Sign up today for the International
Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL) World Libertarian Conference. This annual
international conference is being held this year in London, Ontario from Sunday, July 23
to Friday, July 28.
Meet world famous philosophers,
activists and authors including Barbara Branden (author Passion of Ayn Rand), John Hospers (first
Libertarian Party presidential candidate), George H. Smith (author and historian), and
Leon Louw (activist, constitutional lawyer, author and Nobel Prize nominee). Over 20
international speakers from around the world discuss the most important issues facing our
world: from philosophical foundations to health care and globalization.
The Conference will also feature
special activist sessions on building a global libertarian action network as well as a
student program for organizing on campus and recruiting and activating young
libertarians.
For more info email with "Tell me more" in the subject
line, visit the ISIL website at www.libertyconferences.com
or phone toll free1-800-226-2405.
Want to help out? Conference coordinator Mary Lou Gutscher is looking for
volunteers. Contact her at 416-250-1564 or by e-mail.
September Dinner Meeting
Bruce Halliday, the former PC MP for Oxford county is tentatively scheduled to
address the September 14 dinner meeting of the Ontario Libertarian Party. Halliday will
discuss proportional representation and other political reforms that would give
libertarian and other marginalized political viewpoints greater representation in
government.
June 8, Learn How
"Species At Risk Act" Puts Your Rights At
Risk
Ottawa's busy body bossy boots will soon be trampling all over
your private property thanks to the Species At Risk Act (SARA). Attend our dinner meeting
on Thursday, June 8 to hear property rights advocate, Bob Fowler, address the landowners'
following concerns:
·
Publication of so-called Action
Plans may encourage public trespass on private property.
·
Stewardship regulations and
compensation programs are not specific, definitive or binding.
·
Proposed penalties for alleged
infractions are draconian and may prove counter-productive.
·
Anonymous complainants can
initiate investigations of alleged landowner actions or behaviour.
·
Species identification is open
to population estimates from casual sightings by unqualified observers.
·
Enforcement officers can
trespass on private property without notice, warrant or reasonable suspicion.
Fowler is a founder and chief spokesman of the Ontario Property
and Environmental Rights Alliance. OPERA's mandate is to "protect and entrench in
law, the rights and responsibilities of landowners against arbitrary decisions and
restrictions of government."
OPERA asserts that the Species At Risk Act "conceals,
behind a mantle of noble objectives and reassuring rhetoric, a real and present danger
for private landowners."
Time
: 7 o'clock, p.m., Thursday,
June 8, 2000
Price
: $20 at the door (includes
all-you-can eat buffet)
Place
: China Buffet King restaurant,
Rockwood Mall, northeast corner of Dixie and Burnhamthorpe in Mississauga.
(905-629-2288)
The Libertarian
Party of Canada held its 2000 convention in Mississauga on May 20 and 21. There were
several guest speakers on Saturday. David Lindsay spoke on the Canadian Constitution and
how the division of powers makes it illegal for the federal government to collect income
taxes. Brad Mede described how he withdrew from the "voluntary" tax system and
was not pursued by the CCRA until he started helping others do the same.
Verne Warwick discussed why the federal
government should take back the right to create credit from private banks. Jack Shimek
described how he helped spearhead a campaign to recall the mayor of his town in New
Hampshire. Tom Kennedy explained how individuals can effectively create their own
currency using the "Let$" barter system.
The elections
were held Sunday. Jean Serge Brisson was elected party leader. The deputy leader's
position remains vacant. The new board of directors includes:
Drew Dorweiler, CFO
George Dance, President
Adriana Civardi,
Richard Darwin
Wayne Chapeskie
Valerie Scrivner
Michel Champagne
Ethics Committee
Barbara Darwin, Chairman
Robert Cristel
Jim McIntosh
Maureen Dance
Jack Shimek.
Jean-Serge
Brisson, presented his vision for the LPC's future. "One hundred thousand dollars
will be needed to run an effective Libertarian agenda for the next few years. First we
must get registered with Election Canada. The only way that will happen is to present 50
candidates at the next election. A War Chest is being established to help finance half of
the candidates' nominations. It will need 25,000 dollars in order to do this." The
War Chest was approved by the end of the convention.
The LPC is now
debt-free and already collecting donations for the War Chest. The LPC executive will meet
with prospective donors in June and "if it all works out, we will be doing a full
mail out in July," says Brisson.
Leader's Report – Sam Apelbaum
Reflecting over the events of
the past 12 months I can see our party changing from one solely concerned with the
arduous task of electing Libertarians to a party that has fun while working to advance
the ideal of individual liberty.
The following is a partial list of
invigorating initiatives we've undertaken since May, 1999.
·
All of our candidates in the
June, 1999 Ontario election enjoyed themselves. For a few glorious weeks what they
thought and said suddenly became significant. They got to be on television and radio and
misquoted in the news media.
·
The November convention, thanks
to the organizational skills of Nunzio Venuto, attracted many new members to the party
and a lively contest for executive positions in which nobody, not even myself, could take
victory for granted. Paddy McQuade lined up such outstanding guest speakers as professors
Jan Narveson and Glenn Fox and newspaper columnist and editor Jonathan Chevreau.
·
Our new executive comes from all
age groups and walks of life. Because we meet at various sites you can never be sure
where our wanderings will take us.
I'm now trying to convince Gord Martin to
host a meeting on his boat but he is convinced that a quorum will sink it.
·
We have developed a cooperative
relationship with the International Society For Individual Liberty
through its local representative, Mary Lou
Gutscher, who brings her sense of humour along with her experience acquired over many
years in the libertarian movement.
·
Thanks to John Shaw and other
contributors we now have an up-to-date website.
I particularly like the little man with the
jackhammer.
·
Our party newsletter continues
to be produced regularly through the efforts of Doug Burn.
Doug is used to working with publication
deadlines and refuses to allow us to revert to libertarian time.
·
Our monthly dinner meetings
(next one Thursday, June 8th) have afforded us the opportunity to know one
another better (sociability yes, socialism no).
·
Our annual barbeque held in
early May, 2000 at Garrett Pittenger's bucolic country estate was a good event.
In fact the affair was so good we had to
deal with a party crasher.
Let's continue to have a good
time as we progress toward our ultimate libertarian destination.
Bear in mind that being involved with our
party in a serious way is not necessarily a serious matter.
Mary Lou
Gutscher reports that Marc Emery is a scheduled speaker at this year's ISIL conference.
Says Emery, "I'm really looking
forward to speaking at the conference, if I'm out of jail by then. Every time the media
gives me big coverage, my place is raided, my equipment confiscated, and I'm thrown in
jail for a while."
Emery is
publisher of Cannibas Culture Magazine, and, as a Time article (March 13, 2000 edition) states, "He expects to earn $1
million this year selling seed for high octane marijuana and books on how to grow
it." With some of the proceeds of these sales each year, Emery "
¼
underwrites
marijuana legalization campaigns around the world", and generously supports
libertarian activities, such as this year's ISIL conference.
"Let's
keep our fingers crossed that he'll be luckier this time, and stay a free man," says
Gutscher, the ISIL 2000 Conference co-ordinator.
Rediscovering Ayn Rand --
Summer, for me, is the time for reading.
There is nothing I enjoy more than lying in the sun, cold drink in one
hand and a novel cracked open in the other.
The newspapers I read all serve my habit with stories and columns on
recommended summer reading; I like to check those out, and thought it a good idea to
publish such a column for our readers.
Admittedly, I do not read that
many novels nowadays.
Most of my reading time is spent on the
Internet papers, magazines, and books gather dust in my house, while my attention goes to
e-mail lists, newsgroups, and websites.
Ironically, though (as I never planned it
that way), many of these lists, groups, and sites have been about novels, and have led me
to rediscover and reread those novels those by a female novelist of the last century
named Ayn Rand.
Ayn Rand (1917-1982) emigrated
to the U.S. in the 1930s from the Soviet Union.
She published only four novels during
her lifetime: We the Living (1936), Anthem (1938), The Fountainhead (1943), and Atlas Shrugged
(1957).
Her reputation rests mainly on the last
two, which have become perennial bestsellers.
Atlas
Shrugged, in particular, has had an enormous impact, and can be called the most
influential novel of the last century.
Millions have read that book; hundreds of
thousands have been inspired by the philosophy of Objectivism which she created and
presented in it; numerous institutions, from the Ayn Rand Institute to the Libertarian
Party, owe their existence to the intellectual legacy she left us.
I read my first Rand novel in my
late teens. It was as much a conversion experience as a literary one. Objectivism, I
thought, was exactly what the world needed.
I bought and read all her books in the
following year; I bought dozens of extra copies, to give to everyone around me. I found a
new circle of friends. Objectivists all we spent countless hours in conversations that
featured the word "Rand" more than "I".
Within a year, I had been "Randed
out" while I kept her books, they have been unread for the past quarter century.
Rereading Ayn Rand, 25 years
later, is an enriching experience.
This time, rather than frantically trying to read everything at once, I
can take a more leisurely pace, stopping to appreciate her craft:
her beautiful descriptive imagery, the
drama of her dialogue (she was a successful Broadway playwright), themes and nuances that
I missed as an adolescent.
The most dramatic new message from the
rereading is how much her novels are really about her own amazing intellectual evolution;
how, read together, they show her thought maturing from one level (represented by her
main heroine) to a more empowering one (represented by her main hero).
Rand began as an anti-Communist.
Her first novel, We the Living is a bitter indictment of the Soviet
regime.
It is also her most Russian book, a tragedy
heavily influenced by Dostoevsky.
It has no hero; the death of its heroine,
Kira Argonouva, seems almost fated.
In Anthem, Rand created her first triumphant hero.
But while Rand wanted her ideal (man living at the ideal level) to triumph, she clearly
did not believe in its possibility.
For one thing, the heroine remains a blank
cipher, with little dialogue. For another, the book is clearly meant to be fantasy or
science fiction.
Dominique Francon, the heroine of The Fountainhead, is a full-blown heroine, and
reflects Rand's college reading of Nietzsche. Dominique hates her father, her life, and
herself; she scorns humanity, and (when she is not marrying and divorcing) pits those
beliefs in battle against the hero, Howard Roark. In the end, though, she learns to
accept and live Roark's, and Rand's, new ideal of non-sacrificial life (symbolized by her
final marriage to Roark).
Atlas Shrugged
, features a heroine, Dagny
Taggart, who starts from Roark's first position.
She lives for herself, rationally, productively, and pridefully. Yet
she spends most of her time struggling against those trying to destroy her world.
Why she must endure that sort of life, and
how she can transcend it, are at first baffling mysteries.
But all are explained, in rigorous logic
and at painstaking length (the book runs to more than 1100 pages).
All of it is explained by the philosophy of
Objectivism, as created by the novel's hero, John Galt.
So ruthlessly logical and self-disciplined
that he makes Mr. Spock seem dissolute, Galt unquestionably reflects Rand's ultimate,
benevolent, vision of man.
After creating Galt, Rand never
again wrote fiction.
She turned to short nonfiction, which she
published in three newsletters and seven nonfiction books.
While these books are more specialized, two
of them can be recommended to anyone. The Romantic
Manifesto contains Rand's essays on literature, art, and her own writing.
The Virtue of Selfishness
explains Objectivist ethics and principles, and is a classic of libertarian moral
philosophy.
All of the above books by Rand are widely available, and
should be found in your local book superstore.
Any can be ordered from many sites on the
Web.
If you have never read Ayn Rand, I urge you
to make her acquaintance.
If you have, I urge you to rediscover an
old friend.
John Shaw, our
web master, reports that a new list server will be activated in late June to bring
libertarian topics to a broader audience and facilitate internal party discussions. Go to
http://www.libertarian.on.ca/ at any time and
sign up for the public list. Alternatively, you can send your e-mail address to
and sign up now.
While there is
no official presence on the political newsgroups there is an active participation by the
web master - as a private contributor.
The
presentation of the web page received a major face-lift last year. Shaw credits Brian
Fothergill for the fancy graphics. The "links page" was also improved. There
you will find electronic libertarian information sources and up-to-date copies of the
Libertarian Bulletin, Shaw notes " for those new to the party old Bulletins never
die on the web." Every initiative has a learning curve and Shaw acknowledges the
digital photos from the party convention did not turn out as well as they could have. He
promises, "never to use digital zoom without a tripod again!"
Shaw invites
party members and supporter to forward announcements of special events and calls for
support of worthy causes. He will post them to the web site if they appear to be of
general interest. "Drop by on a regular basis. We're open 24 hours a day ; -)"
Note. If you
forward your e-mail address to the web master, he can e-mail you news of coming events.
Party leader,
Sam Apelbaum, would like to hear from you via the web site or phone or snail mail on
recent developments in the party. He writes:
"At our last party executive meeting we
agreed to create a written statement to express our shared vision (the future we want to
see), our purpose (why we want to make it happen) and our core values (what we stand
for).
I am excited about this, as completion of this project will enable us
to better explain ourselves to people unfamiliar with libertarianism without immediately
launching into an explanation of libertarian ideas.
We expect this will lead many to want to
learn more about libertarianism and our party.
If you want to contribute ideas for this,
let me or anyone else on the executive know.
I also remind you about the continuing
invitation to help write our party platform.
Refer to our web site
for details."
If they worked in the private sector they'd be charged with
fraud but, because they work for governments, they are rewarded with grants for
misrepresenting health risks and empowered to regulate our lives.
Health promotion professionals have led the fight for
regulations, bans and sin taxes on the basis of junk science over the last 30 years.
Today there are HP professionals in every district health office and over 400 working for
Health Canada in Ottawa.
"Health promotion is one of the
greatest threats to liberty in Canada," Dr. John C. Luik told attendees at the
Ontario Libertarian Party dinner meeting in April.
Dr Liuk, a
Rhodes scholar and philosophy professor, is a frequent media commentator, conference
speaker and the author of, The Assault on Pleasure:
Health Promotion and Engineering the Human Soul, Smokescreen: Passive Smoking and Public Policy,
and I Can't Help Myself: Addiction as Ideology
as well as others.
"The primary flaw of Health Promotion is its ideological
focus on controlling peoples' lives rather than controlling diseases," said Liuk. He
noted that health promotion propaganda has convinced 80 per cent of Canadians that
secondhand smoke is a major health risk but almost all scientific studies and all of
those based on solid methodology find no link between cancer risks and exposure to second
hand smoke.
The presumption of health promotion is that people engage in
risky habits because they are too stupid to recognize the risks or too lazy to change
their habits. Liuk noted a study he undertook for the US government concerning warning
messages on cigarette packs. He tested warnings based on scientific facts such as
"A pack-a-day habit will reduce your life expectancy by 3 years," and
"Smoking less than 7 cigarettes a day poses no greater health risk than not smoking
at all". Many of the surveyed former smokers said they would probably take up
smoking again.
Liuk concluded, "If you know the risks is it not possible
that some will say I'd rather live to 70 and not change my habits rather than quit and
live to 75? These are deeply personal sets of choices and making choices is the key to
liberty."
A lively Q&A session raised issues such as compulsory seat
belts, air bags, bicycle helmets and smoking bylaws.
The editors of Liberty magazine have declared Milton
Friedman "Libertarian of the Century." They write, "For decades, this
Nobel Prize winning free market economist has been a tireless champion of liberty. For
many years he stood almost alone as a widely known academically respected defender of
free markets, individual liberty, and limited government.".
The other short listed contenders included:
·
Friedrich A. Hayek: This Nobel
Prize winning economist
and philosopher
popularized and explored the concept of the free society
as a huge "spontaneous order" that, without central planning, satisfies human
wants and needs far better than a controlled society ever could an awesome and
essential insight.
·
Ludwig von Mises: This great economist and uncompromising
advocate of liberty overcame enormous obstacles to create some of the most magnificent
defenses of free markets and individual liberty ever penned.
·
Ayn Rand: Though she would not
herself have accepted the label "libertarian," her writings both fiction and
non-fiction popularized libertarian ideas to millions and were a major force in the
development of the modern libertarian movement.
·
Murray Rothbard: Called
"Mr. Libertarian" by many, Rothbard's accomplishments were astonishingly wide
and deep. Economist, historian, philosopher, journalist, political strategist, movement
activist - no field seemed closed to him.
No one today explicitly endorses
Big Government but government continues to expand its powers in response to public
concerns. Many of these concerns are enflamed by pressure groups that exaggerate risks
and promote remedies that are counter-productive and a threat to personal and economic
liberty. Libertarians can counter these exaggerations with facts such as those presented
in Reason magazine's May cover story,
"Earth Day, Then and Now." The planet's future has never looked better. Here's
why, by Reason's science Ronald Bailey.
·
Since 1970, the amount of food per person globally has
increased by 26 percent.
·
World market prices for wheat, maize, and rice, adjusted
for inflation, are the lowest they have been in the last century.
·
World population growth is
slowing and expected to decline after peaking in 2040.
·
At present rates of mining, reserves of copper will last
54 years; zinc, 56 years; silver, 26 years; tin, 55 years; gold, 30 years; and lead, 47
years.
·
Global reserves of oil could be as much as 2.1 trillion
barrels of crude oil -- enough to supply the world for the next 90 years.
·
While forests in developing countries were reduced by 9.1
percent between 1980 and 1995, the global rate of deforestation is now slowing.
The US
Libertarian Party will be holding its national convention in Anaheim, California, from
Friday June 30 to Monday, July 3. Delegates will elect Libertarian presidential and
vice presidential candidates as well as party officials. The conference will be held at
the Anaheim Marriott Hotel. For reservations, call (800) 228-9290.
Among the 17
confirmed guest speakers are:
·
Barbara Goushaw, keynote speaker, the dynamic founder of
the Libertarian Campaign Managers Association in Michigan, and gun rights advocate;
·
Indian rights activist Russell Means;
·
Marshall Fritz, the energetic founder of the Advocates for
Self-Government and the Separation of School & State Alliance;
·
Bill Masters, the anti-War on Drugs Sheriff in San Miguel
County (Colorado);
·
Dan Fylstra, the founding associate editor of BYTE
Magazine, founder of VisiCorp, and a leading voice against the "politicization"
of Silicon Valley.
