Month: May 2020

Our 2020 Presidential Nominee!

Our 2020 Presidential Nominee!

Jo Jorgensen is the 2020
Libertarian Nominee for President

for immediate release by the LNC on 05/26/2020

In a historic virtual presidential nominating convention, Libertarian Party delegates from all 50 states and the District of Columbia nominated Dr. Jo Jorgensen for President of the United States Saturday evening.

With this nomination, we have given Americans the opportunity to elect the first female president. More importantly, Jo’s run will give voters a chance to elect a candidate committed to freedom and liberty. Her campaign will give Americans relief from the grim options that they will face from the other candidates in November.

Jorgensen is a lecturer in psychology at Clemson University, and was also the party’s vice presidential candidate on the ticket with Harry Browne in 1996.

“I am glad that the voters will finally have a real choice because the non-choice between Trump and Biden is still an option between big government and more big government,” said Jorgensen. “The volunteers are already pouring in and it looks like it will be the most massive volunteer effort that the LP has ever seen. It is really growing from the grass roots.”

Additionally, the delegates nominated Spike Cohen to run alongside Jorgensen as Vice President. Cohen is the co-owner of Muddied Waters Media, the co-host of The Muddied Waters of Freedom, and host of his own show, My Fellow Americans. He has found tremendous joy and purpose in sharing freedom with everyone he possibly can.

“…the bottom line is that our platform is one of reducing and ending the harms that are done by government, and freeing us to work together, as we see fit, to solve the problems that we face.”

All Libertarians can make a difference now in helping this powerful and exciting ticket as they hit the ground running. We are still doing the hard work of defending our ballot access in all 50 states and DC. There are legal battles to be won, and significant marketing and media efforts to ensure that all Americans know that they now have a real choice in 2020.

Libertarians Nominate Jo Jorgensen for President!

Libertarians Nominate Jo Jorgensen for President!

by Dan Fishman on May 24, 2020

In a historic virtual presidential nominating convention Libertarian Party delegates from 50 states and the District of Columbia nominated Dr. Jo Jorgensen for President of the United States Saturday evening.

The party, which achieved 50-state ballot access in 2016, is working diligently to do so again in 2020. With the nomination, Americans will have an opportunity to elect the first female president. Her ground-breaking run will give voters a chance to elect a candidate committed to freedom and liberty. Jorgensen’s campaign will give Americans relief from the grim options that they will face from the other candidates in November.

The online convention was the first of its kind for any political party with nationwide ballot access. In an age of social distancing, the Libertarian Party has risen to the challenge, practicing personal responsibility and professionalism while conducting the business of the party in a timely and efficient manner.

“I am incredibly proud to serve as chair of the only national political party to hold their presidential nominating convention on time and under budget even in the face of a global pandemic,” said Nicholas Sarwark, LNC National Chair. “Our delegates from around the country were able to meet virtually to debate the merits of potential nominees. Real choices were made to come to the strongest candidate and consensus was built to have the party unified around the nominee. The Libertarian Party does politics differently and that different approach is exactly what Americans need right now.”

“I am glad that the voters will finally have a real choice because the non-choice between Trump and Biden is still an option between big government and more big government,” said Jorgensen. “The volunteers are already pouring in and it looks like it will be the most massive volunteer effort that the LP has ever seen. It is really growing from the grass roots.”

Jorgensen holds a doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology from Clemson University where she teaches. A native of Grayslake, Illinois, Jorgensen is a wife, mother and grandmother currently living in Greenville, South Carolina.

Dr Jorgensen’s website is joj2020.com

The Libertarian Party is set to resume business online Sunday at 10 a.m. CDT to determine the outcome of the vice-presidential nomination. The delegates will also determine the business for the convention’s second sitting, scheduled to reconvene July 8, 2020, in Orlando, Florida.

Legal Update from the Libertarian Party

Legal Update from the Libertarian Party

for immediate release by the LNC on 05/12/2020

The Libertarian Party successfully won our lawsuit in Illinois that has guaranteed us ballot access in that state for 2020. Now that legal precedent is being used in other states as we face greater challenges than ever before.

It is nothing new for the Libertarian Party to be bringing legal challenges against dozens of states regarding laws used to restrict third parties from being placed on the ballot. However, in this altogether new world we find ourselves learning to live in now, the arguments for doing away with arbitrary requirements are perhaps stronger than ever. Outdated methods of proving support, such as collecting paper petitions from people on the street or by going door-to-door, are finally being seen as unnecessary, especially when a global pandemic makes them flat out impossible to achieve.

In the last few months, we have introduced LPTV — an online resource that allows us to keep Libertarians informed and connected. This last week we had a fantastic panel of ballot access experts, Special Counsel to the LNC, state chairs, and activists to discuss all of the current legal battles and appeals that we are fighting.

You can watch the entire episode here.

We have seen many examples during this crisis showing how government overreach and overregulation stifle innovation and prevent creative solutions to the problems we face. The same is true for burdensome and unnecessary ballot access hurdles that stifle competition and prevent real voter choice in America. That was of course their intended purpose, but now being viewed under the magnifying glass of the courts, they are not holding up to scrutiny.

We are fighting to remove or reduce currently impossible requirements for minor parties to achieve ballot access, not just during this pandemic, but for future elections.

Active Legal Battles

Libertarian Party of Minnesota
v.
Choi

Miller
v.
Doe (Texas)

Libertarian Party of Maine
v.
Dunlap

Arizona Libertarian Party
v.
Reagan

Cowen
v.
Raffensperger (Georgia)

Misbach
v.
Merrill (Connecticut)

The First Libertarian Member of Congress

The First Libertarian Member of Congress

for release by LNC on 05/03/2020

Last week Libertarian history was made! Welcome to the Libertarian Party, Congressman Amash. We look forward to continuing to grow as a party together.

Join Justin and thousands of other Americans in supporting the Party of Principle!

DOUBLE JEOPARDY: Illinois

DOUBLE JEOPARDY: Illinois

for immediate release by LNC on 05/01/2020

BREAKING NEWS: Thanks to the efforts of the Libertarian Party of Illinois and the Libertarian Party’s legal counsel, we have succeeded in reducing petition signature requirements and are guaranteed to have our presidential candidate on the ballot in Illinois!

We have now secured ballot access in 36 states, with more battles being fought at this moment!

Justin Amash Becomes the First Libertarian Member of Congress

Justin Amash Becomes the First Libertarian Member of Congress

Matt Welch | 4.29.2020 10:11 AM | Reason.com
article reprinted by permission
image courtesy of C-SPAN

After a half-century of existence, the Libertarian Party (L.P.) this morning wakes up to a situation it has never before experienced—with a sitting member of Congress proudly waving the Libertarian flag.

“I will be the first,” Rep. Justin Amash (L–Mich.) told me late Tuesday [04/28/2020] night, just after announcing his candidacy for the Libertarian presidential nomination. “And I’m happy to do that.”

Amash is not the only person smiling. In an email, Libertarian Party Chair Nicholas Sarwark said, “I’m happy to see that Representative Amash has come home to the political party most closely aligned with his views,” adding: “If more members of the House who are tired of being marginalized by the GOP and Democratic leadership joined him, we could see a caucus of legislators who are able to work for the American people instead of conflicting teams of special interests. My DMs are open.”

Amash, a persistent critic of President Donald Trump who left the Republican Party to become an independent last July 4, was facing a competitive reelection campaign in his 3rd District of Michigan, a state whose straight-ticket ballot option disfavors candidates outside the two major parties. Yet he says his seat could have been defended.

Read the rest of the article at https://reason.com/2020/04/29/justin-amash-becomes-the-first-libertarian-member-of-congress/.

How Much Did That Stimulus Check REALLY Cost You?

How Much Did That Stimulus Check REALLY Cost You?

sent by the LNC on 04/28/2020

Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen our government attempt to yet again solve a problem apparently the only way they know how — by kicking the can down the road. In this case, the “can” is a national debt approaching $30 trillion dollars! At this rate, our children and grandchildren will continue to be suffocated by that debt long after every member of this congress is defeated or retired.

Government leaders who believe you and I could not survive without them think the only way to solve a problem is to throw tax dollars at it. We do have very real, deep problems in this country that need to be addressed — health insurance costs, ever-increasing student debt, the opioid crisis, veteran homelessness and suicide — and these problems vary from community to community. Not every American is living with the same issues, and what works in one state may not have the same effect on a different population.

Blanketing problems with money is like applying a band-aid to a gaping wound, and inevitably creates a society that will become reliant on subsidies to survive and never allows for genuine solutions to be tried. Whether a government response has single party or bipartisan support, those actions almost always create unintended consequences that lead to crippling citizens to be donor dependent. Instead of getting to the heart of these wounds at the community levels, our representatives are satisfied to cover them up with billion-dollar band-aids and call themselves champions. They accomplish nothing more than adding their name to another bill they have never read.

In the middle of a global pandemic and a nearly complete economic halt, our elected officials could not comprehend the obvious idea of giving taxpayers their money back to help them keep their bills paid without adding in more than a trillion dollars of corporate bailouts and pork-barrel spending. When we actually break down the numbers, that $1,200 check costs each and every living man, woman and child in America $6,656.91 dedicated to the national debt.

Scarier than the government’s lack of problem-solving skills is what they expect us to accept for this $1,200 payoff. Mandating business closures, stay-at-home orders, massive expansion of executive power, and declaring “total authority” — it is as if someone told the president and Congress that civil liberties could be bought from each citizen for $1,200.

You and I know this is not right, and we deserve better. Better is being demonstrated by The Party of Principle. Better can be achieved by electing and supporting Libertarians across the country. Better is possible when Libertarians (like you and I) contribute to our fight.

Shortly after the government payouts started to hit bank accounts, we received this amazing message, among others:

Gift Date: April 15, 2020
Gift Amount: $1,500 (Lifetime Membership)
Comments: “$1200 of this payment furnished by Democrat and Republican taxpayers who yearn for liberty via coronavirus stimulus payment

Can you think of a better way to tell government what you think of this destructive power grab in the middle of a crisis than to strengthen the efforts that fight that corruption?

We are here for that battle — are you here with us?

The recent events in our country have galvanized many who were unaware of how strongly they felt the libertarian call to push back against aggressive government overreach. It’s important that we come equipped to contend against those who would willingly cripple our future with debt. To that end, each and every one of our contributors plays a critical role in restoring free people and free markets.

Queens Libertarian Party