Frontlines

SANTA BARBARA LIBERTARIAN ANNOUNCES FOR VEEP SPOT

Jim Trotter, an activist libertarian from Santa Barbara, CA, has announced his intention to seek the Libertarian Party nomination for Vice-President. He is the first candidate to announce for the nomination which will be made at the LP national convention in New York City on Labor Day weekend.

Trotter has been involved with community organizing and leftist politics for several years. He was a member of the anarchist faction of Students for a Democratic Society in the late 1960's, and was involved in the Southern California anti-war movement. "I've always been an anarchist in the general sense, but I became an economic libertarian in 1970 when I discovered the A is A Directory through an ad in the Whole Earth Catalog." For the last two years Trotter has been selling gold and silver coins, and giving seminars on hard money investment. He is a member of the Santa Barbara Peace and Freedom Party and Libertarian Party, and is involved with the University of Calif. at Santa Barbara Society for Individual Liberty. He was a precinct worker for libertarians Lynn Kinsky and Ruth Sutton's campaigns for school board early this year. He is an ex-Marine and a member of the National Rifle Association.

Trotter says he is running to help the LP appeal to the left wing. "There are a lot of former New-Leftists who feel alienated from the socialist dogmatists; who are looking for something like libertarianism to come along. It just has to be presented in the right way." He says that if he gets the nomination, he wants to do most of his speaking to local groups: libertarian, left-wing, and conservative. He says that the key to organizing any political movement is at the local, grass-roots level. "In order for libertarians to be successful they must concentrate on local organizing. People will more readily listen to a local-based movement than to a national movement."

Anyone who is interested in Trotter's campaign can write to him c/o Santa Barbara Libertarian Party, P.O. Box 6274, Santa Barbara, CA 93111.

HARROFF ANNOUNCES

Kay Harroff has announced her candidacy for the LP nomination for President. She made her announcement June 7 at the Minnesota LP State Convention.

Ms. Harroff became active in Republican politics in the early 1950's, read Atlas Shrugged in 1960, and founded the Cuyahoga County (Cleveland, OH) Draft Goldwater Committee. After Goldwater's defeat, she left the Republican Party. She joined the LP in 1972, and was founding Chairperson of the Ohio LP. In 1974 she ran for U.S. Senator as an independent (due to harsh ballot laws she could not appear as LP) against John Glenn and ran the most active campaign that the LP has had to date, receiving about 80,000 votes. Ms. Harroff was recently elected to the National Executive Committee of the LP, and is currently a businesswoman in Cleveland.

Ms. Harroff decided to seek the nomination because, "I was concerned that the Libertarian Party put forth candidates with a clear-cut, unique, libertarian image. I hope to put to rest, once and for all, that 'conservative' right-wing label the news media have tried to stick on us." She feels that the LP can expand its appeal to groups which only the left has in past appealed to: blacks, chicanos, gays, feminists, prisoners, and students. Many LP leaders had been urging Ms. Harroff to run because of her activism and because she is a woman, as they have observed that women libertarian candidates have done much better than men.

Ms. Harroff is the third declared candidate for the nomination. Others are Roger Lea MacBride, the Virginia elector who defected to Hospers for President in 1972, and Guy Riggs, a former LP state assembly candidate from Poughkeepsie, NY.

Anyone interested in Ms. Harroff's campaign should contact her at P.O. Box 6176, Cleveland, OH 44101.

SOUTHERN ACTIVITIES

"Frontlines" correspondent Jim Clarkson reports:

The 1975 Southern Libertarian Conference was held May 3 and 4 in Atlanta, Georgia. The event was co-sponsored by the Society for Individual Liberty and the Georgia Libertarian Party and was attended by such well-known libertarians as Don Ernsberger and Dave Walter of SIL and Roger Lea MacBride and Bob Meier of the LP. About 50 or 60 libertarians from throughout the South attended each session.

The Saturday session began with an audiovisual presentation by SIL about the libertarian movement and the activities of SIL. Morning speakers and topics included: Dr. S.I. Spector—"The Specter of Regional Planning," Dr. R.H. Timberlake—"Politicization of the Economy" and attorney McNeill Stokes—"Guilty Until Proven Innocent under the Occupation Safety and Health Act." Luncheon speaker was holder of the nation's first Chair of Private Enterprise, Dr. Michael Mescon. Mescon, also a management consultant, stressed the need to reward achievement.

The afternoon session started with a paper presented by REASON contributor Dr. P.C. Roberts. In his paper "The Political Economy of Bureaucratic Imperialism" Roberts pointed out bureaucrats have a vested interest in economic disorder as it leads to the need for more bureaucrats. Roberts suggested the libertarian task was to educate the public to realize that those in government act in their own self-interest just like everyone else.

Dr. Mack Moore of Georgia Tech proved to be the most humorous speaker as he told the audience we would be saved from socialism and communism by fascism—democratic fascism, that is. Speaking of current politics Moore said, "We are now in the promised land where you can be promised anything—just pick your candidate."

James L. Cawdrey discussed a grim subject—"The Real State of the Economy." Cawdrey gave the scenario of monetary actions that have led to the current mess and described the future possibilities. John Bailey, Chairman of the South Florida Libertarian Party ended the conference with a slide presentation "You are there—the next ten years."

The Banquet that night featured candidate Roger Lea MacBride who told the group that sticking to principle was not only the best moral position but could be good politics also. Also speaking at the Banquet was newly elected Congressman Larry McDonald. McDonald, too, called for strong stands on principle but pointed out that the typical voter doesn't have time to listen to a two hour philosophical discussion of each issue, therefore, principles must sometimes be translated into cliches.

Sunday featured workshops: a panel discussion on LP activities led by Ralph Compton, Chairman of the Georgia LP with Bob Meier and Brian Donerly. Non-libertarian Martin Klausner gave a talk on the failure of Social Security and what can be done about it. Abby Goldsmith told the group of her success in combatting the educational establishment. Money International gave a workshop on hard money investments and Attorney Robert Clarkson discussed how to deal with the IRS.

The Conference ended with the promise by Conference Chairman, Jim Clarkson, that another conference would be held next year.

RIGGS CANDIDACY

Guy W. Riggs, two-time State Assembly candidate on the Free Libertarian Party from Poughkeepsie, NY, has announced his candidacy for the LP nomination for President.

Riggs, 52, served in the Navy for 10 years before he joined IBM, where he is still employed. He worked for Goldwater in 1964 and was a Republican Committeeman from 1965 to 1967. He ran for State Assembly in 1972 and 1974 on the FLP ticket.

Riggs feels that his candidacy will change politics "by bringing honor and respectability to politics. I would not disparage any political competitor." He says that we can have "politics the libertarian way" which would be consistent with his life style. Riggs says that the Presidential nomination should be a contract, with the candidate as an employee, and is asking for a $35,000 salary as a condition of his nomination.

Anyone who is interested in Riggs campaign may contact him c/o Box 1776, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601.

BALLOT ARGUMENT

Charles Barr, REASON movie reviewer and founder of the Libertarian Alternative of Los Angeles, has helped achieve another victory against taxation in L.A. Barr, acting in his position as Research Director of the Libertarian Party of California, wrote the ballot argument against school tax increase which was defeated, with 53 percent No votes, in the May 27 election. He had previously achieved success by writing a successful argument against a mass transit tax in L.A. last November. (See "Frontlines," Nov. 74 and Jan. 75)

Barr urges all libertarian groups around the country to submit similar arguments against tax increases and bond measures on local and state ballots as a very effective way of spreading the libertarian message and fighting taxes. Following is the text of the argument submitted by Barr in the May election:

Despite the fact that school enrollment is declining every year, and many families are struggling to make ends meet, the Los Angeles Unified School District is actually attempting to squeeze even more money from the overburdened taxpayer.

There is absolutely no justification for such a tax increase. The Libertarian Party urges you to vote NO on Proposition A.

Sponsors of the tax increase claim that educational programs are suffering because of "inflationary costs." But inflation hurts the taxpayer just as much, if not more.

Government statistics show that for the average taxpayer, HIGHER TAXES are the greatest contributor to the rising cost of living. Proposition A, if passed, will accelerate this trend.

The expense certainly cannot be justified by the quality of education the public schools have to offer. The money raised from Proposition A would be used to maintain a public school system that has become an entrenched bureaucracy, run with all the innovation and efficiency of the Post Office.

Schools are daily becoming more and more crime-ridden, uncomfortable and dangerous—an intolerable situation for students and teachers alike. Even the most poverty-stricken neighborhoods are searching for alternatives to a decaying public school system that has outlived its usefulness.

Rather than throw good money after bad, the Libertarian Party believes that the government should encourage less dependence upon the public schools, and allow parents more freedom of choice in planning the education of their children.

If you want to break the vicious cycle of spending more and more tax money for less and less education, the Libertarian Party urges you to stop financing expansion of the government education bureaucracy. VOTE NO on Proposition A.

Please send material for inclusion in FRONTLINES to Lynn Kinsky at REASON, P.O. Box 6151, Santa Barbara, CA 93111. Meeting and activity announcements will be carried as space permits; however we must receive announcements two months before the actual event if we are to publish it as a "coming attraction" rather than as history. Tell us about your group, your activities, your strategies for social change in as much detail as possible. Items accompanied by photos are especially welcome.