by PHILLIP WILLIAMS The Gilmer Mirror

Upshur County Libertarian Party Chairman Vance Lowry quoted from an article which contends that Libertarian principles are becoming mainstream at the local Libertarians monthly meeting here April 9.

In Massachusetts, he said, 45 percent of voters supported a proposal to abolish the state income tax, although opponents of repealing it outspent supporters 100-1. And two states, Colorado and Washington, have decriminalized marijuana, he noted.

Lowry also said that in the past year, his party has organized in four area countiesMorris, Cherokee, Anderson and Hopkinsand that it is reorganizing in Smith County.

He said he attended the April 5 organizational meeting in Hopkins County, as did state Libertarian Chairman Pat Dixon. The partys former gubernatorial nominee, Kathie Glass, and her husband addressed the gathering of about 14 people, Lowry said.

The newly-forming groups include disaffected Republicans, many of whom supported Ron Paul for President, the Upshur chairman added. Youve got a lot of unhappiness among Republicans with the way the GOP is being run, Lowry asserted.

On another matter, Lowry told the meeting at the Buckeye Country Cafe that all proposed state laws in the current legislative session which would have been detrimental to third parties have been pretty much blocked.

One included requiring the partys nominees for public office to pay ballot access fees to be listed on an election ballot. Lowry noted those fees go to the state to run party primaries (unlike the Democratic and Republican parties, Libertarians nominate their candidates at conventions without holding primary elections).

The Upshur Libertarian chairman also expressed disappointment that a state bill, which would have allowed vouchers for school choice, had failed.

Turning to specific political figures, Lowry praised Republican County Pct. 2 Comm. Cole Hefner, who held an informal question-and-answer presentation with the Upshur Libertarians at their March monthly meeting.

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Libertarians meet