TN libertarians want school board transparency

Williamson County mother, libertarian group sue Tennessee School Boards Association under state Open Records Act | Chattanooga Times Free Press - Andy Sher:

December 18, 2019 - "In a case whose outcome could have major implications for some of the state's various local government associations, a libertarian group on Tuesday filed suit against the Tennessee School Boards Association, saying the organization should be subject to state public record laws.

"Suing on behalf of Williamson County parent and plaintiff Karrie Marren, the Beacon Center's legal arm is arguing the association acts as a 'functional equivalent of government, charged with training school board members in this state.' The suit charges that Marren was 'frustrated by the unresponsiveness' of Williamson County school board members who are 'legally mandated to receive their training and ethical standards from the Tennessee School Board Association.'

"As a result of the school board association's rejecting her request, the complaint says, Marren is suing under the Tennessee Public Records Act. The suit was filed in Chancery Court in Williamson County. TSBA's headquarters is in Williamson County.

"Braden Boucek, Beacon's vice president of legal affairs, said in a statement that 'taxpayers are entitled to transparency when it comes to how their children are educated and how their education tax dollars are spent.' He added that 'regardless of where you stand politically, transparency is one of the bedrocks of democracy, and any functional equivalent of government needs to be subjected to the same transparency laws. When a 'private' organization receives nearly all its money from taxpayers and gets preferential treatment to participate in the state's retirement program, they should be accountable to the very taxpayers who are funding them.'

"A favorable ruling could roil various local government associations in a state which has the Tennessee Municipal League for cities, the Tennessee County Services Association and other entities that provide similar services as Tennessee School Boards Association."

Read more: https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2019/dec/18/williamscounty-mother-libertarigrosue-tenness/510860/
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Cannabis legalization referendum OK'ed in NJ

New Jersey Lawmakers Vote To Put Marijuana Legalization On State's 2020 Ballot | Marijuana Moment - Kyle Jaeger:

December 16, 2019 - "New Jersey lawmakers approved a resolution on Monday that will put a referendum on legalizing marijuana on the state’s 2020 ballot. The Senate voted 24-16 in favor of the measure, with the Assembly following by a margin of 49-24 — supermajority support that means lawmakers will not have to vote on the measure again next year, which is required for such resolutions if they are only approved by a simple majority.

"The votes come days after committees in both chambers held hearings on the issue, with testimony from advocates, stakeholders and opponents.

"While advocates and certain lawmakers had hoped to enact legalization legislatively this year, disagreements over the specifics of proposed bills derailed that effort, and leaders agreed to put the question of broad cannabis reform before voters instead. Gov. Phil Murphy (D), who had participated in negotiations with the legislature to get legalization done, said last month that he was disappointed a passable bill didn’t materialize but that he’s confident New Jersey voters will support the policy change next November.

"In the meantime, the governor said he will work with lawmakers to expeditiously pass legislation to decriminalize marijuana possession....

"Murphy and the governors of several other states in the Northeast have also engaged in a regional dialogue about how to coordinate their cannabis markets after it’s legalized. It’s not clear how New Jersey opting for a referendum process will impact those discussions, however."

Read more: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/new-jersey-lawmakers-vote-to-put-marijuana-legalization-on-states-2020-ballot/
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NY raises ballot access threshhold

Green Party, Libertarian Team Up To Fight New Election Rules | WCBS Newsradio 880:

December 16, 2019 - "It's not often you see leaders of the Libertarian Party and the Green Party sharing a podium, but that’s exactly what happened recently, according to WCBS 880’s Steve Burns.

"'The Libertarian Party is pleased to partner with the Green,' said Libertarian Party of New York Chairman Jim Rosenbeck.

"Rosenbeck says the new rules set up by the Public Campaign Financing Commission are ... 'a shameless attempt to limit public debate'....

"In order to have full ballot status parties need to receive at least 50,000 votes in governor's races. The new rules raise that threshold to a 130,000 votes, or 2% of total turnout – whichever is higher. Those totals have to be attained every two years instead of every four.

"Green Party of New York Co-Chairman Peter Lavenia says they'll likely be knocked off the ballot in the next two years over the changes. 'We’re looking at this as an assault on democracy,' he said.

"The two parties are filing a joint lawsuit against the commission.

"State lawmakers could reconvene and change the rules, though that prospect is looking increasingly unlikely with a deadline at the end of this week."

Read more: https://wcbs880.radio.com/articles/news/green-party-libertarian-team-up-to-fight-new-election-rules
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1st US psychedelic research center founded

First US Center for Psychedelic Research a 'Game Changer' - Megan Brooks, Medscape:

December 2, 2019 - "A group of private benefactors has donated $17 million to fund the first psychedelic research center in the United States.

"The Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, 'reflects a new era of research in therapeutics and the mind through studying this unique and remarkable class of pharmacological compounds," 'Roland Griffiths, PhD, the center's director, said in a statement. 'We've been conducting research with psychedelics at Johns Hopkins for almost the last 20 years, but funding has not been forthcoming from federal sources as yet so the work has primarily been supported by philanthropy,' ... and this 'very large philanthropic gift has allowed the establishment of the first center for psychedelic research in the United States,' said Griffiths.

"The center's operational expenses for the first 5 years will be covered by private funding from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation and four philanthropists, including author and investor Tim Ferriss; Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress; Blake Mycoskie, founder of the shoe brand TOMS; and investor Craig Nerenberg.

"The funding will support a team of six faculty neuroscientists, experimental psychologists, and clinicians with expertise in psychedelic science, as well as five postdoctoral scientists. The faculty will train graduate and medical students who want to pursue careers in psychedelic science, where historically there have been few avenues for career advancement.

"Initial priority projects include researching the potential of psilocybin as a therapy for anorexia nervosa, early stage Alzheimer's disease, opioid use disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), posttreatment Lyme disease, and alcohol use disorder comorbid with depression. Based on research to date, the nature of the changes that occur during a psilocybin session would appear to have 'transdiagnostic generality' across a range of mental health and behavioral conditions, Griffiths said.

"He added that there are 'very strong preliminary signals' that psilocybin is an effective treatment for cancer patients who are anxious or depressed. 'We also have promising efficacy data in people with major depression as well as treatment-resistant depression; and we have indication of potential efficacy across a range of substance use disorders, including alcohol and cocaine abuse and cigarette smoking,' he said....

"For patients with depression secondary to a diagnosis of early Alzheimer's disease, Griffiths said his team 'strongly suspects' psilocybin will be effective at least for the mood disorder 'but, of course, the really interesting thing would be whether there is any change in cognitive function.' 'The emerging data with psilocybin and other psychedelics is that they may produce neuroplastic changes, they may end up rewiring the brain in ways we simply don't understand,' Griffiths added."

Read more: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/921986
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Understanding the Overton Window

The Overton Window – Mackinac Center:

"The Overton Window is a model for understanding how ideas in society change over time and influence politics. The core concept is that politicians are limited in what policy ideas they can support — they generally only pursue policies that are widely accepted throughout society as legitimate policy options. These policies lie inside the Overton Window. Other policy ideas exist, but politicians risk losing popular support if they champion these ideas. These policies lie outside the Overton Window.

"But the Overton Window can both shift and expand, either increasing or shrinking the number of ideas politicians can support without unduly risking their electoral support. Sometimes politicians can move the Overton Window themselves by courageously endorsing a policy lying outside the window, but this is rare. More often, the window moves based on a much more complex and dynamic phenomenon ... the slow evolution of societal values and norms."
Read more: https://www.mackinac.org/OvertonWindow

How the Politically Unthinkable Can Become Mainstream - The New York Times - Maggie Astor:

February 26, 2019 - "Joseph P. Overton introduced the concept in the 1990s as an executive at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank in Michigan. He never expected it to gain widespread recognition, said Joseph G. Lehman, president of the Mackinac Center, and it didn’t until after Mr. Overton died in 2003....

"'Public officials cannot enact any policy they please like they’re ordering dessert from a menu,' Mr. Lehman said in an interview. 'They have to choose from among policies that are politically acceptable at the time. And we believe the Overton window defines that range of ideas.'

"Grass-roots mobilization can shift the window. So can think tanks, which was Mr. Overton’s point. But despite a misconception driven by Glenn Beck’s novel The Overton Window, the window is a description, not a tactic: Shifting it doesn’t mean proposing extreme ideas to make somewhat less extreme ideas seem reasonable. 'It just explains how ideas come in and out of fashion, the same way that gravity explains why something falls to the earth,' Mr. Lehman said....

"The key is that shifts begin with the public. Mr. Overton argued that the role of organizations like his own was not to lobby politicians to support policies outside the window, but to convince voters that policies outside the window should be in it. If they are successful, an idea derided as unthinkable can become so inevitable that it’s hard to believe it was ever otherwise."
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/us/politics/overton-window-democrats.html?login=facebook&auth=login-facebook

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See also: Libertarians have shifted the Overton Window

Libertarians have shifted the Overton Window

How David Koch’s 1980 Fantasy Became America’s Current Reality | The New Republic - Adam Eichen:

August 27, 2019 - "Billionaire fossil fuel mogul David Koch ... will rightfully be remembered for his role in the destruction of the earth [by whom? - ed.].... Ronald Reagan may have uttered the famous words 'Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem' back in 1981 — but it was David Koch, along with his elder brother Charles and a cabal of other ultrarich individuals, who truly reframed the popular view of government. Once [seen  as] a democratic tool used to shape the country’s future, government became seen as something intrusive and inefficient — indeed, something to be feared.

"David Koch was particularly instrumental in legitimizing anti-government ideology — one the GOP now holds as gospel. In 1980, the younger Koch ran as the vice-presidential nominee for the nascent Libertarian Party. And ... Koch personally donated more than $2 million to the party — an astounding amount for the time — to promote the Ed Clark–David Koch ticket.... In fact, according to [Lisa] Graves, 'The Koch-funded Libertarian Party helped spur on Ronald Reagan’s anti-government, free-market-solves-all agenda as president.'

"Even by contemporary standards, the 1980 Libertarian Party platform was extreme. It called for the abolition of a wide swath of federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Bureau of Land Management, the Federal Election Commission, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Federal Trade Commission, and 'all government agencies concerned with transportation.' It railed against campaign finance and consumer protection laws, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, any regulations of the firearm industry (including tear gas), and government intervention in labor negotiations. And the platform demanded the repeal of all taxation, and sought amnesty for those convicted of tax 'resistance.'

"Koch and his libertarian allies moreover advocated for the repeal of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other social programs. They wanted to abolish federally mandated speed limits. They opposed occupational licensure, antitrust laws, labor laws protecting women and children, and 'all controls on wages, prices, rents, profits, production, and interest rates.' And in true libertarian fashion, the platform urged the privatization of all schools (with an end to compulsory education laws), the railroad system, public roads and the national highway system, inland waterways, water distribution systems, public lands, and dam sites.

"The Libertarian Party never made much of a splash in the election — though it did garner almost 12 percent of the vote in Alaska — but doing so was never the point. Rather, the Kochs were engaged in a long-term effort to normalize the aforementioned ideas and mainstream them into American politics. Building off the Libertarian campaign, Graves explained, 'David and Charles then used their front groups to pull the Reagan Administration further to the right with their push to privatize across the board.' With their army of think tanks, front groups, lobbyists, and media ties, this multimillion dollar effort to shift the Overton Window grew for nearly four decades, culminating in the takeover of many core political institutions, federally and in key states. The duo additionally capitalized on the anti-government Tea Party movement, which they greatly helped along by bankrolling the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity.

"The Koch’s Ayn Rand–inspired hellscape has yet to completely come to fruition, but the ideas the duo promoted are now part of the regular discourse — and have been for a while."

Read more: https://newrepublic.com/article/154849/david-koch-1980-fantasy
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See also: Understanding the Overton Window

SD Libertarians launch hemp legalization website

'Hemp. We're On It': State Libertarian Party Launches Parody Website - KDLT News:
December 12, 2019 - "There’s a new campaign for legalizing industrial hemp in South Dakota and it has a familiar slogan. The South Dakota Libertarian Party launched this website called ‘Hemp. We’re on it.’ It’s a parody of Governor Noem’s anti-meth campaign, ‘Meth. We’re on it.’ The website also mirrors the one for the anti-meth campaign with links to resources like contacting state lawmakers....

"Governor Noem vetoed a bill earlier this year saying legalizing hemp will legalize marijuana by default. State lawmakers are currently working on a new, similar bill."
Read more: https://www.kdlt.com/2019/12/12/hemp-were-on-it-state-libertarian-party-launches-parody-website/

South Dakota Hemp Education and Awareness Campaign:
"The state legislature already passed legalization of industrial hemp once, only to have Governor Kristi Noem veto the bill because she doesn’t believe her constituents are responsible enough to grow hemp, even though industrial hemp has only a mere fraction of the THC of marijuana.....

"The benefits of industrial hemp have been recognized since long before its prohibition, and neighboring states are already profiting from its growth. Legalization would mean a new, competitive cash crop for our farmers, and a new industry for South Dakota businesses and consumers to develop.

Please sign our petition and get involved. To quote that other website, “With the help of all South Dakotans, we can ensure the bright futures of our communities are realized.'"
Read more: http://onhemp.org/
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