CONVENTION REPORT

A more complete report will be in the next paper copy of the First State Libertarian. In brief:

- The bylaws were amended to call for two year terms for officers. - A new slate of officers was elected (George Smith, chair; Jim Holliday, vice chair; Terri Lewis, secretary; and Jim Conk, treasurer) - After a talk by Tom Eichler from SURJ (Stand Up for what is Right and Just) a motion was passed to support HB 35 which calls for judicial discretion rather than mandatory sentences for some drug offenses. HB 35 can be reviewed on the Delaware web site. We urge you to contact your state representatives on this matter. - After a talk by Jason Sorens and Jan Helfeld from the Free State Project, a motion was passed to support the FSP and ask that Delaware be selected as the Free State. Rachel VerNooy sent me the following on this subject: "I'd like to encourage people to sign up for it now,so they can be in on the vote and vote for Delaware. Not everyone may know that they can sign up and opt out of all the states but one. So anyone who is willing to be active in getting libertarians elected can sign up, if only just for Delaware. They can also join the FSP discussion group on which state to choose and try to convince other FSPers to vote for Delaware. The website is: www.freestateproject.org" - Many thanks to the other speakers who made this such a successful event: Bill Morris, Debra Exner, Steve Boon, Spear Lancaster, and Jim Holliday.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Libertarian Party of Delaware, in conjunction with the Green Party, the Independent Party and the Natural Law Party, is working to establish a referendum process in Delaware. This would open the door to all kinds of things (term limits, for example) that just wouldn't fly otherwise. I wasn't able to get the information I need in time for this newsletter in order to issue a call to action. Those of you on other LPD email lists can expect to see something shortly. I'll have it all together for FSLOL next month.

The next 'Libertarian Discussion Group' will be 11am Sunday April 13th at 'A Piece of Ireland' (enter through the door facing Rt 4 to find us most easily). The topic will be 'Libertarian Approaches to Poverty'. These are fun get-togethers! I encourage everyone to try it out at least once.

The New Castle County group was dis-invited from the Sheraton Hotel! We will be trying out Chi-Chi's down in the Christiana area on the 20th. If anyone has an idea for a good meeting location (suitable for a meeting with a speaker) in a central location, please contact Lisa Busch (ldbusch@yahoo.com)

After changing the State Board meetings from the last Sunday to the last Saturday, we immediately have a bad conflict on 4/26 (the Reda election, among other things), so it is being postponed a week until 5/3. Incidentally, speaking of meeting locations, we could sure use a better one for these meetings. Nino's Pizza is welcoming, but it is just not a suitable meeting site. Any good ideas for a Saturday afternoon location somewhere south of the canal?

LP DE IN THE NEWS

Did you make news this month? Let me know. Send any 'Letters to the Editor' (LTTE) or articles you have published to Tom Uffner (tom@uffner.com) to post on the web site. Include where and when, and copy me to be listed here.

Bill Morris: Brandywine Community News 3/7: Motiva Sulfur Dioxide won't harm river (Op Ed) George Smith: News Journal 3/13: Smart growth has engendered critics (LTTE)

HELP WANTED

John Reda is running for the 6th City Council seat in Elsmere this April. Volunteers are needed for about one hour of door-to-door work on Saturday April 12th (rain date is Sunday April 13th). We will be going to approximately 225 houses. This will simply involve hanging bags with fortune cookies (you have to see these) and refrigerator magnets on the doors and moving on to the next house. You do not have to knock on the door or talk to people. Also, poll watchers will be needed on election day, April 26. Contact Jim Holliday to volunteer (J.M.Holliday@verizon.net).

John's budget is a quite modest $750, of which nearly $600 has been raised so far. This is a winnable race. Please chip in and help John. Make checks out to John Reda, and mail them to Jim Holliday (19 Wheatfield Rd, Wilmington, DE 19810). Even $10 will help.

RESOURCES

I listened to two audio books this month that are relevant here. Barry Goldwater's "The Conscience of a Conservative' is short and to the point. It was written in the early 6o's. What struck me most about it is that we are still having the same discussions - only the dollar amounts have changed. It is amazing to that after forty years, he was so clearly correct in his predictions, but we still have the same fights.

At the convention, Debbie Enxer tried valiantly to elicit ideas on how a Libertarian society would work. She still got mainly complaints about what is wrong with the current society, probably because verbalizing these concepts is so difficult. Charles Murray has a unique skill for using 'thought experiments' to demonstrate Libertarian ideas. "In Pursuit of Happiness and Good Government", he has a lengthy discussion of public education that I found very persuasive. His more recent book "What It Means to be a Libertarian" has numerous shorter examples. The latter audio is available for borrowing from me, by the way.

Gary Johnson, former Governor of New Mexico, and renowned anti-drug war fighter was on Radio Times on WHYY. You can listen to the hour online at http://www.whyy.org/91FM/RadioTimesSearch.html Enter the date of 2/25/03 to find the interview.

Jacob Sullum, from Reason Magazine, participated in a debate on the New York smoking ban, that many of us here might find interesting. Listen to it online at http://www.justicetalking.org/viewprogram.asp?progID=397

CALENDAR

The Libertarian Party of Delaware state board meetings are open to the public, as are all of the county monthly meetings. As things are always subject to change, please email the indicated party before attending.

State Board: 2pm Saturday May 3rd (not the usual week!), South Smynra Email Terri Lewis: tslewis@comcast.net

NC County: 6pm Sunday April 20 (third Sunday), Chi-Chi's at Rt7 & Churchmans, Christiana Email Lisa Busch: ldbusch@yahoo.com

NCC Discussion Group: 11am Sunday April 13th (second Sunday), A Piece of Ireland (Chesmar Plaza, Newark). Email John Colgan: colgan@snip.net Kent County: 7pm Tuesday April 15 (third Tuesday), Dover Email Jim Conk: jconk4@comcast.net

Sussex County: 7pm Tuesday April 22 (fourth Tuesday), Bella Capri Restaurant, Georgetown Email John Elliot: tyre@dmv.com

Next issue of First State Libertarian deadline for editorial content: April 28th

Join the Libertarian Party of Delaware or contribute. Visit our web site at www.de.lp.org

Thanks to Tim Young and 123clickit.com for making libertarian@123clickit.com available to us.

"A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money." --G. Gordon Liddy