On February 27, the city of Austin was visited by the Libertarian National Committee and other LP leaders from around the nation for the 2010 Libertarian State Leadership Alliance. I had made the decision to attend for a while and was particularly looking forward to the “technology track” of speakers, which focused on spreading the libertarian message via the internet and other means of tech. In short, it’s all about good communication. Highlights included:
- Robert Butler’s session on email marketing, which built on methods of attracting media attention via email and communicating effectively with supporters.
- Dawn Westerberg’s session on using social networking and blogging to communicate.
- Jeff McGhee’s session on building effective websites for candidates. This was particularly great since I am interested in freelancing for candidates who need help making websites that are attractive and easy to update. (Contact me for more info if you are interested!)
The dinner that evening was centered around a debate between five individuals who are running for the Chair position of the Libertarian National Committee. I was not personally acquainted with any of them before that day, but I got to know John Jay Mayers and Mark Hinkle a bit. Ernie Hancock was my fave of the night, but everybody had great things to say and I’m excited to see what’s going to happen with LP-National in the coming years. There is a big push from many people to stay the course of principled libertarianism rather than become Republican-lites or Tea Partyists. (Side note: the best word of the day was “Teo-cons”, ha!) I’m just glad to see that even though we can disagree on certain aspects of libertarian theory, we can be united behind “hating the state,” which is what is important in the long run.
But the biggest surprise for me was that the Libertarian Party of Texas presented me with their first “Student Libertarian of the Year Award,” for my work with the Libertarian Longhorns over the past few years and LibertarianChristians.com. This came with no warning and I was at a loss for words (I know, shocking). It was great to be nominated for the SFL award a few weeks ago, but to be recognized by your peers, your colleagues, and so many people that you admire – well, let’s just say it was touching. Many thanks to Pat Dixon, Robert Butler, Art DiBianca, Jim Lark, and the rest of the awesome crew of LP-Texas. My only proper response is to continue serving others via the cause of liberty, and we will make a difference!
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Tags: events, Libertarian Party
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Austrian Scholars Conference 2010
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My wife and I will be attending the Austrian Scholars Conference this week at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. I’m really excited that one of my best buddies, Daniel Krawisz of the Libertarian Longhorns, will be presenting this year in a panel with Hans Herman Hoppe, M. Garrett Roth, Bernardita Escobar, and chaired by Thomas DiLorenzo. His talk is called “Praxeology of the Knowledge Problem of Socialism,” and he will be discussing the often-missed details of Hayek’s knowledge problem in the context of, you guessed it, Misesian praxeology (which is the logic of human action). If you want to tune in, you should be able to listen live on Mises.org sometime between 1:00 and 2:30pm CST on Saturday.
I’ll have some articles prepped to post late this week, and I’ll try to do a little summary post each day at some point. If any of you LCC readers are attending, let me know right now in the comments below. I really would love to meet you.
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Tags: economics, events, Mises Institute
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Edmund Opitz – Minister to Liberty
By · CommentsThis article first appeared in Young American Revolution magazine in the March 2010 issue.
If a patron saint for the libertarian movement were to be chosen, at the top of the list would be Rev. Edmund A. Opitz, minister and theologian for liberty. He was a good friend of Murray Rothbard and many others in the freedom movement—he was present from the beginning and knew almost everyone. From the 1950s through the 1990s, Opitz called the church to an integrated understanding of religion, economics, and individual liberty. He passed away in 2006, creating a void yet to be filled but leaving this world much better than he had found it. Read More→
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Tags: christian libertarian, Christianity, Edmund Opitz, individualism, libertarian christian, philosophy, theology, YAL
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Free Trade Now!
By · CommentsThis article is #6 of a weekly series highlighting the former memes of Bureaucrash, an organization once headed by my friends Pete Eyre and Jason Talley of the Motorhome Diaries. The memes were originally authored by Pete Eyre and Anja Hartleb-Parson, and were intended as means of communicating ideas about liberty in catchy and succinct ways.
Free trade exists when governments do not interfere with commercial transactions between individuals domestically and internationally. Free trade makes America and the world better off. The Institute for International Economics has calculated that completely liberalizing trade would add $500 billion, or $5,000 per household, to U.S. annual income. And, the World Bank has estimated that reducing trade restrictions would add an additional $350 billion in income for developing countries and $170 billion in income for developed countries by 2015.
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Tags: economics, free market, free trade
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Happy Texas Independence Day!
By · CommentsToo bad they didn’t stay that way. Oh well, today we Remember the Alamo!
The Texas Declaration of Independence
The Unanimous Declaration of Independence made by the Delegates of the People of Texas in General Convention at the town of Washington on the 2nd day of March 1836.
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Tags: Austin, freedom, government, history, individualism, Texas
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