school that they have chosen, whose curriculum they endorse.

When they go out to their car, they don't take an I.D. It's no one's business who they are, or where they are, so long as they initiate no violence and break no laws.

They work in jobs they have trained for, and they enjoy the full fruits of that labor. They contribute to charities or work for causes they believe, and are not forced at gunpoint to support causes they loathe.

What do these schools, these jobs, these causes, look like? What will people do? I have no idea! Isn't it arrogant to think that I could know? Wouldn't it be despotic to think that I have to know?

We are for each American. We are for families, and for groups of people working together to solve problems, serving their consciences and their own goals. We are for responsibility, and choices. We are for a government small enough to fit inside the Constitution. And only the Libertarians can give America back that sacred gift- liberty.

Friends, thank you, and think Libertarian. Think Libertarian.

LP National Convention on C-SPAN

2008-05-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

C-SPAN archived videos of the 2008 Libertarian National Convention in Denver:

Campaign 2008 and Libertarians (36 minutes)
Bob Barr answering questions about the Libertarian Party and his candidacy shortly after being nominated as the Libertarian candidate for president

Road to the White House (1 hour, 32 minutes)
Highlights of the 2008 LP National Convention, including speeches by candidates for the presidential nomination, scenes from the convention floor, Mary Ruart's concession speech, and Bob Barr's victory speech

LP National Convention Activities (4 minutes)
Libertarians getting their hair cut to donate to Locks of Love

*end of post*

Libertarian Party Convention in Denver

2008-05-24T23:53:00.000-07:00

As well as amending the party's platform and bylaws, convention delegates also selected the top candidates for the LP nomination for president. Candidates receiving enough delegate support took part in a C-SPAN broadcast debate; those candidates were Bob Barr, Mike Gravel, George Phillies, Mike Jingozian, Mary Ruwart, Steve Kubby, and Wayne Allyn Root.

Update: Election results
In a suspenseful election process taking six rounds of voting to complete, the majority of the delegates eventually selected former Congressman Bob Barr over the competition for the Libertarian Party nomination for president. Long-time libertarian activist, Dr. Mary Ruwart, had a narrow lead on the fifth ballot, with Wayne Allyn Root eliminated in third place. In Root's concession speech, he expressed support for a Bob Barr candidacy and a desire to run as the vice-presidential candidate. The final vote on the sixth ballot was 324 for Barr and 276 for Ruwart.

Root and Steve Kubby received the strongest support in the vice-presidential nomination, with the majority of the delegates selecting Wayne Allyn Root as the vice-presidential nominee. The vote on the second and final ballot was 287 for Root and 257 for Kubby.

C-SPAN coverage available as online videos
Presidential candidates debate (~ 2 hours)
Presidential candidate nomination (~ 7 hours)
Keynote address by Richard Viguerie (~ 20 minutes)

LNC news releases:
LP selects Bob Barr as 2008 presidential nominee
Wayne Allyn Root selected as vice-presidential candidate /// Presidential and VP vote totals /// LNC Officer Elections

Libertarian Party Back on the NC Ballot

2008-05-24T23:31:00.000-07:00

Libertarian Party of North Carolina
Brian Irving, Communications Director
(contact: 910.987.5844)

RALEIGH (May 22) -- The Libertarian Party is back on the ballot in North Carolina. The State Board of Elections formally certified the party today. North Carolina voters who so choose can now register Libertarian.

"This was our eighth ballot access drive. Without a doubt, it was the most nerve-racking and exhausting one we've conducted," said Barbara Howe, state chair. "We are now back on the ballot, but we are out of funds, so we have no money to support candidates."

Nevertheless, the Libertarians will field a slate of candidates in November, she said. At their 2008 convention in Burlington held in April, the party nominated Dr. Michael Munger, chair of the Duke University political science department, for governor. They also nominated candidates for the General Assembly, U.S. Congress, and the Guilford County Commission.

Libertarians have until July 1 to submit a complete list of candidates to the SBOE, Howe noted. "We expect now that we are officially on the ballot, we will have more people come forward who want to spread the message of liberty."

North Carolina ballot laws are the most restrictive in the nation. "They're designed by the Democrats and Republicans to keep independent candidates and third parties off the ballot," said Dr. Munger. The LPNC spent an estimated $134,000 and logged 2,200 volunteer hours to collect the nearly 70,000 valid signatures needed.

"This also costs the taxpayer, stifles democracy, and, worst of all, kills trees," Dr. Munger quipped. "County BOE clerks spend 4,000 hours verifying the more than 108,000 signatures we submitted." That's based on an estimate of two minutes to verify each signature. In some cases, it takes 5 to 10 minutes, Dr. Munger said.

"And we used more than 20 reams of paper, 400 pounds," Dr. Munger said. "And after all this time, effort and expense, we essentially arrive at the starting line breathless."

"Since the process keeps most parties out completely, the real cost to taxpayers is democracy." Dr. Munger said. "No choices, no new ideas, and no competition in a system that could surely use it.

"Nearly half of the seats in the General Assembly will be unopposed again this year because we have had to spend all our resources on this bizarre exercise instead of recruiting candidates and campaigning."

Meanwhile, Libertarian delegates have departed/will depart for the 2008 Libertarian National Convention in Denver May 22 to 26. The Convention will nominate a candidate for president, who will be on the ballot in 48 states. A debate featuring the Libertarian candidates seeking the presidential nomination will be aired live on CSPAN Saturday, May 24 from 7 to 9 p.m. (MST).

"Unlike the Democratic and Republican national conventions, ours is not subsidized by taxpayer money," Howe noted.

More Dr. Mary Ruwart

2008-05-17T15:18:00.002-07:00

Dr. Mary Ruwart on "The Libertarian Alternative"

Dr. Mary Ruwart on Health Care

Dr. Mary Ruwart at the LPNC Convention

(video created by Joy of Wake LP)

Mary Ruwart on Anti-War Radio
Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression
Dr. Ruwart's Issues

More Senator Mike Gravel

2008-05-17T15:18:00.001-07:00

Gravel on Capital Outsider: Part I with Eric Sundwall

Gravel on Capital Outsider: Part II with Bill McMillen

*end of post*

Barr Announces; Root and Gravel Debate

2008-05-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

Bob Barr Announcement (1 min)

Root and Gravel Debate on Fox Business Channel
(in 6 parts, 3 to 5 minutes each)

Libertarian Presidential Candidates

2008-05-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

Delegates to the Libertarian National Convention next week will nominate a Libertarian presidential candidate from quite a large group of possible candidates, including former Republican Congressman Bob Barr who officially announced his candidacy today, former Democratic Senator Mike Gravel who recently joined the Libertarian Party, and long-time Libertarian activist, Dr. Mary Ruwart.

LP Presidential Candidate Videos

Dr. Mary Ruwart on "Live and Let Live"

Wayne Allyn Root at a rally in Sacramento

Steve Kubby on Immigration

The Steve Kubby Show on blogtalkradio
Kubby's policy positions

Michael Jingozian: Reset America

Gravel video: Presenting Mike Gravel

'Heartland Libertarian Conference' Videos
Several of the candidates for the LP nomination - Wayne Allyn Root, Christine Smith, Michael Jingozian, Dr. Mary Ruwart, Senator Mike Gravel, and George Phillies - participated in a recorded debate at the Heartland Libertarian Conference. Former Congressman Bob Barr gave the keynote address. Here's the videos from that event:

Debate, Part 1 (58 minutes)

Debate, Part 2 (47 minutes)

Keynote Address by Bob Barr (26 minutes)

Related posts:
Ruwart Speaks Out Against Expanded DNA Collection
A Plan to End Federal Income Taxes Forever (Root)

Editorial on Third Parties in NC

2008-05-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

The Winston-Salem Journal published an excellent article on third parties and election laws in North Carolina.

"In the United States, we've traditionally had a two-party system. But, we've also been blessed, at important times in our history, to have third parties challenge tweedledum and tweedledee."

Read the rest here: Third Parties (May 9, 2008)

*end of post*

Resisting Annexation in Wake County

2008-05-05T23:28:00.001-07:00

Wake County residents resist forced annexation by Fuquay-Varina. (NBC 17, May 5, 2008)

May 7 update: WRAL presents the story as two towns fighting over the land with the county residents "caught in the middle." (WRAL video)

Related post: Good News on Annexation?

Libertarians and Greens in Court

2008-05-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

LPNC Chair, Barbara Howe, said:

"Our lawsuit is challenging the constitutionality of North Carolina’s ballot access laws, so we don’t have to fight this battle [for ballot access] over and over again.”

The trial started Monday and will continue this Tuesday in room 10-A of the Wake County Courthouse.

Parties sue for N.C. ballot access (article and video)
News 14 Carolina, May 5, 2008
Updates on the trial available on LPNC.org

*end of post*

Good News on Annexation?

2008-04-24T04:17:00.000-07:00

Maybe. On Wednesday, the House Select Committee on Municipal Annexation voted to recommend a 1-year moratorium on involuntary annexation. This committee recommendation is just the first step towards reform of annexation laws in NC.

Involuntary annexation is currently a legal power in North Carolina, but it's not a just power, because the people living in communities targeted for annexation are not given a choice.

If General Assembly members act on the principle of just powers being derived from the consent of the governed, they will stop forced annexation in the state. If they are persuaded by the lobbying efforts of the League of Municipalities*, they won't.

More about annexation in NC and the April 23rd meeting of the House Select Committee on Annexation is available on this page at StopNCAnnexation.

StopNCAnnexation will be holding a rally for annexation reform on June 4th in Raleigh.
____________________________

* Americans for Prosperity pointed out that the League of Municipalities is funded with taxpayer money. They're using this taxpayer money to lobby the General Assembly to keep state laws that allow involuntary annexation by municipalities. Take a look at the league's membership list and the dues on their application for membership (pdf). It goes up to $3718/year for large organizations.

Related post: Annexation without Representation

Ruwart Speaks Out Against Expanded DNA Collection

2008-04-21T20:02:00.000-07:00

In an article posted today, Feds Want Your Blood, Mary Ruwart, a candidate seeking the Libertarian Party's nomination for President, speaks out against routine DNA collection of anyone arrested or detained by Federal agents:

"The Federal government wants the power to forcibly collect DNA samples from any citizen they arrest or any non-citizen they detain, pounding yet another nail in the coffin for the Bill of Rights. They have no more right to take a DNA sample from you than they do to search your home or car without permission. But the Bush Administration doesn't recognize any limit on its power."

"President Bush is obviously missing the meaning of the 'unreasonable searches and seizures' clause of the Fourth Amendment. It's unreasonable to perform invasive medical procedures on anyone, especially someone who may been arrested by mistake and poses no threat to society."

"This expansion of Federal law enforcement power was authorized by Congress as an amendment to the Violence Against Women Act. ..."

Read the rest on Mary's website here: http://www.votemary2008.com/node/49

A Plan to End Federal Income Taxes Forever

2008-04-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

On April 15, Wayne Allyn Root, a candidate seeking the Libertarian Party's nomination for President, announced a plan to end Federal income taxes forever. This plan proposes "eliminating the income tax and all other sources of federal tax revenues, including payroll taxes, excise taxes and import duties, and replacing it with only one tax: a tax on each state in proportion to its population, with each state deciding for itself how to raise its share of the money."

"Our vision for dramatic change in U.S. tax policy is as simple as it is revolutionary in scope. With our plan there will be only 50 taxpayers in our country writing checks to the U.S. Treasury each year. With no other source of revenue to the U.S. Government, the balance of power would be forever dramatically reversed back to the states (just as our Founding Fathers envisioned)."

The entire 2-part plan to stop un-Constitutional spending and end Federal income taxes is available on Root's blog.

Brian Irving for NC Senate District 17

2008-04-19T18:33:00.000-07:00

The Libertarian candidate for North Carolina Senate in District 17, Brian Irving wants to reform NC election laws, restrain municipal aggression, and give parents and students more control and choice in education. Mr. Irving was interviewed by Pete Kaliner of WBT about the recent LPNC Convention and ballot access issues in NC. This conversation begins about 38 minutes into the 4/13/2008 episode of Common Sense with Pete Kaliner (News Talk 1110 WBT).

Brian Irving: Libertarian for NC Senate District 17

Highlights of the LPNC Convention

2008-04-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

The primary items of business of North Carolina Libertarians attending the annual LPNC convention last weekend were to nominate candidates for state and local offices, consider amendments to the party platform, and select delegates to the national Libertarian Party Convention in Denver.

Michael Munger was nominated as the Libertarian candidate for governor of North Carolina. Chair of the Political Science department at Duke, Mike Munger is running as a reformer who, if elected as governor, would use that office to counter the waste and corruption in state government. In addition, three Wake County Libertarians were nominated for the North Carolina General Assembly:

Susan Hogarth for NC House District 38
Brian Irving for NC Senate District 17
Stephanie Watson for NC Senate District 16*

In other business, convention delegates amended their platform. They added a plank calling on the state to refuse to implement national identification programs like Real ID. Additional new platform planks address state and local issues including water rights, local sign ordinances, and fluoridation of public water supplies.

Convention attendees heard from several candidates for the Libertarian nomination for President, including former Senator Mike Gravel and Wayne Allyn Root. Former Congressman Bob Barr also spoke to the convention as our regional represenative to the Libertarian National Committee. Having recently launched a presidential exploratory committee, Barr is another possible Libertarian nominee for President.

Of the possible presidential nominees attending, Dr. Mary Ruwart was the favorite of this convention. A libertarian activist since 1982 and the author of Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression, she won the straw poll, receiving a whopping 68% of the vote.

* The Watson campaign has been postponed till 2010.

Meet Michael Munger
Libertarian Duke professor wants to be N.C. governor
Mary Ruwart, Libertarian for President

Pictures from the LPNC Convention in Burlington

2008-04-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

Annexation without Representation

2008-04-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

According to Wake LP Chair, Fernie Williams, there was standing room only at the public hearing on annexation Wednesday, with more than 300 attending this meeting in Raleigh. A major concern voiced at this hearing was that the people living in communities targeted for annexation have no choice.

Most of the speakers at this hearing were there to oppose NC's annexation laws. For many, the main problem is the burden of additional taxes that the cities impose when they annex their property. Larry Wright, a speaker at this hearing, summed it up:

"It is all about money: they want it; we have some; and they take it."

Another concern is that the cities often won't annex poorer neighborhoods that would stand to benefit from city services. Unless there's money to be gained, the cities just aren't interested.

Fernie noticed that most of the pro-annexation speakers were there on behalf of cities or other organizations:

"The cities and their representatives believe that they are the engines of economic prosperity. But in that hunt, they are no more than the tick on a hound dog's back. It's the individuals that take the risks that really drive the economy."

Involuntary annexation is one of Michael Munger's key campaign issues. He points out that NC is one of only seven states that permit cities to annex private property without the owner's consent. From his website:

"As Governor, I would work to persuade the General Assembly to pass legislation to curb this assault on freedom and property."

Annexation-Law Foes Tell Lawmakers It's Unfair (WRAL video)
Law's Foes Decry Annexation Without Representation (WRAL.com, Posted: Apr. 9, 2008)
Munger on the Issues (see Annexation)
StopNCAnnexation

New Wake LP posts:
Good News on Annexation? (4-24-2008)
Resisting Annexation in Wake County (5-5-2008)

LPNC Convention this Weekend

2008-04-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

Root for Ruwart, Barr, Gravel

Libertarian Party of North Carolina
Brian Irving, Communications Director
Contact: (910)987-5844

RALEIGH (April 9) -- Former Democratic Senator Mike Gravel, who recently joined the Libertarian Party and is seeking its nomination for president, will attend the State Libertarian Convention this weekend in Burlington. Sen. Gravel will arrive Friday evening and attend most of the convention session Saturday.

Another defector from the so-called major parties, former Republican Rep. Bob Barr, will also attend the Saturday sessions. Barr recently formed a exploratory committee to gauge support for seeking the Libertarian presidential nod.

The convention will open Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. in the La Quinta Inn, Burlington.

The primary order of business will be nomination of candidates for Governor, Council of State seats and the General Assembly, especially in the unopposed districts. The party is on the verge of completing its petition drive to regain its spot on the ballot.

Nominations for the gubernatorial candidate will take place Sunday morning. There will also be a Presidential Candidates Forum and Straw Vote.

In addition to nominating candidates, delegates will also consider changes to the LPNC Platform on Saturday, including a proposal to oppose "Real ID," a scheme for a national ID card.

In addition to Gravel and Barr, three announced presidential candidates also will attend. They are Dr. George Phillies of Massachusetts, a physics professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Dr. Mary Ruwart of Texas, a biochemist, nutraceutical company consultant and author of the best-selling "Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression," and Wayne Allyn Root, a TV sports commnentator know as "America's Oddsmaker."

Munger on News 14 Carolina

2008-04-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

Libertarian candidate for NC Governor, Michael Munger, was featured as part of a News 14 Carolina report about third parties and the struggles they face in NC. News 14 archives their stories online, so you can still view this interesting discussion.

Asked what issues he would raise in the gubernatorial race, Munger mentioned same-sex marriage, the death penalty, and education reform. About the proposed Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in NC, he said:

"We need to stop that Constutional amendment. That sort of legislation about morals shouldn't be in the Constitution.”

He supports a moratorium on capital punishment, and he wants to lift the limit on charter schools.

Political Connections: Third parties (video)
News 14 Carolina, 3-22-2008

Michael Munger's Issues