Weld in Alaska, where ticket last polled 18%

Libertarian vice presidential candidate makes pitch for Alaskans’ votes - Alaska Dispatch News - Nathaniel Herz:

October 28, 2016 - "The Libertarian Party on Thursday began a last-minute blitz on Alaska, sending vice presidential candidate Bill Weld to make his ticket's small-government case in a state where it's drawing double digits in polls.

"Weld, in an interview and later speaking at an Anchorage rally that brought 150 people to the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, pitched a pragmatic libertarian philosophy. His program made room for climate change regulation, status quo military spending, and a near-endorsement of Lisa Murkowski, the incumbent Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, whom Weld described as 'dynamite' — and who's running against an official Libertarian candidate, Joe Miller.

"Weld is spending two days in Anchorage less than two weeks before the election, with Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico, expected to visit Wednesday.

"Weld is a former Republican governor of Massachusetts and an avid outdoorsman who initially tried to fit a trout fishing trip into his Alaska schedule. He said the two running mates see their Libertarian ideology and love for 'wide open spaces' aligning with Alaskans who want to keep government at arm's length....

"An Alaska Dispatch News poll conducted at the end of September and early October had Johnson drawing 18 percent. Murkowski's own polling put the Libertarian candidate at 10 percent....

"The Libertarian presidential campaign sees Alaska as fertile ground, given widespread dissatisfaction with the two major [parties'] nominees and the 53 percent of voters who don't register with a political party. But they haven't been working with the Alaska Libertarian Party, which chose a social conservative and former tea party Republican, Joe Miller, as its U.S. Senate candidate....

"Weld referred to socially conservative policies as 'mean-spirited' at the rally and said Miller effectively 'took over' the Alaska Libertarian Party.

"'He doesn't speak for us or the national party,' Weld said in the interview. Instead, he praised Murkowski, who condemned Donald Trump's candidacy earlier this month. Weld said Murkowski was 'absolutely terrific' and said he agreed with her support for oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"A spokesman for Miller, Randy DeSoto, didn't respond to a request for comment."

Read more: https://www.adn.com/politics/2016/10/27/libertarian-vice-presidential-candidate-makes-pitch-for-alaskans-votes/
'via Blog this'

Libertarian Simmons polls 41% in Massachusetts

New Poll: Libertarian Congressional Candidate Nearly Tied for Lead - Josh Guckert, The Libertarian Republic:

October 24, 2016 - "In a new poll conducted by the Associated Press, Libertarian candidate for the 1st Congressional District in Massachusetts Thomas Simmons is only 4 points away from overtaking Democratic incumbent Richard Neal.

Simmons for Congress 1st CD-Mass.
October 23 at 12:49pm

FIRST POLL IS OUT! Associated Press, conducted 9/26, and released to their affiliate stations:

Richard Neal: 45%
Thomas Simmons: 41% ... See more

"Neal has served in the House of Representatives since 1989. Having no primary challenger or Republican opponent, Simmons and Independent Frederick Mayock are his only opposition. Neal has faced no serious threat to reelection since 2010 when he defeated Republican Tom Wesley by 15 points. That comfortable margin of victory is to this point Neal’s closest election.

"Simmons is a 56-year-old professor at Greenfield Community College, a position which he has held for 18 years. Due to his background in education, Simmons has made this one of the major issues in his platform:

"Schools and teachers are spending more resources each year creating meaningless reports and data, and less and less time helping students at critical thinking. The result is that politicians claim they are addressing education issues, while in fact, some 60 percent of students enter our community college system at lower than college-ready aptitude in basic English and math skills.

"With only 15 days until election day, Simmons is expected to ramp up his voter outreach so that he may pull off an ... upset. "

Read more: http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/libertarian-congressional-candidate/
'via Blog this'

Thomas T. Simmons webpage: http://simmons4congress.com/
Thom Simmons for Congress on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Simmons4Congress/?fref=nf

Gary Johnson gets 27% in latest military poll

Gary Johnson’s 27% Showing in Another Military Poll Is a Warning Shot to Smug Interventionists - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Matt Welch:

October 24, 2016 - "Last week Military Times and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families released another presidential poll among active-duty personnel, conducted Oct. 12-14. Donald Trump was the first choice among the nearly 2,500 respondents, at 41 percent (in the ballpark of his 39 percent or so nationwide), followed by Gary Johnson at 27 percent, Hillary Clinton at 21 percent, and Jill Stein at 2 percent.

"The results show some slippage for Johnson from a month ago, when the same survey had the race 38-37-16-1, placing the Libertarian in a virtual tie with the Republican. But the fact that a third-party candidate with no particular foreign policy expertise is outpolling the likely next president among active military while exceeding his national averages by more than 400 percent should give Washington's default interventionists pause.

"Instead, judging by this condescending Christian Science Monitor write-up (subhed: 'A new poll shows Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson beating Hillary Clinton by 7 points among active military personnel, despite his proposals to cut military spending and a lack of foreign policy knowledge'), the only people that the political class deem ready for a re-think are the troops themselves. Don't these rubes understand that Johnson lacks the necessary sophistication?...

"It's a little hard to explain, actually," Matthew Dallek, a professor at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, tells The Christian Science Monitor. "There's no kind of rational basis."

"Nothing 'rational' about the tip of the U.S. spear preferring a commander in chief who is less eager to go to war? Hard to explain the military polling success of a candidate who wants clearly defined missions, "peace through strength," and a reorientation toward actual defense? Methinks some professors and journalists should get out more.

"Military support for politicians who are less hawkish than the Washington establishment is nothing new.... I have met dozens of young veterans who came to the ideas of libertarianism through the process of becoming skeptical about the War on Terror's overall mission. It is a far more common path, in my anecdotal experience, than, say, the fiction of Ayn Rand. Most were attracted at first by the words and presidential runs of Ron Paul (though you'll hear an occasional Rand Paul or Gary Johnson thrown in, as well as Reason magazine), and all share a searing intensity and intellectual curiosity as they seek to learn more and figure out how they might act on these ideas either in the service or out.

"It should be a cause of sober reflection, even alarm, that as of less than a month before a presidential election, a third-party skeptic of intervention who's polling just north of 6 percent nationwide is nonetheless in a virtual tie for the lead among active-duty military officers. Instead, the political class mostly offers up warmed-over snickers about 'Aleppo,' mixed with digs at the troops' endemic sexism.

"We should be clear-eyed about recognizing AleppoMania for what it is: A chance to avoid, not defend, foreign policy 'seriousness,' while aggressively marginalizing an admittedly flawed candidate who would dare challenge Washington's decades-long addiction to no-fly zones, 'smart' war, and historical amnesia."

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2016/10/24/gary-johnsons-27-showing-in-another-mili
'via Blog this'

Evan McMullin says Johnson's not a libertarian; Johnson responds

Gary Johnson Responds to Evan McMullin’s He’s-Not-a-Real-Libertarian Critique - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Matt Welch:

October 25, 2016 - "Independent conservative presidential candidate Evan McMullin ... is once again championing his own libertarian bonafides in contrast to Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson ... to The Weekly Standard, the neoconservative magazine that has been as enthusiastic about the McMullin campaign as it has been hostile to libertarian ideas over the years.

"Gary Johnson is not actually a libertarian," McMullin told TWS at a press event. "He has tax policies that are not libertarian, his stance on religious liberty is not libertarian." […]

McMullin is pro-life, while Johnson believes in a right to abortion. "If Gary Johnson were a real libertarian, I probably would not be in this race," McMullin said.

"I caught up with Johnson this afternoon just after he had finished a Facebook Live video to promote his new book Common Sense for the Common Good: Libertarianism as the end of two-party tyranny ... and asked him about McMullin's comments.

"'Well, all I can point ... to on my libertarian bonafides is that I've been the nominee of the Libertarian Party two cycles,' he said. 'And that is the libertarian hardcore that … decides that. So I don't know how you can get any more bonafide than that.'

"(This answer was a milder echo of what Party Chair Nicholas Sarwark told me two weeks ago: 'I trust the judgment of dedicated Libertarian Party members from around the nation somewhat more than that of an unremarkable Capitol Hill staffer.... The day I take advice on who's a real libertarian from a former CIA operative who was an insider in Washington and at Goldman Sachs, being propped up by dead-end neoconservatives like Bill Kristol and shameless Republican political consultants like Rick Wilson, is the day I'll resign as Chairman of the Libertarian Party.')

"What about the religious-liberty charge, which has dogged Johnson throughout 2016? 'I would have signed the Civil Rights bill of 1964, and I think that that's in essence what he is pointing out, that a real Libertarian would have vetoed that, or not signed it. I would have signed it.'"

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2016/10/25/gary-johnson-responds-to-evan-mcmullins
'via Blog this'

Libertarian registrations up 26% in Colorado

Libertarian Party Sees Uptick in Registered Voters, Beats Democrats and Republicans | Westword - Ana Campbell:

October 19, 2016 - "'It's been a very good year.'

"Jay North, the state chairman of the Libertarian Party, is being modest. According to the latest voter-registration statistics, the number of registered Libertarians in Colorado grew over 26 percent since January. Republicans added about 4 percent, Democrats about 7 percent.

"We spoke to North about the increasing interest in the Libertarian Party, the foibles of the party's candidate and the party's future.

Westword: To what do you attribute the rising interest in the Libertarian Party?

Jay North: We're attributing it to, the [Democrats and Republicans] have the two worst candidates running for president. People are looking for other options. They're jumping ship and looking for the parties that can fit their principles. And the Libertarian Party's principles are pretty across the board where people just fit in.

"Critics of third parties allege you all are present during presidential years but not so much during congressional and city council races.

"We actually have quite a few candidates in those races. We don't fill out the ticket, obviously, but we have about thirty people running this year out of fifty races. We like to fill a ticket, but the Libertarian Party is really about the message. Can we shift the window to a more liberty-oriented message or society than we are now?

"What do you see as the future of the Libertarian Party?

"It's either going to be the same as it was last year, or it's going to be growing more than what it is now. It's kind of hard to tell. This happened before, with Ron Paul in 2008. When he was running, the Libertarian Party had a huge uptick in participation. Then it didn't really fizzle, but it didn't keep growing. So we have another huge uptick where we're working as hard as we can to keep those people in and get them busy doing stuff, like volunteering and spreading our message. We're basically like any business. They want to have their logo or their products or services among the general knowledge of people.

"A lot of Coloradans don't want to be told what to do. That's how the marijuana law got passed. It wasn't because Democrats rolled over or Republicans gave up. It's because, since 1972, the Libertarian Party has been pushing that issue. It's taken us forty years to get there, but we got there. Same thing with gay marriage. The Libertarian Party was pushing that issue since 1972. I think Colorado is just one of those states where most of the people, they want liberty."

Read more: http://www.westword.com/news/libertarian-party-sees-registered-voters-uptick-beats-democrats-republicans-8418379
'via Blog this'

Documentary looks at how US politics is Rigged (video)

The Election Isn't Rigged, But The Political System Is. - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Nick Gillespie:

October 18, 2016 - "I'd like to point you to a great new hour-long documentary that explores the ways in which ordinary Americans and their concerns are systematically shut out from political discourse. Not right there at the polling place, of course, but much, much further upstream....

"Underwritten by Overstock.com's CEO Patrick Byrne and featuring a calvacade of libertarian-leaning commentators such as Matt Kibbe, Glenn Beck, and yours truly (in a brief appearance), Rigged 2016 analyzes why politics and elections never seem to engage the concerns and views of voters and citizens who refuse to identify as either Republican or Democrat. It also gets at why the two major parties are losing members like nobody's business.

"Below is the trailer and ... the website for the full, hour-long film, which you can watch for free online. "Do Not Vote For President Until You See This Film," reads the tag line. It's sage advice."

Read more: https://reason.com/blog/2016/10/18/the-election-isnt-rigged-but-the-politic
'via Blog this'

Watch complete film at: http://www.rigged2016.com/

Fort Worth Star-Telegram endorses Libertarian Mark Miller for energy commission

Libertarian Mark Miller best for Texas energy regulator job | The Star-Telegram:

October 19, 2016 - "Texas voters ... should know about the election for railroad commissioner: It’s a very important statewide post, and it has nothing at all to do with railroads.

"The three-member Railroad Commission regulates the oil and gas industry, with which its commissioners have been overly chummy.

"On the ballot are a Republican who on his website prominently displays the Texas Oil and Gas Association president’s words praising the industry, a Democrat who is a retired schoolteacher and lacks direct knowledge of the industry, plus candidates from the Libertarian Party and the Green Party.

"Texans should buck two-party tradition and elect Libertarian Mark Miller, a former University of Texas at Austin petroleum engineering professor with deep oil and gas knowledge — but from a respectful distance.

"For transparency, Miller wants to change the agency’s name to the Energy Resources Commission. He’d help separate it from the industry it regulates.

"The Star-Telegram Editorial Board recommends Mark Miller for railroad commissioner."

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/editorials/article109268402.html
'via Blog this'