A quick note from the author

I haven't had time to post anything on this site in the last eight days. 

I'm chair of the Tarrant County Libertarian Party.  We're in a bit of a struggle within the Texas LP, primarily because of Tom and Kathie Glass, Republican Carpetbaggers from Houston.  (They're married to each other, and deserve the honor....) 

Kathie hopes to win the LP nomination for governor of Texas. 

When we had our Precinct Conventions last Tuesday night, about 17 people walked in that I'd never seen before, or had seen only once.  They were obviously there to deny our long-time Libertarian activists a chance to go to our State Convention in April.  That's because Tarrant County (Fort Worth) has a lot of "lifer" Libertarians who've seen Tom and Kathie in action for the last four years or so.  Therefore, very few of us who are active will ever support either Tom or Kathie for any office.  We know them.  It's a long, tiresome story that I'll post sometime between now and our State Convention. 

I had to go into full-blown "Barbarians At The Gates" mode to keep the Glasses from taking over the County Party, and it worked.  Our slate of delegates had an overwhelming victory.  To make it better, the Glasses of Houston were there for the event.  (Don't ask me why they felt it was their business to infiltrate a Tarrant County Convention.)

I believe they had some limited success with this type of behavior in Denton County, but nowhere else. 

We had some great people show up for the first time at our County Convention.  I hope they'll come back, despite having been used as pawns by the Glasses.  If they continue to show up and help out, they can be delegates to their hearts' content.  This is the first year I haven't had to beg people to go. 

Once we get the video, I'll post a few snippets of Tom Glass, the Houston interloper, slithering back and forth in the aisles, whispering instructions and passing notes to his unfortunate surrogate.   And both of them GETTING IT WRONG!!  Tom, you can't just add 11 additional delegates to a slate of 16 delegates when there are only 16 spots in the delegation !!!  Good Lord in heaven, man!!  You're a freakin' lawyer !!!

Anyway, I have a District Convention to orchestrate this Saturday.  Once that's over with, I'll be back to posting regularly.  I've missed it.  I've seen a dramatic dropoff in ad revenue from this site, and I miss that money, too ! 

I don't know who put it together, but this Kathie video is pretty funny if you know the back-story. 



Click here to return to my April Fool's Day endorsement of Kathie Glass for governor. 
 

Libertarian Leadership Training Conference - Saturday, March 1 !!

The Libertarian Party of Texas has a Spring Leadership Conference this Saturday ! If you are a candidate, candidate supporter, liberty lover, potential convention delegate or county chair, this is the meeting for you! You can pay at the door. Twenty-five bucks is all it takes for a full day of training, teaching, and hanging out with good, like-minded folks who are fighting for your freedom.

Here's a link....

DFW Airport Marriott South 4151 Centreport Drive Fort Worth, TX 76155Saturday, March 1, 2014 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM (CST)

This conference is designed to be INTERACTIVE. Please bring your laptop!
Lunch is included in the very low, $25 registration. Please do your part to spread the word and invite all the Libertarians you know who are ready to join the revoLution here in Texas. NOW is the time!

8am - Registration (Breakfast available at Cafe)

9am - Welcome*Convention Process Overview

10am - Breakout Stations (Attendees choose three and rotate every hour)

*Creating a Facebook Page

*LPT Resources/Navigating the LPTexas.org Website

*District Research for Block Walking and Voting Trends

*Convention Chair Training/ District Convention Planning

*Delivering the Message (Role Play, Q&A, etc.)

1pm - Lunch (US Senate Candidate Forum)

2pm - Delegate Training

3pm - Mock Convention (FUN!)

 

You'll never meet a really good waitress or bartender who is a Socialist

The Tarrant County Libertarian Party has a website, a Meetup page, a Facebook page, a Twitter feed, and might even have a long-forgotten MySpace account. 

About a week ago, in a desire to restrict all of the above to general announcements, we started something on FB called Cowtown Libertarians.  That's where we can post pics, memes, weird internet statist junk, and Barack Obama speeches sweetened up with a laugh track.  I hope you'll check it out. 

Here's a little taste.  It beautifully explains why you'll never meet a really good server, waitress, or bartender who is a true Socialist. 

Here's what I'm going to throw on there this afternoon, assuming someone else doesn't beat me to it.

Cowtown Libertarians.  Common sense distilled into interesting little pictures. 

The Good, The Bad, And The Governed

My friend Ken Stanford, who happens to be Treasurer of the Tarrant County Libertarian Party, let loose this gem on Facebook the other day:

I was listening to a radio show earlier that posed the question whether or not people are naturally good or not. His premise is that people on the left believe people are naturally good and people on the right believe people are naturally not good. Those on the left believe people are naturally good, therefore a large government is there for the benefit of all. People on the right don't believe people are naturally good, therefore are suspicious of large government.

My position is that people are naturally good, therefore we don't need the government in our life telling us what to do with every part of our life. As it has been said, Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Those with to much power become corrupt. However, in their own lives they are still good to those they are good to those around them.

(This is dealing with generalities so please do not bring up those such as mass murderers, molestors, or rapists. They are the exception not the rule.)

Yeah.  What Ken said.  If you believe in the natural goodness of humanity, you don't want 50% of your income going to being "governed". 

Here's Ken with Fox Business host John Stossel. 

 

The Gerrymanders where the west begins

Fort Worth, Texas is known as the place "where the west begins".   This post is about the Fort Worth Gerrymanders - the name I'm going to give a pro sports team if I'm ever rich enough to buy one. 

Gerrymandering is the dark art of fashioning voter districts to give one party or candidate an edge over another.  The term goes back to 1812, when Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry shaped some districts into the shape of something looking like a salamander.  A rival looked at the new map, agreed, and then quipped (for the ages) "It looks more like a Gerrymander". 

Here's a contemporary cartoon. 

In the USA, we have a census every 10 years.  Political districts are then re-drawn by whichever party is in power.  This is why American politicians make such a big deal of controlling Congress in the cycle after a census. 

Congress (and state legislatures) draw maps for new districts.  The party out of power always takes the issue to court, and is usually able to prove that a minority group doesn't have a proper set-aside district. 

(I once read on some typically nasty British website that the USA has two racial groups - "Black" and "Not Black".  I hate that idea, but I cannot argue with it.  To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever fought a court battle to give Asians, Scandinavians, French, Germans, etc., proper representation in government.) 

The courts then mess with it, and we wind up with districts that make Ellbridge's Gerrymander look as simple as Colorado. 

I'm Chairman of the Tarrant County Libertarian Party.  Please enjoy these maps of the Tarrant districts where I'm trying to recruit candidates for the 2014 elections.  In some races, the candidate must live in the district at the time of the election (or for some time earlier).  In others, he must commit to moving there if he wins.  All in all, candidates face a tough battle if they haven't lived in the (ahem) district for quite some time. 

Texas has its own House Of Representatives and its own Senate.  Here are the TX House districts that fall within Tarrant county.  All of these districts sensibly end at the county lines.  All of the money is in 97 and 96.  The military-industrial complex is in 99.  I think 93 is some kind of Hispanic carve-out.  To the best of my knowledge, 98 has a lot of cows.  92 is suburban sprawl.  90 is black.  95 is dark black. 
Please note 90 and 95.  What possible combination of tribalism, racism and paternalism could possibly motivate a court to draw districts like those?   

Here are the Tarrant county Texas Senate districts.  (There are 150 members of the House, but only 31 in the Senate.  Therefore, most of the Senate districts cross county lines.)

Enjoy the cartographic majesty of District 9.  It looks like there's one place in the northeast where the district is less than a block wide.  Bear in mind, this is the same county as shown above!

Here's the map for the U.S. Congressional Districts, the guys who get to go to D.C. and bring home the really big bucks.  On this map, I've shown some of the surrounding counties (Wise, Denton, Dallas, Parker and Johnson) since Congressional districts are much, much larger. 
Whoever drew District 33 sees the world through racist glasses.  He or she might love racial minorities, but no color-blind judge would've ever drawn that godawful mess on a map. 

My little tribe of liberty-lovers is doing well with candidate recruiting. 
Just wanted to post these maps so people in other countries could see the bizarre mess we're up against. 
What's sad about this process is that Black Americans often get their own "safe"district/ghetto, so there is one area, however strangely defined, where someone cares about them and their votes. 
But if these race-based districts were carved up and blended in with the rest?  There would be dozens of areas where politicians had to care about them and their votes. 
Good job, racists. 
 

Mother should I trust the government?

During the past few years, the Tarrant County Libertarian Party has:

1) Participated in an anti-Federal Reserve protest at the Dallas Fed.

2) Snagged some great speaking gigs at DFW NORML meetings. (National Organization For The Reform Of Marijuana Laws.)

3) Sponsored 2nd Amendment/Gun Rights debates, hosted NRA activist meetups, staffed tables at gun shows, and participated in “Open Carry” events.

4) Participated in Gay/Lesbian pride parades in Dallas and Fort Worth. (And won twice!)

5) Staffed literature/recruiting tables during at least 3 Tea Party rallies

6) Participated in 9/12 marches and had speakers at 9/12 meetings

7) We would’ve participated in Peace Marches, but the Peace Movement doesn’t really exist during Democrat administrations, and we don’t have the numbers to shut down the streets by ourselves.

8) Supported anti-Eminent Domain candidates for our regional Water Board.  And won!!

Stuff like that makes for a diverse group off allies.  But those groups have something in common....

Economic conservatives generally fear the Fed the government.
Pot smokers fear the police the government.
Gun owners fear the anti-2nd amendment lobby the government.
Gays and Lesbians fear the influence of religious conservatives the government.
Tea Party activists, supposedly neutral on social issues, fear the national debt the government.
The 9-12 groups, as best I can tell, fear socialists the government.
The Peace Movement fears the military-industrial complex the government.
Eminent Domain opponents fear thieves the government.

Most members of these sub-groups will tell you that they oppose Democrats. Or Republicans. This is like declaring your loyalty to The Crips because if you stop supporting The Crips, then The Bloods will take over.  Republicans and Democrats might go at each other like cats and dogs, but at the end of the day, neither group is going to endanger the oppressive system that makes their leadership (and their leaches) very, very wealthy and very, very powerful.   

Our challenge, as Libertarians, is to convince those who fear the government to merely oppose the government in all its unholy acts, instead of trying to kill off Dr. Jekyll while saving Mr. Hyde.  On almost every issue, John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi are different in degree, not in kind.  And I'm struggling to think of any issues (maybe guns?) where Bush/Obama differ by a significant degree.    (No, I take that back.  They don't even differ on guns.  Barack approves of giving guns to Syrian rebels, and to Mexican Drug Lords via Operation Fast And Furious.) 

When government gets big enough, it prints money, oppresses non-conformists, confiscates citizen weaponry, determines who can and can’t marry, racks up a lot of debt, nationalizes industries, starts wars, and confiscates property. That's all part of the package.

Any government big enough to abuse the group you dislike is big enough to abuse all the rest.

Let’s stop talking about Red vs. Blue. Let’s reframe the debate as Free vs. Slave.

. 

The Tarrant County Libertarian Party goes to the Fort Worth Gay Pride Parade AND WINS !!

Howdy. 

The Tarrant County Libertarian Party has long advocated something that I call the Spivey Doctrine.  My friend, and predecessor as county chair, John Spivey, believes that we should go after some of society's sub-groups called "The Four G's".  They would be the Gold, Grass, Guns, and Gays.  (Federal Reserve enemies, marijuana legalizers, 2nd Amendment devotees and Gays/Lesbians.)

I prefer "The 5 B's" - Stay away from my bed, beer, bourbon, babies, bullets and bongs.  But that's quibbling. 

About two months ago, we decided to participate in the Fort Worth Gay Pride parade, to help improve our relationship with that fourth G.  We've been in the Dallas equivalent for years, and thought it time to bring it home.  (Hit this link and this link for some of our better experiences.) 

We worked really hard on this thing, within the constraints of a relatively small budget, of course. 

And we won.  We won Best Not-For-Profit entry.

 Lockheed-Martin, the military contractor, won for Best Business/For-Profit entry.  They had a float with little jets that looked like they were hand made by Obama's Drone-Makers. 

It was an amazing day for us.  We pushed the envelope just a bit by having Dez Lehman, a Dallas Libertarian and cabaret singer/performer, entertain from the top of our float.  That guy worked that crowd like you cannot imagine.  Dez owned that parade. 

In case you're wondering, I'm the guy on the left.  I don't look good in feathers. 

 

Here's Dez with long-time Libertarian and Gary Johnson Texas campaign manager, Elizabeth Miller.  

Here's what we did with the front of Richard Forscythe's pickup.  Two brides and two marriage equality signs. 

Ken Stanford, flying the colors. 

That's one big fat honking Marriage Equality sign. 

 

And we're off.  You really don't get the flavor of this thing without hearing all the attendees screaming "LIBERTARIANS!  HELL YEAH!!!" and "THE LIBERTARIAN ARE HERE!  HOLY F**K!!" 

Plus Dez singing like the world was gonna end.  We had the only genuine music system in the parade.  That always helps.  That's Mike and Shayna Coyne walking beside the float. 

We had kids, politicians, moms, you name it.  All on the float, and dancing. 

 

More than one obsessive-compulsive person commented that our letters weren't "straight".  I just told them that it was a gay parade. 

That's the lovely Teresa Rushing, Tarrant LP Exec Committee Member-at-large. 

You cannot imagine the sheer, undiluted joy that this contraption brought to the crowd in downtown Cowtown.  I wish I could do this again today. 

 

Here's what the Democrat Party had to offer.  Gays and Lesbians, I think someone is taking your loyalty for granted....

 

Here are the Stonewall Democrats. 

Here's John Spivey with Dez.  Both of 'em looking good, don't you think?

We're definitely doing this again next year, and we'll have the float led and followed by our candidates with campaign signs. 

 

Lord have mercy, this was a fun day. 

 

On "discriminatory, inflammatory, lewd, and racial remarks in public"

For the first time ever, the Tarrant County Libertarian Party is going to participate in the Fort Worth Gay Pride Week parade. 
It's going to be a good time at a great event.  Go here to see our Meetup page about building the float, parade details, and the like. 

Last night, my friend Ken Stanford and I went to the gay/lesbian church where they held the organizational meeting.  (I believe that one lady thought we were romantic partners....not that there's anything wrong with that.)  It was a good group of people. 

The organizers spent a lot of time explaining how we should all behave.  There have been some Baptist preacher-types protesting at past events.  One of these Witch Doctors even went so far as to stick a bullhorn in the face of the mayor of Fort Worth.  They try to get a negative reaction from the gays and lesbians so they can post the pics and videos online and show their congregations how they're defending All Things Holy from the gay folks.  A few arrests were made, and some of the protesters did jail time, which they probably see as a badge of honor. 

Joel Burns, one of our City Councilmen, happens to be of the gay persuasion, and Joel usually rides in this parade.  After the bad incidents with the preachers a few years ago, Joel and the mayor (and I'm probably getting a few of the details wrong here) introduced a Zero Tolerance Ordinance that includes "protection from discriminatory, inflammatory, lewd, and racial remarks in public."  Also, "the use of bullhorns will not be permitted in the downtown area".  The Thought Police police department will be enforcing all of these regulations on the day of the parade.  (All of that is from the parade organizer info.) 

Dammit, I've got two bullhorns. 

I was planning on making good use of them to support the Marriage Equality cause.  Now I can't. 

IMHO, this is what usually happens when you try to protect people from opinions.  Dissent gets stifled. 
Yeah, I cannot stand fundamentalist nimrods who try to force everyone to live by the rules in their magic books. 
No, people shouldn't be allowed to stick bullhorns in your face, violate your space, or physically threaten you. 
But asking government to protect you from opposing points of view, like "discriminatory remarks" doesn't help your cause.  Never, ever, ever. 

If you've read this far and disagree, do you think I should have the right to call some people "fundamentalist nimrods", like I did a few sentences ago?  If you think that Barack Obama isn't very smart, should you be allowed to say so?  What about Rick Perry?  Where does it end? 

Anyway, we're going to have a good time at this thing.  Anybody who wants to marry another adult should be allowed to do so, and I really don't care if I've offended you with that statement, or if you think it's inflammatory. 

 Saturday, October 5th.  Hit this link if you want to help out. 

 

The Tarrant County Libertarian Party Flyer

My friend Shaun McAlister, of DFW/NORML fame, has a day job doing media work.

The Tarrant County Libertarian Party wanted a brochure, something we could hand out at events, debates, schools and such.  We gave Shaun a few bullet-points, some logos, and some Facebook pages where he could look for pics. 
Lord have mercy, look what the boy came up with!!  I'm proud of this thing. 

If you ever need some freelance media work done - print, video, or internet - Shaun is THE man.  End of story. 

Mike Coyne and I shamelessly ripped off the subject headings from the National and State LP sites.  The individual bullet-points are standard Mike Coyne rants and Whited Sepulchre blog entries. 

Can you imagine what a Republican or Democrat flyer of this type would read like?  Democrats having to justify a horrific economy, multiple wars, drones, invasions of privacy, failure-factory schools and enough black men in prison to fill up 20 Super Bowls?  Republicans trying to justify the military-industrial B.S., the War On Drugs, subsidies, tax exemptions for buddies, and a desire to take over your bed, bong, babies and bourbon? 

I love, love, love me some Libertarian party. 

Breakfast At Tiffany's

Someone named Tiffany who goes to a private academy in Dallas sent me some questions about the Libertarian Party Of Texas for a school project. 
Since I'm feeling lazy this morning, I'm letting it double as today's blog post.  Thought it might shed a little light on how we work.  The rant at the end has almost been finessed into a liturgy.   

Tiffany,


I hope these answers are satisfactory. Let me know if you need any details.

-Does the Libertarian Party of Texas's platform differ from the national party’s platform?

The platforms occasionally differ in degree or in emphasis, but seldom in principle. There are two issues for which the core libertarian philosophy doesn’t provide easy answers. Abortion (two possibly conflicting sets of rights), and immigration in the context of a welfare state.

One of the best things about being a Libertarian is that our core platform really doesn’t change, whereas the Democrats and Republicans have swapped or otherwise changed their positions on several issues over the last 50 years.

-What do you do within the State branch?

In addition to acting as Tarrant County Chair, I serve on a committee called SLEC. This is the State Libertarian Executive Committee. Our core responsibilities are to ensure that we have ballot access, that the message of Liberty is spread throughout the state, and to oversee the state conventions every two years. There are several committees within that group, and I currently chair the Compliance committee. We ensure that all actions taken by the county groups and SLEC are done according to the by-laws, and can withstand any legal challenges.

-What is the Libertarian Party of Texas's main job/function?

The purpose of the Libertarian Party of Texas is to win elections.

-How does Libertarian Party of Texas work with the national Libertarian party?

We help coordinate and host events for presidential candidates. Our most recent presidential candidate, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, was very well-received in Texas, BTW.

We also elect and send delegates from Texas to the national conventions, where they select our presidential and veep candidates.

-Which candidates is the Libertarian Party of Texas currently supporting and which elections are you all currently preparing for?

All of the “off-year” elections are non-partisan. But because of his pro-liberty stance, we’re encouraging people to support Daniel Wood, who is running for Arlington City Council. Sybil Lane is running for the school board in Crowley and she seems to have some strong libertarian support. We’re also making phone calls for John Basham, Tim Nold, and Mary Kelleher, three of the candidates for Fort Worth Water Board. These local elections are extremely important to us, even though no one runs under a Libertarian Party banner. It’s a shame that so few people vote in them, because the local races are often more likely to have a direct impact on the citizens than the national contests do.

-How much money does the Libertarian Party of Texas raise for “party activities”? How much money do they raise for specific candidates?

Fundraising is often a struggle for us. The Big Two fund their campaigns by blatantly selling exemptions to the tax, import, and tariff codes. It’s difficult to raise large amounts of money by promising to merely leave you (and your competitors) alone.

Fundraising for individual candidates has almost become a theological dispute for us, with some libertarians insisting that the national, state, and local parties not get into the business of “picking winners and losers”, and others wanting to put 100% of our limited resources into just a few competitive races in hopes of winning more elections.  At this point, the candidates are supported by their own fundraising events, with administrative and some logistical support from the county and state operations. 

-On what does the Libertarian Party of Texas spend most of their money?

Publicity for the party, administration, educational events and conventions.

-What are two recent headlines/events with which the Libertarian Party of Texas associated?

The Tarrant County Libertarian Party recently hosted a presidential candidates debate featuring the six Libertarians vying for the LP presidential nomination. We also hosted a gun rights/2nd amendment debate at TCU this past weekend.

The state party recently hosted an activists forum about dealing with the Texas Legislature. Speakers from NORML, the ACLU, a gun group, a transportation lobby and others all gave their take on how to lobby the legislature, where they’ve succeeded and where they’ve failed. Since this is an off-year for elections, the county organizations have been more active and visible than the state level operation.

-Does the Libertarian Party of Texas face any obstacles?

The biggest obstacle we face is something called the “wasted vote fallacy”. This is the belief that unless you vote for a Democrat or Republican, your vote is wasted.

Please remember that your share of the national debt is $50,000.00, and even more if you intend to grow up and be a net taxpayer to the federal government.

Your share of the government’s unfunded liabilities is more than $350,000.00

The Democrats and Republicans got you this far into debt by working together, as a team, in a bi-partisan manner.

They are borrowing billions of dollars from China, to protect the South Pacific from…..China.

We have enough people in our military (45% of the world’s military spending) to put a soldier along every 20 feet of the borders of the United States.

According to author Michelle Alexander, Barack Obama now has more black men confined in steel cages (mostly for owning or selling a weed) than The Confederate States Of America did prior to the start of the Civil War. One million government jobs could be eliminated if we were to end the Drug War (which is why so many government employees support the Drug War.)

The Federal Reserve printing press on Blue Mound Road in Fort Worth is pumping an additional 65 billion dollars a month into the nation. You’ll soon see prices rising because of this.

The only “wasted” vote is a vote to maintain this disaster.

Hope this helps!!

Allen Patterson

Tarrant County Libertarian Party Chair

Liberty Book Discussion Group - Economics In One Lesson with Dr. Doug Butler !!

The economy is creeping along, and there's a good chance of another recession.

Unemployment remains high.

The stimulus package was a flop, even by the standards of its advocates.

The national debt is approaching 17 trillion, and all that spending probably isn't showing up in your pocket, especially if you're under 30 years old.

All of this will be explained when Tarrant County's Liberty Book Discussion Group covers Henry Hazlitt's classic "Economics In One Lesson". We'll be getting together at the Barnes and Noble in University Park Village at 1612 South University Drive. Fort Worth, TX February 28th at 7:00 p.m.

Our discussion will be led by Dr. Doug Butler, of the TCU Department of Economics. Dr. Butler earned his Ph.D. from Auburn University and specializes in Public Finance and International Economics.

We won't claim that you can finish the book in one sitting, but two should cover it. This is one of the few economics page-turners!! Hazlitt was once the literary editor of "The Nation" magazine, back when it was a Classical Liberal (Libertarian) publication. He went on to write economics columns for "The American Mercury" and The New York Times. H.L. Mencken of "American Mercury" once wrote that Hazlitt was "one of the few economists in human history who could really write." Hazlitt was a staunch defender of free market economics, and this little volume is packed with examples of what happens when governments involve themselves in make-work, wages, increasing the money supply, and....economic stimulus.

Even better, you don't have to buy the book!!! Copy this link to download a PDF of the entire volume.

http://library.mises.org/books/Henry%20Hazlitt/Economics%20in%20One%20Lesson.pdf

If you suspect that there was no good reason for the recent "Fiscal Cliff" deal to include a huge giveaway for algae producers, NASCAR, and Hollywood productions filmed in "depressed" areas, but couldn't quite explain why, then this is the book for you. Hope to see you there!!

Thank You

Many thanks to the Libertarian Party candidates, door-knockers, sign-posters, phone-callers, Facebook-sharers, forum-attenders and other supporters !! 

This was our best year ever. 

Check out the Tarrant County Elections website when time permits.  Then head over to the Texas site.   A staggering number of Republicans and Democrats voted "straight ticket".  Even so, a lot of Dems and Independents selected our folks when there was a two-candidate race between the LP candidate and a Republican. 

We had a respectable showing in many of the 3-party races. 

If I'm disappointed in anything, it's Gary Johnson's total.  Yes, he doubled the 2008 number, but I would've put money on a 3x performance. 

But dang it, we didn't win anything. 

There's always 2014. 

I gave it my best shot, but the big one got away

Sometimes you win. 
I think the Libertarian Party is going to have its best year ever.  We've brought a lot of important issues to the attention of The Crips and The Bloods. 
It's been pleasant to see LP signs all over the place.  (I have to drive past 5 to get to work, and only one of them is from my stash !)
We've got some excellent candidates running in Tarrant county this year. 
We've made a lot of connections with gun rights groups and anti-prohibition groups.  Attendance at LP meetups has been increasing every month. 
There's been a lot of talk in the media about how the Libertarian Party might take some states away from one of the Obamneys and "give" those states to the other one, as if that matters. 

Sometimes you lose. 
I can probably point to 30 people who are voting LP for the first time because of my efforts. But dammit all to hell, sometimes the big ones get away. 

Go here. 

I tried, folks.  I really tried.  I came so close....

Spiveypalooza

Thousands of Tarrant County bureaucrats, jailers, drug warriors and regulators, feeling a sudden decrease in pressure, slowed down to a crawl, thought about putting their feet on their desks, but then realized they might once again be able to go about their burdensome jobs in peace….


Somewhere in the dark satanic entrails of the Trinity River Vision Authority, J.D. Granger felt a disturbance in The Force. The immense boondoggle known as the Trinity River Vision/Lake Granger just came a little closer to happening…

Ben Bernanke’s printing press on Blue Mound Road, also known as the U.S. Bureau Of Printing And Engraving, started churning out counterfeit currency a little bit faster….

Fort Worth’s big government Republicans and anti-civil liberties Democrats popped corks and proposed toasts….

And Lady Liberty shed a tear, knowing that one of her most devoted sons was moving on to fight elsewhere….

John Spivey is moving to Colorado.

I repeat….John Spivey is moving to Colorado.

We’re going to celebrate the work he’s done with the Tarrant County (and State) Libertarian Party on Tuesday, October 2nd, at the Zio Carlo Brewpub, from 7:00 until they run out of beer. They’re located at 1001 West Magnolia in Fort Worth.

John Spivey was Tarrant County LP Chair from 2006 to 2012. He’s served on the State Libertarian Executive Committee. He put together our recent LP Presidential Debate. We’re going to thank Spivey for taking us to a place where we now have one of the most active counties in the state. And we’re going to keep on going and growing. After all, Barack Obama has almost run out of other people’s money.

We’re going to hand out additional quantities of yard signs and door hangers.

We’re going to discuss how many Cabinet-Level Departments that Mitt Romney has pledged to close as compared to Obama (none).

We’re going to rant about the Federal Reserve, the Drug War, the Porkulus Package, the bans on Gay and Lesbian Marriage, your right to carry a pistol, ObamaCare, Eminent Domain, Gary Johnson, the National Debt, the Constitution, Ron Paul, and everything else that somebody wants to talk about. We’re going to laugh. We’re going to cry. Because John Spivey really is moving to Colorado.

John Jay Myers is now polling at 6%. Gary Johnson is anywhere from 4-7%. Republicans and Democrats are now fighting to keep us off what they think of as “their” ballots. Ken Stanford might win his race for Tax Assessor! Gary Johnson just might take New Mexico away from one of the Obamneys !!

A lot of this can be laid at the feet of John Spivey. Come say goodbye to this fine, fine man with us on Tuesday night, October 2nd. Zio Carlo Brewpub. 7:00 p.m. 1001 West Magnolia in Fort Worth.

“Before Elvis, there was nothing.” – John Lennon

Gary Johnson rips Paul Ryan. In Fort Worth. Covered by Reason magazine.

Reason magazine has a reporter named Garrett Quinn following Gary Johnson's tour of Texas. 

Gary Johnson is unimpressed with Paul Ryan.  Here's Mr. Quinn's conversation with Johnson on the danger of Republicans in Libertarian clothing:

Gary Johnson is not happy that some in the media call Republican vice presidential candidate and Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan a libertarian.

“He voted for the Patriot Act, he voted for the National Defense Appropriation Act, he voted to ban online poker, he’s proposing a budget that gets balanced in thirty years. He is anything but a libertarian, anything but,” said Johnson after a packed campaign dinner at Hill’s Café.

Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee for president, noted that Ryan was a strict social conservative that voted to restrict abortion rights and against marriage equality.

“Paul Ryan submitted personhood legislation that is anything but libertarian,” he said. Johnson's eyes widened and his volume increased as he went into detail about Ryan’s support for a national version of Virginia’s controversial transvaginal ultrasound law.

Yeah.  Can you imagine the interest your grandkids will be paying on a budget that's not balanced for another 30 years???

Also, if you hit the link at the top, you'll see that the pic from the interview isn't from Johnson's appearance at Hill's Cafe in Austin, but from Fort Worth's own Joe T. Garcia's restaurant, where the Tarrant County Libertarian Party held a fundraise/rally. 

This Thursday night - The Liberty Speakers Series kicks off !!!

Thursday, May 17, 2012, 7:00 PM

Hampton Inn and Suites, 2700 Green Oaks Road (Interstate 30 and Green Oaks Road), Fort Worth, TX

This is going to be incredible.  An eye-opener. 

The Tarrant County Libertarian Party is kicking off its Liberty Speaker Series with a discussion of The New Jim Crow Laws - speakers will include Dr. Alan Bean of Friends Of Justice, Shaun McAlister of DFW NORML, and Suzanne Wills of the Texas Drug Policy Task Force. 

As the United States celebrates its “triumph over race” with the election of Barack Obama, the majority of black men in major urban areas are under correctional control or saddled with criminal records for life. Jim Crow laws were wiped off the books decades ago, but today an extraordinary percentage of the African American community is warehoused in prisons or trapped in a parallel social universe, denied basic civil and human rights— including the right to vote, the right to serve on juries, and the right to be free of legal discrimination in employment, housing, access to education and public benefits.

Today, it is no longer socially permissible to use race explicitly as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and social contempt. Yet, as legal scholar Michelle Alexander has demonstrated, it is perfectly legal to discriminate against convicted criminals in nearly all the ways in which it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans. Once labeled a felon, even for a minor drug crime, the old forms of discrimination are suddenly legal again. In her words, “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.”

Dr. Alan Bean is the Executive Director of Friends of Justice, a criminal justice reform organization that specializes in narrative intervention. Dr. Bean was serving a Methodist church as an interim pastor when 46 people were arrested in Tulia, Texas on the uncorroborated word of a corrupt undercover officer. Dr. Bean’s articulate public protest transformed him into an advocate for criminal justice reform. In 2006, Dr. Bean’s work led to the exoneration of a Louisiana family convicted of running a crack cocaine ring on the perjured testimony of convicted drug dealers. Dr. Bean researched the story of six juvenile defendants in Jena LA, bringing public scrutiny to Jena and creating the biggest civil rights protest since the March on Washington. He is now working on a murder case in Mississippi that has gone to trial six times.

Shaun McAlister is the Executive Director of DFW NORML (National Organization For Reform Of Marijuana Laws). He is a graduate of the Art Institute of Dallas, and has worked in web design since 2004. Now employed by a full-service marketing firm, doing video and web design work, he enjoys applying that marketing skill set to his volunteer work with NORML. Mr. McAlister notes that his most difficult but satisfactory achievement has been to persuade businesses and corporations to openly support NORML and its mission.

Suzanne Wills is an active speaker for the Drug Policy Forum Of Texas.   She is a retired CPA.  She graduated from SMU and had her own practice in east Dallas for 16 years.  She is a board member and treasurer of DPFT and Drug Policy Chair of the League of Women Voters of Dallas.  Her talk is entitled “The Drug War: How We Got Into This Mess And The Special Interests That Keep Us There.”  Suzy is probably the most active anti-prohibition speaker in the DFW Metroplex.  (She's also an active member of Mensa !!)

Dr. Bean, our keynote speaker, will open our event with a description of the infamous Tulia, Texas drug raid, his role in the aftermath, and the formation of Friends Of Justice. Shaun and Suzanne will then speak about their organizations, their goals, and how individuals can make a difference. Allen Patterson, Tarrant County Libertarian Party Chair, will moderate a brief panel discussion, followed by questions from you.

If you've ever wondered why the U.S. has spent more than one trillion dollars on the Drug War, with nothing to show but increased drug use, then you don't want to miss this event.

If you think it's strange that we have only 6% of the world's population and 25% of its prisoners, you need to come listen to Dr. Alan Bean.

If you are distubed to know that more African American men are in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War began, and you want to do something about it, this is the event for you.

Thursday night, May 17th, 7:00, Hampton Inn, Interstate-30 and Green Oaks.

 
I thought about cropping out the tag line on this poster, the blurb about "It is your chance - Vote the Straight Democratic Ticket".  Decided not to.  It doesn't matter who is in charge, Democrats or Republicans, the War On Drugs continues to kill more people than drugs. 

Also, Larry Talley isn't going to be with us because of a scheduling conflict.  He's sending an excellent replacement - Suzanne Wills is now filling his slot.   

Liberty Speaker Series - FRIENDS OF JUSTICE, DFW/NORML and LEAP !!!

Thursday, May 17, 2012, 7:00 PM


Hampton Inn and Suites, 2700 Green Oaks Road (Interstate 30 and Green Oaks Road), Fort Worth, TX

This is going to be incredible.  An eye-opener. 

The Tarrant County Libertarian Party is kicking off its Liberty Speaker Series with a discussion of The New Jim Crow Laws - speakers will include Dr. Alan Bean of Friends Of Justice, Shaun McAlister of DFW NORML, and Larry S. Talley of LEAP.


As the United States celebrates its “triumph over race” with the election of Barack Obama, the majority of black men in major urban areas are under correctional control or saddled with criminal records for life. Jim Crow laws were wiped off the books decades ago, but today an extraordinary percentage of the African American community is warehoused in prisons or trapped in a parallel social universe, denied basic civil and human rights— including the right to vote, the right to serve on juries, and the right to be free of legal discrimination in employment, housing, access to education and public benefits.

Today, it is no longer socially permissible to use race explicitly as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and social contempt. Yet, as legal scholar Michelle Alexander has demonstrated, it is perfectly legal to discriminate against convicted criminals in nearly all the ways in which it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans. Once labeled a felon, even for a minor drug crime, the old forms of discrimination are suddenly legal again. In her words, “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.”

Dr. Alan Bean is the Executive Director of Friends of Justice, a criminal justice reform organization that specializes in narrative intervention. Dr. Bean was serving a Methodist church as an interim pastor when 46 people were arrested in Tulia, Texas on the uncorroborated word of a corrupt undercover officer. Dr. Bean’s articulate public protest transformed him into an advocate for criminal justice reform. In 2006, Dr. Bean’s work led to the exoneration of a Louisiana family convicted of running a crack cocaine ring on the perjured testimony of convicted drug dealers. Dr. Bean researched the story of six juvenile defendants in Jena LA, bringing public scrutiny to Jena and creating the biggest civil rights protest since the March on Washington. He is now working on a murder case in Mississippi that has gone to trial six times.

Shaun McAlister is the Executive Director of DFW NORML (National Organization For Reform Of Marijuana Laws). He is a graduate of the Art Institute of Dallas, and has worked in web design since 2004. Now employed by a full-service marketing firm, doing video and web design work, he enjoys applying that marketing skill set to his volunteer work with NORML. Mr. McAlister notes that his most difficult but satisfactory achievement has been to persuade businesses and corporations to openly support NORML and its mission.

Larry S. Talley is a member of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), a group of current and former members of law enforcement who believe the existing drug policies have failed in their intended goals of addressing the problems of crime, drug abuse, addiction, juvenile drug use, stopping the flow of illegal drugs into this country and the internal sale and use of illegal drugs. Mr. Talley served in the United States Navy from 1987-2007 as an intelligence specialist and was stationed at Naval Special Warfare Unit Eight in the Republic of Panama from 1991-1996. While stationed in Panama, he deployed frequently to various locations in Central and South America in support of counterdrug operations, where he formulated and implemented eradication strategy in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Agency and with many countries in the region. As a result of these experiences, Mr. Talley joined Law Enforcement Against Prohibition shortly after leaving military service.

Dr. Bean, our keynote speaker, will open our event with a description of the infamous Tulia, Texas drug raid, his role in the aftermath, and the formation of Friends Of Justice. Shaun and Larry will then speak about their organizations, their goals, and how individuals can make a difference. Allen Patterson, Tarrant County Libertarian Party Chair, will moderate a brief panel discussion, followed by questions from you.

If you've ever wondered why the U.S. has spent more than one trillion dollars on the Drug War, with nothing to show but increased drug use, then you don't want to miss this event.

If you think it's strange that we have only 6% of the world's population and 25% of its prisoners, you need to come listen to Dr. Alan Bean.

If you are distubed to know that more African American men are in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War began, and you want to do something about it, this is the event for you.

Thursday night, May 17th, 7:00, Hampton Inn, Interstate-30 and Green Oaks.

 
I thought about cropping out the tag line on this poster, the blurb about "It is your chance - Vote the Straight Democratic Ticket".  Decided not to.  It doesn't matter who is in charge, Democrats or Republicans, the War On Drugs continues to kill more people than drugs. 

The Tarrant County Libertarian Party has a new chair.

Big Daddy John Spivey has been the Tarrant County Libertarian Party chair for 6 years. 
He has done one heck of a job. 
Now he's stepping down.  He'll still be on the county executive committee, and the state executive committee, but he hopes to spend more time on some of his other passions. 

Thank you, John, for 6 years of great work !

After John's resignation today, the County Executive Committee got down to the business of Spivey's replacement.  They decided on....me. 

This is going to be a fun, fun year.
 
I can't remember a better year of opportunity for the Libertarian Party.  Obama has given us a 3-year primer on the non-effectiveness of Statism, the Republicans seem determined to nominate Mewt, and there are going to be a lot of voters looking for an alternative to whatever those two groups put out there.  We've got some great candidates on our ballot for statewide and local positions this year, but could always use more.   (see my previous post.  And hurry !!)   

I'll probably be writing a lot more about local issues, and posting fewer pictures of Obama picking his nose.  It's time to get serious about this thing. 

We're going to need a lot of help.  If you'd like to get involved, you can go here to join the Tarrant County Libertarians on Facebook.  Here's our Tarrant Libertarian Meetup page.   And here's the official Tarrant County Libertarian Party website. 

So what's the Libertarian Party about?  Here's something from our state website:

It's very simple: Let people live their own lives as they want and get the government out of our business. The Libertarian Party of Texas bases its philosophy on these core principles:


CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS. You, as stated by our nation's Founding Fathers, have the inalienable right to live, be free and prosper to your fullest potential without hindrance from any person or entity. You have the freedom to pursue your happiness as long as you respect others' rights to pursue theirs.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. You are responsible for your personal choices, able to take care of yourself and capable to do for others as you expect them to do unto you. Conversely, others are free to live their lives as they see fit and are responsible for their choices. We believe in tolerance toward others and respect for self-sovereignty.

LIMITED GOVERNMENT. Your government's principal function is to protect your freedom, your unalienable rights of Life, Liberty and Property, all crucial rights for building a free and prosperous society. Government should be of the necessary size and scope, as outlined in the United States Constitution, to efficiently support its constitutional duties and effectively maintain the rule of law. The Libertarian vision of government is of a government strictly confined to its constitutional role, a government that respects civil liberties, recognizes that the individual is more important than the State, exercises fiscal restraint and understands that each generation must pay its own debts, believes in free markets and practices a non-interventionist foreign policy of "peace toward all, entangling alliances with none."

The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest-growing political party in Texas and in the United States. It is also the only political party to advocate truly limited government, especially as established in the U.S. Constitution by our Founders.

That's what we're about, and I hope you can help out. 
Hope everyone has a good weekend.  I've got to go buy a new Spivey suit.