Libertarian Strategy Monthly

Herding Cats Since May 2009

Volume 2 | Issue 1 Friday, January 1, 2010In This Issue:

Pages 2-3

Opinion

States Don’t Have RightsPages 3-4

Opinion

The Cost of Doing BusinessPages 4-6

Opinion

Local OrganizationPage 7

Breaking News

Badnarik HospitalizedPages 7-9

News

LP The Liberty PenguinPage 9

News

MA Senate RacePage 9

News

Our America InitiativePages 10-11

Talking Points

Marijuana LegalizationPages 11-12

LNC News

LNC UpdatesPages 14-15

Other

From The Archives

Issue Brief:

Excerpted From TheLibertarian Party

Top 10 disasters of the 2009Obama administration (in noparticular order):1. Cash for Clunkers2. War escalation inAfghanistan3. Giant government healthcare expansion bill4. Post office loses moneyhand over fist5. Stimulus package6. Expansion of "state secrets"doctrine7. Big increase inunemployment8. "Bailout" Geithner asTreasury Secretary9. Skyrocketing federalspending10. Huge federal deficitsTop 10 disasters of the 2001-2008 Bush administration:1. Cash for Car Companies2. War in Iraq3. Giant Medicare expansionbill4. Post office loses moneyhand over fist5. Stimulus "rebate" checks6. PATRIOT Act7. Big increase inunemployment8. "Bailout" Paulson asTreasury Secretary9. Skyrocketing federalspending10. Huge federal deficits.

Privacy Alert:

Excerpted From TheACLU

Okay, so no one is explicitlycalling for body cavity searchesfor all airline travelers — yet. Butthe logic of those pushing forbody scanners for all airlinepassengers, and criticizing theACLU for opposing that, leads tothe inescapable conclusion thatthese critics would support such apolicy. Consider:1.

When Richard Reid broughtexplosives onto an airlinerhidden in his shoes, theauthorities made everyoneremove their shoes. Whensecurity experts and othercritics pointed out that thiswas "silly security,"defenders argued that wemust put up with it in orderto block that particular kindof plot.

Now that a disturbed personhas brought explosives ontoan airliner in his underwear,panicked voices want theTSA to essentially viewnaked pictures of everypassenger who boards anairline — that's up to 2.5million people per day ondomestic flights alone.When the ACLU andmembers of Congressobject, critics cry that wemust abandon our personaldignity and privacy in orderto block that particular kind

of plot.To Read More Visit:http://www.aclu.org

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

Albert Einstein

Happy New Year!

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

www.jakeporter.orgOpinions of our guests do notnecessarily reflect the opinions of Jake Porter, J.D. Porter Consulting,or Libertarian Strategy Monthly.

Conversing With Jake

Strategy and Opinion

States Don’t Have Rights!

By Jake Porter

n my monthlycolumn, I havetried to avoiddiscussion of political issuesand insteadfocus onpoliticalstrategy. Thisissue, however,is both a political issue and a strategicissue.States do not have rights overindividuals. You are born withinalienable rights and the Americanpeople, through the Constitution, havegranted government permission to useforce to protect those inalienable rights.The belief in the inalienable rights of individuals is what makes us libertariansand not conservatives or liberals. It iswhat differentiates us from any otherpolitical philosophy. It truly is our mostsignificant benefit to sell to theAmerican public. When libertarians andLibertarian candidates talk about state’srights we are giving people the falseimpression that we believe that groups of people can somehow vote away therights you are born with. By focusing on“states rights” we are also destroying ourmost significant benefit to sell to theAmerican people.When America was founded, ourfounders separated our nation from thebelief in the Divine Right of Kingstheory which proposed that God grantedall rights to the king and the king madeall the decisions. The founding fathersheld a belief that God grants rightsdirectly to the people and people grantpermission to the government to upholdand protect those rights.Of course, many of our founding fathersdid not believe black people weregranted God given rights which bringsus to another topic. States rights, tomany people, means segregation. Dostates have rights to allow someone toown another as property? Do states haverights to force businesses to discriminateagainst someone because of the color of their skin? Of course not! On the otherhand, many supporters of states rightshistorically were supporters of statesrights because they wanted to keepslavery legal so they could rape, torture,and abuse black men, women, andchildren. Years later, the same argumentof states rights was used to defend thesegregation of white and black people.Thankfully, today, most people realizethat blacks and whites can live together,

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

Gold America Group

Discuss Ways To Build The Libertarian Party

www.goldamericagroup.com

“If you are on a date with alibertarian woman and she tellsyou that she is carryingprotection, she does notnecessarily mean latexprophylactics.”

From The December 2006 Issue of LibertariansIn Action

work together, and even have childrentogether without any problems.If states rights are not libertarian, goagainst natural law, and were used todefend segregation and even slaverywhy do some libertarians insist ontalking about states rights? Don’t get mewrong, I think the state governmentsshould have more power over moreissues than the federal government does;however, the ninth amendment whichstates that “The enumeration in theConstitution, of certain rights, shall notbe construed to deny or disparage othersretained by the people” is just asimportant as the tenth amendment whichstates that “The powers not delegated tothe United States by the Constitution,nor prohibited by it to the States, arereserved to the States respectively, or tothe people”. Please notice that the tenthamendment says powers are reserved tostates. It says absolutely nothing aboutstates rights.J.D. (Jake) Porter, a 2008 BusinessAdministration graduate, previouslyserved as Iowa Coordinator for the 2008Bob Barr Presidential campaign, andworked as Business Manager for theSaint Joseph Telegraph. Today, he is theowner of J.D. Porter Consulting, and isthe Alternate to Region 6 of theLibertarian National Committee.

The Cost of Doing Business

By Scott WilliamsonWhen I moved my family fromMichigan to Nashville three years agoone of the decisions we had to make waswhere we were going to live. We couldhave chosen to live in the heart of theaction and moved to a loft in down townNashville. We chose to spend half asmuch and move to a neighborhood. Sure,when we go to see a ball game or attenda play we have to fight traffic and drivedowntown. In the long run, by livingaway from downtown we free upthousands of dollars a year to spend onother things.If you run a business or run a householdyou know that we make economicdecisions daily. Often the issue is nothow much you spend; it is how you arespending it. By spending money on onething you now have less to spend onother things. This is a lesson Libertarianshave been trying to teach government foryears.In order for the Libertarian Party to havemoral authority to teach this lesson it is