Libertarian Party Weekly Newsletter

ExCom meets; discusses; makes big moves forward for LPKS. Opportunity to be known as a Libertarian throughout Kansas LPKS registrations approach a milestone Professor Liberty on Ethical Intuitionism  We apologize for the delay in getting this missive out to our supporters in Kansas. We’d like to conger a good excuse but we will save you the tedium. Since our last contact, the ExCom (recall: the Executive Committee) conducted an open meeting to which all Libertarians were invited. The 3½ hour event was considered very productive by all who participated. Even the visitors were impressed. All sections of our state were represented. Many counties have active groups meeting regularly or are in the final process of forming. If you have not heard of a county group either active or forming in your area, please let us know. We want all Libertarians to have an opportunity to get involved. Summer also brings County Fairs. We will have many booths at county fairs across the state. Of course, these require volunteers to meet those interested in learning more. Don’t hesitate to volunteer for one of these. It can be interesting. It is also a great opportunity to learn a great deal about our own party and how it is perceived by others. With the 2014 governor’s race fast approaching, we have our sights clearly on our goal of attracting a minimum of 5% of the voters to our candidate and, thus, achieving Major Party Status. This is important. If we are successful, it will be a first. LPKS will create a major news event across the country and our party will be included in future debates in Kansas. We believe it is achievable.  To improve our chances of success, Al, our state chair, established a task force to identify and interest well qualified candidates to run. Any supporters are encouraged to forward leads for a governor candidate to committee chair, Stacey Davis (policy@lpks.org.)  Al (same guy) also briefed us on the FOR campaign. This is a delightfully original concept to position LPKS as a party with constructive positions on the major issues that will achieve results most people in our society believe are good for all. We want to reach voters with a positive approach to the problems faced our society. Prior to the 2014 race, he wants to produce 25,000 FOR brochures we can hand out freely to attract voters. In addition, we would like to work on some U-Tube videos to reinforce our message.  As always, there is a little problem with money. But, this is actually an opportunity. With some anonymous matching funds, we can get 25,000 full color brochures for around $1,000. Each brochure can be printed with the name of the donor who makes it possible.  This is your opportunity: Make a gift to LPKS of only $1,000 and your name can be printed on all 25,000 brochures to be distributed across the state in support of Liberty in Kansas. Or, we can split the cost between two contributors and print two names on the brochures. Alternatively, you can underwrite the cost of producing one or more U-Tube videos. Talk about an opportunity! Douglas County Libertarians reported they have been busy on two fronts. In addition to their work to establish guidelines for Drone use in the county, they are working to prevent a tax increase necessary to provide security in public buildings due to new state gun legislation. This just out: This effort was successful! WOOO HOOO!!! Score another success for Libertarians. We applaud the good work being done by our Douglas County group. We hope it is an inspiration for other county groups. LPKS social media is growing. Our Facebook reach has grown from a few hundred views to a range of 2000 – 5000 views per week. If you haven’t visited us (and liked us) on Facebook, we hope you will. LPKS registered voter count now stands at 11,735. We are only 65 registered voters away from gaining 1000 new Libertarians since the 2012 election. If you are a regular reader of these messages and are not registered as a Libertarian, we hope you will consider the switch. Every milestone we cross is another opportunity to make news about our achievements. We have new printed state brochure available for outreach booths. (Thank you Rob Hodgkinson) Other national brochures can be purchased at lpstuff.com. We have a speakers bureau able to send speakers anywhere in the state. Rob Hodgkinson will be speaking to high school aged students in Hutchinson and Newton. Help us find more speaking opportunities with our youth across Kansas. And, now a word from Professor Liberty: Professor Liberty says: Ethical Intuitionism  Libertarianism is grounded in Natural Law and Ethical Intuitionism. Both a professional interest and pastime of mine is Meta and Normative ethics. My exploration of ethics is partially what led me to libertarianism.  Meta-ethics is the study of ethics itself, posing questions such as, ‘Are there objective morals?’ and ‘What is the source of ethics?’  Normative ethics attempts to answer the question, ‘What should I do to act morally?’  A thorough explanation of ethics is beyond the compass of this segment. For now, suffice it to say that I am persuaded that libertarianism is the political corollary of the most logically and intuitively sound approach to ethics: Ethical intuitionism, which is the view that at least some moral truths can be known intuitively.  The great Mahatma Gandhi summarized it best when he said, “The truth is self-evident. Once you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, the truth shines clear.”  Founding Father Thomas Jefferson alluded to intuitionism when he wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” Jefferson went on to speak of the Natural Law, “…that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights…” Note that Jefferson is correct not because Thomas Jefferson said it, but because the rights are inherent in the human condition.  Our intuitions can be skewed by the likes of bias, prejudice, misinformation, and a thousand other forms of distortion. Yet we are both born with certain rights and grow perceptive to certain moral truths. Starting with these gifts, the individual then goes about making the choices of everyday life through observation, reasoning, love, and science. It starts with the individual.  Libertarianism, the philosophy that maximizes individual liberty, is most aligned with Ethical Intuitionism.