Category Archives: Libertarian

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - When you think politics, the parties that typically come to mind are republicans and democrats, but a third party is growing across Nebraska: The Libertarian Party.

One Nebraska senator describes the Libertarian ideals as promoting as little government interference in everyday life as possible, lower taxes, and a free market.

"I vote for the people who I think are going to do the job, I want them to act on their values," said Trevor Reilly.

Reilly is the chair for the Lancaster County Libertarian Party, but just a few years ago he was in the marines and a registered Republican, then he decided he wanted a change.

"Being a prior Republican I didn't agree with a lot of it, I didn't agree with the Trump media going on, so when I found the Libertarian party, I jumped into the campaign," said Reilly.

Trevor's not the only high ranking Libertarian who is a former member of the Grand Old Party.

Senator Laura Ebke is the only Libertarian senator in the unicameral, and said the political shift is becoming more and more apparent.

"I think that what we are finding is that people, especially young folks, are more and more turned off by the partisan rancor that goes on," said Senator Ebke.

Right now there are less than 13,000 registered Libertarians, but Senator Ebke believes this is only the start.

"I'd like to see it be a competitive party I think that a long ways coming, but I think we can become an influential party," said Senator Ebke.

The latest registered voter numbers show the Libertarian party is growing at a faster rate than the two major parties.

These numbers from the Nebraska Secretary of State show the percentages of registered Libertarians in Nebraska are just a little more than 1% of the almost 1.2 million Nebraska voters, but it's trending upwards.

Party members understand they are still a very small percentage, but there are plans to grow.

"Starting to run people for local elections, city county offices, school board and things like that, so I think that's a win and that's a way you build a party," said Senator Ebke.

And there are now specific benchmarks Libertarians want to hit by the next presidential election.

"Right now the state party's goal is to actually get 50,000 registered Libertarian voters by 2020," said Reilly.

"If we get to 50,000 that's big, for Nebraska, that's a significant amount of the voting population, and we can make a difference in a lot of elections then," said Senator Ebke.

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Libertarian Party is trending upwards in Nebraska - 1011now

Colorado Springs has always leaned hard on its reputation for natural beauty. An hours drive south of Denver, it sits at the base of the Rocky Mountains southern range and features two of the states top tourist destinations: the ancient sandstone rock formations known as Garden of the Gods, and Pikes Peak, the 14,000-foot summit visible from nearly every street corner. Its also a staunchly Republican cityheadquarters of the politically active Christian group Focus on the Family (Colorado Springs is nicknamed the Evangelical Vatican) and the fourth most conservative city in America, according to a recent study. Its a right-wing counterweight to liberal Boulder, just a couple of hours north, along the Front Range.

It was its jut-jawed conservatism that not that long ago made the citys local government a brief national fixation. During the recession, like nearly every other city in America, Colorado Springs revenueheavily dependent on sales taxplunged. Faced with massive shortfalls, the citys leaders began slashing. Gone were weekend bus service and nine buses.

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Out went some police officers along with three of the departments helicopters, which were auctioned online. Trash cans vanished from city parks, because when you cut 75 percent of the parks budget, one of the things you lose is someone to empty the garbage. For a city that was founded when a wealthy industrialist planted 10,000 trees on a shadeless prairie, the suddenly sparse watering of the citys grassy lawns was a profound and dire statement of retreat.

To fill a $28 million budget hole, Colorado Springs political leaderswho until that point might have been described by most voters as fiscal conservativesproposed tripling property taxes. Nearly two-thirds of voters said no. In response, city officials (some would say almost petulantly) turned off one out of every three street lights. Thats when people started paying attention to a city that seemed to be conducting a real-time experiment in fiscal self-starvation. But that was just the prelude. The city wasnt content simply to reject a tax increase. Voters wanted something genuinely different, so a little more than a year later, they elected a real estate entrepreneur as mayor who promised a radical break from politics as usual.

For a city, like the country at large, that was hurting economically, Steve Bach seemed like a man with an answer. What he promised sounded radically simple: Wasteful government is the root of the pain, and if you just run government like the best businesses, the pain will go away. Easy. Because he had never held office and because he actually had been a successful entrepreneur, people were inclined to believe he really could reinvent the way a city was governed.

The citys experiment was fascinating because it offered a chance to observe some of the most extreme conservative principles in action in a real-world laboratory. Producers from 60 Minutes flew out to talk with the towns leaders. The New York Times found a woman in a dark trailer park pawning her flat screen TV to buy a shotgun for protection. This American Life did a segment portraying Springs citizens as the ultimate anti-tax zealots, willing to pay $125 in a new Adopt a Streetlight program to illuminate their own neighborhoods, but not willing to spend the same to do so for the entire city. Ill take care of mine was the gist of what one council member heard from a resident when she confronted him with this fact.

Rocky Mountain Town Colorado Springs has a reputation as a GOP stronghold, though its downtown features art studios, a kombucha shop and a book seller that gives prominent shelf space to Noam Chomsky. | Erika Larsen for Politico Magazine

Thats where Colorado Springs was frozen in the consciousness of the countrya city determined to redefine the role of government, led by a sharp-elbowed businessman who didnt care whom he offended along the way (not unlike a certain president). But it has been five years since This American Life packed up its mics. A lot has changed in that time, not least of which is that the local economy, which nearly drowned the city like a concrete block tied around its balance sheet, is buoyant once again. Sales tax revenue has made the books plump with surplus. Enough to turn those famous streetlights back on. Seven years after the experiment began, the verdict is inand its not at all what its architects planned.

One of the lessons: Theres a real cost to saving money.

Take the streetlights. Turning them off had saved the city about $1.25 million. What had not made the national news stories was what had happened while those lights were off. Copper thieves, emboldened by the opportunity to work without fear of electrocution, had worked overtime scavenging wire. Some, the City Council learned, had even dressed up as utility workers and pried open the boxes at the base of streetlights in broad daylight. Keeping the lights off might have saved some money in the short term, but the cost to fix what had been stolen ran to some $5 million.

Sometimes the best-laid plans dont work out the way youd hope, says Merv Bennett, who served on the City Council at the time and asked officials at the utilities about whether the savings were real.

There has been a lot of this kind of reckoning over the past half-decade. From crisis came a desire for disruption. From disruption came, well, too much disruption. And from that came a full-circle return to professional politicians. Including onea beloved mayor and respected bureaucrat who was short-listed to replace James Comey as FBI directorwho is so persuasive he has gotten Colorado Springs residents to do something the outside world assumed they were not capable of: Five years after its moment in the spotlight, revenue is so high that the same voters who refused to keep the lights on have overwhelmingly approved ballot measures allowing the city to not only keep some of its extra tax money, but impose new taxes as well.

In the process, many residents of Colorado Springs, but especially the men and women most committed to making the city thrive, have learned a few other lessons. That perpetual chaos can be exhausting. That the value of the status quo rises with the budgets bottom line. And that it helps when the people responsible for running the city are actually talking with one another. All it took was a few years running an experiment that everyone involved seems happy is over.

***

Like many revolutions, the one in Colorado Springs began with a manifesto.

It was an email that was intended to be private, sent from Steve Bartolin, then CEO of luxury hotel The Broadmoor, to the mayor and City Council. The Broadmoor is a city unto itselfa century-old resort whose three golf courses, 779 rooms and skating rink sprawl over 3,000 acres around a lake in the foothills on the citys western boundary. In a tourist-dependent region with an unusually large reliance on sales taxes, The Broadmoor is an economic powerhouse. In 2009, at the height of the impasse over the worsening budget, Bartolin had made a comparison between Colorado Springs budget and the budget of his resort. Observations like the fact that the city had a computer department with 81 people, while The Broadmoor employed only nine. The email didnt stay private for long. It quickly went viral, was published in full in the newspaper, and so energized the business community that it inspired a dozen locals to start their own shadow council, which they called the City Committee. One of the members of the committee was Bach, a private real-estate broker who had gotten his first corporate job by the audacious move of cold-callingcollectthe CEO of Procter & Gamble. Soon, the committee members prevailed upon Bach to run for mayor, to bring their principles to City Hall.

Merv Bennett Sometimes the best-laid plans dont work out the way youd hope. | Erika Larsen for Politico Magazine

Bachs mantra on the campaign trail was one that voters nationwide would recognize from last years presidential cycle: Run the government more like a business. He said he was intent on transforming city government so it works for everyoneand without tax increases. In fact, he wanted to do away with the personal property tax for businesses and expedite how long it takes developers to get permits, all in service of promoting job growth, which he later vowed would hit 6,000 a year. Bach considered himself an outsider fighting the citys regulatory agency mind-set.

The only difference I can see between me and Donald Trump, he told Politico Magazine recently, is that I dont tweet.

In 2011, Bach was swept into City Hall with nearly 60 percent of the vote. Not only did he win, but he arrived in office with powers no mayor of Colorado Springs had ever wielded. A ballot amendment approved by voters a year earlier had taken power away from the City Council and given it to the mayor. Now that mayor happened to be someone who felt that political compromise was a dirty word. Shortly after the election, two top council members asked Bach to give them a detailed weekly report just as the previous city manager had done. He said no. The mayor wouldnt answer to anyone. The council, he indicated, would answer to him. And he showed that by taking on a major deal, the council was negotiating to rid itself of the local hospital.

Leaders at Memorial Health claimed the hospital was hemorrhaging money in the recession. But to Bach, the hospital was an incredible asset that was just being mismanagedan argument he buttressed by pointing out that it was sitting on some $300 million in free cash. The council wanted to lease the hospital to a team of local leaders led by Memorial Healths CEO for about $15 million over 20 years. Bach called it a giveaway. He demanded that the council open up the process to other bidders. Eventually, that process led to a very different financial arrangement with the massive University of Colorado Health System: a 40-year lease that, counting capital improvements, came out to nearly $2 billion. You dont have to have an MBA to appreciate the benefits of Bachs deal.

Steve Bach The only difference I can see between me and Donald Trump is that I dont tweet. | Erika Larsen for Politico Magazine

I was really angry when I got on council and found out they just wanted to hand over the hospital, Merv Bennett says. Steve kept us from going down a terrible path.

Bach also turned out to be right on another deal he said City Council had mismanaged before he was elected. The council had approved a generous contract to a physicist from the nearby U.S. Air Force Academy to develop and implement what he said would be a $20 million, coal-scrubbing technology on the citys downtown power plant. Just a terrible deal, Bach says.

The city had pitched it as a way of making a profitwhen the technology was licensed to other plants, Colorado Springs would share in the rewards. But the city was also on the hook to pay for the research and development it required, and costs quickly spiraled. Just last month, the business shut down without having made a single additional sale. The cost: some $150 million over budget. As with the hospital deal, in which the council chose to go with a local rather than open the bidding to all comers, Bach raked officials for their shortsighted provincialism that he and others felt wasnt befitting Americas 40th-most populous city.

This town is so easily scammed, says John Hazlehurst, himself a former council member and now a columnist with the Colorado Springs Business Journal. Why? Because were hicks. Its really that simple.

John Suthers Some personalities in the business world dont suffer fools very much. Youve got to suffer a lot of fools in politics. | Erika Larsen for Politico Magazine

But there was a cost for all that head-butting in City Hall. Although the economy continued to improve, and although Bachs outsourcing of jobs had done enough to repair the parks budget so that trees were being watered and the lights were back on, some business leaders were skittish about moving to town or expanding.

For those who opposed Bach, the political newcomer was doing damage by firing longstanding department heads without consulting anyone beforehand. Jan Martin, then the councils pro-tem president, said she heard of Bachs firing of the citys police chief by word of mouth, rather than from Bach himself. He was draining the city of all of this accumulated knowledge, she says. Hazlehurst, watching from the sidelines, is more succinct. Bachs dysfunction and [the] councils dysfunction were intimately related, he says. It was just a rookie government.

There was a price to pay for Bachs imperiousness and lack of diplomacy, and this is something about which he and his critics agree to some extent. Job creation, which had been a pillar of Bachs campaign, never got up the steam that he had promised and, by his own admission, lagged other similarly sized cities in the region like Albuquerque, Omaha and Oklahoma City. He never managed to get the business tax repealed. And his signature plan to boost tourism with a multipronged project of museums and an outdoor stadium ran into headwinds from a council that said it wasnt sufficiently involved in the planning.

By 2015, the final year of his term, Bach was no longer talking to any member of City Council, save for Bennett. Both sides were fighting proxy battles in the middle of council meetings, quibbling over the sorts of thingsmoving money from one government account to another to pay billsthat would normally be routine. People outside the council chambers were paying attention, and they didnt care for what they were seeingthe city that was supposed to run like a business was actually scaring companies. The business leaders who had once supported him had even started their own, newer version of the City Committeecalled Colorado Springs Forwardand were looking for a different candidate to back.

Richard Skorman They spent $200,000 to portray me as a tax-and-spend liberal, and thats why I lost. | Erika Larsen for Politico Magazine

Mike Juran, CEO of a midsized company that puts displays in anything thats not a laptop or a phone, had a choice to make in the last year of Bachs administration. He believed his company, Altia, was poised for big growththanks to an automobile industry that wanted to put more gadgets in their cars. Juran wanted to stay put, but he wondered whether he would have trouble attracting young software engineers to Colorado Springs. The city was in a weird funk and getting a bad national reputation, he says. Juran knew that if any of his potential recruits googled the city, they would see that it had gone dark, a wildfire had recently destroyed 300 homes, and the city was home to disgraced pastor Ted Haggard. Much of this had nothing to do with Bachs administration, but Juran also knew that Bachs belt-tightening had hidden effects that were going to erode the citys quality of life. Colorado Springs had spent years putting off enormous infrastructure problems that would one day come dueone, an issue with stormwater, was so bad it would soon be the focus of a lawsuit from the Environmental Protection Agency. Juran began looking into offices in Denver or Silicon Valley.

Bach had made a campaign promise to serve only one term. But the promise wasnt necessaryby 2015, he, along with everyone else, knew the then-71-year-olds chances for reelection were close to zero. Even the business leaders who had helped get him elected knew Bach wasnt the man for the job anymore. What was needed was a steady hand, and Colorado Springs ended up getting exactly what it needed.

Finally, Juran says, we had grown up and decided we wanted to be a real city.

***

If every election is a referendum on the politician who came before, John Suthers was as clear a renunciation of Steve Bach as could be found. Far from a political outsider, Suthers had spent his life working inside government, from student body president of his high school (No others than Suthers), to local district attorney, to head of the Department of Corrections, to state attorney and all the way up to attorney general of Colorado, where he served for 10 years.

John Hazlehurst This town is so easily scammed. Why? Because were hicks. Its really that simple. | Erika Larsen for Politico Magazine

When Suthers came in it was as if Michael Jordan had joined your pickup basketball team, says columnist Hazlehurst. Hes a consummate politician. He knows what hes doing.

Suthers was a Republican like Bach, and he shared Bachs belief in keeping government budgets on a leash. But unlike Bach, he wasnt going to try to strangle the city with it. Suthers believed there was a fundamental difference between business and governmentno matter how strong the mayors office is, there are still a bunch of other elected officials who need a say. So Suthers first goal after getting elected was, he says, to improve his relationship with the City Council. He did that by scheduling two monthly catered lunch meetings, acquiescing to many of their requests for staff and resources and, in the minds of many, treating them like partners rather than combatants. My predecessor sent over a budget on the day it was due and said, Take it or leave it, Suthers says. Ive been doing this for a long time. I didnt wait until [the last minute] to tell [the council] what I was thinking.

Suthers collaborative approach also led to something that might have been unthinkable in the dark, budget-strapped days of 2010.

Colorado Springs reputation as a Republican stronghold might seem overblown to a visitor walking downtown. Just minutes from the pricey liberal arts school Colorado College is a kombucha shop, a store that sells hour-and-a-half stays in sensory deprivation tanks, and a book seller that gives prominent shelf space to the latest Noam Chomsky and is owned by Richard Skorman, the current City Council president. Yet despite those superficial signs of changing demographics, Donald Trump still beat Hillary Clinton by more than 22 points in Colorado Springs El Paso County. Even with that small-government mind-set still relatively intact, three times in his first two years as mayor, Suthers has gone to voters either proposing a new tax or asking to keep extra tax revenue. By overwhelming margins, he has now persuaded the supposedly anti-tax zealots of Colorado Springs to commit $250 million to new roads, $2 million to new park trails and as much as $12 million for new stormwater projects. The ballot items were enormous statements of confidence, says Chamber of Commerce Director Dirk Draper. They showed that while the community is fiscally conservative, its not radically so. If you can find someone to explain it to where it makes sense, voters will allow it.

Seeing the Light In some cases, the citys budget-cutting backfired: Turning off the streetlights saved about $1.25 million, but after thieves stole the copper wiring inside, the cost to fix the lights ran to some $5 million. | Erika Larsen for Politico Magazine

Today, Suthers can point to a whole host of data points that suggest Colorado Springs has more than recovered. Were on a roll, big-time, he says. The citys unemployment is a vanishingly low 2.7 percent. Some 16,000 jobs have been created in the past 24 monthsa pace that exceeds Bachs lofty goals. Flights at the airport have increased nearly 50 percent from a year ago. And large projects have either opened recentlysuch as a National Cybersecurity Center that takes advantage of the defense ecosystem built up around the Air Force Academyor will soon, like the U.S. Olympic Museum slated for 2018, a natural offshoot of the fact that Colorado Springs has been home to the U.S. Olympic Training Center for nearly 40 years.

The citys experience as a political petri dish might not have produced any easy answers. But at least for Suthers, it has produced a verdict on the run-the-government-as-a-business mantra. Some personalities in the business world dont suffer fools very much, he says. Youve got to suffer a lot of fools in politics.

This is the larger lesson of Colorado Springs experiment: Ideas matter, but so do relationships. Colorado Springs remains fiscally conservative; on this score, theres more agreement than not between elected officials and their constituents. But ideological consensus isnt enough to overcome a lack of surrogates willing to advocate your policies when, even with the strongest mayor system, its not entirely up to you.

At a recent charity roast, the 180-degree change in attitude among the citys political class was on full display. The emcee joked that while Suthers had agreed to come and endure good-natured jokes about his comb-over, the previous year Bach had been invited and offered a different response. It was two words, he said, and the second one was you.

Despite Bachs sandpapery reputation, many who used to spar with him are willing to give the former mayor credit today. Suthers says Bachs extreme focus on the budget helped right the city financially, and his efforts helped set the stage for a revival of the airport. But most of all, what the leaders of Colorado Springs seem most thankful for is that one mans turmoil begat another mans harmony.

Steve was the ultimate change agent, and they usually have a short shelf life, Bennett says. If it werent for the lights going out, we might not have had Steve. And if it werent for Steve, we might not have John.

Caleb Hannan is a writer in Denver.

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The Short, Unhappy Life of a Libertarian Paradise - POLITICO ... - POLITICO Magazine

By Andrew Kingaking@hillsdale.netTwitter: @AndrewKingHDN

HILLSDALE In the 2016 presidential election, Americans were presented with two candidates.

Some refused to vote Republican or Democrat, and as a result, Libertarian party candidate, Gary Johnson, received a raft of support, pulling in around three percent of the vote in most states on Election Day; buoyed as high as 9.34 percent in his home state of New Mexico.

Those arent election-winning numbers, as evidenced by Donald Trumps Electoral College victory on November 8. But, the groundswell of support that Johnson received, has given Libertarians at the state and local level cause for celebration: the Libertarian Party has transitioned from a minor party to a major party in nine states, including Michigan.

The biggest difference is that youre automatically on the ballot. Otherwise, theres a very extensive and lengthy petition process to get on the ballot, said Norman Peterson, who is working with Sam Fry, of Hillsdale, among others, to finalize the formation of a Libertarian Party affiliate representing Hillsdale and Jackson Counties.

Peterson is a long time Libertarian who switched parties in the 1980s after reading economist and politician Harry Brownes book, Why Government Doesnt Work. Prior to his political conversion, Peterson had served as the Democratic Chairman for Michigans 11th District. In the newly formed affiliate, he is, again, serving as Chair.

In the intervening years, Peterson served as the director of a non-profit focused on launching charter schools. When he retired, he shifted his attention to full-time political engagement, and one of the first steps he took was reaching out to area Libertarians to gauge interest in forming a local affiliate.

Fry got an email from Peterson and responded that he would be interested. After an interest meeting featuring a presentation from State Chair, Bill Gelinau, the group began the push to officially affiliate in earnest.

The immediate step is now that weve gone through all the hoops provided by the state we have a name, we have bylaws, we have elected officers, we have delegates I simply need to draft and petition a letter to the State Executive Committee of the Libertarian Party, requesting to be accepted as an affiliate, Peterson said. With the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman helping me with every step of this, Im pretty optimistic that will be a formality.

And once formalities are out of the way, Fry believes that there is a large pool of liberty-minded individuals who are looking for an alternate to the increasingly polarized choice between the Republican and Democratic Parties.

Were going to allow people in this area to have a choice for an alternate candidate, Fry said. I think the goal would be to start running a slate of candidates for county-level and state-level office. To allow people to have a third choice, and I think, frankly, thats just about one of the most important things we can do to keep our democracy functioning.

The reality is that most people are going to be somewhere in the middle. Theyre going to agree with one party on the majority of things, but theyre also going have several issues where they disagree. I think that we need to recognize that in politics, theres a spot for people who dont perfectly conform to the ideology of either party and I think we need people who represent that.

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Hillsdale, Jackson form Libertarian Party affiliate - News - Hillsdale.net - The Hillsdale Daily News

The Libertarian Republic

The Libertarian Case for Defensive Missile Systems The Libertarian Republic It is no question why libertarians, who expected a far more hands-off president, are wary of the current direction of the White House's foreign policy. To the libertarian there seems to be no case for any further United States involvement in ... and more »

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The Libertarian Case for Defensive Missile Systems - The Libertarian Republic

WASHINGTON Libertarian National Committee Chairman Nicholas Sarwark on Monday appealed to all groups oppressed by the American government, calling President Trumps travel ban against Muslims ridiculous and un-American.

The Supreme Court on Monday permitted a limited version of Trumps executive order to be implemented, while announcing oral arguments scheduled for this fall. The high court ordered that travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries will need to show ties to a person or entity in the United States including relatives, employers and schools - to enter the country. Separate rules would apply to refugees who can provide evidence that they cannot return to their country of origin due to hardship or unrest.

Sarwark during a conference call on Monday evening said that Libertarians have stood up against the stupid Muslim ban.

Thats the most ridiculous, un-American thing Ive ever seen, and it violates the clear letter of the statute, he said. I hope the Supreme Court gets it right, but even if they dont, we need to be standing up there and saying, This is something wrong. This is something we shouldnt do as Americans. We shouldnt limit the ability of peaceful people to come to this country based on their religion or based on their country of origin. Thats not how the country became as good as it is. Its not how it can become great again.

The purpose of the call was to preview the partys strategy leading up to the 2020 presidential election. Sarwark said that the partys stance is a tough position to take, explaining that it requires political bravery in standing up for unpopular sects. He added that Libertarians represent a party of principle, not of easy solutions.

Sarwark was asked during the call how Libertarians ultimately plan to prove that they are a legitimate party, not just a group of capitalist hippies. According to the Cato Institute, about 25 to 44 percent of Americans identify with Libertarian values but only 2 to 5 percent of Americans vote for the party. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson has won the nomination the past two presidential elections, winning .99 percent of the popular vote in 2012 and 3.27 percent in 2016, setting party records both times.

Sarwark said the best strategy is to listen to peoples needs while describing the Libertarian platform on a very basic level: You shouldnt hurt people, and you shouldnt take their stuff. The party also attracts individuals looking for recourse after bad experiences with the criminal justice system, the school system and people who are fed up with paying high taxes, Sarwark said, adding that its the partys mission to show Americans theres a political alternative.

Both Republicans and Democrats like to refer to themselves as Libertarian-leaning or part of a broader liberty movement, he said. All of these are ways to try to steal our grant and the good will that weve developed and get those 25 to 44 percent of the American voters. We need to make sure we come out and show the places where were different from the two major parties.

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Libertarian Party Opposing 'Stupid' Travel Ban as They Craft 2018 Strategy - PJ Media

Ryan Blessing rblessing@norwichbulletin.com, (860) 425-4205 rblessingNB

Libertarian Bill Russell, who ran for mayor of Norwich four years ago, is again in the running for the position after being nominated Wednesday by the Libertarian party.

Russell's name was added to the ballot Thursday, and the party also made six nominations for City Council.They are James Fear, Darlene Woodbridge, Staceylynn Cottle, Janice Loomis, Nick Casiano and Richard Bright.

It also expects to nominate six Board of Education candidates, Russell said.

"I've been going door-to-door and everybody absolutely loves what I have to say," Russell, a 22-year member of the Libertarian Party, said. "Democrats and Republicans have run this city into the ground. So much can be done to reduce the budget and bring industry and people back to Norwich."

A political newcomer four years ago, Russell said in 2013 he favoreda strong-mayor form of government that would give him ultimate authority over spending and budgetary decisions to reduce the tax burden on residents.He also proposed privatizing or selling off nearly every piece of city-owned real estate not essential for day-to-day operations, including Dodd Stadium and the citys ice arena, golf course and Intermodal Transportation Center.

Russell also has opposed the city buying the site of the former Shetucket Iron and Metal Company on the harbor. The issue has come to the forefront again since a July 29 auction of the property was set.

Russell joins a crowded field for the mayor's race.Democrats H. Tucker Braddock and Derell Wilson, Republican Peter Nystrom and unaffiliated petitioning candidate Jon Oldfield all have announced they are running for mayor.

Incumbent Deb Hinchey, a Democrat, has decided not to seek re-election.

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Libertarian Bill Russell nominated to run for Norwich mayor - Norwich Bulletin

My Libertarian Transformation

When it comes to politics in the United States, the clearly defined parties are undoubtedly the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. With that said, these are not the only two parties around and given the recent political turmoil, many people are growing more and more curious about other political options. Next to the democratic and republican parties, the most well-known party is probably the Libertarian Party. With that said, while the party is known by name it is often not very well understood. Lets take a look at the Libertarian Party and what it stands for.

One of the most important ideals in America, and perhaps the one most staunchly defended, is that of freedom. This freedom can take many forms freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press being among them but one thing is invariable: the United States of America stands for freedom, and this is something its citizens expect. This idea is one of the core in the Libertarian Party, which emphasizes the importance of maintaining individual freedom. The party believes that individuals should have the right to pursue success and freedom in any way they so choose as long as doing so does not hurt anyone else.

Much like their beliefs regarding personal liberties, libertarians also hold various social ideals that tend to place them on the leftist part of the political spectrum. They believe that the government should not be able to restrict or define personal relationships. Before you believe that this is a clear endorsement of any particular sexuality, however, keep in mind that this belief stems mostly from the idea that the government should not be allowed to interfere in citizens lives. This includes personal relationships, and libertarians tend to believe that consenting adults should be free to pursue relationships that make them happy. They hold the same to be true of things like drug use, which they believe to be a victimless crime.

Finally, another important libertarian ideal is that of a smaller government. To put the issue as simply as possible, libertarians tend to believe that the government should have a smaller reach than it currently does. The government today has too much control and ability to control and interfere in the lives of citizens as well as the countrys business practices and norms. The party often advocates a smaller government that, most notably, does not collect income tax or fund a welfare state.

In todays society, there is often much conversation regarding the future and what our collective societal ideals might look like in a few decades. There is much debate as to whether a liberal or conservative view might be more beneficial moving forward, where the views in question seem to be associated with the Democratic Party and the Republican party, respectively. There seems to be relatively little talk, however, regarding the viability of ideas and concepts related to other political parties. It might surprise you, then, to hear that libertarian ideals seem to already be making a big impact upon modern business.

The Libertarian Party tends to emphasize the importance of civil liberties and capitalism as they relate to the government and interventionism. The basic idea is that the government should take a step back when it comes to regulating and controlling citizens in both the private and public/business spheres. But how exactly do these values fit into todays modern businesses?

One aspect of current business endeavors that clearly reflects libertarian ideals is that of the sharing economy. Partially spurred on by the increasing reliance on technology, particularly mobile apps that are designed to facilitate easy communication, a new wave of businesses has taken over the modern workplace over the past few years. Exploring the possibility of collaboration and sharing, these businesses have created an economy that is essentially based upon the decisions and possessions of individuals. Someone with a vehicle and some extra time, for example, could decide to become a taxi of sorts and earn money from someone without the ability or desire to drive themselves. The same holds true with hospitality options like Airbnb.

Epitomized by businesses like Lyft and Uber, this new wave of businesses seems to be firmly based upon perceived leftist ideas of decentralization and sustainability. It is important to note, however, that libertarian ideals are often at the very heart of this kind of business model. To the free-market libertarian, for example, an economy based between individuals rather than the state or government and an individual is appealing. It seems to promote the idea that the government could and should take a step back and allow individuals to thrive on their own. The sharing economy is a great way to promote civil liberties and emphasize the self-reliance that the Libertarian Party promotes.

What do you think about the sharing economy and the wave of businesses that have sprung up as it has developed? Do you think that the libertarian values present in these businesses are sustainable? For the time being, it appears as though modern businesses will continue to grow in this direction.

The Libertarian Party and Taxes

With all of the attention focused on the two main parties in the United States the Democratic Party and the Republican Party it can be easy to forget that there are other options available. Another party in the United Stats is known as the Libertarian Party, and it has some pretty strong ideas regarding the place of taxes in our economy as well as how much money should be collected.

First and foremost, the Libertarian Party believes that forcing people to give part of their income to the government in the form of taxes is wrong. Instead, they emphasize the importance of ensuring that citizens of the United States have autonomy over their money, their lives, their bodies, and their time. That means that a libertarian government is one that would do away with much of the tax system as we currently know it. But while the Libertarian Party would certainly lower taxes, does that mean that we wouldnt end up paying any at all? Lets take a closer look.

In order to determine what the United States economy would look like under the control of the Libertarian Party as well as how taxes would be affected, it might be most helpful to look at Gary Johnsons recent proposals. A libertarian hopeful for the presidency in 2016, Johnson has many ideas regarding how taxes should and should not be conducted in the U.S. First and foremost, he would have abolished the IRS along with both income and corporate tax. In its place, Johnson advocated the use of FairTax, a proposal that would see services and goods for personal consumption receive a flat tax of 23%.

In order to help offset the regressive nature of FairTax, Johnson would include a prebate used to allow households to consume aforementioned services and items tax-free up until the poverty line. This would help ensure that the family in lower income brackets are not unfairly impacted by the flat tax. In return for this flat tax, income taxes would, as mentioned above, no longer be a thing. Your money would be your own, in other words, aside from paying a higher flat tax on items and services. This kind of tax allocation is touted as being beneficial because it removes economic distortions impacting workplace and professional productivity by forcing individuals to make decisions with their tax status rather than efficiency in mind. This, in turn, would help businesses to flourish as they streamline their processes without worrying about negatively impacting their tax status in the process.

As you can see, the Libertarian Party believes that lower taxes is the best way to ensure economic success for the country and its citizens.

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My Libertarian Transformation - HuffPost

Have you used your Democracy Vouchers yet? SEEC

The same law firm suing over Seattle's "first in time" rental law is now taking on the city's new public campaign financing program, the first voucher-based system in the country.

Today, the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) announced a lawsuit alleging that Seattle's Democracy Voucher violates the First Amendment by using public dollars to subsidize political campaigns some taxpayers may not agree with. The program uses property tax revenue to gives Seattle residents $100 in vouchers they can donate to city council and city attorney candidates (the mayor's race will also qualify in the future). While other cities and states use other models of public campaign financing, like matching grant programs, Seattle was the first to pass a voucher system.

"'Democracy voucher' is mere euphemism for a law that operates in effect as a politician enrichment tax," the PLF writes in its legal complaint. Appropriate for a firm focused on landlords and property rights, PLF lawyer Ethan Blevins calls out tenant advocate Jon Grant, who has raised nearly $129,000 in vouchers in his race for city council.

"So rental property owners are forced to bankroll a politician who is adverse to their rights and their interests," PLF attorney Ethan Blevins said in a statement.

PLF is representing two Seattle property owners, Mark Elster and Sarah Pynchon. Elster lives in a single-family home he owns in Seattle. Pynchon owns a single-family home in Seattle but rents it out and lives outside the city.

"This program is so patently and obviously unfair, Elster said in a statement. "The democracy voucher program puts other peoples political beliefs into my mouth."

Sightline, a local think tank that advocated for Democracy Vouchers, argued at the time that the program is legal despite federal court decisions defining money as speech. Sightline director Alan Durning says the initiative that created Democracy Vouchers was "carefully vetted by a dozen lawyers," including Constitutional law experts, and he stands by that analysis today.

I would be astonished if there is any legal merit whatsoever in their free speech argument, Durning says. There are at least a dozen cities and states around the country that use public funds to support campaigns and Seattles program doesnt do anything that they dont do. In fact, we give a lot more control to individual voters [by using vouchers instead of a more common block grant system]."

UPDATE: University of Washington Constitutional law professor Hugh Spitzer sounded like he could barely contain his laughter as we talked about the PLFs legal challenge to Democracy Vouchers this afternoon.

The lawsuit claims that Pynchon shouldn't pay towards a public campaign financing system in Seattle because she doesn't live here.

That argument doesnt make any sense at all, Spitzer told me. Theyre saying they dont want to pay taxes, they dont want to support public programs if they dont live in the community. Thats not how property taxes work Thats a silly argument.

More broadly, both Spitzer and Brent Ferguson, a lawyer at the Brennan Center (which advocates for public campaign financing), say they dont expect PLFs challenge to succeed. Public campaign financing schemes have been challenged before, they said. And, while some other models have been struck down or limited, courts have rejected the argument that public campaign financing compels people to support speech they dont agree with, Spitzer and Ferguson said.

The government engages in its own speech all time, Ferguson said. It pays for politicians, it pays for judges, it pays for advocacy. And arguing you disagree with those forms of government speech is never a successful argument to get out of paying taxes, Ferguson said.

Blevins could not immediately be reached for comment.

In an interview, Blevins disagreed. He argued the voucher program is uniquely legally questionable because individual votersinstead of the governmentdistribute the money. "It's the government as the speaker versus the individual as the speaker," he said, arguing that hasn't been tested in court before. (The other lawyers I talked to said the vouchers were not enough to make this system significantly different to a court than other systems.)

Blevins also stood by his argument that it's unfair for his client to pay into a system she can't use. And his other client, "a believer in free markets and individual choice," won't likely be represented by anyone running for office in Seattle, he said. "People who take minority or dissenting viewpoints are undermined" in this system, Blevins said.

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Libertarian Law Firm Sues Over Seattle's Democracy Vouchers - TheStranger.com

Note: This episode originally ran in 2011.

Six years ago, we traveled to a place where people are trying to live without government interference. A place where you can use bits of silver to buy uninspected bacon. A place where a 9-year-old will sell you alcohol.

We find marijuana and moonshine, cash registers stuffed with gold, a rogue manicurist, and a libertarian version of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve (but don't call him that!).

It's the Porcupine Freedom Festival, known to its friends as PorcFest. This is the summer festival for people who think we should return to the gold standard and abolish the IRS.

At the end of the story, we return with an update on PorcFest from 2017. We'll tell you what has changed with the times since we were last here.

Music: "Cheyenne Shuffle" and "Now Son." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.

Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts or PocketCast.

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Episode 286: Libertarian Summer Camp - NPR

CONCORD Rep. Brandon Phinney (Strafford 24-Rochester), formerly a member of the Republican Party, announced Tuesday on the State House steps he is changing his party affiliation to Libertarian.

For the third time this year, a sitting state legislator has left his party and joined the LP. Rep. Caleb Q. Dyer (Hillsborough 37) switched to Libertarian from Republican in February, and Rep. Joseph Stallcop (Cheshire 4) left the Democratic Party in May.

Darryl W. Perry, chair of the New Hampshire Libertarian Party, welcomes any others, unhappy with their party leadership, to join the LP.

When the Libertarian Party had ballot access in the 1990s, the Libertarian House Caucus had four members, Perry said. It is my hope and desire that the civil libertarians, classical liberals, and philosophical libertarians in the New Hampshire General Court will show the same courage shown by Reps. Dyer, Stallcop, and, now, Rep. Brandon Phinney, and abandon the two-party system that has for so long burdened us with taxation, regulation, and legislation that has trampled our freedoms.

Phinney will work with Dyer and Stallcop in the N.H. House Libertarian Caucus to minimize state government, lower taxes, and eliminate barriers to conducting business, and will work hard to increase individual freedom and personal liberty while protecting the rights of individuals and businesses within New Hampshire.

Phinney brings his experience serving in the New Hampshire National Guard and the states Department of Corrections to the caucus.

We were elected to the peoples house to serve their will, their interests, and limit government interference in their lives, Phinney said of his differences with the GOP. I was not elected to do the bidding of a political party at the expense of my principles. Establishment partisan politics do nothing to protect the rights of people, but instead only serve to prop up and expand government with arcane plans to irresponsibly spend our money and enact burdensome regulations on businesses, small and large alike. The Libertarian Party platform gives us, as legislators, the best possible framework to expand social freedoms, support a free-market economy, and ensure the checks and balances on government power are enforced.

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Rochester Rep switches to Libertarian Party - Foster's Daily Democrat