The Libertarian Party has nominated former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson as their candidate for President of the United States. Take a look at Gov. Johnson’s website and consider making a donation to help make 2012 a year to remember.
Gov. Gary Johnson (NM) is the Libertarian Party’s Candidate for President of the United States
May 5, 2012
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Posted by Josh Hanson
All You Need to Know About Getting Libertarians on the Ballot
April 19, 2012From March 27th to June 22nd, the Libertarian Party will be collecting signatures from registered voters in order to ensure that our candidates will be on the ballot in the 2012 General Elections. Like sausage being made, this is that part of politics that most casual observers don’t know much about, but it’s vitally important if we want to have any chance of success. Check out the resources below and feel free to contact any of the officers of the DuPage Libertarians if you have questions or would like help.
As a brief introduction, the sheets which are signed are referred to as “ballot access petitions” and the act of collecting these signatures is referred to as “circulating petitions”. At the end of the circulation period, all petitions must be gathered and turned in together.
2012 LP Presidential Petition Form
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Posted by Josh Hanson
Petition Forms for Libertarian Ballot Access
March 26, 2012It’s time! Beginning on March 27th, the Libertarian Party of Illinois has 90 days to collect signatures from registered voters to get our candidates on the ballot. Below are links to the petition forms for Doug Marks, Libertarian candidate for Illinois State Senate District 33. He’ll be looking for a lot of help collecting signatures from within his district so be sure to let us know if and when you’d be able to help out. Also see our previous post on gathering petitions to ensure that your signatures will be valid.
Petition Form for Libertarian Presidential Nominee
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Posted by Josh Hanson
What Libertarians Believe: Clearing Things Up
March 24, 2012
I don’t know who created this image, but it hits the nail right on the head. It’s common to encounter people who misinterpret Libertarians’ love for freedom and distrust for politicians as the full extent of libertarian philosophy. On the contrary, libertarianism is accurately described by Murray Rothbard:
The fact is that libertarianism is not and does not pretend to be a complete moral or aesthetic theory; it is only a political theory, that is, the important subset of moral theory that deals with the proper role of violence in social life. Political theory deals with what is proper or improper for government to do, and government is distinguished from every other group in society as being the institution of organized violence. Libertarianism holds that the only proper role of violence is to defend person and property againstviolence, that any use of violence that goes beyond such just defense is itself aggressive, unjust, and criminal. Libertarianism, therefore, is a theory which states that everyone should be free of violent invasion, should be free to do as he sees fit, except invade the person or property of another. What a person does with his or her life is vital and important, but is simply irrelevant to libertarianism.
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Posted by Josh Hanson
Monthly Meeting – 03/15/12
March 12, 2012
Time: 7:00pm – 8:30pm (arrive between 6:30 and 7:00 if you would like to order dinner).
Location: IHOP- 167 Danada Sq E, Wheaton, IL 60189 Click here for a map.
Details: In order to get Libertarian candidates on the ballot, we will need to collect several thousand signatures from registered voters between March 27th and June 23rd. Come out and learn how to effectively gather these signatures to ensure that our candidates have the chance to spread the message of liberty!
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Posted by Josh Hanson
Don’t Forget to Register to Vote!
February 16, 2012For those who weren’t aware, the process for getting Libertarian candidates on the ballot for the 2012 elections involves collecting several thousand signatures from registered voters. Therefore, it is incredibly important for Libertarians to ensure that their friends, neighbors, and relatives are all registered to vote and are eligible to sign these ballot-access petitions when they’re circulated this spring. Below are a few links where you can look up whether you’re registered at your current address, download the registration form, etc.
Download Voter Registration Form
Also, contrary to popular opinion, registering to vote in Illinois DOES NOT put you at risk of being selected for jury duty. The state of Illinois selects jurors from driver’s license and state ID lists, so there’s really no reason to fear registering to vote!
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Posted by Josh Hanson
POLL: Should the Libertarian Party Officially Endorse Ron Paul in the Republican Primary?
February 10, 2012It is undeniable that Ron Paul has been wildly successful in taking the libertarian message to the masses. Even so, the Libertarian Party currently has a policy that they will not endorse candidates of other parties, and therefore has not endorsed Congressman Paul’s campaign, despite the fact that there is obviously no other Libertarian Party candidate in the same race for the GOP nomination. Please cast your vote below to let us know whether you agree with this decision, or whether you feel that this should be changed.
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Posted by Josh Hanson
Setting the Record Straight on Free Markets
February 8, 2012If you’ve never heard Tom Woods speak, you’re really missing out. He has a unique ability to take politics and economics and make them fun, engaging, and exciting. In the talk below, he clears up some of the misunderstandings so many people have of the free market. In short, free markets are not supported by Big Business, as large corporations often benefit from getting politicians to stack the deck against small businesses and other competitors.
On a similar topic (and quoted in Woods’ talk), below is a short excerpt from Murray N. Rothbard’s greatest work, Man, Economy, and State. Rothbard is no longer living, but he’s an excellent proponent of human freedom.
The free market, in fact, is precisely the diametric opposite of the “jungle” society. The jungle is characterized by the war of all against all. One man gains only at the expense of another, by seizure of the latter’s property. With all on a subsistence level, there is a true struggle for survival, with the stronger force crushing the weaker. In the free market, on the other hand, one man gains only through serving another, though he may also retire into self-sufficient production at a primitive level if he so desires. It is precisely through the peaceful co-operation of the market that all men gain through the development of the division of labor and capital investment. To apply the principle of the “survival of the fittest” to both the jungle and the market is to ignore the basic question:Fitness for what? The “fit” in the jungle are those most adept at the exercise of brute force. The “fit” on the market are those most adept in the service of society. The jungle is a brutish place where some seize from others and all live at the starvation level; the market is a peaceful and productive place where all serve themselves and others at the same time and live at infinitely higher levels of consumption. On the market, the charitable can provide aid, a luxury that cannot exist in the jungle.
The free market, therefore, transmutes the jungle’s destructive competition for meagre subsistence into a peaceful co-operative competition in the service of one’s self and others. In the jungle, some gain only at the expense of others. On the market, everyone gains. It is the market—the contractual society—that wrests order out of chaos, that subdues nature and eradicates the jungle, that permits the “weak” to live productively, or out of gifts from production, in a regal style compared to the life of the “strong” in the jungle. Furthermore, the market, by raising living standards, permits man the leisure to cultivate the very qualities of civilization that distinguish him from the brutes.
It is precisely statism that is bringing back the rule of the jungle—bringing back conflict, disharmony, caste struggle, conquest and the war of all against all, and general poverty. In place of the peaceful “struggle” of competition in mutual service, statism substitutes calculational chaos and the death-struggle of Social Darwinist competition for political privilege and for limited subsistence.
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Posted by Josh Hanson
How to Prevent Tyranny
January 27, 2012The history of human government is one of murderous, tyrannical control by madmen in all times, in all places, and in all political systems. The fact that the United States has avoided this state for so long is an anomaly, and we should never allow ourselves to assume that “it could never happen here”. Power attracts the worst of society, as decent people have no desire to restrict the peaceful activities of others. As the United States continues to ignore Constitutional restrictions on the power of government, dangerous precedents are being set for the madmen of tomorrow. The time to put an end to tyranny is not after it exists; it’s before it ever appears.
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Posted by Josh Hanson
DuPage Libertarians Elect New Officers for 2012
January 24, 2012The DuPage Libertarians have elected their new officers for 2012, and we’re pleased to welcome a new member to the board in Brian Lambrecht. We’re excited to hear your ideas for the new year, so don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know what you have in mind!
- Chair: Josh Hanson
- Vice Chair: Jim Waldron
- Treasurer: Todd Zimmerman
- Secretary: Brian Lambrecht
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Posted by Josh Hanson
