• About Us
      • Back
      • FAQ
      • State Board
      • Platform
      • Contact Us
  • Get Involved
      • Back
      • Membership
      • Declare Yourself
      • Run for Office
          • Back
          • Steps to Run for Office
          • Candidate Questionaire
      • Send More Info
      • Central NJ Libertarians
          • Back
          • Monmouth County Libertarian Party
          • Donate to Central Region
          • About the Central Region
          • Central Region Minutes and Information
      • Southern NJ Libertarians
          • Back
          • Donate to South NJ Libertarians
          • About the South Region
      • Northern NJ Libertarians
          • Back
          • Donate to the North Region
          • About the North Region
          • North Region Minutes and Information
      • FAQ on Getting Involved
  • Donate
      • Back
      • Federal Fund
      • General Fund
      • State Fund
  • News
      • Back
      • Newsletters
          • Back
          • Advertise
      • All News
      • Upcoming Events
  • Join Us
      • Back
      • Join Us
      • Membership Renewal
      • Join as a Student for Free!

Member Login
   

News

Fragility of Socialism: A Case Study of Guatemala

Details
Written by: Maria Bell
Category: Letters to Editor
Created: December 13, 2018
No comments on “Fragility of Socialism: A Case Study of Guatemala”

On June 3, 2018, the communities surrounding Guatemala's Mount Fuego were devastated by the volcano's eruption. An estimated 1.7 million were affected with displacement after a modest recovery from the mudslides affecting the area two years previously. The human interest aspects to the destruction's story brought Guatemala into focus and some discussion surrounding its plan for relief and recovery. Now, as 2018 closes, a similar situation has occurred yet again for the citizens who have started their lives over. The focus of the human spirit triumphing over harsh circumstances shows much bravery but is only part of a (tired) story we witness repeatedly.

Although Guatemala is a beautiful country with potential, the economy has struggled despite a healthy GDP averaging over 60 billion USD between 2015-2018. The neighboring countries of El Salvador and Honduras, in contrast, averaged 23 billion and 21 billion, respectively. President Morales inherited an inflation rate of ~ 2.4% but rose to remain steady around 4%. Despite long-term pledges of equality, the wealth distribution of the country has remained skewed with more than half of the population below the poverty line and the indigenous population most sharply affected. Nor have Morales' campaign platforms of ending malnutrition and steadying employment made significant social impact. This culminated with protests for his resignation a few months ago after UN corruption investigations arose.

Read more …

NJLP Complaint Results in Ethics Violation Fine

Details
Written by: John Paff
Category: Latest News
Created: December 06, 2018
No comments on “NJLP Complaint Results in Ethics Violation Fine”

After a more than four-year investigation, a former member of the Bound Brook Borough (Somerset County) Council was tentatively fined $100 by the New Jersey Local Finance Board (LFB) for voting in favor of a resolution which designated a redeveloper for a Main Street property while her in-laws owned that property and her husband, who currently sits as a Borough Council member, had an interest in a business located on that property.

Read More ...

Facing lawsuit, Rutgers coughs up its separation agreement with former Athletic Director

Details
Written by: John Paff
Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Created: November 21, 2018
No comments on “Facing lawsuit, Rutgers coughs up its separation agreement with former Athletic Director”

In his August 2, 2018 article, "Why did Rutgers pay fired AD Julie Hermann $500K more than she was owed?" Star-Ledger reporter Keith Sargeant wrote about Rutgers' refusal to provide him with the university's separation agreement with former Athletic Director Julie Hermann.  After reading the article, I had my non-profit submit an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request for the separation agreement and then sued when Rutgers denied the request.

Read more ....

NJ Libertarian Party Grows Again - Again

Details
Written by: Jay Edgar
Category: Candidates and Elections
Created: November 15, 2018

In 2001, an appeals court ruled that New Jersey's practice of not allowing anyone to register to vote as anything other than Democrat, Republican, or Independent was unconstitutional. This was the result of a lawsuit brought by a coalition of political parties, including the NJ Libertarian Party.

Since then the number of registered libertarians has been steadily growing. The 2018 numbers show 11,040 registered Libertarians. This is a 32.9% growth from the prior year. This year we have grown once again to 8,309 registered Libertarians. We have 4.8 times as many registered libertarians now than we did 5 years ago,

Read more …

A Platform in Search of a Solution

Details
Written by: Maria Bell
Category: Letters to Editor
Created: November 15, 2018
No comments on “A Platform in Search of a Solution”

Dear editor:

One of Henry Kissinger's aphorisms that remains spot-on today is that "Americans have no permanent friends or enemies, only interests". Darkly echoing Libertarian philosophy, those words are American foreign policy. As such, the consequence of arrogance in the injudicious use of military might has fed the anti-war movement for decades. The case of Iran is a particularly important example of our challenge to understand applying the Libertarian party’s platform of withdrawal from conflict zones. 

The tension surrounding Mujahideen-e-Khalq (aka MEK) has provided a split within the anti-war movement - one that has essentially crippled the effort. Groups such as Veterans for Peace, Code Pink, and Hands Off Syria allow their in-fighting to derail any serious movement to effect “welfare/warfare” change. Sarah Flounders manages to be anti-Sisi but pro-Assad. Chris Wilson documents Tamimmi supporters but will not do so for Gazans. And Rania Khalek, employed by Russia Today, assists by spreading propaganda videos such as you see here.

Read more …

November General Meeting Proposed Agenda

Details
Written by: Webmaster
Category: News
Created: November 12, 2018
No comments on “November General Meeting Proposed Agenda”

New Jersey Libertarian Party General Meeting

Saturday November 17, 2018 – Killarney's 6:00 pm

 AGENDA 

6:00 Call to order & quorum check [Chair]

6:10 Agenda review & approval [Chair]

6:15 Secretary's Report [Secretary]

Approval of minutes of prior board meeting

6:20 Treasurer's report [Treasurer]

Read more …

Minimum Wage Laws Harm the Most Disadvantaged

Details
Written by: Jay Edgar
Category: Latest News
Created: October 29, 2018
No comments on “Minimum Wage Laws Harm the Most Disadvantaged”

There are only two factors that determine what you are paid for the work that you do - how much you are willing to work for and how much your employer is willing to pay you. How much your employer is willing to pay you is based on the laws of supply and demand. The work that you do may require back-breaking effort or may require a certain skill set and training, but this alone does not mean that it will reward you with a large paycheck. The output of your work needs to be in demand.

In a free market, financial transactions between consenting parties only occur if both parties benefit from the transaction. This is true both for the exchange of goods and the exchange of labor. The wages that a worker receives is defined by the simple fact that both the employer and the employee benefit from the exchange of salary and benefits paid to the employee and the work done for the employer. Anything that stands in the way of this mutual benefit results in fewer transactions.

Read more …

Protectionist Licensing Laws In New Jersey

Details
Written by: Jay Edgar
Category: Policy News
Created: October 25, 2018
No comments on “Protectionist Licensing Laws In New Jersey”

In New Jersey if you want to practice hair braiding you need to complete a 1,200 hour cosmetology course where you learn lots of things – except for how to braid hair. The practice of hair braiding requires no chemicals and is perfectly safe. Last year, a mother of four was fined $1,200 for braiding hair without a license. Anita Yeboah can’t afford the up to $17,000 to obtain this license. She faced the prospect of either going on welfare, or starting a business to support her and her four children. As an immigrant from Ghana, she grew up learning to braid hair as part of her culture.

Brigitte Nzali was slapped with a fine for braiding hair from her shop in Blackwood, NJ. She and other hair braiders have joined forces to form the Hair Braiding Freedom Coalition. They have worked to get a bill through the Assembly that would get rid of burdensome licensing requirements.

On August 27th, Governor Phil Murphy heartlessly vetoed their bill. The bill had bi-partisan support in the legislature, but Murphy thought it went too far and wanted hair braiders to have at least 50 hours of training or three years of experience.

Read more …

Does the Migrant Caravan Pose a Serious Terrorism Risk?

Details
Written by: Alex Nowrasteh
Category: Latest News
Created: October 24, 2018
No comments on “Does the Migrant Caravan Pose a Serious Terrorism Risk?”

Originally Published at Cato at Liberty, republished under Creative Commons License

Yesterday, President Trump tweeted that “unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in” with the migrant caravan approaching the U.S. border. Vice President Pence later tried to justify President Trump’s comment by arguing that, “It is inconceivable that there are not people of Middle Eastern descent in a crowd of more than 7,000 people advancing toward our border.” Todd Bensman of the Center for Immigration Studies wrote that “the president was obviously referencing … ‘special interest aliens’ … U.S.-bound migrants moving along well-established Latin America smuggling routes from [Muslim] countries.” Perhaps President Trump was referencing special interest aliens but the clear implication is that they are potential terrorists who are using the caravan to sneak into the United States and murder Americans.  

The members of the migrant caravan will either apply for asylum at the U.S. border or try to enter illegally. From 1975 through the end of 2017, 9 Americans have been murdered in attacks committed on U.S. soil by 20 foreign-born terrorists who entered illegally or as asylees. During that time, the annual chance of being murdered in a terrorist attack committed by an asylum seeker or an illegal immigrant was about 1 in 1.3 billion per year. Those estimates are based on this methodology with updated numbers. 

Read more …

Government, media, mislead on wars

Details
Written by: Mark Richards
Category: Letters to Editor
Created: September 26, 2018
No comments on “ Government, media, mislead on wars”

Published in the West Milford Messenger, September 25, 2018

Regarding the article on local veterans groups being concerned over the public's lack of understanding the meaning of Memorial Day and Veterans Day

I can only say look no further than the government school system.

The politicians and bureaucrats have a vested interest in keeping the general population in the dark on how we get involved in all these wars.

Read more …

The last time someone other than a Democrat or Republican was elected to Congress from New Jersey

Details
Written by: Ken Kaplan
Category: Candidates and Elections
Created: August 31, 2018

It has been a very long time since anyone other than a Democrat or Republican was elected to Congress from New Jersey. In fact, it last happened 160 years ago! In 1858, Garnett B. Adrain, who had been elected in the 3rd District as a Democrat in 1856, ran as an Anti-Lecompton Democrat. Jetur R. Riggs ran with the same party identification and was elected in the 4th District. A major issue that year was the admission of Kansas territory to the union as a state. Congress needed to ratify the new constitution of the proposed state. One of the proposed constitutions, the Lecompton Constitution had these provisions in it concerning slavery:

ARTICLE VII.- SLAVERY.

Read more …

Both groups are pushing the country toward civil war and upheaval

Details
Written by: Mark Richards
Category: Letters to Editor
Created: August 21, 2018
No comments on “ Both groups are pushing the country toward civil war and upheaval”

Published in the West Milford Messenger, August 16, 2018

A recent letter to the editor in the Messenger put forth the idea that increased government power and control is the way to protect wildlife and its habitat.

This thinking is erroneous.

Private conservation efforts work much better since there is an incentive to do well that government bureaucracies will never attain; that incentive is profit and the need to please donors and investors.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy all come to mind as successful private conservation groups.

Read more …

I thought the Republicans were the party of 'family values'

Details
Written by: Mark Richards
Category: Letters to Editor
Created: July 06, 2018
No comments on “ I thought the Republicans were the party of 'family values'”

Published in the West Milford Messenger, July 5, 2018

Have I missed something, I thought the Republicans were the party of "family values," why then are they OK with breaking up the families of immigrants?

Thanks to our "Bigot in Chief," Donald Trump the Republicans are no longer the party of small limited government.

Read more …

Libertarianism - A True Option for the Garden State

Details
Written by: Maria Bell
Category: Latest News
Created: June 05, 2018
No comments on “Libertarianism - A True Option for the Garden State”

I think we are all in agreement that New Jersey has changed markedly in the last ten years. As an immigration gateway, our state sees a regular dynamic shift that makes defining who and what New Jersey is difficult. Our personal stories and memories may no longer be relevant. As a transplant to NJ, I can identify with the goals and challenges of an immigrant from an even more alien landscape. I was looking for progressive work options as do many others that come here. Physical safety, inflationary protection and political freedom were not significant concepts on my own note but are common among the reasons given as to why America is attractive. Finding a place to call home, a “comfort zone”, has led to ethnic pockets within our communities. The downside to this grouping is isolation – discovering the diversity of American life is undercut.

Read more …

  1. Council members pay 'lip service' to principles of liberty
  2. Phillipsburg – A Public Theater
  3. Stricter Background Checks, Even Closing Gun Show Loophole Won’t Prevent Mass Shootings
  4. Meet Jim Tosone Candidate for Congress in the 5th District

Subcategories

Student Rights

NJ Libertarian Blog

Imported from NJ Libertarian News from the published feed

Selected Blogs

Chair's Report

Videos

This is a page of various videos that we have either created or found interesting. Be sure to check out and follow our YouTube page.

Political Cartoons

Events

Open Government Advocacy Project

Shedding light on TrentonThe Open Government Advocacy Project is a committee of the NJ Libertarian Party. Its goal is to ensure transparency and accountability at all levels of government. Articles posted here are a subset of the work of the committee. For more information visit the Open Government Advocacy Project blog.

If you would like to demand accountability and ensure that your local governing body or school board adheres to the Open Public Records Act we can help you request information from them. Contact John Paff, the project chair here.

Letters to Editor

Latest News

Candidates and Elections

Insight New Jersey

NJ government is huge and complex. Private industry is shrinking while the size and cost of government bureacracy continues to grow. The articles posted here provide a guide of the NJ State Government and can be used by citizens and candidates for office to evaluate what departments can be reduced drastically in size.

We'll start with just some of the departments and provide a breakdown on what they do (or purport to do), how many employees they have and how big their budget is.

Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project

The New Jersey Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project (“the Project”) seeks to get New Jersey municipalities to repeal loitering ordinances that should have been -- but were not -- repealed when the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice was enacted in 1979. The Project has successfully had loitering ordinances repealed in over 30 towns. For a summary listing of all the towns see Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project page.

Police Accountability Project

The Police Accountability Project is a committee of the NJ Libertarian Party. Its goal is to search out cases of police misconduct, file former Internal Affairs (IA) complaints when appropriate, and to publicize violations of rules and laws by the police. There may be other stories posted on the NJLP Police Internal Affairs Complaint Blog page.

If you would like to help or know of a case we should be looking at, contact the committee at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Press Releases

Legislative Affairs Committee

The Legislative Affairs Committee was created to allow a select core of Volunteers to take action on legislation and policies which directly affects the people of New Jersey.

[INTRO VIDEO - HOSTED ON NJLP STATE YOUTUBE AND EMBEDED HERE]

Staff

Legislative Director and Committee Chair

Mike Rufo

Volunteers:

James Ripley

Policy News

Legislative Affairs Committee Project

Page 7 of 88

  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
© New Jersey Libertarian Party 1972 - 2025

The NJ Libertarian Party is NJ's third largest political party, founded in 1972. Our vision is for a world in which all individuals have the right to exercise sole control over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live as they choose. Our goal is to build a political party that elects Libertarians to public office, and moves public policy in a libertarian direction.

  • Member Access
    • Login
    • Bylaws
  • Special Projects
    • Open Government Project
    • Preempted Ord. Project
    • Police Accountability Project
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Upcoming Events
  • Store