:: walterindenver ::

:: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 ::

The Party of Principle

One of the reasons I remain a registered Libertarian is it's the only party I see taking principled stands on anything. A Libertarian Party activist wrote this letter which appeared in the Denver Post today.

Re: "Mandated primaries, conventions sought," Feb. 21 news story.
The Post's report on HB 1142 was misleading. It suggested that the effect of HB 1142 would be to force minor parties to have primaries. While this is true, it is like forcing a child to eat ice cream. Minor parties will be pleased to accept free publicity afforded by a primary election forced on them by state law.
This new law also would force counties to have otherwise unnecessary primaries at county taxpayer expense. Can you imagine requiring a primary in every precinct for the sole purpose of choosing the Libertarian nominees for governor and U.S. Senate? This would have happened in August of 2002 if HB 1142 had been in effect at that time. Yes, some counties would have had primaries for other reasons. But HB 1142 would have required a primary in every precinct of every county, even if there were no registered Libertarian voters in the entire county.
The House has passed HB 1142 and we await the Senate's decision. Should this law ever force a minor-party primary on the counties of Colorado, we Libertarians hope that citizens will remember that Libertarians vigorously opposed this law. We detest the idea of requiring taxpayers to fund a primary to select our nominees. We are quite capable of doing this ourselves without taxpayer assistance.
NORM OLSEN
Golden

To summarize, this bill would provide an ENORMOUS amount of 'free' publicity for the Libertarian Party but they are opposing it because it uses lots of public money. If you think taxation is theft you ought to stand behind your principle, and in this case the LP comes through with flying colors.

:: Walter 7:02 PM [+] ::
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