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Libertarian seeks to oppose Turner

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CANTON The Libertarian Party of Georgia has nominated a candidate to take on state Rep. Scot Turner (R-Holly Springs) in the November general election.

Jeff Amason, an attorney from Woodstock, and a former chairman of the Cobb County Libertarian Party, was nominated by the party Saturday, according to a Tuesday news release from the Libertarian Party of Georgia.

Amason, 48, said he has been campaigning since last year and has started the long process of trying to get on the ballot for the general election this November to oppose 38-year-old Turner. Turner is running unopposed for the Republican nomination in the May primary. No Democrats qualified to run.

To get on the ticket, Amason must get the signatures of 5 percent of the residents who were eligible to vote in the 2012 election, as any third-party or independent candidate must do, according to the Janet Munda, Cherokee County elections supervisor.

Its not an easy task, Amason said, but hes resolved to do it.

People we meet are wanting to see some choice in November, he said Tuesday. The issue is you really have to go door to door. It is a struggle. It is a great struggle, but were up to the challenge.

Munda said the deadline for those signatures to be turned into the state is July 8, and local elections workers will verify their validity. Before that, Amason, or any other independent or third-party candidates, must qualify to run between June 23 and 27.

Besides working to get on the ballot, Amason will also have to contend with Turner.

I have proven that a legislator can be principled, transparent and ethical while being effective, Turner said Tuesday. I have kept my promise to never accept a gift or a campaign contribution from a lobbyist. And in the short time I have served under the Gold Dome, I have proven I am willing to fight the big fights and effectively guide legislation like HB 707 out of the House.

House Bill 707, which Turner worked on with other lawmakers, seeks to bar state resources from being used to implement the Affordable Care Act. Turner also mentioned House Bill 886, which is aimed at bringing transparency to the school funding process in Georgia, and HB 826, which eliminates zero-tolerance policies in schools. All three bills are up for consideration in the Senate, after passing the House.

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Libertarian seeks to oppose Turner

The Libertarian, SchiffBot, Free Marketers, Get Raped, Pillaged And Plundered By Unregulated BitCoin – Video

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The Libertarian, SchiffBot, Free Marketers, Get Raped, Pillaged And Plundered By Unregulated BitCoin
"We are the World" is the devil song to libertarians. What #39;s 50k to a half a Billion dollar loss? ROFL!

By: Minethis1

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The Libertarian, SchiffBot, Free Marketers, Get Raped, Pillaged And Plundered By Unregulated BitCoin - Video

Libertarian wave wins big at CPAC

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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks at the Conservative Political Action Committee annual conference in National Harbor, Md., in this Friday, March 7, 2014 file photo.

Susan Walsh, Associated Press

Enlarge photo

The tea party and especially Sen. Rand Paul won big over the weekend during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), but that is not stopping establishment GOP politicians like Sen. Mitch McConnell from targeting them, according to the New York Times Carl Hulse.

Top congressional Republicans are targeting conservative activist groups with a goal of undermining their credibility, according to Hulse. The goal is to deny them any Senate primary victories, cut into their fund-raising and diminish them as a future force in Republican politics.

I think we are going to crush them everywhere, Hulse quoted McConnell as saying.

The straw poll at last week's CPAC illustrated that tea party favorites are winning, according to the National Review's Tim Cavanaugh.

Sen. Rand Paul won with 31 percent of the vote, Sen. Ted Cruz came in second with 11 percent and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson came in third with 9 percent.

Cavanaugh writes that the straw poll illustrates a change in the direction of the party, citing poor performances by former power hitters like Gov. Chris Christie and Rep. Paul Ryan.

The libertarian wave continued throughout the conference, which, according to Cavanaugh, followed a pattern that has characterized GOP events since at least 2008: When the small-government zealots are not around, you can hear a pin drop. When a member of the Paul family shows up, theres so much energy in the place it almost seems like Republicans can win an election.

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Libertarian wave wins big at CPAC

Here a libertarian, there a libertarian. But will there be libertarians everywhere soon?

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During the 2012 Republican primaries, young Ron Paul supporters received national attention that far outweighed their influence on the party's eventual presidential pick. NPR quoted a Georgetown graduate student who said about millennials, "This is the most libertarian generation that has ever existed. I just think it's taking a little bit longer for people to realize ... but in 10 or 20 years, once our age group starts to have more of an influence in society, we're going to see very significant shifts in what's happening."

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks at the Conservative Political Action Committee annual conference in National Harbor, Md. on March 7, 2014. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

We're only two years removed from his prediction, but it's clear that libertarians are becoming a vocal faction within Republican ranks. In the annual straw poll that takes place at the Conservative Political Action Committee, Rand Paul took first place, winning 31 percent of the vote despite the fact there were 24 other people on the ballot. Paul also won the straw poll in 2013.

The pollster who has run the straw poll since CPAC's founding says nearly half of the weekend's voters were 18 to 25. Eighteen to 25 year olds are also the demographic least likely to vote, so the populace of CPAC might not match up perfectly with the populace that will pick the 2016 presidential candidate. As Molly Ball pointed out in her CPAC recap, "Though CPAC draws right-wingers of all stripes, from Oliver North to Santorum to a guy on stilts in a Ronald Reagan costume, it isincreasingly dominated by libertarians, a combined result of their passionate engagement in movement politics and the discount rates the conference offers to college students." Republicans may be subsidizing their young libertarian members, but they aren't quite listening to them yet.

But, as that grad student said in 2012, 10 or 20 years from now, libertarians will likely be the Republicans to watch if current trends hold. Here are a few ways to look at the the libertarian crowd in 2014, as the group tries to expand their influence within the Republican Party.

A poll released by the Public Religion Research Institute in October 2013 showed that 22 percent of Americans consider themselves libertarian or lean libertarian. Forty-five percent of libertarians side with Republicans, while 5 percent identify as Democrats. Fifty-three percent of libertarians consider themselves reliable primary voters. A CNN poll from 2011 had 63 percent of respondents saying government was doing too much. A poll commissioned by the Harvard Institute of Politics last year showed that a majority of 18-29 year olds do not want the government collecting any of their personal information data. A new Pew Research Center survey shows that 69 percent of millennials think marijuana should be legalized. Philip Bump at the Atlantic Wire summed up Pew's findings as, "if that portrait holds, it's not terrible news for conservatives. It fits with the growth of political libertarians." However, leaning more libertarian may not stave off the biggest problem the Republican Party currently has. As Claire Thompson noted in February 2012,self-described libertarians trend "white, male, and financially secure." Which happens to be how much of the party writ large trends. If they can only keep the twentysomethings that look like them on board, the Republican Party is going to continue to attract fewer and fewer members of the electorate. Libertarians may grow, but right now, trending toward the Rand model doesn't seem the safest outreach.

Rand Paul is the star and lighthouse of the libertarian movement, as evidenced by his success at the past few CPACs, success he seems to have inheritedfrom his father. The issue that Paul has received the most attention for in 2014 is civil liberty, especially pertaining to Internet privacy concerns after the National Security Agency leaks of last year. He filed a class action lawsuit against the Obama administration in early February over the NSA's collection of phone metadata. Many of his public appearances including his speech at CPAC this weekend feature a shout-out to civil liberties. Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who released data to the media, has been described as a "libertarian millennial."

There are plenty of other libertarians at the state and local level that are mixing up party politics on a less noticeable level than Rand Paul and the congregating millennials at National Harbor. Charlie Earl gave the keynote address at the Libertarian Party of Ohio's convention yesterday, railing against state secretary of State Jon Husted for taking Earl off the 2014 gubernatorial ballot because of a clerical order. Or as Earl more colorfully put it,I really am the equivalent of a book in Boston.Yeah, Ive been banned." He was clearly very passionate about the libertarian issues he spoke of during his speech, seeing as he cried twice within five minutes of starting, apologizing with aExcuse me. When I cry, I snot. In the Florida special congressional election under close watch nationally, Libertarian candidate Lucas Overby is seen as someone who could change up the results, pulling Democratic or Republican voters away from a very close race. A group of 50 Libertarians (and members of the Free State project have moved into the tiny town of Grafton, New Hampshire and made town meetings hectic. That's just a start. What does this all say about libertarians and the future? Well, that they are there. That there are many people who agree with them on the issues they fret about most, even if these people don't self-identify with the group. And, that libertarians have yet to win any big victories they are still on the sidelines, bringing up issues for the main political actors to discuss without getting much of the limelight themselves. Could this change if Rand Paul and his platform continue gaining ground? Sure, but at least for now, lets not read too much into Rand Paul's luck, especially given the fact that when you broaden the electorate beyond CPAC to the general public, Rand Paul is still no different from the other hundred names that get mentioned as potential presidential material. There are many different wings of the Republican Party fighting for a chance to turn their presidential fortunes, and no reason to believe that its the libertarians' turn.

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"As CPAC ends, rival Republican factions remain adamant in opposition" Robert Costa, The Washington Post

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Here a libertarian, there a libertarian. But will there be libertarians everywhere soon?

Libertarian candidates off state ballot

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Published: Saturday, 3/8/2014 - Updated: 45 seconds ago GENERAL ELECTION

BY JIM PROVANCE BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF

COLUMBUS Charlie Earl, the would-be Libertarian candidate for Ohio governor, was removed from the ballot Friday by Secretary of State Jon Husted.

The Republican secretary of state agreed with the findings of his hearing officer, Brad Smith, that petitions submitted by two professional signature gatherers, both independent contractors, were invalid because they did not note on the petitions who paid them, as required by state election law.

Attorney general candidate Steven R. Linnabary, a Columbus civil engineer, also was removed from the ballot. That means no Libertarian qualified for the ballot for any statewide office.

The deadline has already passed for write-in candidates to file with the secretary of states office for both offices, although the Libertarian Party did meet the deadline for write-in candidates for secretary of state and state auditor.

Mr. Husteds announcement came about an hour before the Libertarian Party of Ohio was set to launch its convention at a Worthington hotel, with Mr. Earl scheduled to be the luncheon speaker today.

Party spokesman Aaron Keith Harris said this decision will only fire up the crowd more.

This is a pattern of harassment from a party that is nothing but cowards and bullies, he said. They dont want Ohio voters to have an actual choice on the ballot this November. This will get overturned in federal court.

This is a decision from a [George W.] Bush guy from the [Federal Election Commission] for Husted and is a Republican mafia hit on voting rights in Ohio, Mr. Harris said.

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Libertarian candidates off state ballot

Rock Bottom: Libertarian Rises from Drug Addiction & Becomes An Anti-Government Inspiration – Video

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Rock Bottom: Libertarian Rises from Drug Addiction Becomes An Anti-Government Inspiration
Danny Lopez-Calleja is the owner of Crossfit Soul Miami, a gym where he commits himself to improving others by using his past hardships as a drug addict as t...

By: WeAreChange

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Rock Bottom: Libertarian Rises from Drug Addiction & Becomes An Anti-Government Inspiration - Video

CPAC's Conservative-Libertarian Split Could Be Hard To Bridge

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hide captionRepublican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky speaks at the Conservative Political Action Committee annual conference in National Harbor, Md., on Friday.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky speaks at the Conservative Political Action Committee annual conference in National Harbor, Md., on Friday.

If any two issues illustrate how difficult it could be for the part of the Republican Party represented by the social and national security conservatives to bridge their differences with libertarians, same-sex marriage and National Security Agency intelligence are good candidates

Discussions at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference got testy Friday, when libertarians defended positions out of synch with the more traditional stances that have defined the Republican Party for decades.

At a panel on privacy, for instance, centering on Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA's data gathering, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore dramatically held aloft a New York Post front page with photos of Snowden and Russian president Vladimir Putin under the headline "Comrades."

"Edward Snowden is a traitor and a coward," Gilmore said. "The fact is, Edward Snowden betrayed his trust."

Gilmore, who once served as a military intel officer, said Snowden seriously damaged U.S. intelligence efforts. He also accused political leaders who've used Snowden's disclosures to suggest that there's widespread surveillance of average citizens by the federal government of "demagoguery."

Responding to Gilmore, Bruce Fein, a libertarian lawyer who's been involved in a lawsuit against the federal government, said that he ignores the more rampant lawlessness which is "government violating the rule of law."

"All these examples of government lawlessness, total silence on Gov. Gilmore's side," Fein said. "And when the government becomes a lawbreaker, it invites every man and woman to become a law unto themselves."

If there was common ground, it wasn't much on display during this session. That debate also displayed the tricky territory Republicans are going to have to navigate if they are to find a compromise on this issue.

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CPAC's Conservative-Libertarian Split Could Be Hard To Bridge


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