Category: Queens LP

Posts for Queens County, NY
Are you a Libertarian, or are you a Republican?

Are you a Libertarian, or are you a Republican?

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originally printed in in the Volume 50, Issue 1 of LP News
reprinted by permission

by Bob Johnston
LNC Staffer & LPMD State Chair

A month ago, a former Maryland Libertarian Party candidate called to let me know that he is going to run for the same race in 2020 as a Republican.

I thanked him for having the courtesy to let me know and asked him why he was planning on running as a Republican. He replied that he wanted to win.

I asked him why not run as a Democrat for that seat.

He sputtered incredulously, “Why would I do that?”

I said, “Because a Democrat has won that seat the last three elections, the last two by double digits.”

After a pause, he replied, “Well, I have a better chance of getting elected to the seat as a Republican than as a Libertarian”.

“True, but you still have much better shot getting elected as a Democrat”. Nonetheless, he still couldn’t fathom running as a Democrat.

The supposed affinity with the Republican Party is a problem the Libertarian Party has had for most of its history.

Part of the fault is on the Libertarian Party. For decades, the party has reached out mostly to disaffected conservatives, particularly on the issues of spending and gun rights. There has been a theme going around for years that the LP is a bunch of conservatives who like to smoke pot. In 2016, many Libertarians tried to position the party as one for “Never Trumpers.” Well, the Republican Party has sucked for a long time prior to Donald Trump getting elected president. The LP has done a poor job of reaching out to those who are anti-war, for civil liberties, against corporate welfare and for immigration. Further, former Libertarians running as Republicans give the GOP libertarians credibility they don’t deserve.

The other part of the problem is that Republican candidates love using libertarian rhetoric when running for office. Never mind that they never deliver. In 2000, Bill Clinton’s last year as president, the budget was $2 trillion and the debt around $5.5 trillion. The budget is now $4.4 trillion and the debt reaching $23 trillion, with a majority of the spending since the Clinton Administration written and passed by Republican-controlled US House members. They have been fully behind our aggressive foreign policy, where we have been mired in the Middle East for 16 years with no end in sight — a war that has cost over a trillion dollars, thousands of deaths and massive environmental destruction. Going back to Nixon, they have enforced the War on Drugs which has locked up countless nonviolent people and ruined their lives.

Some libertarian-ish people have been elected to Congress as Republicans, such as Rand Paul, Thomas Massie and Justin Amash. Rand Paul has come out and said he isn’t a libertarian, rather a “constitutional conservative.” While he has tried to push the Republican Party to limit our presence in our foreign wars and pushed for some changes to civil liberties, he is a full supporter of Donald Trump and has backed some of Trump’s un-libertarian legislation and appointments, such as Mike Pompeo. He recently tried to get the Republicans in Congress to pass a budget that would cut a whopping two percent in spending. He got no takers. And Amash was run out of the Republican Party for speaking out about Trump. Paul, Massie and Amash have had to fight their own party as much as they have the Democrats, and they haven’t made the Republican Party any more libertarian than it was prior to their getting elected.

When Rand’s father, Ron Paul, decided to run for Congress again in 1996 after being away for eight years, the GOP did everything they could to prevent him from getting reelected. They backed former Democrat-turned-Republican Greg Laughlin against Dr. Paul since the district was strongly Republican and the winner of the Republican primary would most likely win the general election. Then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush, along with his father, former President George H. W. Bush, both campaigned against Dr. Paul, as did then-Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Fortunately, Dr. Paul still won. In 2006, also in Texas, then-Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay resigned after winning the primary, due to ethics violations. It was too late for the Republicans to place another candidate on the ballot, thus there were only a Democrat and Bob Smither, a Libertarian appearing in the general election for that seat. Did the Republicans back the Libertarian? Of course not. They chose to get behind a write-in campaign for a Republican candidate. It didn’t work, and the Democrat won.

The Republican establishment would rather a Democrat win than a Libertarian.

The national GOP has made it extremely difficult for Libertarians to get on the ballot in partisan races in Arizona, has spent over a decade trying to keep us off of the ballot in Ohio, and recently the Republican-led Texas legislature passed a law requiring minor party candidates, such as ours, to pay expensive filing fees to get on the ballot — fees which will cost in the thousands to run for statewide office, and which few of our candidates can afford. Republicans (and Democrats) will do anything to prevent candidates who want to shrink government from winning elections.

Libertarianism isn’t conservative nor liberal, in the current sense of that term. To be a Libertarian means you are against the initiation of force or fraud to get what you want or feel needs to be done. Period.

Working for freedom can be a long, slow grind. It is quite possible that I won’t see a free society, or any significant shrinkage in government by the time I pass on. My time and efforts working for the cause through the Libertarian Party may not come to fruition. But I also know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I will never get a free society working through the Republican or Democrat parties.

Are you a Republican, or are you a Libertarian?
Libertarian Presidential Debate in Philadelphia

Libertarian Presidential Debate in Philadelphia

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The Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania will host a presidential debate at their convention on March 7 [2020] in Philadelphia. New York will not have a state convention or presidential debate, so we urge everyone to attend the debate in Philadelphia if you want to meet the candidates. It costs $20 to watch the debate. You can purchase tickets and find more information on the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania’s website.
Sign a Petition for a NYC Candidate

Sign a Petition for a NYC Candidate

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originally distributed on 02/25/2020

If you are an enrolled Libertarian in New York City, we need your signature to get Libertarian candidates on the ballot! The petitioning period begins February 25 and ends April 2. You can check to see if you are a registered Libertarian here: https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/

We need to meet you in person in order to get your signature.

Please join us for petitioning kickoff at our Liberty Happy hour tonight at 7 pm. We will have petitions for you to sign. You can also sign by attending our next monthly business meeting on March 10.

If you can’t make it, we will come to your residence, place of work, or wherever to get the signature. Please reply with your contact info or fill out this form: http://manhattanlp.org/2020/02/23/petitioning-for-2020-candidates/ so we can arrange a time to meet you in person.

Sincerely,
Rebecca Lau
Vice Chair,
Manhattan Libertarian Party

Bloomberg is Anti-Freedom ⁠— and Now He’s Hurting the Libertarian Party Too

Bloomberg is Anti-Freedom ⁠— and Now He’s Hurting the Libertarian Party Too

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originally distributed by the Libertarian Party on 02/24/2020

For those who refuse to buckle to the boot of Big Government, there is only one party for them now. We must be on the ballot to give the independent thinkers a place for their voice to be heard.
If you have watched TV or a YouTube video, or have been on social media in the last several weeks, you have certainly seen an ad for Michael Bloomberg’s late-in-the-game presidential nomination bid. This year’s New York billionaire in the race has spent in the neighborhood of $200 million so far. The ability to grow name recognition is not the only advantage that Bloomberg’s infinite funds afford him. He is currently engaging in another battle that Libertarians know all too well — and he is making this one harder on us in the process. We told you last month that we were beginning a ballot access petition drive in Maryland for the 2020 election. What we did not know at the time is that Mr. Bloomberg would be doing the exact same thing. Of the $200 million dollars he has spent, about $400,000 has gone to paying petition gatherers. With “Stop-and-Frisk Mikey” being able to shell out any amount to complete this task, the going rate for petition gatherers has increased from $2 or $3 per signature, to $15 per signature! Competing against a rabid authoritarian like Mike Bloomberg adds so much insult to injury. Let’s recall some of his more notable offenses: He certainly fits the profile of other political egomaniacs who demand, “liberty for me, but not for thee.” The Libertarian nominee is guaranteed to be the only candidate who supports real liberty for all people. The Libertarian nominee is not going to support different rules for different socio-economic demographics. The Libertarian nominee will never offer support to policies that punish people for possessing a plant.

The Libertarian nominee has to be on the ballot.

We need you, champions of liberty, and we need you right now. The sooner that we can accomplish ballot access in Maryland, the sooner we can do the same thing in other states where our access is still in limbo. It is clearer than it has ever been before that both the Republicans and the Democrats are fleeing from rationality and are embracing blind party loyalty. For those who refuse to buckle to the boot of Big Government, there is only one party for them now. We must be on the ballot to give the independent thinkers a place for their voice to be heard. Please make that possible by supporting the ballot access fund and fighting with us.
Chaos in DC Brings Corruption to NYC

Chaos in DC Brings Corruption to NYC

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by Michael Arcati, Jan 29, 2020
originally posted on the Forest Hills Times

Do you ever wonder why, in a country of 300 million people, only two parties rule Washington, D.C.? Well, at least there are two parties at the federal level.

In a state of 20 million people and a city as diverse as New York, there is only one party that rules. The Democrats control the governorship, both houses of the legislature, and the Court of Appeals (the highest court in NY).

In New York City, the Democrats control the mayor’s office, City Council, and the courts. Out of 51 council members, only three are Republicans.

While the Democrats love to vilify President Donald Trump, they are secretly thankful for his success. President Trump has silenced all the moderate Republicans in New York, as they are embarrassed to be associated with him.

Anyone that seeks office in New York City as a Republican will be immediately written off as a loss. Now that the Republicans are no longer a threat to the Democrats in the foreseeable

future, they have made moves to solidify their absolute control.

Enterprising candidates that seek to differentiate themselves from the Republicans and Democrats have rallied to other parties, such as the Libertarian Party, Green Party, and Working Families Party.

However, the Democrats do not want any spoilers to challenge them. On January 1, 2020, a new law went into effect that made it even harder for third parties to retain ballot access.

To remain on the ballot, a third-party must draw either 2 percent or 130,000 votes in the general election for governor or president every two years. This is an increase from just 50,000 votes.

Also, to ensure third-party candidates cannot get on the ballot, the law includes increasing the requirement for petition signatures from 15,000 to 45,000. For third-party or independent candidates to receive 45,000 signatures in several months is an arduous task.

Even if an independent candidate passes this impossible feat, both Democrats and Republicans will challenge the petitions before the state Board of Elections. Do you know who appoints the members of the Board of Elections? Democrats and Republicans.

Do you know when the state legislature voted to pass this new law? Trick question: the law did not have to pass in the traditional method; it simply was approved by the nine-member Board of Elections.

Do you know who proposed the change to the law? Jay Jacobs, the chairman of the New York Democratic Party.

“We in America do not have government by the majority,” Thomas Jefferson once said. “We have government by the majority who participate.”

New York Democrats have now ensured that the only people who get to participate in state and city elections are registered Democrats. The only election of interest is the Democratic primary, which is rarely contested. An election that is not contested means the candidate is approved by the party chairman.

For Democrats reading this, you may be thinking, “yes, because we need to unite to stop Trump.” The reason we have Trump as president is the result of a system controlled by two parties. If you only give people two choices, then do not be surprised when the people end up selecting a bad option.

In any competitive system with only two parties, companies, teams, etc., then the only outcome is a zero-sum of win or lose. In a game of win or lose, then there is no room for logical arguments. All discourse turns into personal attacks and an “us vs. them” mentality.

That is the political environment we live in now. Republicans have used this winner-take-all environment to control Washington. Democrats have used this environment to control Albany and City Hall.

The new election law created and implemented by Democrats will end nascent existence of third parties for decades.

There have been multiple instances of corruption in local politics, however Trump and his tweets have grabbed the attention of voters.

The governor’s top aide, Joseph Peroco, was convicted of accepting bribes, but the governor breezed into a third term. Former Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, was found guilty of corruption in 2018, but the Democrats took the majority in both houses in the legislature.

In 2019, the New York Times ran multiple articles about the governor’s office exchanging favors for campaign donations. However, there were no formal investigations by any government institution. Absolute power breeds absolute corruption.

More choice at the ballot opens the mind to critical thinking and due diligence by the electorate. More parties elected to the legislature opens the door to more compromise based on logical reasoning.

If you are an independent voter in New York, then wake up to what is happening to democracy in your backyard. If you are a Democrat, then you objectively must know that the new election law is inherently unfair and blatant disfranchisement.

All New York voters should call their assembly members and state senators to demand that this law be repealed. Or go a step further and look at the third-party candidates and see what they offer.

Finally, donate to their campaigns in 2020, as this may be our last chance we have until the final takeover of our government by one party.

Michael Arcati is the chair for the Queens County Libertarians.

April 28, 2020: First-Ever Libertarian Party Presidential Primary in New York State

April 28, 2020: First-Ever Libertarian Party Presidential Primary in New York State

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Everyone who wants to participate in the 2020 Libertarian primary election process will need to be enrolled Libertarian. Help make more history. Get your friends and family to change their party to Libertarian: https://voterreg.dmv.ny.gov/MotorVoter/

Everyone enrolled in ANY party can vote for Libertarian candidates in the 2020 GENERAL election.

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