Document:LP News 1973 July-August Issue 15

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'73 Convention draws 175

The Second Annual LP Convention, held in Strongsville, Ohio, June 8-10, attracted over 175 libertarians from all over the country, including representatives from most of the other major libertarian organizations in the United States, and a number of Canadians.

The convention began with a session on the use of issues to gain public support, held Friday afternoon. This session was moderated by LP NEWS Editor David F. Nolan, and featured Willis Stone of the Liberty Amend­ment Committee, Karl Bray of the Tax Rebel­lion Committee, Gary Greenberg of New York, and Steven Brown of Oklahoma. Howard Katz of the National Committee to Restore the Gold Standard was also invited to be a panelist, but could not be located. The session gener­ ated an enthusiastic response from the floor, with Karl Bray in particular drawing applause.

Friday evening, over 150 people "packed the hall" to participate in a Speakersr Banquet arranged by the Ohio LP. This event, which was the highlight of the Convention for many, featured nearly 20 speakers who held the audience rapt until nearly 1:00 am, with only a brief break to allow people to catch the 11:00 News on television, which included an interview with LP spokeswomen Kay Harroff, Susan Nolan, and Fran Youngstein.

Featured speakers at the Friday evening dinner were Tonie Nathan and Roger MacBride; MacBride received a lengthy standing ovation, with several "MacBride in '76" banners appearing around the room. Other speakers included Dave and Sue Nolan, Ed Clark, Ed Crane, Willis Stone, Kay Harroff, Bob Steiner, Karl Bray, and Susan Brown, plus nearly a dozen delegates from the Free Libertarian Party of New York, including Chairperson Andrea Millen, "token radical" Sam Konkin, David Friedman (who spoke on Icelandic Sagas), Howard Katz, and Mayoral Candidate Fran Youngstein, who was the "hit of the show."

On Saturday morning, events resumed with a Buffet Breakfast, during which delegates heard taped greetings from the movement's two leading intellectuals, John Hospers and Murray Rothbard.

This was followed by a seminar on use of media, moderated by Pipp Boyls, and featuring Tonie Nathan, Karl Bray Don Ernsberger (of SIL fame),Bill Westmiller and Paul Streitz.

Interest in this session was so great that it had to be extended an extra half hour, and was finally terminated only because of the need to break for lunch.

The third political action training session which convened after lunch, was devoted to' the subject of fund-raising. Under the skillful leadership of D. Frank Robinson, three fundraising experts -- Wain Dawson, Dave Walter and Bob Meier -- imparted invaluable tips on this vital subject.

The final session was devoted to the subject of organizing a State LP. This consisted of a free-wheeling "give and take" by present and prospective State LP Chairmen, under the guidance of National Vice-Chairman Ed Clark, who has served as Chairman of both the New York and California LP organizations.

Throughout the day Saturday, in conjunction with the main sessions, there were also numerous "workshops" on a wide variety of topics ranging from Public Speaking to Indian Affairs. One of the most popular was that on the Tax Issue, held by anti-tax leaders including Karl Bray and Willis Stone. An outgrowth of this meeting was the formation of a Tax Strike Coalition which may prove to be one of the most significant libertarian groups in America in the near future.

Saturday evening, the Convention wound up with a Poolside Luau arranged by the Ohio LP, where, as the phrase goes, "a good time was had by all."

In its entirety, the '73 LP-Con was a great success, and thanks are due to the Ohio Party, and to Kay Harroff, Sue Arnold, Tom Tanner, and Ross and Goldie Black in particular for doing so much to help make it the success that it was.

ExecComm Acton

At the National LP Executive Meeting on Sunday June 10, several actions of importance were taken.

Georgiann Trammell was elected Secretary, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Diana Amsden. Winston Duke and Bill Westmiller were elected to fill vacancies created by the resignations of Pat Lowrie and Paul Hodgson.

$1,800 was appropriated for display ads in Analog (a co-op ad with Reason), Commentary and Human Events, plus classified ads in the Wall Street Journal and Intellectual Digest.

Ed Clark was put in charge of setting up a committee to review the National LP Constitution, in order to recommend changes in membership structure in '74, so that the need for dual memberships (national and state) can be eliminated.

It was voted to aid the NY and NJ parties in their current campaign efforts, by giving them full-page ads in Reason, allowing them to have inserts in LP News, and making mailing lists available to them.

Bids for the '74 Convention were taken from Dallas and Chicago, and the Fall '73 ExecComm meeting was set for Denver on November 24.

POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE

XII. WATERGATE AND THE LP

With Watergate figuring so prominently in the news these days, it is only natural to ask what effect it will have on the development of the LP as a political party.

In this writer's opinion, the first obvious political effect of Watergate is to tarnish the Nixon administration and, to some extent, the Republican Party. The immediate benefi­ ciaries will be the Democrats. Gains in next year's Congressional election and recapturing the White House in '76 seem within their grasp now.

However, as a minority party we can also pro­ fit from the decrease in respect for the GOP. We must get all the mileage out of that attain­ able to us. We can broaden our gains if some­ thing else happens. Specifically, if the Democrats throw courtesy to the winds and go after Nixon and friends with full abandon, rake the muck and make Nixon look worse than Teapot Dome, Tammany Hall and Mayor Daley combined. Nixon will then send his dogs out to bare corruption and political trickery by the Democrats, both real and fabricated. That shootout would leave both parties (particular­ ly the more vulnerable GOP) politically weakened. Thus, the two-party system will be hurt, which is our foremost goal in terms of political strategy right now.

Even with a Nixon counterattack, the Democrats will probably win a convincing victory in '76 behind Teddy Kennedy, whom they will be even more sure to turn to if under fire (to unite and save them). The certain Republican in­ fighting that Watergate has already caused will lock up the victory for the Democrats. 1976 is the year the GOP will nominate their man through a wide-open primary struggle, as the Democrats did in '72. They will never unite enough to even have a chance, especially with the damage and division Watergate has done them.

In sum, the Democrats should win in a Kennedy landslide in '76. Which may also help us, according to no less a statist than columnist Stewart Alsop. He said last December that continued landslides like '64 and '72 could weaken and ultimately destroy (right on!) the two party system.

To help bring all this about, I urge all of you to write a letter to your Democratic Congressman and Senator(s), if you have any, and to Senator Sam J. Ervin, Jr. (U. S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510) to urge a gloves-off style full scale attack on the Watergate scandal and the entire surrounding GOP spying and sabotage of the last election.

I wouldn't put down "I'm an LP member," because it should look spontaneous. If every LP member writes Sam Ervin such a letter, demanding a no-holds-barred app roach, it can pay off well for the LP.

Roger Eisenberg

An Invitation

We are pleased to bring you, in this issue, the first "Political Perspective11 column written by someone other than your editor.

We hope this will be the first of many articles contributed by readers, and thus urge any of you who have something to say that is of interest to politically-oriented libertarians to send in articles for consideration. In addition, we hope more of you will take the time to offer. comments on items which do appear in LP News; at this time, there are only about fifteen people who offer comments on the contents of LP News, and, while we have more than enough mail to handle on other subjects, we would like more "reader feedback" on LP News. We must caution you, however, that we can not always answer letters personally.

Criteria which will be used in selecting items to be published are the following:

1. Relevance. Items must be specifically oriented to political topics; if they· deal with other subjects (e.g. economic trends), they should deal with the relation between those subjects and libertarian political action.
2. Length. The shorter the better; ideally, submissions should be no more than 500 words long. Absolute maximum: 1,000 words.
3. Quality. Items should be written clearly and concisely, presenting points cogently and in an easily-understandable form.

Items submitted for inclusion in "Bits & Pieces" may deal with a wider range of topics, but should be informative and brief (100 words).

Letters will not usually be considered for publication {we just don't have the space), unless they are of unusual importance. Data received in letter form may be incorporated in "Bits & Pieces" however.

That's it. Let's hear from you.

White Plains, NY

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