Austin Libertarians Gaining National Prominence?

News8Austin: More Libertarians centered in Austin

Austin is becoming the headquarters for the Libertarian Party. The Libertarian Party selected an Austinite to run for president and several state party positions are occupied by people in Austin.

The list of Libertarians in Texas office includes:

1. Libertarian Mayor Pro Tem Mark Wilson
   
2. Charlie Lambert of Hutchison County and Noah Davis of Lubbock County who were elected to the offices of Public Weighter and are attempting to abolish the position as Wendell Weatherford did in Travis County.
   
3. Buffalo Springs township councilmember Marshall Phillips

Not screamingly impressive...but we've also got the Libertarian nominee for President, Michael Badnarik.

The Libertarians believe in liberty. The party platform calls for the government to get out of their lives.

"It's not the government's job to tell you how to live your life or to do things that they think are in your best interest. The only valid function of government is to protect your property," Libertarian Presidential candidate Michael Badnarik said.

I won't delve into this too deeply at this time, but it should be noted that this libertarian minarchist position of state-provided property protection is a tough stance to take if one also concurrently believes taxes are a legitimate way to raise government revenue to fund such protection. It is also worth mentioning that, even though this is just a soundbite and isn't by any means a full summary of his philosophy, I think it's a dangerous notion to offer people the idea of government providing property protection services...worse still, you can take that simple statement and convolute it into getting the government to protect "the nation's property" for things like national parks, waterways, scenic areas, air quality, and on and on. I'm confident Mr. Badnarik himself would say property protection is rightly the priority of the property owner first and foremost, especially considering his strong pro-gun ownership stance.

A quick look at the national and state party shows Austin is a powerbase.

"We seem to be making great strides, primarily because of the work that's been done here in Travis County," Texas Libertarian Vice-Chair Nancy Neale said.

On Tuesday Neale was scoping out a new party headquarter office location in East Austin.

"I think it's going to do good things for our image," Neal said.

That's news to me. What isn't clear is if this is for the Texas Libertarian Party HQ or the national LP HQ. Pretty damn cool though...as long as real work gets done towards a freer society and less government.

Party chairman Pat Dixon explained why Austin is generating Libertarian leaders.

"I think Austin is a very independent minded area. People don't like to be labeled as Democrats and Republicans. People are drawn to our party because we're offering independence and liberty," Dixon said.

During the party's national convention in Atlanta, Travis County sent more Libertarian delegates than almost any other area in the nation.

Copyright ©2004TWEAN News Channel of Austin, L.P. d.b.a. News 8 Austin

Austin does have a very independent mindset. However, it's also infested with collectivists who have:

• enacted a smoking ban
  
• proposed City Council-imposed design standards for new businesses
  
• imposed a new tax district to pay for Travis County hospitals
  
• banned "big box" developlement over certain areas
  
• continued to interfere in the Austin taxi market
  
• intervened in the selection of food at the airport
  
• threatened property confiscation on Halloween
  
• banned advertising along certain parts of ground near roads
  
• bad budget priorities

Among the other typical things you'd expect a local government to get involved in. Austin has an additional infestation of environmentalists and anti-corporate types of the "Indie Music Über Alles!" variety.

I've been to one Travis County LP meeting, I have helped get TXLP ballot access, and I have been to the 5th year anniversary of the Liberty Dollar which was riddled with TCLP members. I've been uninterested in working with them since, but may help out more in the future.

Posted by Drizzten at June 23, 2004 10:14 AM