Top Honors given to LP members every four years

The Libertarian Party proudly announces recipients of this year’s Thomas Paine, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Jefferson awards. These awards are given out every four years at the Presidential Nominating Convention. They are given to individuals whose achievements place them among the best activists in the history of the LP.

The Thomas Paine award honors individuals within the LP who have excelled in the area of communications. This year the award will be given to two great communicators, Michael Ferguson, of Missouri, and Eric Schansberg, of Indiana.

Ferguson runs a political Web site called MissouriViewpoints.com that features Libertarians and other political figures. Mainstream media sources permanently link to his site. His video interviews posted on his Web site have been covered by a number of different media sources.

Schansberg has run for public office and plans on running again this year for Congress. He is the author of three books on limited government, regularly writes articles for the Indiana Policy Review Journal, and publishes an influential blog called the “SchansBlog.”

The Samuel Adams award is presented to LP members who have been effective in building party membership, involved in community outreach, running for office and managing campaigns. This year’s award recipient is long-time party member and LP Counsel Bill Hall, of Michigan.

Hall has been a member of the LP since 1977. He has been a local contributor, a state chair, an LNC member, a candidate for public office multiple times, a very generous donor to the LP and a professional consultant to the LP.

The Thomas Jefferson award is the Party’s highest honor, presented to members whose achievements merit our recognition of outstanding leadership, high character and dedication to the principles and goals of the Party. This year’s award will be given to two individuals who have both displayed exemplary leadership skills and long-time devotion to the Libertarian Party.

The first recipient is Ruth Bennett, of Washington, who has been a party member since 1978. She has run for office on multiple occasions, as well as helping to manage several campaigns. She has been a state chair multiple times and has been involved in organizing a number of conventions at both the state and national level. Bennett has also been an outreach speaker and has served on the LNC. She recently announced that she would be seeking the Libertarian Party of Washington's nomination for governor.

The second recipient of the Thomas Jefferson award is Virginia Libertarian Jim Lark. Lark has been a party member since 1984. He was LP Chair from 2000-2002, and has worked tirelessly in organizing student groups at universities across the nation. He has served many years on the LNC, been a generous donor to the LP, and organized local parties in Virginia and other states. Lark has served as an advisor to a number of campaigns and also served as seminar faculty member for Success ’97 and Success ’99.

“The best opportunities would be New Hampshire, which is arguably the most libertarian state in the country and where, in 2006, the Republicans just got wiped out,” Boaz said.
From there, Barr should look west.

Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona,” Boaz said, adding Alaska and Colorado.
New Mexico could be a possibility, also, he said.

The New York Times quoted political analyst Charlie Cook about Barr’s potential impact in the Mountian West states:

But there is the Libertarian Party and then there is the libertarian — small-“L” — state of mind. Those who do not necessarily vote with the party but identify with some of the core libertarian philosophy — a small government with minimal reach into people’s personal lives, and minimal foreign entanglements — may be a potent, if unpredictable, group of voters.

“I think one problem the Republican Party is facing in the Mountain West is that the social, cultural and religious emphasis of Republicans in the last five, six, eight years has run against the libertarian grain,” Mr. Cook said. “When these people signed onto small government, they weren’t just talking about money. They were talking about small government, period. So when government dictates anything, whether social, cultural, religious or anything else, they take a dim view of that.”

According to the article, Barr is also changing the dynamic in his home state of Georgia:

Mr. Barr is expected to attract votes in libertarian strongholds like Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico and New Hampshire. One recent poll suggested that Mr. Barr could do the most serious damage in his native Georgia, where Mr. Obama, with his wide support among black voters, could perform well, too.

According to the poll, conducted by InsiderAdvantage, 8 percent of registered voters said they would vote for Mr. Barr in a matchup against Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama in November. (Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama received 45 percent and 35 percent in the poll, respectively.)

At least they aren’t calling it Gold State Strategery.

Before discussing the United States Election Process, there are some definitions and realities that must be addressed. The United States of America is a Republic instead of a Democracy although it cannot be denied that the American Republic [with its freedom and democracy] is killing itself softly and surely. It should be remembered by reading the history books that Republics usually have a lifespan of five hundred years.

The word Republic is derived from the Latin Res Publica or public matter. Republic is defined as a government that is lead and decided by the people or a group of people. There are many types of Republics such as a Federal Republic, Communist Republic, and Islamic Republic. The word Democracy which is Greek for Popular Government is another form of saying Popular Sovereignty. In fact, Alexander Hamilton once warned about democracy saying that it was a sure way to end up as a dictatorship.

The United States Election Prccess does not support Democracy nor does it support the concept of the Republic since the Republicans and Democrats repress the Libertarian Party and other alternative groups with their discriminatory electoral laws as well as psychologically torturing the alternative political parties. Before continuing, I will vote for the Libertarian Party and their candidate for President Bob Barr and Vice President Wayne Allyn Root in spite of the repression of the Republicans and Democrats.

The latest proof lies in the travesty of the Democratic National Committee and the way they resolved Michigan and Florida. While it is understood that Michigan and Florida voted earlier, there were plenty of Democrats who voted for their choice in a massive majority in these states. What was the response of the Democratic National Committee and their leaders such as that failure whose last name is Roosevelt? The votes of Michigan and Florida only count as a half vote. Michigan and Florida were punished unfairly by a Democratic National Committee that has converted into a joke in bad taste. In spite of the brilliant speeches by Senator Bill Nelson and Robert Wexler, the Democratic National Committee rejected Michiagn and Florida. The Democratic National Committee discriminated against Florida and Michigan and should consider changing the name of its party. At least Mike Gravel had the wisdom to leave the Democratic Party to convert to the Libertarian Party.

The Republican Party treated Ron Paul with the same disrespect and allowed itself to become nothing more than a coronation party for John Mc Cain to continue as the "regent" for the Bush Dynasty so that they can group again.
If the United States wanted a true election process, the people of the United States should ask for the participation of all political parties and throw out the Republicans and Democrats via the ballot box and replace them with the Libertarian Party under Bob Barr and Wayne Allyn Root.

The United States of America is not fighting for democracy around the world. The Republican and Democratic Elite who have misgoverned the United States of America for the last one hundred and fifty years have shown to the world that what they want is to impose their version of a runaway corrupt government disguised as a democracy and a republic. The Republicans and Democrats who misgovern the United States of America wants to impose their immoral lifestyle, destructive family values, and pornography to a world that does not want their imperialist culture. It is not enough that the Republicans and Democrats have stolen lands from the Indigenous People, The Latin’s, and the African Americans since they want to impose their will on the world and if there is life in outer space, the same way.

The Republicans and Democrats who misgovern the United States of America are not fighting for freedom and democracy in the world. The Republicans and Democrats who misgovern the United States of America are fighting to increase their power base and to serve the interests of special groups. It is easy to invent a so called lofty ideal and help corporate barons at the same time as a way of drawing attention from the domestic problems such as the Housing, Energy, Economy, Racial, Ethnic, and Political Divides.

The Republicans and Democrats have no right to impose their corrupt and inefficient lifestyle on a world that does not want it. The Republicans and Democrats who misgovern the United States of America have no right to impose their dictatorship and corruption on the people of the world. The Republicans and Democratic Party cannot call themselves a democracy or a republic when they have trampled on the Constitution of 1787 and Declaration of Independence when they have excluded the Libertarian and other alternative forces from the Election Campaign of 2008.

At the time that I am writing this article, the Democratic National Committee met to discuss the fate on the Michigan and Florida delegations. In spite of the brilliant speeches by Senator Bill Nelson and Senator Robert Wexler, the Democratic National Committee has decided to punish unfairly Michigan and Florida by allowing them a half vote even though the Democrats in Michigan and Florida have spoken through their votes. With the travesty that has been the special Democratic National Committee Meeting to determine Michigan and Florida votes, the Governing Elite of the Democrats should stop calling themselves Democrats in the same vein that the Republicans should stop calling themselves Republicans.