Document:National Email 13 April 2018 Facebook, FL elected official, SD victory, and more LP news!
Table of Contents:
- Facebook, good or evil?
- Florida Libertarian elected to Davenport City Council
- Our latest victory
- Celebrating the libertarian ideas in the Declaration of Independence
- Washington Times highlights upcoming LNC convention
- Notice for Awards Committee applicants
- Call for nominations: 2018 Libertarian Party Awards
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Facebook, good or evil?
We support full freedom of expression and oppose government censorship, regulation or control of communications media and technology.
Is Facebook good or evil? That seems to be the underlying question that led Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to subject himself to 10 hours of grilling by Congress on April 10 and 11.
“Facebook can be used for both good and evil,” said Libertarian National Committee Executive Director Wes Benedict. “I see both the pros and the cons of Facebook. More important than my personal opinion about Facebook, though, is the role of government regarding Facebook. Government regulation is bad news. Government should stay away from Facebook. The power of government to regulate is usually ultimately abused, and when that regulation involves widespread speech and expression, that regulation can violate individual rights at a fundamental level. I care about the sanctity of the First Amendment. Also, when government has the power to hurt companies, those companies start paying for lobbyists and making campaign contributions, which can lead to corruption.”
Read the rest and share at LP.org!
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Florida Libertarian elected to Davenport City Council
Florida Libertarian Brandon Kneeld was elected to the Davenport City Council on April 3.
Kneeld easily defeated his opponent, Headley Oliver, with 245 votes to Oliver’s 117.
“I’m just incredibly humbled they’re putting their trust in me,” Kneeld said of the residents, in an election-night interview with the local newspaper, the Ledger. “I’m just excited to try to do my part to keep Davenport a wonderful place to be.”
The term for the office is three years.
Kneeld’s election brings the Libertarian Party’s number of elected officials to 162.
Read the rest and share at LP.org!
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Our latest victory
I always enjoy sharing with you news of our victories. Often we have so many urgent things going on that we are slow to share them with you, or we don't, and I apologize for that.
One of our most recent is a ballot access victory in South Dakota. A federal judge ruled South Dakota's laws regulating third-party ballot access to be unconstitutional. He said these laws violate the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the plaintiffs: the Libertarian Party and Constitutional Party.
Stephen Pevar from the ACLU was the lead attorney. He was quoted in the press as saying, “South Dakota has one of the most, if not the most, restrictive ballot-access laws in the United states.” We are proud of this win and thankful to Stephen for his work on this case.
Read the rest and share at LP.org!
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Celebrating the libertarian ideas in the Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence April 13 marks the 275th birthday of Thomas Jefferson. It can be difficult to grapple with Jefferson’s full legacy, because although he penned some of the most inspiring rhetoric about liberty and self-ownership, he also held human beings in bondage until his dying day. On slavery, Jefferson talked the talk of emancipation but failed to walk the walk. He died a slaveholder and was the father of children borne by his slave Sally Hemings. Libertarians unequivocally condemn the institution of slavery, no matter the historical context.
Still, although Jefferson failed to live by his own ideals, we can be inspired by what he wrote about human freedom. The Declaration of Independence, America’s founding document, is profoundly libertarian.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” the preamble stated, with sentiments that ring profoundly true to this day. “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it ...”
Read the rest and share at LP.org!
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Washington Times highlights upcoming LNC convention
The national Libertarian Party appears pretty cheerful these days. The organization is busy planning its four-day national convention in New Orleans in late June, where the event theme is “I’m that Libertarian!”
The speakers’ roster includes such notables as Zoltan Istvan, a “transhumanist Libertarian futurist” who is running for governor of California and Amaryllis Fox, a former CIA analyst and host of the History Channel’s “American Ripper,” a historic investigation of a serial killer. A record-breaking number of people have registered for the event, according to organizers.
Read the rest and share at LP.org!
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Notice for Awards Committee applicants
LP convention awards Applications to fill two positions on the 2018 Libertarian Party Awards Committee will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. EDT on Apr. 15, 2018. The Libertarian National Committee will fill these positions at its April meeting in the Denver, Colo., area.
Applicants must be sustaining members of the Libertarian Party.
Applications should include your name, address, telephone number, and email address, along with a list of your activities and accomplishments in the Libertarian Party. In addition, please include a statement that lists the reasons you wish to serve on the Awards Committee and the benefits your service would bring.
Read the rest and share at LP.org!
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Call for nominations: 2018 Libertarian Party Awards
LP convention awards Nominees for the Jefferson, Henry, Paine, and Adams awards must be members of the Libertarian Party (i.e., they have signed the certification). Nominees for the Hall of Liberty need not be members of the Libertarian Party.
LP members should send nominations for these awards (along with supporting documentation) to the Awards Committee at Awards@LP.org. Nominations must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday, May 31, 2018.
Read the rest and share at LP.org!
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