Nearly all of them…
Voting in the affirmative, 41:
Adams Engel Howard McGill Stuthman
Aguilar Erdman Hudkins Nantkes Synowiecki
Ashford Fischer Janssen Nelson Wallman
Avery Flood Kopplin Pahls White
Burling Friend Kruse Pankonin Wightman
Carlson Fulton Langemeier Pirsch
Christensen Hansen Lathrop Preister
Cornett Harms Louden Rogert
Dierks Heidemann McDonald Schimek
Voting in the negative, 1:
Chambers
Excused and not voting, 7:
Dubas Johnson Lautenbaugh Raikes
Gay Karpisek Pedersen
What exactly are the differences between the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party?
On the surface, the LP and the CP appear to be quite similar. However, beyond their initial similarities, a more in-depth look at the two parties shows profound differences in both platform and ideology.
The most acute difference between the two parties can be found in the preambles of the two parties.
Constitution Party:
The Constitution Party gratefully acknowledges the blessing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as Creator, Preserver and Ruler of the Universe and of these United States. We hereby appeal to Him for mercy, aid, comfort, guidance and the protection of His Providence as we work to restore and preserve these United States.
This great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been and are afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.
The goal of the Constitution Party is to restore American jurisprudence to its Biblical foundations and to limit the federal government to its Constitutional boundaries.
Libertarian Party:
As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others.
We believe that respect for individual rights is the essential precondition for a free and prosperous world, that force and fraud must be banished from human relationships, and that only through freedom can peace and prosperity be realized.
Consequently, we defend each person’s right to engage in any activity that is peaceful and honest, and welcome the diversity that freedom brings. The world we seek to build is one where individuals are free to follow their own dreams in their own ways, without interference from government or any authoritarian power.
by Andrew Davis on Sep 22, 2008
September 25th, 2008 by Jason Pye
If you received Shane Cory’s e-mail earlier, then you know that we kicked off our radio advertising campaign today, with our television campaign kicking off next week.
You can listen to the radio ad that will be playing in targeted states buy visiting here.
Below is the transcription.
Are you tired of traveling to work each day only to have a large chunk of your money sent to a bloated and ineffective federal government? Are you sick of partisan bureaucrats attempting to dictate how to live your life and spend your hard earned money?
Had enough of both the Republicans and the Democrats? On election day neither candidate from the two establishment parties will bring the change that America truly needs. You do have a better choice.
Meet Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party presidential candidate. Bob Barr will reduce the size and power of government and allow you to keep more of your money and personal freedoms.
Bob and the Libertarian Party trust you to do what’s best for yourself, your family and your community.
Learn more about Bob Barr by visiting www.bobbarr2008.com, that’s www.bobbarr2008.com or call 1(800) BOB-BARR.
By: Richard Cohen
The precise moment of McCain’s abasement came, would you believe, not at some news conference or on one of the Sunday shows but on “The View,” the daytime TV show created by Barbara Walters. Last week, one of the co-hosts, Joy Behar, took McCain to task for some of the ads his campaign has been running. One deliberately mischaracterized what Barack Obama had said about putting lipstick on a pig — an Americanism that McCain himself has used. The other asserted that Obama supported teaching sex education to kindergarteners.
“We know that those two ads are untrue,” Behar said. “They are lies.”
Freeze. Close in on McCain. This was the moment. He has largely been avoiding the press. The Straight Talk Express is now just a brand, an ad slogan like “Home Cooking” or “We Will Not Be Undersold.” Until then, it was possible for McCain to say that he had not really known about the ads, that the formulation “I approve this message” was just boilerplate. But he didn’t.
“Actually, they are not lies,” he said.
Actually, they are.
McCain has turned ugly. His dishonesty would be unacceptable in any politician, but McCain has always set his own bar higher than most. He has contempt for most of his colleagues for that very reason: They lie. He tells the truth. He internalizes the code of the McCains — his grandfather, his father: both admirals of the shining sea. He serves his country differently, that’s all — but just as honorably. No more, though.
I am one of the journalists accused over the years of being in the tank for McCain. Guilty. Those doing the accusing usually attributed my feelings to McCain being accessible. This is the journalist-as-puppy school of thought: Give us a treat, and we will leap into a politician’s lap.
Not so. What impressed me most about McCain was the effect he had on his audiences, particularly young people. When he talked about service to a cause greater than oneself, he struck a chord. He expressed his message in words, but he packaged it in the McCain story — that man, beaten to a pulp, who chose honor over freedom. This had nothing to do with access. It had to do with integrity.
McCain has soiled all that. His opportunistic and irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his political heir — the person in whose hands he would leave the country — is a form of personal treason, a betrayal of all he once stood for. Palin, no matter what her other attributes, is shockingly unprepared to become president. McCain knows that. He means to win, which is all right; he means to win at all costs, which is not.
At a forum last week at Columbia University, McCain said, “But right now we have to restore trust and confidence in government.” This was always the promise of John McCain, the single best reason to vote for him. America has been cheated on too many times — the lies of Vietnam and Watergate and Iraq. So many lies. Who believes that in Afghanistan last month, only five civilians were killed by the American military in an airstrike, instead of the approximately 90 claimed by the Afghan government? Not me. I first gave up on the military during Vietnam and then again when it covered up the death of Pat Tillman, the Army Ranger and former NFL player who was killed in 2004 by friendly fire.
McCain was going to fix all that. He was going to look the American people in the eyes and say, not me. I will not lie to you. I am John McCain, son and grandson of admirals. I tell the truth.
But Joy Behar knew better. And so McCain lied about his lying and maybe thinks that if he wins the election, he can — as he did in South Carolina — renounce who he was and what he did and resume his old persona. It won’t work. Karl Marx got one thing right — what he said about history repeating itself.
Once is tragedy, a second time is farce. John McCain is both.
After More than Two Months’ of Convincing, Mayor Babbitt Finally ‘Gets It’
Bellevue, NE – September 16, 2008 – Two days before the deadline of a promised lawsuit, Bellevue Mayor Ed Babbitt finally acknowledged his city’s ordinance that limited free political speech was unconstitutional. Lincoln, Ne, which had a similar law, conceded this fact more than a month ago. Bellevue’s ordinance limits property owners from displaying political signs until 30 days prior to an election and mandates they are removed within 14 days after.
Mayor Babbitt stated in an email, “…they [city attorneys] agreed it was unconstitutional per various court cases.” He went on further in his email, “I know that I have had signs removed from private property that actually were not in the right away [in the past]”.
Jerry Kosch, Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Nebraska said, “We were happy to see that finally, Bellevue has joined those cities in Nebraska that believe in—with a push from their citizens—Constitutional rights. Next come the towns of Ralston, Papillion (Sarpy County Seat), and Omaha, which have similar ordinances.”
“We love this state and are proud of its citizens for all the hard work that they do. It is shameful that so many elected representatives deliver rhetoric at election time and then just take a nap. We labor everyday to combat this.”
Winger writes:
Section 192.031 of the Texas election code says that political parties must certify their presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the November ballot no later than 70 days before the general election. It says, “A political party is entitled to have the names of its nominees for president and vice-president placed on the ballot if before 5 p.m. of the 70th day before presidential election day, the party’s state chair signs and delivers to the secretary of state a written certification of the name’s of the party’s nominees for president and vice-president.”
[…]
At 2:30 pm Texas time, August 27, Kim Kizer of the Texas Secretary of State’s elections division says neither major party’s certification has been received in the Elections Division. The Executive Office of the Secretary of State refers all questions back to the Elections Division.This year, neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party obeyed this law.
In a press release sent from Bob Barr 2008, Russ Verney said, “Unless the state of Texas violates their own election laws, Congressman Barr will be the only presidential candidate on the ballot,” adding that “Texas law makes no exceptions for missing deadlines.”
We’ll be paying attention to this situation.
LINCOLN AGREES TO STOP ENFORCING POLITICAL SIGN ORDINANCE
ACLU Nebraska is pleased to announce that the city of Lincoln has agreed to stop enforcing the city law restricting when political signs may be displayed.
The city ordinance made it illegal to put up a political sign for a candidate until 30 days before an election, and required signs to be taken down within 10 days after the election. Violations carried a penalty of $500.
ACLU Nebraska was contacted by Lincoln residents who objected to a time limitation on their free speech rights. For example, Darryl Rivers found a notice on his door from the Lincoln Building and Safety Department, ordering him to remove his sign from his front yard. Another resident’s sign was actually confiscated out of his front yard.
“I just didn’t get it,” said Darryl Rivers. “I’d sold a house last year and the “For Sale” sign stayed in my yard for almost nine months without any problem. But as soon as I express my political beliefs, I get threatened with a fine? That’s just not American.”
“We’re very pleased to have resolved this matter with Lincoln so smoothly,” said ACLU Nebraska Legal Director Amy Miller. “Laws that restrict political signs make criminals out of people who want to express themselves on their own property. The First Amendment to the US Constitution doesn’t have a footnote that says free speech is guaranteed for a limited time only before election day. The question of whether such city laws are legal was very easy in this situation–the 8th Circuit has already struck down similar political sign restrictions. The city informs us they have contacted the state party headquarters for both the Republicans and Democrats to alert their members about their right to display signs on their property now.”
ACLU Nebraska is currently in contact with Bellevue over the same issue. In Bellevue, a resident wants to display his “Bob Barr for President” sign but is concerned he will face a hefty fine under a city ordinance very similar to that in Lincoln. “We hope that Bellevue will also agree to abandon enforcement of their outdated law once they’ve finished reviewing the caselaw,” said Miller. “The ACLU encourages anyone living in a city with an ordinance limiting political sign displays to contact us–we can only do our job when citizens stand up for their rights and let us know what’s going on in their communities.”
When a neighbor isn’t willing to contribute as much to a social project as you are, you’d never think of:
Using a gun to force him or her to contribute;
Hiring an armed gang to threaten to kidnap him or her or confiscate their money if they didn’t contribute.
If two people have agreed to engage in voluntary behavior between them, with no violence involved, you’d never think of:
Using a gun to stop them;
Hiring an armed gang to threaten to kidnap them if they didn’t stop.
If a company and an individual have agreed to engage in voluntary behavior between them, with no violence involved, you’d never think of:
Using a gun to stop them;
Hiring an armed gang to threaten to kidnap them if they didn’t stop.
Using the government in place of the armed gang — because every government program, in the final analysis, involves violence or the threat of violence against those who don’t comply, is equal to hiring the gang yourself.
That’s why you’re probably a libertarian.
Date: July 28, 2008
Mr. Gary Trautman
Bellevue City Administrator
Re: Sign ordinance
Dear Mr. Trautman:
My office has been contacted by Bellevue residents who wish to display political signs in their yards but who are concerned with the city ordinance that limits such displays.
While ordinances such as these are still common in Nebraska cities, they are no longer enforceable laws. The 8th Circuit (which is the federal district covering Nebraska) ruled several years ago that such limitations on political signs violate the First Amendment right to free speech. The case the 8th Circuit reviewed was of an ordinance in Gladstone Missouri with a very similar limitation on election signs, which the city wanted to regulate as clutter on the local landscape. The court ruled the ordinance was unconstitutional and ordered the city to allow political signs to be displayed as long as their owners chose. Whitton v. City of Gladstone, 54 F.3d 1400 (8th Cir. 1995)
Since this is 8th Circuit law, it is binding on Bellevue, but you should know that ordinances such as the one in Bellevue have overwhelmingly been struck down all around the country.
Given the clear state of the law, I am writing to you in order to find out whether Bellevue will voluntarily agree to not enforce the sign ordinance. If we receive that assurance, I will inform our clients that they may safely display their signs without retaliation and close our file on this matter. It would be prudent for the city council to repeal this section of the ordinances as well in order to clarify the rights of residents to display signs, but at this time I am only asking for an assurance regarding enforcement of the law.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Very Truly Yours,
Amy A. Miller
Attorney at Law
Hello friends of freedom in Nebraska,
I’m Mike Ferguson, the Midwest Coordinator for the Bob Barr for President campaign and I wanted to let you know about the campaign activity in your state.
The Nebraska LP is on the move and growing! Just last month, I was in Omaha and Wahoo to meet with your party’s leadership team and other activists to update them on the Barr/Root campaign. I was, and still am, very impressed with the quality of people we have in the LP in Nebraska.
The Nebraska LP recently held its state convention, with Omaha radio talk show host Tom Becca being the keynote speaker. Here’s a video that gives you an idea of what happened at the convention: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPNQJ0mIdW0
If you aren’t already involved with the Bob Barr campaign or the Nebraska LP, I hope you get involved today.
The Nebraska LP’s Vice Chair, Mike Compton, has agreed to lead the Nebraska campaign efforts on behalf of the Bob Barr/Wayne Allyn Root ticket. He will be working directly with me.
You can contact Mike at mcompton@lpne.org.
We need you to get involved in the Barr campaign because Mike cannot make a difference in Nebraska by himself. He needs county coordinators who will start Bob Barr MeetUp groups, who will look for opportunities for outreach booths and find campaign opportunities for Bob and Wayne.
This is the year we can and will have a major, positive impact on America - Mike Compton and I need you to be part of this campaign!
Of course, we also need your support for the campaign - please donate whatever you can today. Ten dollar donations or $2,300 donations, we need them and everything in between. Go to www.bobbarr2008.com to show how important Liberty for America is to you!
For freedom,
Mike Ferguson
Midwest Coordinator
Barr/Root 2008
To donate by mail:
Barr 2008 Presidential Committee
P.O. Box 725007
Atlanta, GA 31139