Free Kansan. The Official Newsletter of the Libertarian Party of Kansas. First Quarter 2014

Transcription

1 Free Kansan The Official Newsletter of the Libertarian Party of Kansas First Quarter 2014 Free-Market Medical Practice Opens in Wichita A new business in Kansas is providing a Libertarian-style, free-market solution to the need for affordable health care. AtlasMD, located just east of the Waterfront in Wichita, has developed a way to provide direct primary care to the masses without having to jump through any hoops created by government interference or the quagmire of insurance. This is cutting red tape, improving access and lowering costs, says Josh Umbehr, MD, founder and CO. We believe the best medical treatment comes from one-on-one interaction, so we re eliminating the middle man and inviting our patients into our family. Put simply, AtlasMD works more like a gym membership where members pay a flat, monthly fee for unlimited By ileen Umbehr primary care. The fee, ($ $ for adults; $10.00 for children), includes discounted labs and medications, unlimited office visits and even house calls. Dr. Umbehr says there were plenty of skeptics who told him this model of medicine would never work, but with AtlasMD becoming one of the fastest growing direct care practices in the country, he has proven that when you let the free market system work it works very well. To learn more about AtlasMD, or check out this article from The Objective Standard. issues/2013-fall/dr-josh-umbehr-on -concierge-medicine-revolution.asp In This Issue Free-Market Medicine... 1 Campaign Updates... 2 From the ditor... 3 Guest ditorial... 4 From the Chair... 5 Directory of LP-Owned Firms... 6 Legislative Issues... 6 XCOM Meeting... 7 LPKS on the Radio... 7 Liberty in the News... 7 Concealed Carry xemption... 7 District 1 News... 7 Drug War Costs... 8 Fun Page... 9 Meeting Times, Places...10 Coming vents..11 As of December 31, 2013, there are exactly 12,000 registered Libertarians in Kansas. Page 1

2 Campaign Updates News from Candidates Running for Governor of Kansas Tresa McAlhaney Keen Umbehr Support for Tresa McAlhaney s governor campaign continues to grow. She has been featured in radio interviews, newspaper articles, and on local news stations (links to these can be found on her website, (vote4kansas.com). It is exciting to see the media validating the candidacy of a third party candidate. She and members of her team have spoken before groups around the state in the months since announcing her run for governor in the 2014 election. The reception has been positive; the people of Kansas are interested in seeing real change and progress come to our state and an end to us being the brunt of jokes for our politics. In early December, her running mate, Grant Nelson, stepped down from his position to partner with her as the Lieutenant Governor, citing issues in his personal life relating to an accident in October of this year that caused severe injury to his ankle as his reason for being unable to continue with the campaign. We wish him continued healing and a full recovery and thank him for his work to get the campaign off to such a strong start. As the matriarch of a large and blended family, Tresa will take a break from the hustle of the campaign trail over the winter holiday season to devote time to her family. She has speaking engagements and plans to attend chapter meetings of the LPKS in the early spring. KeenforKansas has been in full campaign mode for the last several months. December began with an organizational meeting for Riley County held at the Manhattan Public Library at 7:00 p.m. on December 2, A good number of people attended, and Grant Nelson s sister happened to be in the library that night so she stopped by to say hello! The meeting resulted in two individuals agreeing to be chairman for Riley and Pottawatomie counties. The January meeting is set for Monday, January 13, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m., at the public library in Manhattan, Kansas. Campaign volunteer, Bill Denton, is putting together a Chairman s Manual for new county chairpersons pending approval from the XCOM committee. On December 3, 2013, I attended the Patriots Alliance meeting in Hutchinson, Kansas. I was able to put out some Libertarian Party materials and received a good response from the organizers, including an invitation to address the group at a later date. December 4, 2013, I was interviewed by Jiggy Jaguar, James Lowe from KJAG radio. The interview went great! James Lowe is a riot; more radio interviews are planned in the future. The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence, clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. -- H. L. Mencken On December 6, 2013, I attended the Kansas Association of City/County Manager s Annual Conference at mporia State University. Of great interest was the topic of Impact of Business Incentives on Communities. The three keynote speakers discussed at length their opinion that the tax incentives offered to new business to move to Kansas were a total failure and that the State should stop offering these types of incentives. On December 7, 2013, I attended the Saline County Libertarians meeting. That too was a great meeting with Cole VanBlarion as the guest speaker. On December 19, 2013, the LNK had its December meeting with the inclusion of a round table discussion on several topics (See KeenForKansas, page 6.) Page 2

3 From the ditor Thought Police By Sharon DuBois ditor, The Free Kansan I grew up in a military household. My father was an Air Force officer, so patriotism was a big deal in our household. When I was in school we were still reciting the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. I know three of the four verses to The Star-Spangled Banner. I freely admit that remnants of that visceral and unwavering support of America still hover around me. But I am going to argue here that those who would make flag-burning a crime are doing so because it hurts their feelings, not because the action constitutes a crime in any way that makes sense. Should it be illegal to hurt someone s feelings? If I do something that does not constitute force, fraud, or abuse, but which makes you so mad you can barely see straight, should we pass a law against it? Most Libertarians would say no. How about if what I do makes you cry? Makes you remember horrible events from your childhood? Makes you severely depressed for a week? Most of us would still say no. Does it matter if I didn t realize the effect my actions would have on you? What if I consciously and deliberately made you so miserable you couldn t get out of bed the next morning? In other words, does what was going through my head when I hurt your feelings matter in deciding the legality of my actions? Or is it the action itself that constitutes criminality? When an American flag becomes soiled, worn, or otherwise unfit for display, the correct way to get rid of it is to burn it. Most instruction manuals for this kind of procedure specify that it must be done respectfully, but in no way is burning considered an unacceptable way to dispose of a flag. Justice demands that a criminal who practices violence against another human being be punished, swiftly and appropriately, for the violence alone, not his or her thoughts about the victim. Some years ago the concept of hate crimes came to be encoded in our system of justice. If I hit someone, and if a prosecutor can be convinced that I did it because of my victim s race, gender identity, sexual orientation, or religion, my crime becomes more heinous that if I hit him because, say, I just thought he was ugly. The actual damage done from my left hook to the jaw is not the only factor in determining the severity of my punishment. What was going through my head at the time has become a major factor. In George Orwell s masterpiece, 1984, the government not only controls peoples speech and actions, but it uses the Thought Police to seek out citizens who are guilty of thoughtcrime or crimethink. And we know how well that ended. I admit that I cringe at the thought of someone being abused or killed because the perpetrator didn t like their race or creed or sexual identity. But I think we need to be very careful to understand that the crime is the abuse itself. Justice demands that a criminal who practices violence against another human being be punished, swiftly and appropriately, for the violence alone, not his or her thoughts about the victim. Once we start punishing people for their attitudes, we have started down a dangerous road. And yet, flag-burning has become a graphic way to demonstrate dissatisfaction with this country and its government, a gesture used both domestically and by those in other countries. And many people would like to make it a crime to burn an American flag if it is done in anger or as a way to denigrate this nation. The Free Kansan is published four times per year by the Libertarian Party of Kansas. All rights reserved. ditor: Sharon DuBois Readers are invited to send comments, ideas, letters to the editor, and additions to the mailing list to FreeKansan@cox.net. Letters to the editor must include the author s full name, which will be included when the letter is published. Articles from the Free Kansan may be reprinted with proper attribution. Page 3

4 Guest ditorial Keep the Faith By Webb Garlinghouse Co-Chair, Libertarians of Northeast Kansas Typically, at this time of year, many of our thoughts turn to matters of faith. is different. To get a full understanding, it is important to understand the true role of government: It is to protect the people who control it. Almost always those are the people who own the most assets. This simple explanation is why government is (almost) always extremely conservative. Government looks into the future... and does its best to prevent it from happening. Capitalism, on the other hand, needs the air and light of an open economy... where people can fail as well as succeed. Faith is defined in the dictionary as that which is believed; especially, a system of religious beliefs or complete confidence, especially in someone or something open to question or suspicion. For Libertarians these definitions are particularly telling. Many claim to be faithful to some particular religion. Many claim to have faith in our political or our economic system. True faith however, is always tested. For those who claim to have faith in our economic system, that faith is tested far more regularly than we may realize. Sure, everyone claims to believe in our capitalist system. We all love to shop for the best deal; to compare the qualities and features of one product against others. And, then make a purchase we believe is best for ourselves. However when the capitalist system comes under attack the faithful are often quick to abandon their faith. We justify this departure from faith by saying yes but and always have a seemingly good excuse for how this time it is different; this time the situation requires special consideration; this time one group or another deserves favored treatment. Afterward it is easy to find justifications for that lack of faith. We prevented an economic collapse; we saved jobs; we improved the condition of the poor, weak, or disadvantaged. We saw this most recently in the economic collapse just five years ago and subsequent great recession. For various reasons, it seemed the economic structure was falling apart. veryone demanded the government do something. The leaders of our capitalist system paraded to Congress explaining how, this time it [C]reative destruction in the marketplace is exactly what makes capitalism thrive. No one ever promised it is painless; only that it creates more of those things that people want. So, the elites who control government, gradually pervert capitalism. They turn it from a dynamic system full of booms and busts into a crony program meant to protect themselves from crises of creative destruction. With the elites actively subverting our capitalist system, and everyone else looking dazed and confused, it Page 4 becomes evident that faith in our capitalist system is more precious and more rare than any other faith one can have. Oh, sure. In these circumstances Congress did something. Looking back they can show how many jobs they saved at GM; or how many investors they bailed out; or how their actions saved our market economy. What they cannot do is describe how things would have turned out had they not abandoned faith in our capitalist system and taken these actions to protect some favored interest group. For example, if GM had been allowed to fail, would we really have lost those thousands of jobs? By its bankruptcy, GM had demonstrated it was unable to produce products the marketplace wanted. Should we really use taxpayer money to subsidize a company that is not producing a product the consumer wants? Isn t it conceivable that some other company would have purchased the assets of GM and employed them in a more productive, successful manner? Had this been allowed to occur, wouldn t new jobs and new products have been created? Such dislocation is always uncomfortable for those whom it impacts. But this type of creative destruction in the marketplace is exactly what makes capitalism (See Keep the Faith, page 6.)

5 From the Chair April 26th & November 4th, 2014 By Al Terwelp, LPKS Chair April 26th and Nov. 4 th are shaping up to be the two don t-miss dates for Kansas Libertarians. These dates may be our most memorable to-date. If ever there has been a time in our party s history to rally to action, these are the dates. There has never been a better opportunity and there has never been a time where your effort, time and money can produce a better condition for a positive result. April 26 th is the date for our state convention. It is also the date which we nominate our party candidates. This will set in motion the final stage of our statewide plan to win Major Party Status in the governor s race on Nov. 4th. The strategy and preparation of the last two years will be, to our best ability, in place. We have created and expanded on many key strategies vital to the execution of our goals in recent years. We have moved forward a substantial distance. We have more tools, registered voters, county groups and leaders than ever before. As this newsletter goes out, the state xecutive Committee will meet January 4 th to address final plans and costs for the convention. We anticipate that this will be our largest attended convention. Below are some early details. Convention location: Wichita - Holiday Inn ast I-35 (549 South Rock Rd.) Friday night social mixer (Wichita - time/location TBD) Convention hours - currently scheduled 9am to 5pm Box lunches will be available, with many area restaurants in close proximity (cost TBD) Morning agenda will include: main speaker, state party business and an 11am to 12 Governor Candidate Forum Candidate nominations for all offices start at 1pm Volunteer Awards will be presented at the end of the day. LPKS vening Banquet (time/cost TBD) Other specifics: Libertarian Party National Chairman, Geoffrey Neale, will be the featured day speaker Convention business is free and open to public A block of 8 reduced rate rooms at Holiday Inn are available to convention attendees Voting eligibility: Attendees wishing to vote must be registered Libertarian by April 1, 2014 vening Banquet Speaker 2012 Libertarian Presidential candidate, Gary Johnson (cost TBD) There will be vendors booths and raffles for prizes. Visit the Libertarian Party of Kansas 2014 State Convention event page on Facebook for more news and updates at: events/ / The LPKS welcomes everyone to this exciting event. Come meet and support our candidates, vote in contested races, meet Gary Johnson and Geoffery Neale and join liberty-loving Libertarians in the effort to win Major Party Status in Kansas. Page 5

6 LPKS Considering Directory of LP-Owned Firms By Sharon DuBois ditor, The Free Kansan The LPKS is considering compiling a directory of Kansas businesses owned by Libertarians. Realizing that some people prefer to keep their business and political lives separate, we are attempting to find out if there is interest in such a directory. If you are a registered Libertarian and the owner of a business in Kansas, and if you would like to have your business listed in the directory, please send your contact information to freekansan@cox.net. If there is enough interest in the directory, you will be contacted for further information. Please feel free to pass this along to any business owner you believe might be interested. Legislative Issues of Interest By Al Terwelp, LPKS Chair Here are some of the legislative issues the LPKS will be following in 2014: SB9 - Medical Marijuana HB Open Carry Judicial Selections KLA Initiative and Referendum Abolishment of the Death Penalty minent Domain Abuse Drone Bill KanCare Common Core (KeenForKansas, cont. from page 2.) including, school choice, gun ownership/open carry and healthcare. December was rounded out with another radio interview with Alex Snitker, host of the Liberty Underground Show out of Clearwater, Florida. ( This station reaches a large east coast audience and has a lot of national Libertarian listeners. He also broadcasts LIV on Fridays on YouTube from 9 a.m. to noon (1787 Network YouTube Channel Mr. Snitker indicated that the country is intently watching the governor s race in Kansas because, in his words, Kansas is a bellweather state and as Kansas goes, so goes the rest of the nation. Finally, I am looking forward to attending the xecutive Committee meeting of LPKS in Salina on January 4th, at Guiterrez Restaurant, 640 Westport Blvd. in Salina, from 1-5. (Keep the Faith, cont. from page 4.) thrive. No one ever promised it is painless; only that it creates more of those things that people want. If we really want to be considered libertarians, it is important we remember to keep the faith. To always remind ourselves Capitalism is the engine that brings success and well-being to more people, in more ways than any other system in the history of the world. That s not a bad record. Best to all in the new year. Keep the faith. The Free Kansan is published four times per year by the Libertarian Party of Kansas. All rights reserved. ditor: Sharon DuBois Readers are invited to send comments, ideas, letters to the editor, and additions to the mailing list to FreeKansan@cox.net. Letters to the editor must include the author s full name, which will be included when the letter is published. Articles from the Free Kansan may be reprinted with proper attribution. Page 6

7 LPKS XCOM to Hold Face-To-Face Meeting By Al Terwelp, LPKS Chair On January 4th, the xecutive Committee of the LPKS will hold a face-to-face meeting in Salina at the Gutierrez Restaurant, 640 Westport Blvd., from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. This is a good opportunity for Libertarians in the area to listen in on what decisions are being made by the state party, and everyone is welcome to attend. The xecutive Committee will be making many final arrangements for the April 2014 State Convention. A presentation and discussion about KanCare is also planned. LPKS on the Radio From the Libertarian Party Weekly Newsletter There is now a Libertarian-friendly web radio show. Once each week they strive to have a Kansas Libertarian guest on to help us spread the word. Listeners can go to jiggyjaguar.com to listen live each Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. Or check out the archives at Lawrence Now xempt from Concealed Carry Law By Patrick Wilbur, Douglas County Chair and Sharon DuBois, ditor, The Free Kansan Liberty in the News Published Accounts of LPKS People and Issues -amend-secrecy-rule-disciplinary-code In December the Lawrence City commission voted 5-0 to submit a 4-year exemption to avoid compliance with HB The Douglas County LP group is looking for answers to a number of questions about the exemption. They plan to contact the city government and the Attorney General s office. The Douglas County Republican Party has been working closely with the LP on this issue. District 1 News The new Riley County Libertarian group had their first meeting December 2 at the Manhattan Library, and the next meeting is scheduled for January 13. District 1 leadership is talking to people who might be interested in chairing groups in Pottawatomie and Wabaunsee Counties. Barry Albin, District 1 Coordinator, is considering appointing a Deputy Coordinator for Marshall, Pottawatomie, Wabaunsee, Riley, Morris, and Geary Counties. Page 7

8 Drug War Costs to Kansas Taxpayers Include More than Money By Tresa McAlhaney Co-Chair, Wyandotte County Libertarians believe that you own yourself, and, as a citizen in this land of the free, you should be able to put what you want in and on your own body. Numerous government agencies regulate, prohibit, and fight against this fundamental freedom. Aside from the monetary cost to investigate, arrest, process, and incarcerate drug law offenders, libertarians point to the abuses to our civil rights that are often committed along the way. Police often go outside their boundaries and search people or homes without a warrant, then seize property that is often never returned to its owners regardless of the outcome of the case. According to the current Kansas budget, we spend about $130 million every year to incarcerate over 9,900 people, adding around 100 people to the prison population yearly. Kansas Department of Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts reports that about 60 percent of the state s inmates are drug offenders (30 percent are mentally ill with no other place to go, and we are left to presume that the remaining 10% are violent offenders). The law enforcement and judicial costs are in addition to the societal costs of keeping people locked up when children grow up without the presence of a parent, and then, often, taxpayers support families who rely on government help with food, housing, and healthcare when they lose a wage earner to prison. In a stagnant/collapsing economy like ours, there are often no other jobs available but those in the unregulated market, especially for people who have previously been incarcerated. Thanks to recent changes to sentencing guidelines in our state, in many cases, first time and low level drug offenders are charged with a felony, equating their often non-violent crime to that of a murderer or rapist. Kansas is looking at even higher costs to fight the drug war in coming years as our neighbor to the west, Colorado, has re-legalized all forms of cannabis hemp. Our state expects the prison business to boom in coming years, calling for an additional $70 million in funding each year in fiscal year 2015 and beyond. Instead of admitting the Drug War was a failure and making plans to end and move past it, the leadership in Kansas is set to stubbornly dig in its heels and fund the prison system and grow and empower government agencies. nding the drug war will have a positive ripple effect on our economy and society. When we re-legalize cannabis hemp, we can quit paying to break up families and ruin lives and instead allow new industries to emerge that will heal what ails our society in many ways. Our farmers can have another option that will free them from being caught up in the subsidyinsurance cycle no one likes to take from, business will boom when our now-vacant factories can open back up to produce textiles, paper, fuel, and food made from the hemp we grow, and medical patients will have access to another option from a gentler, natural medicine that is showing promise to cure many modern diseases. It is in the best interest of our state to be on the leading, progressive side of this movement. Page 8 The Libertarian Party welcomes your support and involvement Your contributions of time, energy, ideas, and, of course, money will help spread the ideas of fiscal responsibility and social tolerance. Contributions are always needed to help with printing and mailing costs of this newsletter, as well as publicity, campaign and other expenses associated with running a political party. Contributions to the LPKS are not taxdeductible. Contributions can be mailed to Libertarian Party of Kansas Michael Ogle, Treasurer 5924 S.W. 35 th Street Topeka, KS Or donate online at get-involved/make-a-contribution/

9 To solve this puzzle, move the letters in the bottom rows into the blank squares in the top rows. ach letter will be placed into the same column where it appears in the bottom rows, but it is your job to determine the order of the letters. G I I O S W A D F D F F H N N L I O U T O O V Y R Black squares and the end of each line mark the end of words. A N B N U P U V M S Y A I R H R T A S T A T A H C H D N R S O T F H H T A A S D G R R G R A F R T O L Coming Soon to this space! Join us as we watch our heroine, carefree and unassuming lizabeth become LIBBY BLL! Lady of Liberty! Fighter for Freedom! Champion of Choice! Page 9 The answer is a quote from Milton Friedman. The solution is shown on page 10.

10 Local LPKS Meetings, County Chairs, and Meeting Coordinators For contact information for County Chairs, visit the LPKS web site and Connect Locally. Dickinson County (James Holland) Time and place of meetings has not yet been set. Douglas County (Zach Conrad) Time and place of meetings has not yet been set. Gray County (Ric Koehn) The Libertarians of Gray County meet quarterly (May, August, November, February) on the third Thursday of the month at 7:00 p.m. at the Cimarron Library in the basement meeting room. Jefferson County (Dennis Hawver) Jefferson County Libertarians meet on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at Dennis Hawver s Law Office, 6993 Hwy 92, Ozawkie, 1.5 miles west of the Ozawkie Casey s General Store, on top of the highest hill. Look for the Law Office sign on the south side of the road. The first meeting will be October 1, and latte will be served. Please call Mr. Hawver at (office) or (cell) to let him know you will attend. Johnson County (Jeff Caldwell) The 3 rd District Libertarians meeting will be announced. (Grant Nelson) Johnson County Libertarians hold a Libertarian Roundtable every Tuesday evening at 6:30 at Johnny s Tavern, 6765 W. 119 th St, Overland Park. Osage County (County Chair not yet appointed) Osage County Libertarians Time and place of meetings will be announced on Facebook. Riley County (County Chair not yet appointed.) Riley County Libertarians will meet January 13 at a location to be announced. Saline County (Mike Trow) The Libertarian Party of Saline County meets the first Saturday of each month at 10:00 a.m. at Mokas Downtown, 109 N. Santa Fe Ave. in Salina. The public is invited. Sedgwick County (Gordon Bakken) The Libertarians of South Central Kansas (LSOCK) meet for supper and discussion every Tuesday at Cathy s Westway Cafe, 1215 W. Pawnee, at 5:30 p.m. All who support personal responsibility and individual liberty are invited to attend. (Jeremy White) The Wichita Libertarians meet on the first Saturday of every month at 1:00 p.m. at various coffee shops around Wichita. Shawnee County (Sharon DuBois) The Libertarians of Northeast Kansas (LNKs) meet on the last Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the Celtic Fox, 118 SW 8 th Ave., Topeka. The October meeting will be moved to October 24 so as not to be held on Halloween. Anyone interested in learning more about the Libertarian Party is welcome. Wyandotte County (Tresa McAlhaney and Charles Hibbs) The Wyandotte County Libertarians meet on the third Thursday of each month at different locations. Watch their Facebook page or contact wycochair@lpks.org for more information. Solution to puzzle on page 9: If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there would be a shortage of sand. -- Milton Friedman Page 10

11 Libertarian Party of Kansas Return Service Requested ========= COMING VNTS ========= January 2014 very Tuesday Libertarians of South Central Kansas very Tuesday Johnson County Libertarians 4 Libertarian Party of Saline County 4 Wichita Libertarians 7 -- Jefferson County Libertarians Riley County Libertarians Wyandotte County Libertarians 30 Libertarians of Northeast Kansas February 2014 very Tuesday Libertarians of South Central Kansas very Tuesday Johnson County Libertarians 1 -- Libertarian Party of Saline County 1 -- Wichita Libertarians 4 -- Jefferson County Libertarians Libertarians of Gray County Wyandotte County Libertarians Libertarians of Northeast Kansas March 2014 very Tuesday Libertarians of South Central Kansas very Tuesday Johnson County Libertarians 1 -- Libertarian Party of Saline County 1 -- Wichita Libertarians 4 -- Jefferson County Libertarians Wyandotte County Libertarians Libertarians of Northeast Kansas April 2014 very Tuesday Libertarians of South Central Kansas very Tuesday Johnson County Libertarians 1 -- Jefferson County Libertarians 5 -- Libertarian Party of Saline County 5 -- Wichita Libertarians Wyandotte County Libertarians Libertarians of Northeast Kansas LPKS State Convention Page 11