Thursday, August 20, 2015
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Friday, July 31, 2015
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Outreach effort, part 1
We're starting an outreach effort to find libertarians in Lafayette County. We're reasonably sure there are quite a few libertarians in our county who do not know of our party and / or our meetings. So, this first batch of letters is an attempt to at least inform folks that we're here. Of course, whether they choose to attend our meetings is another matter.
There are 64 letters in the above photos. Finding the libertarians, figuring out who's still (maybe) here in the county as opposed to those who have left for greener pastures, getting the letters and envelopes printed out and stuffed, etc. actually represents quite a bit of work from a couple of our executive committee members. And it bears repeating that all of this effort is done on members' own time and for free.
But the bottom line is that if we can increase the party membership and presence, it's all worth it.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Adopt A Highway Cleaning Day on Sunday 3/29
On Sunday, five volunteers from the Lafayette County Libby Party turned out for our second Adopt A Highway clean up. Four of us are pictured above.
It seems like a small turn out, and indeed it was for our group. However, we had originally planned to meet on Saturday, but canceled due to likely rain. So, Sunday was our back up date, and it unfortunately conflicted with the schedules of a number of our members. C'est la vie.
More important, however, is why we decided to adopt a mile of highway. It's living by our principles: by voluntarily cleaning up a part of Oxford, we're showing that such things can be done without the government demanding that they be done or penalizing those who don't take part (sound like something recently passed?). It's a small gesture on our part, but as can be seen in the photo, a small group of volunteers can make a lot of progress. We collected about 26 bags of trash in under three hours.
We also take part simply because we like Oxford. It's an attractive town, just as Mississippi is an aesthetically pleasing state. And because we like it, we want to see it clean and maintained. On that account, it's not complicated.
One could object to the "purity" of our principles by saying Adopt A Highway is in fact a government program; after all, we didn't just jump up and start doing this on our own. In response, I would say that, yes, it is a government program, but it's voluntary to join. Further, the volunteers collect not a penny of taxpayer money. If we and others don't volunteer, then the government would want to hire workers to do this. Then again, if there were no Adopt A Highway program created by the government, others would surely come forward and begin doing this work of their own initiative. It doesn't take a government decree for people to realize that litter on the sides of roads is unsightly, and it's especially unsightly in an attractive town such as Oxford.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Thoughts on the Oxford town hall meeting 3/21
Overall, Danny Bedwell's town hall meeting was a positive experience. Here are some thoughts on various aspects of it.
I Might Have To Shut You Down
Ten minutes before the start of the meeting, a library employee rushed in to make sure there would be no political stumping. That is, Bedwell was not to solicit votes for himself. If he did, the meeting would be shut down. No one asked why this should be although it was later questioned whether this was even legal. At any rate, we were too busy explaining that Danny would be giving a non-partisan explication of his views on the constitution and government. Satisfied with that, the employee took off.
The real question to me was what prompted this last minute interrogation. Of course, I really don't know. However, I got to the library about half an hour early, and as I was going in, I was stopped at the front door by a guy collecting signatures for a petition to put one of Danny's opponents on the ballot. I explained to the guy who I was and what was happening. I also invited him to come listen to Danny. When the guy realized that Danny's supporters would be showing up, he said he'd just leave since he didn't expect to get any signatures. Now, I don't know if this guy was petty enough to approach the library employees and raise hell, but who knows? Politics is a petty, dirty business.
Danny's Talk
Danny spoke for about 15-20 minutes, mostly on different aspects of federalism. Since I'm personally aware of Danny's views and libertarian principles, not much struck me here in regards to ideas / topics. Rather, I was listening to the flow of the speech and the transitions from topic to topic. On these accounts, Danny nailed it. It was a really smooth, accessible talk.
The Big Surprise: Question Session
This segment was the big surprise of the evening. With 40-45 minutes left, I thought it would be up to the members of the Lafayette Libertarian Party to "prime" the audience with questions the answers to which we already knew. Instead, audience members became engaged and pelted Danny with questions until I had to call time. The questions ranged from charter schools to "acceptable" regulations and taxation. Here, even more so than in his talk, Danny really delivered. His answers were complete and easily understandable to non-libertarians. Really an A+ performance. A few party members did ask questions, but these weren't the canned questions designed to stretch out a perfunctory exercise; they kept the conversation moving.
Turnout
Danny figured there were between 20-25 folks present, and that was achieved only through Facebook posts and word of mouth. Who knows what kind of turnout we could have had with proper advance advertising in newspapers, fliers, etc.
The Let Down
Unfortunately, only a handful of party members came out to Soulshine Pizza afterwards. I was expecting more considering how well the Q-and-A went. Oh well, the pizza was great...
I'd love to see in the comments any thoughts from others who were there or from those reading this.
I Might Have To Shut You Down
Ten minutes before the start of the meeting, a library employee rushed in to make sure there would be no political stumping. That is, Bedwell was not to solicit votes for himself. If he did, the meeting would be shut down. No one asked why this should be although it was later questioned whether this was even legal. At any rate, we were too busy explaining that Danny would be giving a non-partisan explication of his views on the constitution and government. Satisfied with that, the employee took off.
The real question to me was what prompted this last minute interrogation. Of course, I really don't know. However, I got to the library about half an hour early, and as I was going in, I was stopped at the front door by a guy collecting signatures for a petition to put one of Danny's opponents on the ballot. I explained to the guy who I was and what was happening. I also invited him to come listen to Danny. When the guy realized that Danny's supporters would be showing up, he said he'd just leave since he didn't expect to get any signatures. Now, I don't know if this guy was petty enough to approach the library employees and raise hell, but who knows? Politics is a petty, dirty business.
Danny's Talk
Danny spoke for about 15-20 minutes, mostly on different aspects of federalism. Since I'm personally aware of Danny's views and libertarian principles, not much struck me here in regards to ideas / topics. Rather, I was listening to the flow of the speech and the transitions from topic to topic. On these accounts, Danny nailed it. It was a really smooth, accessible talk.
The Big Surprise: Question Session
This segment was the big surprise of the evening. With 40-45 minutes left, I thought it would be up to the members of the Lafayette Libertarian Party to "prime" the audience with questions the answers to which we already knew. Instead, audience members became engaged and pelted Danny with questions until I had to call time. The questions ranged from charter schools to "acceptable" regulations and taxation. Here, even more so than in his talk, Danny really delivered. His answers were complete and easily understandable to non-libertarians. Really an A+ performance. A few party members did ask questions, but these weren't the canned questions designed to stretch out a perfunctory exercise; they kept the conversation moving.
Turnout
Danny figured there were between 20-25 folks present, and that was achieved only through Facebook posts and word of mouth. Who knows what kind of turnout we could have had with proper advance advertising in newspapers, fliers, etc.
The Let Down
Unfortunately, only a handful of party members came out to Soulshine Pizza afterwards. I was expecting more considering how well the Q-and-A went. Oh well, the pizza was great...
I'd love to see in the comments any thoughts from others who were there or from those reading this.
Town Hall Meeting 3/21
This afternoon, Danny Bedwell will be holding a town hall meeting at the Oxford Public Library starting at 4 pm.
Afterwards, there will be an informal meet and greet at Soulshine Pizza starting at 5:30.
Danny is running for Congress, Mississippi District 1, in a special election following the passing of Alan Nunnelee.
Afterwards, there will be an informal meet and greet at Soulshine Pizza starting at 5:30.
Danny is running for Congress, Mississippi District 1, in a special election following the passing of Alan Nunnelee.
Welcome!
Welcome to the Lafayette County Libertarian Party's blog!
We are located in Oxford, MS. We are dedicated to upholding and promoting the principles of libertarianism.
I invite you to contribute to this blog and to check out our Facebook page, YouTube channel, Twitter account, and forum (addresses below). You can reach us through our Facebook page and by email at lafayettelibertarian@mslp.org.
Most importantly, if you're in the area, I invite you to come to our weekly meetings. We meet every Wednesday at 7:30 at a restaurant in Oxford. The place is listed on our Facebook page each week.
Facebook:
YouTube:
Twitter:
Forum:
We are located in Oxford, MS. We are dedicated to upholding and promoting the principles of libertarianism.
I invite you to contribute to this blog and to check out our Facebook page, YouTube channel, Twitter account, and forum (addresses below). You can reach us through our Facebook page and by email at lafayettelibertarian@mslp.org.
Most importantly, if you're in the area, I invite you to come to our weekly meetings. We meet every Wednesday at 7:30 at a restaurant in Oxford. The place is listed on our Facebook page each week.
Facebook:
YouTube:
Twitter:
Forum:
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