Although there are those who thought it would be a bad idea , you did go ahead and switch to the Libertarian Party in an effort to continue your presidential campaign. Now that you have gone ahead and moved in to the Libertarian Party race, hopefully you will run a better campaign than you have been running so far.

There are a few problems you will have to overcome. After the 2008 campaign there are a number of active libertarians who are burned out on the “endorse someone famous” tactic, sacrificing someone who could effectively represent libertarian ideas to their fullest. The ticket of Bob Barr and Wayne Root was a mistake that the party is still trying to live down, and even though you are better than either of them you are still campaigning in their shadow.

If you want to be an effective Libertarian Party candidate, you will have to come out of their shadow and prove that you are fully libertarian, much more so than those nominated the last time the Libertarian Party sacrificed purity for electoral gain.

And that means you will have to rethink a few of your associations within the Libertarian Party. Being seen as close to Wayne Root, who is almost bragging about how he is the one who brought you over, will never get you out of the shadow of the 2008 ticket. Those who seem the most pleased by your Libertarian Party candidacy are what people in the Libertarian Party call the “Reform Caucus.” They are the ones responsible for the 2008 ticket that you have to run against.

The first and foremost way to come out of the shadow of the 2008 ticket is to take the purist libertarian position on foreign policy, as that is what divides the Libertarian Party the most strongly. Wayne Root campaigned actively in 2008 about how he was the pro-war candidate until he discovered that was a losing strategy.

You currently advocate returning all United States troops and that is a good position. But you also support entangling alliances. Neither side of any conflict should have any expectation of United States support. You need to become a purist on this issue. It will alienate many of those who currently are your most ardent supporters but it is necessary if your campaign is to not be a repeat of the 2008 disaster .

The other area where you could improve is in economics. It would be refreshing, in an ironic sort of way, if the Libertarian Party were to have a candidate strong on both civil policy and foreign policy yet weak on economics, but the standard bearer should be as good as possible on all three. Your position on the Federal Reserve and the Fair Tax are not positions embraced by libertarians in general.

Perhaps you could be forgiven your economic short-comings, but you need to embrace a hard-core foreign policy on your campaign if you wish to do so. You were a great example of what a Republican could be when you ran, but as a Libertarian there is room for needed improvements. Your current associates will not appreciate those improvements either. So you need to ask what is more important – your race or the party you are running in?

1,792 votes cast, Jill Stein received 1,223 of them, or 68%. Roseanne Barr, who had just entered the race in the last week, picked up 526 votes, or 29%. There were 35 votes for Kent Mesplay, and 8 votes for Harley Mikkelson

GPW reports that Roseanne Barr is very active on Twitter, and had tweeted a challenge to Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to have both herself and Jill Stein on their programs.

They also report that Jill Stein is actively fundraising, has hired at least 3 staff onto the campaign, and has campaigned so far in California, Colorado, Delaware, DC, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Wisconsin, and other additional states as well.

Jill Stein issued a short statement saying “It is great to have Roseanne Barr on the Green Party team. Let’s bring down the house!” Barr has similarly already made positive statements regarding Stein’s candidacy.

An email from the Stein campaign says that

Dr. Jill Stein, Green Party presidential candidate, begins a three day tour of Indiana and Ohio today with a visit to the Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, accompanied by Cleveland City Councilman and Green Party elected official Brian Cummins and County Executive candidate David Ellison.

Saturday at 11:30am, Dr. Stein addresses the Green Party of Ohio Presidential Nominating Convention in Columbus.

This Sunday, as part of Indianapolis’ Occupy the Super Bowl protests, she rallies with supporters at the state capitol against anti-labor legislation such as “Right to Work for Less.”

The full itinerary of public events is viewable here: http://www.jillstein.org/events

Dr. Stein is especially interested in the Evergreen Cooperatives for providing one successful model, among many, for how economic democracy can provide employment and prosperity for stressed communities. In her recent People’s State of the Union address, Dr. Stein called for a Green New Deal providing for full employment and an immediate transition to a sustainable, more democratic economy. The Evergreen Cooperatives “are pioneering innovative models of job creation, wealth building, and sustainability,” and are, “employee-owned, for-profit companies are based locally and hire locally.”

On Occupy Super Bowl Sunday, at noon, Dr. Stein will rally with supporters and other labor movement advocates at the Indiana statehouse in Indianapolis. Dr. Stein is not only strongly opposed to so-called Right-to-Work legislation (RTW), her Green New Deal includes a “program of immediate creation of 25 million, publicly useful, sustainable, well-paying jobs,” according to a prepared statement. Stein will be joined at the rally by lifelong labor organizer Anthony Prince, and student activist Erika Wolf, both newly hired members of the Jill Stein for President campaign staff.

The Green Party has put out a press release welcoming Stein and Barr to the presidential race:

The Green Party of the United States welcomes two candidates into the race for the 2012 Green presidential nomination, Jill Stein and Roseanne Barr. Ms. Barr and Dr. Stein submitted paperwork to meet the Green Party’s requirements as of the evening of the Feb. 1 deadline.

“We are thrilled to have two strong women running for President as Greens,” said Darryl Moch, national co-chair of the Green Party. “We look forward to a race based on Green ideas and values, and to showing the Democrats and Republicans how to run without the corrupting influence of fat corporate campaign checks and corporate-funded attack ads.”

“Anyone hopeful about the Occupy Wall Street’s challenge to the status quo or disappointed by the Obama Administration’s broken promises of change now has a pair of candidates to watch. Anyone bored or irritated with the Mitt Versus Newt Show by now will be relieved by the breath of fresh air — maybe a Green gale force of righteousness — that’s about to come,” said Tamar Yager, also a national co-chair of the Green Party.

For more information about the candidates, visit the following sites:

Jill Stein: http://www.jillstein.org

Roseanne Barr: http://www.roseanneforpresident.com

2012 Press Information for Green Candidates http://www.gp.org/candidates/index.php

The nominee will be chosen at the Green Party’s national convention, July 12-15, in Baltimore, Maryland (http://www.gpconvention2012.com)

State Green Parties in California, Arizona, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and possibly Ohio are participating in primary elections. Other state Green Parties will choose the nominee they support and apportion delegates during statewide Green conventions. The Green Party currently has ballot access in 17 states. Greens expect to have the presidential nominee and other candidates on the ballot in at least 46 states and the District of Columbia on Election Day 2012.

Past Green Party convention sites and nominees:

2000: Denver, Colorado; Ralph Nader

2004: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; David Cobb

2008: Chicago, Illinois; Cynthia McKinney

“We consider it important to have strong women candidates at a time when women’s reproductive rights are under assult, from the Obama Administration’s decision on the morning-after pill to the Komen Foundation’s withdrawal of funding for breast cancer screening from Planned Parenthood. We’re proud that our presidential nominee in 2008 was a woman,” said Carl Romanelli, Pennsylvania Green and member of the Green Party’s International Committee.

132 Greens hold public office in the United States, including five mayors. The largest city with a Green mayor is Richmond, California, with Mayor Gayle McLaughlin. The Green Party and its candidates accept no money from corporate PACs.

Many Green candidates are promoting the “Green New Deal” in their campaigns (http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal). Greens have been active participants in the Occupy Movement; both Ms. Barr and Dr. Stein have appeared and spoken publicly at Occupy rallies.

Ballot Access News reports that the Associated Press has this story about Roseanne Barr’s announcement that she is seeking the Green Party presidential nomination; here is a Los Angeles Times story about Barr’s candidacy.

Kent Mesplay was featured in the Bloomington Alternative (H/T Green Party Watch).

This article at Green Party Watch has biographical information about four candidates (Stein, Barr, Mesplay and Mikkelson).

Green Party Watch also reports that Cindy Sheehan wrote

In the last election, I supported the Green Party candidate, Cynthia McKinney and her running mate, Rosa Clemente. Unfortunately, the Party is not entirely functional (which party is?), even if many of us do support its 10 Key Principles.
I have also been impressed by the other woman seeking the nomination, Jill Stein–she is bright, articulate, well-informed, truly progressive and dedicated to public service–but if push came to shove, I would support Roseanne.

Barr was a supporter of Sheehan in her race for Congress.

Here are the speakers scheduled:

As CEO and Chief Global Strategist of Euro Pacific Capital, Peter Schiff is one of the most in-demand commentators on economics and investments in America today. He is one of the few unbiased investment advisors (not committed solely to the short side of the market) to have correctly called the recent bear market before it began and to have positioned his clients accordingly. As a result of his accurate forecasts on the U.S. stock market, economy, real estate, mortgage meltdown, credit crunch, subprime debacle, commodities, gold and the dollar, he is becoming increasingly renowned. Mr. Schiff has been quoted in many of the nation’s leading newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Investor’s Business Daily, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, The Miami Herald, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Arizona Republic, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Christian Science Monitor. He appears regularly on CNBC, CNN, Fox News, Fox Business Network, and Bloomberg T.V. Peter Schiff’s best-selling book, Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse was published by Wiley & Sons in February of 2007. His second book, The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets: How to Keep your Portfolio Up When the Market is Down was released the following year.

Robert Wiedemer is Managing Director at Absolute Investment Management and co-authored the landmark book, America’s Bubble Economy, published by John Wiley in 2006, that predicted the current downturn in the economy. “In short, America’s Bubble Economy’s prediction, though ignored, was accurate,” says Paul Farrell, Senior Investment Columnist at Dow Jones MarketWatch. Kiplinger’s chose it as one of the best business books of 2006.

His following book, Aftershock, published by John Wiley in November 2009, was chosen by Smart Money magazine as one of the five best investment books of 2009. Aftershock and America’s Bubble Economy have been the subject of articles in the major press, including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Hedge Fund Journal, Euromoney, Barron’s, Reuters, AP, Bottom Line, and others. Aftershock and Aftershock Second Edition have sold nearly 500,000 copies.

Regulate Marijuana Like Wine (RMLW) Proposition advocate James P. Gray has been a trial judge in Orange County, California since 1983. Before becoming a judge, he served as a Volunteer in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, a staff judge advocate and criminal defense attorney in the Navy JAG Corps, a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, and a civil litigation attorney in a private law firm, in addition to being a Republican candidate for US Congress in 1998, and a Libertarian candidate for US Senate in 2004. Judge Gray has discussed issues of drug policy on more than two hundred television and radio shows and public forums all across the country. Using his experience on the bench and elsewhere, he authored a book on the failed War on Drugs, and another titled Wearing The Robe, about practical and ethical issues in being a judge. He has also composed a musical that encourages young people to expand their horizons and live a fuller life. Read more about Judge Jim Gray.

English author and theoretician in the field of gerontology, Dr. de Grey is the Chief Science Officer of the SENS Foundation. He is editor-in-chief of the academic journal Rejuvenation Research, author of The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging (1999) and co-author of Ending Aging (2007). He is perhaps best known for his view that human beings could, in theory, live to life spans far in excess of that which any authenticated cases have lived to today.

One of the most, charismatic, passionate, and outspoken Libertarian political personalities in America today, Wayne Allyn Root is a best-selling author of seven books, a FOX News Channel regular guest, and a national media star. A former anchorman and host of five shows on Financial News Network (now called CNBC), Wayne is an entrepreneur, economist, small businessman extraordinaire, business speaker and author, and passionate capitalist evangelist. Wayne appears weekly on the nationally syndicated “Big Biz Show” with his segment “ROOT on Business.” He serves as Senior Economic Advisor to a global financial services company, as well as national spokesman for a precious metals firm. Wayne also serves on multiple Boards of Directors. He is the current chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee.

Activist, speaker, and blogger, Rosa Koire is a forensic real estate appraiser specializing in eminent domain valuation. Her research into and fight against redevelopment led her to the sustainability movement and was the genesis to co-found the Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition and the Post Sustainability Institute. She has been speaking and inspiring groups nationally to take action. Her book, Behind The Green Mask, was released in September 2011. Rosa is a must-hear for those interested in learning about how property rights, eminent domain, sustainability, corporate welfare, extreme environmentalism, junk science, and corrupt politicians are all related here in California.

Adrian Moore, Ph.D., is vice president of policy at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank advancing free minds and free markets. Moore leads Reason’s policy implementation efforts and conducts his own research on topics such as privatization, government and regulatory reform, air quality, transportation and urban growth, prisons, and utilities.

Moore, who has testified before Congress on several occasions, regularly advises federal, state, and local officials on ways to streamline government and reduce costs. He is also co-author of Mobility First: A New Vision for Transportation in a Globally Competitive 21st Century and Curb Rights: A Foundation for Free Enterprise in Urban Transit. His works have been published in many publications such as Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Orange County Register, The Independent Review, Economic Affairs, Public Policy and Management, and Consumer Affairs.

Lynn Grey Jensen is Founding Executive Director of the Ventura County Coalition of Labor Agriculture and Business. VC CoLAB was incorporated in July of 2010 in response to a number of pending regulations threatening agricultural and related businesses in Ventura County. They are a “homegrown” organization with a local board of directors and a growing membership. Lynn brings a scientific approach to fighting extreme regulations, many of which are being imposed throughout our state. Learn what is being done to your property rights, how it’s affecting your wallet and what you can do to fight back.

Evan McMahon is the Executive Director of Atlas Liberty PAC, whose mission it is to provide Libertarian affiliates at all levels the practical, nuts-and-bolts support necessary to become an effective force in local politics. Because Atlas Liberty is not a think tank, its focus transcends ideology, positions, and principles to focus on the mechanics and hard work of real politics and the knowledge and resources Libertarian affiliates need to win elections.

Atlas Liberty will provide training on fundraising, a complete walk-through on how to become an FEC filer (which every effective fundraiser must to do), voter registration, lobbying, and much more of the heavy lifting of successful retail politics.

The mission of Atlas Liberty is simple: provide Libertarians with a desire to win elections the resources, money, and training to do so.

Libertarian Party of California At-Large member and President of Freedom Property Management, Inc., Flavio will be putting on a breakout session to teach fellow Libertarians how to use the state’s new website (a.k.a. Freebook) to build a better county website, integrate with social networks such as Facebook, maximize the use of email campaigns through Mailchimp, and automate your newsletter using your new Freebook-powered county website. This will be a class for non-technical persons but will be of value no matter what your level of tech expertise.

Founder of the “Freedom Friend” as described in this Reason.tv video and current Chair of the California Libertarian Party’s Women’s Caucus, Michelle Lieberman will be speaking on helping women connect with liberty.

 
Further details can be found at the convention website.

On January 19, the California Senate unanimously passed AB 1413, which, among other things, eliminates write-in space from November ballots for Congress and partisan state office. The bill now goes to the Assembly, because when it passed the Assembly last year, it didn’t have the same provisions.

Meanwhile, another article at Ballot Access News reports that election officials in California, the state with the largest number of Spanish speakers in the US in overall numbers and home of Silicon Valley, were not able to translate “Americans Elect” into Spanish. The party will appear on the ballot for California Spanish speaking US Citizens as “Partido Americans Elect”, only the first of which is a Spanish word. Commenters at BAN and Google Translate suggest Americanos Eligen or Estadounidenses Eligen.

A couple days after Christmas, I went to Iowa to help Ron Paul’s presidential campaign in the lead-up to the Iowa caucuses. I’d never been there before, and I like traveling, but mainly it was just something I felt like I needed to do; that how well Ron Paul did in that caucus could be a real game changer. And I confess it was a downer that he didn’t take first place, even though he made an excellent showing. But overall it was a positive experience, and I think I did some good. I was surprised however at how disorganized the operation appeared to be, especially given that the media was reporting (as seemed to be true) that Ron Paul had the most extensive ground campaign in the state.

Even before I left, I was trying to find the answers to three important questions — Where should I go in Iowa in order to do the campaign the most good, where should I plan on being on caucus night to speak on behalf of Ron Paul, and where could I sleep during my trip (either at the homes of local supporters, in accommodations obtained by the campaign, etc.) I brought a sleeping bag so that I could crash on the floor of a campaign office or something if needed. I never really was able to get answers to these questions, although I did end up finding free places to stay all but two nights (one of which was sort of my own “fault” as I misread my departure time and missed my return flight out of Chicago, necessitating staying in a motel there an extra night).

I didn’t see a lot of organized precinct-walking. People were doing a lot more phone calling. It was winter in Iowa, after all — though not nearly as cold as I’d been afraid it would be. Some of the activists almost seemed to think I was a little nuts for wanting to spend my time out on the streets putting up fliers and stickers and such. But I’d flown out from California, dammit, and I wasn’t just going to sit in an office making phone calls when I could do that from home! I wanted to go out and be visible and talk to people. Actually I think I spent about as much time driving around as out campaigning on foot, but with my rental car decked out with Ron Paul yard signs in the windows and a “rEVOLution” sticker prominently affixed to the bumper, that didn’t really seem like a waste of time. And it let me see a bit of the state.

I had brought with me some copies of a flier I’d made from the Blue Republicans essay ( Huffington Post ), and was able to make some more copies at the Ron Paul grassroots office in Davenport. This is probably the best written material I’ve seen for convincing people on the left to consider Ron Paul, and my goal was to put it up in liberal-leaning parts of the state. Along with Davi Barker’s “24 Types of Authoritarians” cartoon (see attachment), which wasn’t specifically campaign-related, but is one of my favorite pieces of outreach material and something that everyone should see and grok.

Iowa City, the place I drove to initial my first stay-over in Davenport, turned out to be an excellent area for this mission. It’s a college town with a fairly extensive downtown shopping area, lots of little shops and restaurants, definitely a bit more character and alternative/bohemian flavor than the strip malls and big box stores evident in many parts of Iowa which could be pretty much interchangeable with similar strip malls and big box stores in any other state. To give mainstream corporate conformity its due, the pedestrian-friendly downtown Iowa City scene could have been transplanted from pretty much just about any college town in the country too, but to make a perfectly valid generalization, the long-established haunts of university students are to typical suburban sprawl as a hand-painted coffee mug is to a styrofoam cup, or a delicious creation from Ike’s Sandwich shop down the block from me is to a Big Mac. These truths are no less self-evident than those cited in the Declaration of Independence, and I firmly believe that history will one day shake its head in wonder at the cultural ostriches of our era.

But you are no doubt eager to hear about the actual caucuses, and I digress. The place I ended up caucusing was a little town called Hedrick, in Keokue County. It wasn’t until the day of the caucuses, calling around and trying to find a precinct where they didn’t have someone prepared to speak, that this location was recommended to me. I’d been doing get-out-the-vote stuff in the Fairfield area, a relative libertarian hotbed (Jefferson County, of which Fairfield is the major town, was the only county in Iowa that Ron Paul won in 2008), and they had their precincts pretty well covered. So I drove up to Hedrick, but when I got there it turned out there was a local woman prepared to speak on Dr. Paul’s behalf after all, so I didn’t end up giving a speech for him. It wasn’t a wash however, as I did coax two RP supporters into volunteering as delegates who I think probably would not have done so otherwise.

The caucus process itself, at least where I witnessed it, was a bit disappointing (although even what it was still made me jealous as a Californian where we don’t get to caucus at all). Only three candidates (Paul, Santorum, and Bachmann) had people speaking for them, and as soon as those speeches concluded, the voting began. I’d expected more time for people to discuss the merits of the candidates with each other, but there was very little opportunity for that. Although I understand that the process varies considerably from precinct to precinct, and some people I talked to went to caucuses where people were more engaged. At the Hedrick precinct there were 41 voters, and Santorum ran away with the bulk of their support, garnering 19 votes. Paul and Gingrich were tied for second with 8 votes each; Bachmann got 4, Perry 2, and Romney, interestingly, got none. If only South Carolina voters could be so accommodating!

After the voting, the Hedrick townsfolk chose delegates, and the chair had to practically beg people in order to get enough volunteers to fill out the 8-person delegation they were entitled to submit. That was eventually accomplished, but I think only 2 of 4 alternate slots got filled. Then they took suggestions for changing the Republican Party platform. This process was really disappointing. In the LP, of course, we look at the existing platform and debate and iron out the language of actual plank changes. In Hedrick, there were not copies of the existing platform on hand, and people proposed only broad suggestions, like “Require term limits for Congress”, “End birthright citizenship”, etc. There was no voting; people just called out their ideas, and the two dozen or so suggestions were written down on a list, purportedly to be forwarded along with the delegation, to the state convention.

On the bright side of this procedural informality, no one objected to my contributing three ideas to the list — one was “Equal ballot access rules for all political parties”. The other two were to have the platform endorse a couple excellent pieces of legislation listed on the website of the libertarian non-profit Downsize DC the “Read The Bills Act” and the “One Subject At A Time Act”. This was the most specific that any of the platform suggestions got.

Another notable thing about the Iowa effort was that the official Ron Paul campaign only had one office, near Des Moines in the center of the state. I never actually made it to that office, and in fact a person I spoke with there did not seem very interested in wanting people to come help, let alone being able to try to answer any of the questions I had (see above) and suggested I try contacting the grassroots folks instead. Which is probably just as well. Paid campaign staffers who have been given any significant level of responsibility tend, in my experience, to behave like fearful, over-protective mothers and are a drag to work with.

Grassroots supporters, meanwhile, had opened at least four additional offices on their own, and had a generally more welcoming vibe. I spent time at three of those offices, in Fairfield, Davenport, and Iowa City. In Iowa City I ran into Richard Campagna, our 2004 vice-presidential candidate, and in Fairfield I stayed at Roger Leahy’s place. Roger has been a very generous supporter of Dr. Paul, and was no less generous toward me, giving me the run of his charming guesthouse for three nights! I don’t recall physically meeting any other people who were specifically Libertarian that I was aware of, but most of the RP supporters seemed fairly libertarian, from what I could gather. There were several other active Libertarians in Fairfield who I somehow never managed to run into, including Clyde Cleveland who ran for Congress on the LP ticket.

I did have a great conversation at the 2nd Street Coffee House (the place to eat if you’re in Fairfield, imho!) with a couple guys from local radio station KRUU — thoughtful liberals who had some reservations about Ron Paul, but were friendly and invited me to be a radio guest sometime. So gotta follow up with that!

Richard Winger points out that the primary occurs after the national convention has chosen the nominee, and thus loses much of its interest.

The Libertarian presidential primary might be deemed somewhat irrational, because the primary is not until June, and the party will have chosen its nominee in May.

The Libertarian Party didn’t use its presidential primary in California in 1980, 1984, and 1988, because the national convention was before the date of the California primary. In 1992, the only name listed on the Libertarian California presidential primary was Andre Marrou, who was already the nominee.

Starting in 1996, though, the Libertarian Party national conventions were later than the California primary, so the party started holding multi-candidate presidential primaries in California. In 1996, Harry Browne won the primary in a 4-way race and went on to be the nominee. In 2000, Browne won the 5-way California primary and again went on to be the nominee. In 2004, Gary Nolan won the California 3-way primary but was defeated for the party’s nomination at the convention. In 2008, Christine Smith won the 12-person primary but she was not nominated at the national convention.

Presumably, the winner of the primary will be the already-chosen nominee.

Students of California, arise, you have nothing to lose but a crushing debt!

The corporate state of California, ever ready to seize its ideological and commercial hour during a recession, has a chokehold on California’s public universities. With its tax-coddled plutocracy and a nod to further corporatization, the state government has taken the lid off tuition increases big time.

Students of the University of California at Berkeley may pay a proposed $23,000 in tuition by the 2015-2016 school year, up from $11,160 this year (2011) that in turn is up from $2,716 in the academic year 2001-2002. In short, tuition for resident undergraduates has more than quadrupled in ten years.

Before and right after World War II the idea of a public university included a then-called “educational fee” close to zero, from city college of New York to UC Berkeley.

Old timers now look back at those days as economic life-savers toward a degree and a productive life for them and the American economy.

No more. Those gates of opportunity are crumbling at an accelerating pace.

Ralph Nader has run for President numerous times as a third party candidate, most recently as an Independent in 2008.

And, although it wasn’t on TV, the following is an appeal from Rocky Anderson regarding the Justice Party’s current effort in California to get on the ballot for 2012 by registering about 103,000 “Justice Party” voters:

Much of this year’s legislative and congressional drama has focused on the decennial redistricting, but the greater impact could come from our seemingly annual attempt to change election systems in California.
Whether it is blanket primaries, open primaries, ranked-choice voting, or the new top-two primary election system, we appear to be unable to satisfy our appetite for election system changes.
With the constant shifts come myths and misperceptions about what it will all mean.

I have heard Sacramento insiders claim the system awards the victory outright to anyone who gets over 50 percent in the primary. Not true.
I have heard PAC directors say they are not going to spend money until November because none of these races will be decided in June. Not wise.
I’ve heard consultants retooling campaigns because Republicans will be voting for the best Democrat and Democrats will vote for the best Republican. An overstatement at best.
The Top Two primary system will allow all candidates to run on the same ballot, designating themselves as “preferring” a party or no party at all.  Voters will be able to vote for anyone.  And the top two candidates, no matter if one gets 99 percent and the other gets 1 percent, will go on to the General Election.

The article goes on to discuss specific races and distracts where the Top Two will change the dynamics from previous races.

Dan Hamburg is a former Democratic Congressman and former Green candidate for Governor of California. John Pinches is a heretofore unknown member of the American Independent Party, but is serving as a Supervisor for Mendocino County until 2015.

A few weeks ago, I declared my intention to run for the office of the President of the United States. I sent out press releases. Some of you saw the headline article posted by WND.com and other sites. I knew I was starting as a total outsider, non-lawyer, non-politician and non-millionaire. However, I knew I was a patriot, a visionary, a veteran talk show host who had always represented the cutting edge issues of the American people, and most importantly I was called to do this by God. Some of you immediately think “religious kook” or “fringe” at the notion of me even saying that.

The truth is, I have never fantasized or imagined being President of the United States. This hasn’t been a career move or positioning for my ego. Instead, God asked me to run — a commoner, a survivor, a mom, and a patriot with REAL ideas of service for a time such as this. I said yes, knowing how it would sound. He has asked me to simply trust Him through the long process, running as an Independent conservative, not a Republican or Democrat.

Ms. Roth goes on to say that she has already received a guarantee from the American Independent Party of California, formerly the state affiliate of the national Constitution Party. Her campaign website can be found here.

America is at a crossroads. We borrow and print forty-three cents of every dollar the federal government spends and are now choking on debt. One candidate not only understands we must reverse this policy before heading down the path of Greece or Italy, but has pledged to take immediate action.

That candidate is you, Governor Johnson.
…
You are the only candidate with the executive resume to back up your tough talk. That is why we donated to “Our America” and supported your GOP run. Yet it is clear that the Republican Party has no intention of seriously dealing with the problem of a government that grossly exceeds its Constitutional authority and continues to grow and spend at an unsustainable rate. You realize this is threatening our country’s future, but the Republican Party has chosen to silence your voice. America needs to hear your message!

That is why we, among many, ask that you take the bold step of continuing your run under the banner of the Libertarian Party.

With the unprecedented financial and political turmoil around the world, this election has the potential to change the status quo in America. With the current record-low approval rates for President Obama and Congress, the efforts by “Americans Elect” to build a vehicle for a Michael Bloomberg run, and the record-high number of independent voters, this will be an election tailor-made for a candidate who pledges to restore freedom and limited government—from outside the right/left paradigm.

We have personally seen how you are able to connect with people from both liberal and conservative backgrounds. Your message makes sense to many Americans. But due to the Republican Party’s efforts to silence you, so many more have not had the chance to hear that message. Please give Americans a real choice this fall, a chance to actually choose a new direction rather than mere slogans.

There is much cause for hope for the 2012 election. With the growth of pro-liberty groups such as Campaign for Liberty and Students for Liberty, as well as Libertarian party advocacy groups, namely the LNCC and Atlas Liberty, the base of support has never been greater. With a strategy that targets battleground states where you will poll well, such as in the West, in your home state of New Mexico, and in Nevada (where the 2008 LP ticket polled as high as 10% without advertising), you could quickly change the electoral map. In a four-way race you would become a soaring political juggernaut in a country looking for new solutions. You once told us you were running because you thought you could help our beleaguered country. We truly and deeply agree.

Sincerely yours,

Dana McLorn and Steve Kubby

Wayne Allyn Root has been a very effective spokesperson for liberty. Not perfect, but a much better communicator than most libertarians. That is perhaps both his strength and his weakness.

At heart, Root’s a salesman. Nothing wrong with that. So am I (and I’m FAR less effective than he is).

But I’m afraid that his bottom line is selling dubious products to “fellow travelers” in the liberty movement (see below). It’s called “affinity selling,” common in belief groups — religious or not.

Such seems to be the case below. He’s hustling what appears to be an MLM program — multi-level marketing. You go to the website, and you get a lot of hype and endorsements, but no substance as to what the program is. For that, doubtless you have to sit through a presentation. Bad sign.

For 20 years I was a CFP financial planner. I worked on commission. I sold good products and bad. While overall I did pretty well for my clients, I made just about every investment mistake there is at one time or another — except pyramid schemes.

I also got to review many investment and business propositions brought to me by clients. I can see, feel, taste and smell a hustle.

Indeed, I contacted the SD COUNTY DA on the infamous local J. David Dominelli commodity pyramid scheme 18 months before it collapsed (the DA did nothing despite two letters I sent detailing my concerns).

Some MLM’s are just harmless pyramid marketing schemes without much front money (think Amway) — others are terrible frauds. Can’t say which one this is, but I’d bet dollars to donuts it is one or the other.

One important aspect of such programs is that the salespeople have to BELIEVE in the program. It’s almost a religion. Few (generally found at the top of the pyramid) are actual con men, hucksters who understand the game.

I suspect that Root is a believer. I KNOW he’s be a passionate and effective sales person for the deal.

I caution Libertarians to be skeptical. Indeed, skepticism is a trait that we have in abundance — except perhaps when we trust the messenger.

Trust NO ONE in investments — and especially in MLM. Think Bernie Madoff — a superb con man who successfully worked his belief group — Jews. Similar con man Ponzi hustles are particularly common among Mormons and Baptists.

Let’s be VERY careful out there.

Watch this special video here

This was sent to me in a group e-mail from Richard Rider, who is known as a crusader against taxes from San Diego, CA.  I don’t know what prompted this mailing.

            On June 1, 1954, Congress passed a law which officially changed the annual November 11 holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day.  The Korean War had ended less than a year earlier, and according to President Eisenhower’s Proclamation 3071, Congress changed the name of the holiday “in order that a grateful Nation might pay homage to the veterans of all its wars who have contributed so much to the preservation of this Nation.”

Holidays are important events for society.  They not only commemorate significant events in history, they also indicate what society’s values are.  So for example, Thanksgiving Day is about far more than the Wampanoag Indians rescuing a few Pilgrims from starvation.  Rather, Americans take the opportunity to reflect on the many things for which we can be grateful.  Likewise, Martin Luther King Day is not just a celebration of the man’s life, but also of the values which he symbolizes: racial tolerance, equal opportunity, and brotherhood across ethnic lines.

These holidays also provide opportunities for learning.  By observing them, we show new members of American society (children and immigrants) that we place a high value on those things that we celebrate: an attitude of thanksgiving, our national independence, the memory of those who have died in the armed services, etc., etc.  Holidays also subconsciously reinforce those values for the rest of us.

Surely, it is a good thing to pay tribute to those brave men and women who honestly place their lives at risk to protect our safety and our freedom.  However, when Congress changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day, it set the Law of Unintended Consequences into motion.

You see, Armistice Day celebrated the end of a war.  In fact, it was the only holiday we had that was dedicated to peace.  We have several holidays to celebrate our soldiers: Memorial Day, Independence Day, even Pearl Harbor Day (which is always recognized in the news media, even though it is not a legal holiday).  But when Congress changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day, it denied Americans of our only holiday devoted to peace.

Of course, this was not Congress’s intent.  In fact, Eisenhower’s proclamation urges us to “reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts [i.e., those of the fallen soldiers] shall not have been in vain.”  However, with the passage of time, the idea of peace has faded from our public ceremonies.  When was the last time Cindy Sheehan or Howard Zinn was invited to speak at City Hall on Veterans Day?  How would the crowd react if the Boston Pops played “Give Peace a Chance” or “Peace Train” at the park?  And yet, that would not be out of character with the original legislation at all.

It’s like those bumper stickers that say, “Support Our Troops,” where the words “support” and “troops” are written in red, but the word “our” is in blue, all on a white background.  As the colors fade, the blue fades first, leaving a message which is very different from the original one.

So, now we have three holidays (plus D-Day and Pearl Harbor Day) to celebrate and honor the war-making institutions of our country.  But since Dr. Martin Luther King’s opposition to the Vietnam War is always carefully avoided in the Martin Luther King Day observances, we don’t have any holidays to celebrate peace.

Maybe this actually gives a more accurate picture of America’s values today.  After all, we have been involved in an endless series of wars against some vague, ill-defined “terror” groups for a decade.  And both the Bush and Obama administrations have seemed intent on implementing the Project for a New American Century’s 2000 policy document, Rebuilding America’s Defenses, complete with its “two-war” standard.

But is that really the vision of America that we want?  Do we really want to transmit the emphasis on war-making to our descendants, or do we want to balance it with a vision of peace, as well?

No, it’s time for Veteran’s Day to find another date.  As Americans, it’s time for us to “reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace,” and reclaim our celebration of stopping one of the worst episodes of mass murder in Earth’s history.

It’s time for us to reclaim Armistice Day.

On October 7, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed SB 205, which made it a crime to pay registration workers on a per-registration card basis. Because Proposition 14 has left California minor parties with only one means to remain on the ballot, by having registration equal to 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, this veto will help minor parties. The Green, Libertarian, and Peace & Freedom Parties had asked that the bill not be signed. The veto message says, “Voting is at the heart of our democracy. Efforts to register voters should be encouraged, not criminalized.”

Brown also acted on four other election law bills. He signed SB 397, which makes it possible for voters to register to vote on-line.

According to this story, the Kansas Secretary of State’s office has released a new voter registration tally, as of October 1, 2011, and that tally shows that one person in Kansas is registered in Americans Elect. This appears to be the first official registration data in any state that shows any registered voters in Americans Elect. The number in Kansas will surely increase, when Kansas voter registration forms listing Americans Elect as a choice begin to circulate around the state.

The other Kansas totals are: Republican 750,908; Democratic 442,647; Libertarian 10,139; Reform 1,065; independent 487,944.

Other states in which Americans Elect will be listed on voter registration forms soon include Nevada and California. Arizona and Florida do not list the qualified minor parties on the voter registration form. In Alaska, Americans Elect is only a limited political party (i.e., a party that is only on the ballot for the presidential election), and so the Alaska registration form won’t list Americans Elect.

Peace and Freedom Party of California, the only working class, feminist-socialist party on the ballot in California, expresses our solidarity with the activists participating in the Occupation of Wall Street, now entering its second week. Our Platform has long included demands for “Social ownership and democratic control of industry, financial institutions, and natural resources,” as well as “Withdraw U. S. troops and weapons from other countries, and reallocate the resulting ‘peace dividend’ for social benefit.” Our Platform further states that: “Our goals cannot be achieved by electoral means alone. We participate in mass organization and direct action in neighborhoods, workplaces, unions and the armed forces everywhere.”

Since coverage of Occupy Wall Street has been largely blacked out by the mainstream media, we urge our members and supporters to seek independent sources of information on this important action, such as: “Occupy Wall Street: Thousands March in NYC Financial District, Set Up Protest Encampment,” on Democracy Now, Monday, Sept 19, 2011, at www.democracynow.org.

An interview with Michael Moore: “Michael Moore calls for support of
Occupy Wall Street protest, decries execution of Troy Davis, at www.current.com as well as other important sources which include: www.indypendent.org, occupywallst.org, and readersupportednews.org.

KALW News has published an interview with Terry Baum, Green Party candidate for Mayor of San Francisco, at SFGate.com:

This year’s SF mayoral election is ranked choice, meaning San Franciscans can all vote for more than one candidate. If the frontrunner doesn’t get a majority of first place votes, the second place votes kick in. And that process is going to make for a lot of contenders – 16 of them, in fact. And one is Terry Baum.

Baum worked on the congressional campaign of famed feminist Bella Abzug back in 1970. She then moved to the Bay Area and started working with a lesbian theater company. In 2004 she ran as a Green candidate against Representative Nancy Pelosi for her seat in the House. And now, Baum is taking her thoughts back to the people of San Francisco by running for mayor.

Read the interview at SFGate.com.

The answer is that I have taken the steps to close my company because I no longer wish to pay the $800 tax that every corporation or LLC must pay in this state for the privilege of existing in this state -profit or not. Atlas, has once again shrugged. I don’t work just so I can hand it over the government.

But the story gets more interesting… A few days ago, I ordered a couple of Newcastle beers at a bar and the total came to $18. Alcohol is expensive and more-so than it needs to be were we to have a truly free market.

You see, as I walked over to the register at the State Board of Equalization (what do they equalize anyway???), I noticed a sheet of paper posted on the wall. It was the public notice for an auction of a liquor license. Yep, if you want to sell alcohol in this state, you need permission from the government. What many people don’t know is that the state actually limits the number of liquor licenses it will issue. Ostensibly, it’s to prevent liquor from being sold at the local dry cleaners or while you wait at your accountant’s office. Imagine the pandemonium.

License are so limited that to buy one from someone who already has a license means you’re paying a premium. In fact, the notice on the auction flyer said the opening bid was $48,000. That bares repeating: FORTY EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS for permission to sell a Newcastle beer. To put that in perspective, that means before entering into battle with the local health department, negotiating with landlords, spending many tens of thousands improving a commercial space, hiring employees, or advertising, an entrepreneur must fork over the value of this home…just to sell me a beer.

Do you think my nine dollar beer includes the cost of that license? Of course it does! And for what? All because the government wants to “protect” somebody from something, somewhere. It’s a miracle there is any profit after all this poor sap has to pay out before he can open his doors and compete with other poor saps. They’re all workin’ for the government it turns out.

The simple truth is that when government grants monopolies or in this case, an oligopoly, by concentrating the right to sell a product into the hands of a few, it is obstructing the very competition our founding forefathers recognized was so essential in both a free market and society.

So whether it is my now-surrendered sales tax license or a liquor license, government is the single largest impediment to businesses today.