Tar Heel Libertarian - April 2023

Volume 3, Issue 7 | April 2023

"Conservatives want to be your daddy, telling you what to do and what not to do. Liberals want to be your mommy, feeding you, tucking you in, and wiping your nose. Libertarians want to treat you as an adult." ― David Boaz

Editor's Note: We are trying a new design this month. We have included links to the full newsletter online and in PDF, as well as each individual article, all of which can be found on our website at the links below. All prior issues are also posted there now. Please let us know if you have any feedback, suggestions, criticisms, or if you would like to contribute!

In this Issue...

In our April 2023 issue, the Tar Heel calls on all Liberty lovers to get to work! We highlight successes we had, because of you, with the pistol purchase permit repeal. We explore other areas ripe for positive change, including the ABC monopoly. We review the antiwar rally, and we ask for people around the state to get involved with affiliates, where you can connect and socialize with others who share your passion and principles. We have other volunteer opportunities highlighted, and a whole lot more. Enjoy!

Columns

From the Chair

Monthly message from the Chair of your Libertarian Party of North Carolina Executive Committee.

Featured Articles

Timely ruminations, calls to action, extraordinary insights, and so much more in the articles featured in this month's Tar Heel Libertarian.

LP in NC

Members of your LPNC are doing big things around the state, and we capture it all right here. This month we are sharing Wake County Chair Travis Groo's OpEd on an overlooked health care bill, and Mike Ross' Governor campaign getting coverage in broader media.

Meet the New Executive Committee

Get inside access to the personalities, plans, and insights of the people you elected to steward the state party for the next two years. This month we chat with Secretary and superwoman Dee Watson.

Candidate Spotlight

Every political party needs candidates! Come meet ours. Today we chat with Mike Ross, who announced his campaign for NC governor last month.  

Chair Chats

Each month, the Tar Heel sits down with the Chair of a county affiliate. We discuss our personal stories, humble Libertarian roots, the latest developments in that county, and what we can expect in the future. In April, we talked to new Mecklenburg Chair, though an long-time Liberty warrior, Steven DiFiore

Book Review

Who says Libertarians aren't cultured? This month, Eric Rowell reviews the all-time classic, The Law, by Bastiat

Full April edition

 
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Help Wanted (Needed!)

Assistant Treasurer

Official Duties of the Treasurer

The Treasurer shall receive, disburse, and account for the funds of the Party under the supervision and direction of the Chair. The Treasurer shall:

  1. Maintain the state executive committee treasury at an insured commercial bank;
  2. Maintain all records of contributions received and disbursements made required by law or by the Executive Committee;
  3. Prepare and file any reports as may be required by law or by the Executive Committee;
  4. Distribute a summary of the general finances of the Party as well as a summary of the funds received and disbursed by the Party for each calendar quarter to all Executive Committee members within thirty (30) days of the end of each calendar quarter;
  5. Transmit all records pertaining to the office to successor within ten (10) days of vacating office.

Expectations

As Assistant Treasurer, you will be responsible for working with the Treasurer to ensure they are able to accomplish their goals for the party. This may require training from the state board of elections. You may be required to prepare or help prepare monthly Treasurer Reports. You may be required to update our CRM with donor information. While some of the tasks may take multiple hours to execute, it is not expected to be a full time position. Work will be concentrated around the monthly report to the Executive Committee and the required reporting periods mandated by state law.

Requirements

As Assistant Treasurer, you will need to have an understanding of accounting, be detail oriented, and be willing to assist the Treasurer in any of their required duties. We have a preference that you be committed to being a treasurer in the LPNC long term, whether as state treasurer or as a county/candidate treasurer, though it is not required. 

 

Assistant Secretary

Official Duties of the Secretary

The Secretary shall:

  1. Keep and maintain all minutes of Executive Committee meetings and the State Convention;
  2. Issue all meeting notices for the Executive Committee and annual State Convention;
  3. Distribute Executive Committee meeting minutes to all members of the Executive Committee no later than fourteen (14) days after said meeting is held;
  4. Transmit all records pertaining to the office to successor within ten (10) days of vacating office.

Expectations

As Assistant Secretary, you will be responsible for working with the Secretary to ensure they are able to accomplish their goals for the party. You may be required to prepare or help prepare monthly or yearly Secretary Reports. You may be required to update our CRM with membership information. You may also be asked to help acquire affiliate records. While some of the tasks may take multiple hours to execute, it is not expected to be a full time position. Work will be concentrated around the every other week Executive Committee agendas, minutes, and reports. You may also be required to reach out to affiliates and determine officers, bylaws, membership status of all affiliate officers. As assistant Secretary you may be required to temporarily assist the Secretary during convention, if the Secretary is otherwise occupied. 

Requirements

As Assistant Secretary, you will need to be willing to learn the LPNC Bylaws, be detail oriented, and be willing to assist the Secretary in any of their required duties. We have a preference that you be committed to being a secretary in the LPNC long term, whether as state treasurer or as a county secretary, though it is not required. 

 

COMMITTEE OPENINGS

The LPNC is looking for members to join the following committees. Joining a committee is a great way to get involved on a more limited basis while still meeting great people and doing meaningful work for the LPNC, especially if you are new or don't have lots of extra time. Committees generally meet virtually once a week or less, for about an hour, and usually do not require significant time commitment outside of the meetings:

  • 2025 Convention Planning Committee: This committee will plan the LPNC State Convention for late Feb 2024 or March 2024. Meetings will likely be every other Thursday, opposite the EC Thursday meetings. 
  • 2025 Bylaws  Committee: What is more quintessentially Libertarian and also engaged at the core of what we believe than updating our bylaws? This committee will be in existence until the 2025 convention and is tasked with making proposals to change the bylaws and rules.

If you would like to be on any of these committees, or if you have additional questions about time commitment or what is expected, please email [email protected] and indicate your interest.

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From the Chair

Hello North Carolina, and thank you for the honor of electing me Chair of the state party. It is my privilege to introduce myself here. I am humbled by your support. This is a responsibility that I do not take lightly, and I promise I will be tireless in my dedication, diligent in my duties, and responsive always to the needs and concerns of everyone in the LPNC.

I am hoping you all will get to know me and my plans a little better today, but first I have to mention the prior EC and the wonderful job they did. Jonathan, Sarah, Steven, Mike, Kim, and Travis, you all taught me so much over the last couple of years. I will take what I learned working with you and apply it, and I ask only that you hold me accountable, as I have always tried to do. Thank you for the time and energy you gave to the LPNC.

I want to say a special and direct thank you to Joe Garcia, our previous Chair. Joe, you have been an example, a mentor, and a friend to me in so many ways. From arguing over bylaw technicalities to coming together to support Joshua, I am deeply appreciative of all you have done over the last few years, and before, and for all the lessons I learned watching and working with you. I aim to serve the LPNC as Chair in a way that makes you proud to have passed the Liberty torch to me.

To the rest of the LPNC, and everyone reading this, I want to let you know that we are ready to get to work! I have a number of things I want to accomplish relatively quickly, building on the work of the prior EC, to position the party for success now and into the future. Early priorities will involve modernizing the website, building out a social media strategy, providing the resources needed to grow affiliates, and working with affiliates to strengthen our pipeline of candidates and give them the tools they need to run successful campaigns. The 2023 Election season is right around the corner. If you are running or know someone who would like to run, please get in touch with us. We'll be happy to support our candidates in any way we can.

This is on top of the strong progress we have made in recent years from the hard work all of you have been doing, work I hope to see continue. Our EC will remain dedicated to supporting each of you when you need, and to getting out of your way when you need. We have seen so much growth and so many successes recently. Joe covered many of them in his address to the convention on Saturday, and yet it was only a handful of the many accomplishments that the state party and so many of the affiliates have realized. I am here to help that continue.

Convention was a huge success, and I want to personally and publicly thank and commend Zac Lentz and Dee Watson for all their hard work in pulling off a successful event. We had great speakers, smooth voting, a fantastic auction, and even a gubernatorial announcement.

Finally, to Sean, Mike, Dee, Christina, Mac, Nick, and Angela, I want to say how much I look forward to working with you as we bring this party to the next level. Building on the work of those who have come before us, let’s see some tangible results, and take things to a level we only dreamed of previously.

Thank you, all of you, again for your support. I promise to spend the next two years proving your faith in me was justified.

-Ryan Brown, LPNC Chair

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North Carolina State of the State Libertarian Response

Hello everyone, and thank you for taking the time to read our response. My name is Joe Garcia, and I am the Chair of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina. It is my humble honor to be addressing you, my fellow North Carolinians, in response to Governor Cooper and Lieutenant Governor Robinson's State of the State Addresses. Because of the will and work of the people of this state, North Carolina is in a better position than so many other states in our country.

But there are forces in motion that seek to weaken us; as individuals, as families, as citizens, and as a people, attacking our values and trying to impose their own, stifling your businesses, chipping away at your paycheck, and infringing on your basic right to live.

Governor Cooper spoke of prosperity on the heels of his administration's draconian covid restrictions that went far beyond what was realistically practical, crushing business, setting children back in ways we will not understand for decades, and ignoring any basic concept of rights, granted to us as humans and guaranteed by our constitution.

Governor Cooper wants to highlight economic progress while touting environmental initiatives that do nothing to protect the environment but instead enforce arbitrary and growth crushing limitations. He protects polluters from action by the people they harm, in favor of his special interest backers. The Libertarian solution removes those protections for polluters that were built into the laws by lobbyists with deep pockets who fund political campaigns.

Under our plan, those polluters would be legally accountable to you, the people who suffer from toxic emissions, who saw coal ash spills in your waterways and were told to trust the ones who spilled it to clean it up. Our solutions would empower you, who watch ecosystems destroyed in your backyard with no plan to preserve the natural beauty of our great state's mountain, rivers, plains, forests, and beaches. With a Libertarian solution, instead of relying on officials to monitor polluters when those official's campaigns are funded by those polluters, you, the people who are harmed, would be empowered to hold liable in the courts those who promulgate environmental irresponsibility.

Governor Cooper speaks of increased state investments toward education from "cradle to career," ignoring the poor and declining quality of public schools in our state, as though government interventions are the path to success. As childcare and college costs continue to increase, driven largely by the tax of hyperinflation, these investments also come with strings attached that lead to bureaucratic, top-down requirements, causing teacher burnout and producing sub-par results. Yet Governor Cooper advocates for even more government intervention, asking for gasoline to put out a fire.

In the Republican response, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson tells us that he's not a politician, he's just another average working citizen like you and me. Moments later, without irony, he tells us what teachers should be teaching. The Libertarian Party believes that you, the parents, should be the voice for your child's morals and education instead of the government. We know that you are best positioned to decide and promote what is best for your child's life and future. We advocate for real educational choice, letting parents choose the avenue that best serves their children. If we must have tax revenue fund education, then we also must eliminate any state interest or influence on what teachers teach.

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