By Cisse Spragins, Immediate Past Chair
The Missouri LP State Convention took place Saturday, April 18 in Columbia, Missouri. The packed agenda started with an informal session wherein past candidates discussed their motivations and experiences running for office, as well as the importance of having as many Libertarian candidates on the ballot for each election cycle. Cecil Ince announced his intention of seeking the LP’s presidential nomination and discussed some of his priorities.
Following the candidate session, national vice chair Arvin Vohra conducted an informative and entertaining candidate training, wherein his gift for teaching was readily apparent. Three candidates, Bill Slantz, Russ Monchil and Cecil Ince participated in the Who’s Driving training developed by LNC political director Carla Howell. Arvin stressed the importance of controlling the conversation in interviews, versus letting interviewers ask questions about personal or other issues that take you off message. He stressed the importance of “ABC – Always Be Cutting”, to reframe every question into the context of cutting government. He reminded attendees to not confuse features with benefits, and to always promote the benefits of cutting government. Another key point was that facts about what is bad about something don’t sell – we have to offer alternatives because people tend to fear the unknown.
Next came Dave Roland of the Freedom Center of Missouri, a libertarian public interest law firm, who gave an overview of several constitutional cases he has tried or is currently trying on specific property rights, economic and civil liberties issues. One current case involves a city ordinance that mandates that homeowners devote at least half their property to the cultivation of turf grass. Another case involves a St Louis county election law that prohibits any contestants who are not the nominee of one of the top two political parties based upon votes received in the last governor’s race. Dave also plans to take up the case of African hair braiders in Missouri who are not allowed to practice their art without a cosmetology license. This is an important case for economic liberty versus mercantilism that has been fought and won in several jurisdictions around the country by the Institute for Justice. Dave is a passionate and articulate defender of liberty and we’re blessed to have him working in our state.
The State Committee meeting followed. State officers were elected for two year terms. Bill Slantz prevailed in a contested race for chair against Robb Cunningham. Rick Vandeven was unopposed for vice chair, Randy Langkraehr was unopposed for secretary, and Sean O’Toole was re-elected treasurer. Congratulations and thanks to all participants for their willingness to serve the Missouri LP as officers. Following the elections, State committee members were selected for two-year terms and Executive committee members for one-year terms. Those members will be updated on the website shortly.
At the Awards Lunch, Bill Boone, Jeff Coleman, Daniel Redden and Steven Hedrick received the Champion of Freedom Awards. Mike Bozarth received the Karl Wetzel Award for Lifetime Achievement for his over thirty years of activism in support of the Libertarian Party. Past chair and long time webmaster Glenn Nielsen was also recognized for his many contributions. The special guest speaker for the lunch was Gary Nolan, Libertarian radio host and former LP presidential candidate. Gary talked about his transition from conservative to libertarian many years ago and about the pressure he receives to rejoin the GOP band wagon. He inspired Libertarians to not give up or given in or sell out to the right’s appeals with candidates such as Rand Paul or other pseudo “liberty” candidates, but to stand by our principles and ideals. He also noted there is room within the Libertarian tent for respectful differences on thorny issues such as abortion prohibition.
The schedule after lunch kicked off with an interesting panel discussion on Religion and Libertarianism featuring Christian Libertarians Dave Roland, who has a master’s degree in theology and attorney Randy England who recently authored the book “Free is Beautiful – Why Catholics Should Be Libertarians”. The panelists discussed their personal journeys to libertarianism and provided input on standard objections such as – “Aren’t Christians obligated to do everything in their power, including the use of government authority to compel others to live in accordance with God’s will?” and “Wasn’t Jesus a socialist?” They discussed the fact that Jesus did not advocate the use of force to compel others to act in certain ways and that God imbued man with free will. They also discussed that biblical teachings such as helping the poor or supporting Israel are directed personally to individuals, versus instructing us to advocate for the use of government force to carry out these objectives.
We then heard from Professor Kirby Cundiff who showed some health care cost versus outcome statistics and discussed the economic drivers that make health care so expensive. He specifically talked about the third party payer system (wherein the consumers of health care are not the ones paying for it directly) which removes much of the benefit of market competition. He explained that “hospitalization insurance” as an employee benefit first came about in the 1940s due to government price controls on wages, as a way to attract talented employees. Later, the advent of Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960’s further separated the market from competition. He discussed the labor monopoly of the American Medical Association which limits the number of doctors, as well as state “Certificate of Need” programs which limit the construction of hospitals and thus competition. He discussed various market responses such as medical tourism and the supply of many testing diagnostics via the internet for much lower cost than through one’s doctor.
Arvin Vohra then spoke again, in his capacity as an education entrepreneur, about how the free market can fix the education problems the state has created. He discussed the extreme cost inflation we are seeing in college education, as well as the trends of increasing cost and decreasing quality observed in secondary education. He proposed eliminating all state and federal funding of education and loan guarantee programs, as well as state and federal mandates on education. This would return public schools to local and parental control, and immediately reduce the cost of college education, which has rapidly tracked the inflation of government student loan guarantees. He also discussed the profound affect that government monopoly has had on innovation in education. He said that removing restrictions, definitions and government monopoly and control would allow more and more innovative approaches (such as the Khan Academy) that would better serve students and reduce costs.
Show-Me Cannabis research director Aaron Malin was supposed to speak on his work on uncovering Missouri’s Drug Task Forces, but was sick. However, Dave Roland (with 20 minutes of notice!) gave the talk, as he has been retained as counsel for SMC for this investigation. Dave delivered the talk as if he’d been planning to give it all along. (If one is organizing a convention, apparently all you need is Dave to have a full agenda!). He discussed the rather sordid tale of their attempts to uncover information about the various Drug Task Forces in Missouri. The tale began with repeated denial by various government authorities that various task forces even exist. They have discovered that not only do these agencies exist, they have virtually no oversight or accountability to the people, in direct conflict with law in many instances. The full report, which is available at http://show-mecannabis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Draft-FINAL-Comprehensive-Report-Drug-Task-Forces.pdf, shows how the task forces prioritize cannabis arrests, use tax money for propaganda and use civil asset forfeiture proceeds to pay task force officers, instead of the money going to education per the state constitution.
Next, former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, Randy England provided us with valuable information in terms of how to interact with the police if stopped, questioned or detained. He stated that passengers in a car do not have to ID themselves if a car is stopped, only the driver. If the officer asks “Is there anything in your car I should know about, or Do you have any drugs or alcohol”, if you answer affirmatively, it’s over. One should never consent to a search of one’s car or home without a warrant, even if you feel you are completely innocent. You have nothing to gain from such a search. The rule is do not consent and do not resist. If they do search and find something, they will question everyone involved. In that case, each person should invoke their Miranda rights. If one is being interrogated, whether in custody or not, one should clearly state “I want to remain silent and I want to talk to a lawyer.” This will stop the questioning, but it won’t bring your lawyer immediately. Unlike on TV shows, lawyers cannot just barge into interrogations. Further information is available on Randy’s blog at http://www.randyengland.com/.
The final session of a full and lengthy day featured presentations by each of the two organizations promoting Cannabis reform initiatives for the 2016 ballot in Missouri. Dan Viets discussed the Show-Me Cannabis petition and Mark Pederson of Sensible Missouri, author of the Missouri Cannabis Restoration and Protection Act, discussed his organization’s petition. Both organizations have initiatives approved for circulation (info at http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/Petitions/default.aspx?PageID=1731). Dan Viets stated that SMC may submit other petitions with different language to the Secretary of State prior to beginning to collect signatures, based upon polling results. Broadly speaking, SMC’s proposals are similar to the existing laws in Colorado which feature a broad regulatory framework and excise taxes. Their approach is more incremental and based upon polling and research on what they feel is likely to pass. The CRPA proposal is a more broad-based legalization which does not create a new regulatory framework specific to cannabis, and prohibits taxation in excess of standard state and local sales taxes, and no tax on purchases for medicinal uses. In addition to their petitions, Dan discussed the extensive work SMC has undertaken to lobby the legislature for various law changes and the recent successes they’ve had. Mark, who works extensively with the medical uses of cannabis discussed numerous case studies of cannabis oil helping children with severe seizures, and how some aspects of the Colorado law still make life difficult for patients. Further information is available at http://show-mecannabis.com/ and http://www.cannabisrestorationandprotectionact.org/.
Thanks to all the speakers and particpants who made this a great convention!
New officers are:
Bill Slantz [email protected]
Rick Vandeven [email protected]
Randy Langrkraehr [email protected]
Sean O’Toole [email protected] (re-elected)