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- Written by: Seth Grossman
- Category: Selected Blogs
“Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
This First Amendment, adopted on Dec. 15, 1791, is the most important part of the Constitution. With free speech and press, we can be informed when government officials violate other parts of the Constitution. And we can inform others any way we can, and form organizations strong enough to either make them stop – or vote them out of office.
Without the absolute right to freely speak, assemble and organize, a constitution is useless. The Soviet Union under the dictator Stalin had a constitution that gave its citizens all sorts of rights. But anyone who reported violations of those rights or who tried to organize any opposition to the government was killed or sent to prison.
Last week Norm Cohen, my fellow columnist, wrote that he, and others with him on the left, want to “take the money out of politics.” They include filmmaker Michael Moore and MSNBC commentator Dylan Ratigan.
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- Written by: R. Lee Wrights
- Category: Candidates and Elections
One of the few quibbles that many libertarians have against the positions taken by Gary Johnson is his support for the Fair Tax. Libertarian Presidential contender, R. Lee Wrights has written the following essay about The Fair Tax.
The Fair Tax Isn’t Fair; It’s a Farce
By Saturday, January 7th, 2012
“There cannot be a good tax nor a just one; every tax rests its case on compulsion.” – Frank Chodorov
BURNET, Texas (Jan. 7) – The so-called Fair Tax is not fair; on the contrary, it is a farce based on fallacies and falsehoods. Sadly, some libertarians have fallen for the bogus arguments uttered by proponents of this national sales tax and bought into the idea that this is the “best we can hope to get.” This is a justification very similar to the flawed reasoning that induces some people to vote for the “lesser of two evils.”
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- Written by: Joe Siano
- Category: Selected Blogs
From our friends at the Mises Institute. This is chapter three of Jeffrey A. Tucker's book It's a Jetsons World: Private Miracles and Public Crimes.
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- Written by: Carla Howell
- Category: Latest News
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Carla Howell is the Executive Director of the National Libertarian Party |
Dear Friend of Liberty,
I ran for governor against Mitt Romney in 2002 in Massachusetts. I read his every press release, read every major newspaper article about him, and followed his every move throughout his governor campaign -- and in each of the four years he served as governor.
Mitt Romney IS Big Government -- to the core.
Which is why I nearly fell off my chair one day when I was asked by a libertarian, “Aren’t you glad to have Mitt Romney as your governor? He’s pretty libertarian, isn’t he?”
It is critical that voters know the truth about Big Government Mitt Romney. Please forward the below column to every voter you know who would consider voting for him.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
The following email was sent to the Borough Council in Little Silver today. Many towns across New Jersey are charging exorbitant late fees for property taxes. Much thanks go to John Paff for his contributions to this effort.
Hon. Robert Neff, Jr., Mayor and members of the Little Silver Borough Council
480 Prospect Avenue
Little Silver, NJ 07739Dear Mayor Neff and Borough Council members:
I write in my capacity as chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party. As you may be aware, Libertarians take a pretty dim view of taxation (Note1) and, if we had our way, we would a substantially reduce the size and scope of government causing a corresponding decrease in the tax burden presently shouldered by New Jersey citizens. While we don't expect the Little Silver Borough Council to adopt a Libertarian viewpoint overnight, we would like for you to effect a small change that would help reduce the burden on some of the Borough's most vulnerable residents.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Latest News
In wrapping up the year, I looked over some my old files and found some news articles from April of 1991 about a New Jersey Superior Court judge who successfully stepped on a juror's right to judge for herself whether New Jersey's drug laws were fair and proportionate. I thought this 20-year old bit of history would be interest, so I put these articles on the internet.
I remember this case well, as I visited the juror several times and recall hand-typing her May 17, 1991 letter into a text file - in the days before scanners and OCR--so that I could distribute it more easily (the text file is also at the above link). I also remember the case well because I traveled more than once to the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton to visit the man who was sentenced to life imprisonment because of the juror's forced verdict. Anyway, here's the story.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
On December 28th, Gary Johnson held a news conference in Santa Fe, NM announcing his switch from the Republican to the Libertarian Party.
Following Gary's announcement, National LP Chair Mark Hinkle welcomed Gary back to the Libertarian Party.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Local government agencies and authorities are required to audit their books annually, and one might think that these audits are sufficient to ensure that everything is on the up and up. But the audits merely point out financial reporting deficiencies - sometimes the same deficiencies year after year--and the agency or authority that paid for the audit may elect to take no corrective action.
A case in point is the Borough of Dunellen's (Middlesex County) Parking Authority. While reviewing the auditor's August 30, 2010 cover letter that accompanied the Authority's 2008 and 2009 audits, I was struck by the following sentence: "Because of the inadequacy of accounting system and records for the year ended December 31, 2008, we are unable to form an opinion regarding the amounts at which accounts receivable, accounts payable and deferred parking permit revenues are recorded/not recorded on the balance sheet or accompanying financial statements. The respective amounts are unknown." I felt that this sentence was significant because it said, in essence, that the Parking Authority, which reported $631,305 in net assets and had $124,798 in cash and equivalents on hand as of December 31, 2009, didn't properly record and account for its income during 2008.
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- Written by: Radley Balko
- Category: Selected Blogs
I’m saddened to learn this morning that Siobhan Reynolds died over the weekend in a plane crash.
I met Reynolds several years ago when I attended a forum on Capitol Hill on the under-treatment of pain. Her story about her husband’s chronic pain was so heartbreaking it moved me to take an interest in the issue. I eventually commissioned and edited a paper on the DEA and pain treatment while I was working for Cato.
Reynolds was fierce and tireless. She ran her advocacy group the Pain Relief Network on a thin budget, and often used her own money to travel to towns and cities where she felt prosecutors were unfairly targeting a doctor. And then she’d fight back. And sometimes she’d win. And the DEA and the federal prosecutors she fought weren’t really accustomed to that.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Candidates and Elections
The Texas Harris County Libertarians hosted a debate among three of the potential Libertarian Party Presidential nominees. Present was Roger Gary, R. J. Harris, and R. Lee Wrights.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Candidates and Elections
Gary Johnson will quit the Republican primaries and seek the Libertarian Party nomination instead, POLITICO has learned.
The former two-term New Mexico governor, whose campaign for the GOP nomination never caught fire, will make the announcement at a press conference in Santa Fe on Dec. 28. Johnson state directors will be informed of his plans on a campaign conference call Tuesday night, a Johnson campaign source told POLITICO.
The move has been expected for weeks -- Johnson had run a New Hampshire-centric effort that never got him past a blip in the polls. He appeared at only two nationally televised debates, and only one in which other major candidates took part.
Johnson expressed deep disillusionment with the process as his libertarian message failed to catch fire and he received almost no attention for his bid. He soon began flirting with the Libertarians when it became clear that he was gaining no traction in GOP primaries.
"I'm still in the race," Johnson told POLITICO last month. "I'm registered in New Hampshire and the intention would be, hope against hope that I would be able to be heard. But there is not much hope."
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- Written by: Wes benedict
- Category: Latest News
WASHINGTON - Today, December 15, libertarians celebrate Bill of Rights Day.
On December 15, 1791 the Bill of Rights was ratified, creating the first Ten Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
The Libertarian Party platform expressly supports the Bill of Rights and calls for restoring our freedoms lost as a result of laws passed in violation of the Constitution by Democratic and Republican politicians.
The Bill of Rights guarantees important individual freedoms and restrains the powers of the federal government. Among them, our rights to free speech, self-defense and justice. These restraints were later extended to the states with the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
Democrats and Republicans regularly violate the Bill of Rights, especially the Tenth Amendment which states that the powers of the federal government are strictly limited to those enumerated in Article 1, section 8 of the Constitution - a short list which stands in stark contrast to the incalculably long list of functions comprised by today's Big Government.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
NJ Libertarian Party member and former Libertarian candidate for NJ State Assembly is currently facing a charge of jury tampering for distributing Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA) literature near the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. He is facing a hearing on December 12th in front of Judge Kimba Wood. So far the courts have denied his request for a jury trial.
The U. S. Constitution is quite clear on this issue in two places. In Article III, Sec. 2, it states: “The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury.” In Amendment VI, it states: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed,...”
- Julian Heicklen in a letter to Judge Wood
Julian's story was the subject of last nights Free Talk Live show.
Cato @ Liberty also covered it here. The New York Times has a story on it here.
Julian is currently out of jail on a bond while his conviction and sentence for leafleting in Florida is under appeal.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Police Accountability Project
Thanks to CATO's Police Misconduct Reporting Project for pointing me to this story.
A jury on Wednesday awarded $150,000 in punitive damages to the family of a Ramapough Indian who was fatally shot by a state park ranger five years ago in Mahwah.
With a 7-0 vote, the panel found that former Park Police Officer Chad Walder’s actions were “malicious or wanton” when he drew his gun and shot Emil Mann on April 1, 2006, during a confrontation near Ringwood State Park over ATV riding near Stag Hill.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
On May 23, 2011, the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Police Accountability Project filed an Internal Affairs complaint against an Egg Harbor Township (Atlantic County) police officer who conducted a warrantless search of a motor vehicle. The complaint was filed after two-judge Appellate Division panel found that Officer Michael Bordanaro's search of a vehicle, which resulted in him finding a loaded 9 mm handgun, was illegal because there were no "exigent circumstances" excusing him from first getting a search warrant.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
A new lawsuit was filed yesterday in Camden County Superior Court that seeks answers to the following questions:
- How promptly must a public body publicly disclose the nonexempt portions of its nonpublic (i.e. "closed or executive") meeting minutes?
- Can a public body validly claim that it must first "approve" its nonpublic meeting minutes prior to publicly disclosing even redacted versions of them?
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
On September 29, 2011, Clinton attorney Walter M. Luers filed a lawsuit on my behalf against two Atlantic County municipalities and their police officials seeking disclosure of records pertaining to a curious traffic stop during the early morning hours of February 17, 2011. A copy of that lawsuit is on-line here. A November 10, 2011 Press of Atlantic City article was written about it.
Records I requested reveal that at 2:04 a.m., Northfield City Police observed a black Mercedes sitting at a traffic light while the light went through multiple rotations. Police initially reported that they had difficulty waking the driver and getting him to "open up" the car's door. There were also recorded conversations indicating that the driver was "A.O.B." (which, in police-speak, means "alcohol on breath.")
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
From our friends at Downsize DC:
E-Verify is "an Internet-based system operated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). E-Verify is currently free to employers and is available in all 50 states. E-Verify provides an automated link to federal databases to help employers determine employment eligibility of new hires and the validity of their Social Security numbers."
It is currently a voluntary system. House bill H.R. 2885, however, would make it mandatory for all employers. The result is an even more intrusive National ID System than the REAL ID, against which DownsizeDC.org has successfully fought.
The nominal intent of the bill is to crack down on illegal immigration, even though America has a shortage of unskilled labor and would be better served by broadening immigration law.