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We will have our next General Meeting on January 2, 2010!
Time and place are the same (3pm at the Century Fire Station in Lee County on US 19 south of Leesburg). The address is 934 U.S. 19 Leesburg GA, though the actual location is about a half mile south of where it shows up in Google Maps.
I’ll get the agenda posted at some point early next week!
UPDATE: Agenda (Basic version, full version to be posted after the meeting):
- Getting Involved Locally
- 2010 General Assembly Session
- 2010 Elections
- John Monds, Libertarian Candidate for Governor
Erick Erickson just went forward naming names of corrupt high-ranking officials in Georgia in a co-post on both PeachPundit and RedState. Specifically named are Glenn Richardson, Mark Burkhalter, Jerry Keen, Ben Harbin, and Casey Cagle. For those unaware, those are the Speaker of the House, Speaker Pro-Tem of the House, House Majority Leader, House Appropriations Chairman, and Lt Governor (and President of the Senate), respectively.
As I told the members of the Libertarian Party of Southwest Georgia in our meeting Saturday, 2010 represents a perfect storm of opportunity for the Libertarian Party of Georgia. The National Democrats, led by President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, are causing people to see that Democrats are just as bad as Republicans, and the Georgia Republicans are showing themselves to be corrupt and inept. This is the PERFECT time for men such as John Monds to be running for Governor and Chuck Donovan to be running for US Senate.
We as Libertarians need to stand up NOW and show the masses that there IS a viable alternative – US! As Bob Barr once said, the Libertarian Philosophy is the American Philosophy. We believe in hard work. We believe you should get what you earn. We believe, as LP-SWGA member Tim Nelson said yesterday, that stupid should hurt. We believe that government should get OUT of our lives and let us live them as we see fit.
[Continue Reading]
The Libertarian Party of Southwest Georgia will be having a meeting for all members today, December 5, 2009 at 3pm at the Century Fire Station on US 19 in Lee County (just north of the new Publix site).
The Agenda for the meeting will be:
- What has been happening since May?
- SWGAPolitics.com
- City Council races
- Turnover
- What is happening now?
- This meeting
- What are our plans for the future?
- Regular meetings
- Schedule?
- Time?
- Location?
- LP-Georgia Convention
- Statewide Candidates
- Publicity
- Exchange Club Fair
- Mailing Lists
- Letters to the Editor
- Ads in local papers?
- LP-SWGA Platform
- Recruitment
- Local Elections
We hope to see you there!
In her letter to the editor, Ms. Eastlick brings up the excellent point regarding the “voluntarily uninsured” being almost half of the total number without insurance. However, that is only part of the story. Similar studies as the one she points out have broken down the numbers even further.
A significant percentage of the remaining uninsured are illegal aliens who President Obama promises will not be covered. Obviously, Joe Wilson disagrees, but that’s neither here nor there. Another significant percentage of uninsured are made up of those who could be covered by other programs like Medicaid but haven’t signed up. That leaves approximately 11 million people who fall through those cracks.
In a nation of 290 million, 11 million isn’t nearly as scary as 46 million, now is it? While I agree that our health care system needs serious reform, there are easier and cheaper ways to achieve these goals. Increasing competition by removing barriers to buying insurance across state lines would be a huge step. Even President Obama seems to think that increased competition is good, so why not try it without creating a huge governmental body to “compete” with private enterprise?
We have serious problems that require serious solutions. Scary numbers and scary rhetoric don’t help. Giving part of the story doesn’t help either. Instead, it’s time to roll up our sleeves. That is, if the Republicans and Democrats can get past their own issues and realize that they’re supposed to do what’s right for the nation, not their party.
This article originally appeared as a letter to the editor in the Albany Herald on Sept 30, 2009 and was written by LP-SWGA Vice Chairman Tom Knighton.
Note: The following was originally posted on SWGAPolitics.com one week ago today.
State Rep Tommy Benton is one of 180 members of the Georgia House of Representatives, and honestly even with the tracking I do of the General Assembly, he’s probably not a guy I would normally have heard of. He’s in the middle of his third term, and he’s the Secretary of the Education and Retirement committees, but otherwise there is nothing that stands out about him from a casual glance at his House profile.
And then I got a press release with the full text of an email he sent that says (emphasis mine)
Dillon, Thanks for the email. We will have to agree to disagree on this and whether or not money is wasted. I am opposed to the legalization of marijuana. I think we should go to caning for people caught using and maybe execute dealers. That would solve the problem as well. That is what they do in Singapore and they don’t have a drug problem, but then they have less liberty than we do here. Tommy Benton / HD31
I don’t have a problem with the guy being opposed to legalization per se, it is his opinion and he is entitled to it. Admittedly, it is also a fairly popular opinion in this state, and even though I disagree with it, I’m willing to let that disagreement slide for the moment.
My problem comes from the idea that Rep Benton apparently thinks it is OK to torture people who have hurt no one other than themselves and execute people who have done nothing more than peacefully sell a product to a willing buyer. Should we now ban alcohol and tobacco – products that have been shown to be FAR more dangerous than marijuana – and cane anyone caught using them? Should we put every bartender in this state on Death Row for allowing people to get a buzz at the local watering hole?
Prisons are already overcrowded, and this Rep wants to ADD to the prison population? How does he plan to address the ADDITIONAL overcrowding at the jails? By releasing actual violent felons into our communities?
The State is already having to make massive budget cuts, and Benton wants to INCREASE the amount of money the Department of Corrections is having to spend? Georgia is a balanced budget state, and education is 55% of the State budget. Would Benton furlough teachers even longer – or even increase class sizes/cut teacher positions – just so these private businessmen could rot on death row?
Closing, here’s the letter that sparked Rep Benton’s tirade:
[Read the letter]
We are LP-SWGA, and we are here! We’re glad you’ve come to visit us!
Some things we’d like you to be aware of:
We’re having a Beer Summit of our own, along with SWGAPolitics.com, on Friday, August 28, at 7p at Harvest Moon in Albany. Everyone is more than welcome to attend, and you need not actually consume adult beverages to hang out with us! I know for a fact that Tom and myself (Jeff) plan to be there, and I’m pretty sure Ken will be as well.
See those pictures at the top of this page? If you’ve got some landscape shots from the general SWGA area, we’d love to use them up there! Email them to me at chair@swga.lpgeorgia.com, and I’ll add them to the rotation!
Obviously, if you have any questions or concerns about LP-SWGA or the LP (State or National) in general, PLEASE don’t hesitate to shoot me an email at chair@swga.lpgeorgia.com. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll shoot your comment up the chain until I get in contact with SOMEONE that does, even if it has to go all the way to LP-National Chairman Bill Redpath himself!
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