Gonzaga Bulletin Highlights (10/29/04)

Club member Robbie Cowan endorses Michael Badnarik in a Bulletin opinion piece.

November Reading

The next Campus Libertarians club meeting will be on Thursday, November 18th.
The area of focus for November's recommended reading is the War on Drugs.

November 2004: The War on Drugs

Sheldon Richman, "Do Americans Really Want Freedom?" March 2002
Jacob G. Hornberger, "The Drug War’s Assault on Liberty," March 2001
Doug Bandow, "Forget the War on Drugs Already," January 1, 2004
Scott McPherson, "The Drug War Helps Terrorists," July 2003
James Ostrowski, "Thinking About Drug Legalization," May 25, 1989

Website Update

Check out the club website at http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~libertarians/. A photo gallery from Thursday night's debate against the College Republicans and Young Democrats has been posted. Remember to attend Tuesday night's town hall format debate at the Spokane Room, 7:30 pm.

A Case for Badnarik in WA

Jeremy Lott at the American Spectator makes the case for conservatives voting for Michael Badnarik in Washington:

At first glance, the choice is between a candidate who would spend a lot more money, chip away at taxes, and at least whisper the right sweet nothings about Social Security reform and a candidate who would spend a whole lot more, raise taxes, and let some other president deal with the problem when Baby Boomers start to retire...

But I live in Washington state, which will not cast its votes in the electoral college for the president unless Kerry's campaign implodes. A vote for Bush here is wasted; it amounts to cheerleading for an administration that could use a stern talking to.

No thanks. I'm voting Libertarian for president this year, and I encourage all small government conservatives in solidly Kerry states to do the same. The logic behind this tactical voting is simple: If your vote won't count toward Bush's victory anyway, why not vote for a party -- even a fringe party -- that advocates a much smaller government? It would be our own small way of standing up to be counted at a time when so many of our elected leaders have decided to sit this one out.

Upcoming Debates

The Campus Libertarians will be debating the College Republicans and Young Democrats on the topics of fiscal policy and outsourcing tomorrow (Thursday) night at 7:30 pm in the Spokane Room of the COG.

The third debate in this ongoing series will be held on Tuesday, October 26th, at 7:30 pm in the Spokane Room. That debate will adopt a "town hall" format and be driven by questions from the audience.

Please come to both debates to hear our view contrasted with those of the Republicans and Democrats.

Gonzaga Bulletin Highlights (10/15/2004)

October 15th's Gonzaga Bulletin featured a plethora of stories involving libertarians.

The primary feature of interest was the story covering Tuesday night's debate between the Campus Libertarians, College Republicans, and Young Democrats. A nice bit from Trevor Skelton's opening address is included in the article.

President Jonathan Dingel was quoted in stories on political polarization, the electoral college, and the last presidential debate. Unfortunately, two of the stories improperly identified our club as the "College Libertarians."

The weekly comic drawn by Chris Dreyer was perhaps the brightest highlight of this Bulletin edition:

Gonzaga Bulletin Highlights (10/08/2004)

Here are highlights from the October 8th edition of the Gonzaga Bulletin:

The GU Campus Libertarians are mentioned in a page two news story about a recent Libertarian Party meeting in Spokane.

Michael Badnarik is the first candidatae mentioned in an article listing the third party options available to Washington state voters.

Jesuit John Mossi opened an opinion piece about the Church's teachings' relevance to the election with this paragraph:

Imagine you are seated at your family Thanksgiving dinner. Two topics that can add extra spice to the cranberry dressing are politics and religion. As the platforms of Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians are discussed, the emotional barometers begin to rise. Add the Tabasco hot sauce of religion and the turkey gradually morphs into a burnt offering.

Highlights from today's Bulletin will be posted once the online edition is available.

October Reading

The next Campus Libertarians meeting is on October 21. The recommended reading for discussion is:

October 2004: An introduction to libertarian theory and the voting dilemma

David Boaz, "Basic Political Choices," Libertarianism: A Primer, 1998
Sheldon Richman, "Young People Aren't Skeptical Enough!" November 2000
David Boaz, "The Market Process," Libertarianism: A Primer, 1998
Tom G. Palmer, "What's Not Wrong With Libertarianism," Critical Review, 1998, PDF
Loren E. Lomasky, "The Booth and Consequences: Do Voters Get What They Want?" Reason, November 1992
Bob Murphy, "Picking Neither of Two Evils," September 15, 2004
Jacob G. Hornberger, "In Support of Voting," September 22, 2004
Brian Doherty, "A Case for Kerry," Orange County Register, July 25, 2004