LSOCK NEWS, August 11,  2014

Libertarians Of South Central Kansas (LSOCK) meet for Supper and discussion every Tuesday at Cathy’s Westway Cafe located at 1215 W. Pawnee in Wichita, Kansas at 5:30 PM. If we have official business to conduct or a featured guest speaker, that will begin at 6:00 PM. All who support personal responsibility and individual liberty are invited to attend.

To receive the LSOCK NEWS and LSOCK NEWS Alerts! via email please contact Steven Rosile at sarasile@att.net or 316 618-1339.

Contact the Libertarian Party of Kansas or LSOCK at:


LPKS / LSOCK
P.O. Box 2456
Wichita, Kansas 67201

Ph. (800) 335-1776

On the Web please go to LPKS.org  or to the LSOCK Blog at:

www.libertariansofsouthcentralkansas.blogspot.com

LSOCK NEWS August 11, 2014

IN THIS ISSUE:

1.  From The Editor
2.  National LP Vote Libertarian Yardsign Offer
3.  Keen For Kansas at the Sedgwick County Fair Parade
4.  Batson For US Senate Campaign Website Up
5.  Report From LP National Convention

1.   From The Editor

Hello everyone,

The primary elections are over and the results show that Kansans are are not to pleased with incumbents Brownback and Roberts, even though they both won their primary  the 67% for the governor and 48% for the Senator show that the voters are ready for someone (and something) new like the Libertarian Party and its candidates and policies.

Please support and promote our candidates and party.

You can contribute to our Keen Umbehr and Randall Batson, LPKS candidates for Governor and US Senator candidates at:

www.KeenforKansas.com

http://batson4senate.weebly.com/

Thank you.

For Liberty,

Steven A. Rosile

Editor, LSOCK NEWS

      

      2.    National LP VOTE LIBERTARIAN Yardsign Offer

Dear Libertarian,
Just in time for election season, we’re getting a great deal on some yard signs, and we’re offering them to you for $19.99 each! (Donate more and get huge discounts -- 6 for $59.99, or 20 for $149.99!)
Free shipping, and wire stands are included.
The signs are bright blue, gold and white, and say “Libertarian Party” on one side and “Vote Libertarian” on the other.
 
These aren’t cheap paper signs. They’re 24”x12” high-quality durable corrugated plastic that will last for many months outside in the hot sun and rain. They’ll last for years in some cases, allowing you to reuse them next election season.
They’ll also look great at Libertarian booths, rallies, and on the front of a podium at a press conference.
Proceeds from this promotion go towards Libertarian ballot access, and we definitely need your support!
This is a limited time offer. It’s possible we’ll be able to add the signs to the catalog of our new online store later, but I can’t guarantee that, and I want to get them in your hands as soon as possible.
Please order by our deadline of August 20, 2014.  We’ll try to get them to you by August 31.
Again, it’s free shipping on these orders, and one H-stand is included with each sign for free.
Visit our ballot access fund page and get your blue Libertarian yard sign today!
Yours in liberty,

Wes Benedict
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee

3.    Keen For Kansas at the Sedgwick County Fair Parade

LPKS Candidate for Governor Keen Umbehr marched in the Sedgwick County Fair Parade as part of his campaign. LSOCK members John Kostner (candidate for Kingman County Commision), James Pruden (candidate for Kansas House District xx), David Loomis and Steven Rosile participated along with Umbehr family members and friends in the parade. Keen was well received by the crowd sitting and standing along Main Street in Cheney.

     4.    Batson For US Senate Campaign Website Up

Hello, my name is Randall Batson. I am a Libertarian.  I would be humbled to serve Kansans in the US senate. 

I grew up in Wichita in an aviation family. After serving in the Navy I worked at Cessna. Later, I briefly worked as a contractor in
the bio-pharmaceutical industry as a non-destructive technician. I have returned home to Wichita and now work as a Quality Assurance inspector at a manufacturing facility.

In my political awakening I recognized most problems in society are the consequences of government action.

These 6 words should grab your attention: Violence, Force, Law, Justice, Liberty, and Peace.  Most laws are a form of violence, by action of force, this does not promote justice, liberty, nor peace.

My agenda is simple: I will initiate force on other beings. I will only support legislation for justice, liberty, and peace.

Coercion is tyranny motivating each one of us to think, speak, and act in our own defense. Therefore I urge you to exercise your 1st amendment rights. If you elect me as your senator, my efforts will be limited by the Constitution. When I swear an Oath to uphold and defend it, I will honor my commitment. The original intent of its Framers was to create a moral compass. It will guide me as a strict constructionist.

Randal Batsen

http://batson4senate.weebly.com/

      5.   Report From 2014 LP Convention Columbus Ohio

As I only attended business meetings, my report will only reflect actions taken by the convention at those meetings.

A majority of business on Friday was seating the Oregon delegation, they are in the middle of an ongoing power struggle between the outgoing chair of 2011 Wes Wagner and the duly elected new chair. This ongoing squabble has brought only bad press and the Oregon Sec of State recognizing both factions. The courts have made clear they don't want to get in this cat fight on a bet, who would?

The most tragic part of this whole fiasco is that neither faction had enough people to fill their delegation. When one faction offered an olive branch to seat members of either faction, most accepted.

The unfortunate consequence of this bit of parliamentary drama was it chewed up most of the morning session. Though their proposal to choose the porcupine as our symbol wasn't bad.

Friday afternoon was filled with award ceremonies for people I didn't know for “achievements” I knew nothing about. With the remaining time there was an effort to establish rules on conduct of the floor, this proved most informative and set the stage for coming events.

Saturday started right on time with a motion to strip or change a platform plank. I found it curious this was brought up by the temperance wing of the party after an evening of meet and greets.

After almost an hour was churned up by a string of evangelicals it was brought to the attention of the chair that this whole course of action violated three or four by-laws about changing planks with out approval of the committee that this whole mornings business was out of order. I got cats and I can herd them. LIBERTARIANS that's something else.

Turn's out the plank in question was #4 ABORTION, a more divisive issue hasn't been found. The plank is one of the most well thought out, nonjudgmental statements of a tricky situation this observer has ever seen. Of course this was too much for the right to life folks so a concerted effort was undertaken to strip this plank from the platform. After hours of parliamentary wrangling the plank was left  though on the website it's item 5 while in the published version of the platform it was item 4...

After lunch there was another item brought to the floor, by the country club crowd, was an amendment to charge delegates to attend and vote on party business. Looking around at the Hyatt Grand ballroom which was ours for a long weekend, the other rooms used by speakers where I wasn't invited could really add up. Though the top package was $460.00 for the weekend, checkout time was 11am sun. We all found out about that when they announced it Sunday morning while we were trying to finish some business, which would have been better finished on Fri or Sat when we were thrown out of the hall to make room for the banquet while no business was conducted.

While I can appreciate the social aspects of any convention, pushing costs higher for some of us represents an undue expense. If the room had been used for business meetings more would have gotten done as far as reviewing changes in the platform that caught many by surprise and weren’t given the opportunity to debate as all good political parties must. Frankly none of the speakers that were sold as part of the package helped in any way to bring the party into more open discussions of the issues that face us all. I just don't like “KOOL-AID” no matter who is serving it up.

The attempt to impose fees on attending convention meetings was soundly defeated, but not after more parliamentary shenanigans. It was also swayed by the fact that under the anti-poll tax laws of Florida, site of our next convention, such requirements would be contrary to state law.

There was an election of leadership of the LNC, this seemed to be kind of brutal for a job with no salary.

After a needlessly bitter chairmanship battle Nicholas Sarwark was elected Chairman.

In his acceptance speech he went on that he could put us in touch with big time money donors and we would be on our way. While it takes some money trying to set up the libertarian party to cater to only the well heeled correctly puts us into the same category as the major parties, whose whole agenda is called by those heavy contributors whose idea is that democracy is for sale to the highest bidder. All this while the National party offers no support for small candidates in state races. The call by so many to exclude non paying delegates, whose presence there was at significant sacrifice reeks of elitism that has no place in a party dedicated to the empowerment of all.

One other order of business was the announcement that a new headquarters building had been purchased with party funds at 1444 Duke St. Alexandria Va. this move was supposed to show significant savings of $6000.00 a month over rent in the Watergate in Washington. Whose ego are we feeding by these actions? I was born in Alexandria and spent my working life; outside of service in the U.S. Navy, as an electrical and general contractor in the greater metropolitan area. Few addresses are more expensive.

One of the biggest drivers of the market in Alexandria is access to the Metro system. I thought Libertarians were against big government spending on transportation projects. I guess that attitude only counts for projects that directly benefit lower income folks. There is a glut of Office space all over the Washington area that would have been much more reasonable purchased. However it just doesn't sound as upscale to have the headquarters of the party in Tyson's corner, or Suitland Md. Who is really benefiting with this course of action? Members of the board who have outside businesses using party headquarters. Nothing impresses potential clients more than a sought after address, especially when it was paid for with someone else's money. This will come back to haunt our outreach for more diverse membership.

It's difficult to persuade potential members who might work for wages to donate so the party fat cats can maintain party headquarters that cost so much. These issues were never discussed at this convention because there was always another Kool-Aid dispenser competing all over the hotel while the business meetings were being held.

As we only hold conventions every other year it would give the party more credibility to spend that time meeting and discussing party business not forcing the meetings to break up so the room could by set up for the banquet, the convention has become an elitist gathering  without setting aside enough time for the actual business of the party. The end result is that planks were put into the platform without any input from the majority of delegates.

The most flagrant example was the addition of plank 1.1 in the platform on the LP.org website about Self Ownership. This plank was not in the platform given to delegates. It just was not there. Article 4 section 3 of the bylaws clearly states that “existing Platform may be amended only at REGULAR CONVENTIONS. Additional planks, or additions to planks must be approved by a 2/3 vote. A platform plank may be deleted by majority vote.” It is the chair's responsibility to follow the by-laws. No vote was taken on this plank and it is nowhere in the report from the platform committee. There were other planks that just appeared, the one about monopolies surprised many on the floor as they never saw it at the last convention. Truth be told; when we left  the convention at 2:00 on Sunday, there was still debate on the floor. If any new business was conducted after that point, was there a quorum?

There are other irregularities going on by a small cadre of fascists who think they know better and that we should just sit still and drink the KOOL-AID

We are in a point in history when voter dissatisfaction has never been higher. If the only thing coming out of the Libertarians is distilled republican nonsense then we guarantee that this party will never rise to its potential and give the people a real choice in elected leaders. As long as we allow conventions to become a disbursement vehicle for the republican speaking tour industry we assure ourselves conventions that don't have the time to actually read and vote on the platform it won't change. Let's face the facts our party up till now has been fueled by old angry white men who are becoming a minority if only by attrition.

The reality of the last election should bring this home to even the most casual observer.

.Conventions need to be working groups not a Kool -Aid fest when the director of FEE was the highlighted speaker. Having read a statement from FEE, that all federal environmental regulations are immoral; it's like the Cuyahoga River never caught fire, Yet these folks have never taken raw materials and through talent and skill of their own hands created something of wealth  When you read the statement of achievements of the speaker is that they've been on fox “news”, it just makes me cringe.

When the platform calls for an elimination of  immigration laws  it's only to appease the fast food franchisees, but what does that do to the communities overrun with undocumented workers. I agree with Mitt Romney on this point; if the enforcement agencies actually enforced the laws about not hiring illegals. No jobs would make for no economic incentive to illegally enter the country and they would self deport. However this is in the platform and nobody who came to the last convention was ever given a chance to vote on that plank 

This isn’t democracy folks, it's fascism and economic slavery. These aren't American values. My ancestor fought the Tories in 1776 and we have let them back in. My Scot grandmother

talked about having to quit school after 8^th grade; to go to work in the linen mills in Dundee Scotland after her father left because the owners of the mills brought in Irish workers who would work for half the wage. He came here sponsored by his brother and worked at Homesote Inc. to establish himself and show he could support his family. Everybody worked for two years to make it happen.

These laws are still on the books but not enforced, why? To appease big donors who scream about govt interference with their business while preaching about free market principles, until those free market principles drive up wages. Then govt policy is manipulated against citizens to the detriment of most. This never ending disproportionate .influence of  the  agenda by special interests was on display for all to see at this convention.

Like it or not, govt. does have to pass laws for the general peace. If the issues that motivate folks to elect leaders needs to be met with a coherent agenda free from undue influence of special interests outside of the district  represented. 

Until we offer the voter a real option; that embraces a policy of “NO LOBBYISTS”, we will never win any elections of any import. When the platform is more in line with the beliefs of those same special interests we will be considered distilled republicans and fade into the dust, THINK WHIGS.

James Pruden

Kansas Delegate to the

2014 Libertarian Party National Convention