By Siebert Ickler
The Otero County Libertarian Party held it's first (to our knowledge) convention at the Holiday Inn Express in Alamogordo. Six local Libertarians or those interested in the party, three visitors from the Doña Ana County Libertarian Party and one small boy met from noon until a little after 2:30 pm followed by an Otero County Convention business meeting. We shared a nice spread of light snacks during the sign in and informal meeitng period. At 12:30 Gilberto Heredia, chair of the Otero County Libertarian Party called the convention to order and reviewed the county organization's founding, his campaign for city council and the purpose of a county convention.
I was the first speaker and spoke on Libertarian basic principles and why you should vote for Libertarians. The complete text of the speech in Word format can be obtained by clicking here or listen to it read by me in mp3 format by clicking here.
Chris Wickham of Tularosa Vineyards spoke next on the difficulties of selling alcohol in our "free country". The are still many attempts at prohibition, constitutional issues around alcohol sales, restrictions on shipping from state to state, and high taxes. In addition to the federal taxes, NM has the second highest excise tax rate in the country. There are now less bars and licenses than in the past despite population growth. He noted that it has been shown that higher availability correlates with less alcohol problems, DWI especially, but here in New Mexico we have low availablity and high problems. "Stick up for my rights and I'll stick up for yours." Institute for Justice helped fight some of the patchwork regulations using the commerce clause of the constitution. Alcohol servers in NM are now required to sign a statement that says they are responsible for other's behavior. He gave examples of over zealous law enforcement and prohibitions against drinking. It is purportedly illegal to drink in your own front yard in Alamogordo, for example.
Gil then spoke about "What is Freedom?" He noted how the politicians attempt to mislead us. Ads for the spaceport and education taxes make no mention of taxes, just vote for the spaceport or education. He cited The Politics of Freedom by David Boaz, F.A. Hayek, Road to Serfdom and Barry Goldwater's book (I failed to note the title.) He gave various definitions and noted Hayeck's suggestion that we use tolerance instead of freedom since socialists and communists have attempted to pervert the meaning of the word. They've defined it to mean the freedom of society to do whatever it wants to the individual. Or they attempt to equate freedom with power or claim there are types of freedom such as economic freedom, which they define as the freedom from want. He pointed out that libertarian does not mean libertine. Freedom is really the ability to choose. We should take the kindergarten view "don't hit other people, don't take their stuff and keep your promises." He quoted Goldwater's defense of his policy stands "people's main interest is liberty." He noted that V. Lenin said that "freedom is so precious it must be carefully rationed." He read his letter to the editor, The Runner and The Forgotten Man, which can be read in it's entirety by clicking here.
We went immediately into a question and answer session and informal forum. Martha Gose brought up the cost of enforcement of government regulations and the disproportionate impact on the poor. Chris noted that Milton Friedman had pointed out how business try to use the power of government to restrict competition and our freedom of choice. It was such a lively discussion that I got caught up in it and unfortunately stopped taking notes.
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