Libertarian International Organization

Libertarian International Organization Adviser Dr.  Roy Walford championed suggestions on telomere research, exercise and diet studies for life extension that were called "laughable" and "life extension looneytarianism" but scientists aren't laughing now. Nor are the experimental mice now enjoying dramatically increased lifespans, age reversal as exciting research with discovery of tools that anyone can use continues.

In the mid-1970' s LIO Co-ordinator visionary Michael Gilson-De Lemos ("MG") , and LIO Board members Philosopher and Futurist Dr. Timothy Leary, Science Writer Peter Ritchie, Life Extension Biologist Dr. Roy Walford, futurist and science proponent to world youth G. Harry Stine (later board chair) and Social Critic Robert Anton Wilson formed the Intenational Committee for the Elimination of Death. The group was later advised by Dr. Robert Atkins, who had concluded that mandated government policies, bizarre diet and exercise policies in public schools that were also spilling into privater schools, over-vaccination, and perverse diet and anti-supplement and fiber consumption suggestions to the public warped by incentives from tax-funded corporate and government research were having the reverse effect: namely shortening life, increasing a host of minor but debilitating ailments,  and, he predicted, setting the stage for a diabetes and obesity epidemic in advanced countries now spreading.(Dr. Atkins recommended daily walks, mineral water, regular check-ups, and diets rich in fiber and healthy fats such as olive oil, but low in sweet carbohydrates such as sugar and starches as a starting point of study.)

Its object: Change the paradigm that made Life Extension studies a virtual taboo or something dismissed as hopelessly utopian. The Committee aggressively used the LIO approach of personal contacts, writings, and interdisciplinary dialogue, along with collecting promising materials and seeing that they were publicized to inform public opinion. Dramatic ideas such as aging reversal, brain transplants, public health and lifestyle information geared to life extension instead of reactive illness prevention, and genetic engineering were amomg those presented. The contact group soon addressed many scientists, policymakers, and thinkers. Leary and Wilson also proposed the initial SMILE concept which, modified, is the current focus of LIO activity which we report here.

PARADIGM CHANGE

Dr. Walford pioneered substantial research in diet changes and longevity. Dr.Leary wrote extensively and worked tirelessly to remove legal blocks to the internet as an essential research tool. Ritchie spoke with journalists, promising students and scientists of over 80 countries, and proposed cloning, then almost unknown to the public, as a possible avenue. Stated MG: "We must change the paradigm to back-engineering. If scientists assume it is possible to have both incremental and dramatic advances, they'll look for where they might be instead of worrying about offending religious fanatics and moneybag politicians and leaders with destructive or simplistic agendas. Right now laws prevent exercise facilities in some jurisdictions. We must not await scientific revolutions but make them thinkable as one generation moves on," he said, referring to Kuhn's book Structure of Scientific Revolutions."We personally may not survive but may 'Kill Death' from the grave, so to speak."  Dr. Leary summarized it as "Voluntary choice + Focus= Long life spans"

The group suggested lines of research and discussion including the effect of telomeres, transplant research and genetic mapping, and urged journalists to research and publicize an array of simple things people could do that would increase their lives. members proposed that by simultaneously persuading people to extend life by lifestyle changes while new avenues of research produced results, "effective immortality" might be attained in this century. LIO suppporters are also working on making cryogenic freezing of bodies for revival with superior future science increasingly legal, tax free and easy in a growing number of jurisdictions. LIO continues to encourage choice based approaches as essential to the prosperity and education level that raise public health.

The last year has seen continued and dramatic paradigm change as a new generation that grew up hearing such ideas moves into place. A generation later GOOGLE reports that mice experience age reversal with new telomere research. In addition millions of links may be found addressing the cluster of issues such as things people can do to extend life, such as moderate daily exercise; and counter-intuitive strategies such as moderate consumption of wine, alternate fasting or low eating days, and more. As scientific interest grows, so do popular magazines and websites. The public should remain cautious, however, of promises of wonder cures and supplements.

LIO Libertarians have been always interested in removing blocks to lifespan extension. Public Health blossomed as laws and customes that effectively created unhealthy cities ( where, for example, water supplies were placed next to waste disposal; or laws prevented suing to remove polluting entities) were removed; and a world effort advanced by the LIO's then Liberal and Individualist clubs in many countries to normalize bathing, then viewed as immoral by many religious fanatics then in power, was implemented starting in the 1830's.

Several Life Extension researchers have recently joined the board and will be profiled in future items as the effort moves to the next generation.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1. Use the tools already available to get informed and extend your life
2. Challenge leaders to support non-tax funding of innovative research
3. Share this article and suggest the subject be addressed in local schools

RESOURCES:

•  http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/646565.html Telomeres and aging reversal
• http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=life+extension+&aq=f Youtube has many videos discussing life extension
•  http://www.immortalhumans.com/some-simple-ways-to-increase-your-life-span-%E2%80%93-perhaps-even-to-a-the-healthy-100-years/ Simple ways to increase life span
• http://inhumanexperiment.blogspot.com/2010/05/does-intermittent-fasting-increase.html Fasting discussion
• http://www.walford.com/ Dr. Walford site
• http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ways+to+increase+lifespan&aq=f&aqi=g-v1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= Over 6 million results reported on Lifespan increase

Philosopher J. T. Fraser wrote intriguing analyses of Time with implications for spontaneous order, markets, and machine design.

Beloved Philosopher J. T. Fraser, an observer of the LIO Advisory and Observer Board, passed away this weekend.

He pioneered extensive studies of the nature of time and the structure of time sequences, with many implcations for the operation of decentralized and market entities, the creation of knowledge in open environments, the basis of tragedy, the value of innovation and creatrive conflict, and machine design. Students praised him as an involved and patient teacher. He was known as a champion for the idea of the practicality of philosophy and need for more teaching of the subject, particularly logic and applied method,  in personal, intellectual and social development.

He also founded the first learned society to study time on an interdisciplinary basis and was highly interested in that aspect of the SMILE Project, and expressed the hope that this might lead to new breakthroughs in space travel.

UNSUNG PIONEER

A native of Hungary, he played a quiet role for LIO in communicating with scholars leading to liberalization of the Communist bloc countries. His work was used in open concepts that led to the creation of Wikipedia and other user-sustained entities on a Libertarian-interest co-operative user-run model, a concept he first proposed in the 1970's. He endorsed a communication by LIO that, it is felt,  persuaded many legislators worldwide to remove legislation that effectively blocked cell phones and internet creation, and was hailed by students as a little known "grandfather" of the internet. 

Ironically, Wikipedia  posted a statement questioning his notability, much to the amusement of  his admirers as perversely demonstrating his theories on time and open learning.

He also had several pioneering patents in computing based on his philosophical researches. He was retired in recent years from LIO activity.

RESOURCES:

> http://www.phf.upenn.edu/01-02/fraser.htm

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Thomas_Fraser

Social Scientist and Intellectual of the Century David Nolan co-founded the US Libertarian Party, and was slated to advise world parties project.

David Nolan, an MIT-trained social scientist who was noted as one of the most influential thinkers of the XXth century for promotion of the Nolan Chart Quiz while he  played a signal role in many Libertarian projects essential in founding the modern Libertarian movement, passed away from an unexpected ailment. He was 66 and about to celebrate an upcoming birthday.

He had returned from a meeting of the Libertarian National Committee this Sunday and his last communication at his Facebook, which his family says is now his last wish, was a post for his birthday calling on support for The Advocates, which promotes his Quiz. A link is at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Libertarian-International-Organization/126460680713767 from our Facebook.

Libertarians noted the recent passing away of a seemingly untimely and unusual number of Libertarian elders and key activists, from Marshall Fritz of the Advocates to Aaron Russo and Vincent Miller, all of whom were also on the LIO advisory board.

The LIO Cultural Board of Observers and Advisors promote an array of personal projects consonant with the LIO approach and share information, serving also as a focus of inspiration.

INSPIRATIONAL STYLE

Hundreds across the internet in the wee hours after reports of his death extolled his personality, and his work.

LIO Advisors Sharon Harris and Ralph Swanson praised his work. Harris called him a giant, while Swanson noted that after a call to discuss plans for a new series of world Libertarian parties and clubs, Nolan then liked a recent post of Swanson's Facebook , saying "He was quick with the attaboys."

Mr. Nolan will perhaps be best remembered for his role in organizing the US Libertarian Party. He was careful to always state he was a co-founder given that there were several others who joined him in the initial formation, and there were several extant Libertarian Party efforts, including the LIO endorsed Libertarian-Liberal Party Project which had created groups in several states and abroad. In a comment some years ago, he said he viewed himself as host of a project to make Libertarian a household word, provide a network for anyone interested to meet others of like mind in partisan imrprovements, and provide a base of support for a Libertarian-direction intellectual-political movement.

He was known for his inspirational, high-minded, consensus style, suffering personal attacks philosophically, but was recently occupied in addressing serious problems related to right-wing infiltration troubling the US LP, takeovers or disruptions of state affiliates, and an influx of conservative-oriented members anxious to re-cast the party in a social conservative tinge. He noted, however, that even if it collapsed, USLP  had amply fulfilled its original strategic plan and mission objectives as he had set forth in an invitation-to-join letter published by ISIL (7 Point Strategic Start-Up Plan, below), and the current problems and attacks on the USLP were evidence of its success. He also recently ran for US Senate, doing well along rising numbers for Libertarian candidates and calling for more involvement; and noted that in going from a few people in living rooms to  the most influential US third party in a few decades with a range of successes, he made no apologies.

HEIGHT OF CAREER

The genial activist for human rights passed away at what is arguably the height of his career, as he saw groups inspired by his work expand  while new projects beckoned.

Indeed, he had recently begun participation in the upcoming extension of the LIO non-partisan and non-party Clubs project observing and making suggestions on the Pinellas pilot, which at present is the largest such group with many Libertarians in public office. He was also being tapped for his views in reviving several past but dormant projects with LIO he helped design or suggest, including: A legal institute, a professional group for implementers, and additional Libertarian Party groups under a separate world organization to create start-ups in every country under LIO inspection. The start-ups, the subject of an article several years ago below, would be non-partisan and direct- democracy focused; the Club project on building Libertarian-interested community.

Mr. Nolan  was intended, and will be memorialized, as an honorary co-founder of those groups through the project, which will in due course, it is hoped, create "a portfolio" of Libertarian-interest parties working on different strategic aspects in each major jurisdiction including along strict Libertarian lines of promoting voluntary alternatives. As things progress, he may be remebered as one of the most influential and encouraging public intellectuals of the XXIst centuray as well.

RESOURCES:

> http://www.smartvoter.org/2000/03/07/ca/state/vote/nolan_d Nolan ran for many offices to lead by example

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Nolan_(libertarian)  

> http://www.lp.org/blogs/wes-benedict/david-f-nolan-lp-founder-passes-away

> NYT Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/us/23nolan.html?src=twrhp

>The Case For a Libertarian Political Party

by David F. Nolan

(From the July-August 1971 Individualist, several versions exist on the internet)

Four years ago, at the YAF convention in Pittsburgh, there was born a unique coalition – the coalition that is known today as “the libertarian movement”. There, for the first time, Randists, Miseists, and elements of the old “radical right” from all over the country got together and established an embryonic network of organization and communication – laying the groundwork for future cooperation and building the foundations for a mechanism whereby previously isolated individuals could begin to act as a cohesive force in American society.

Since that time, “the movement” has come a long way.

Today, there are an estimated ten to twenty thousand individuals who can be loosely classed as “libertarian activists”, with perhaps a thousand of these being “hard core” or “self-starting” activists.

Where, in 1967, we had no organizational home save the semi-hostile Young Americans for Freedom, today we have the Society for Individual Liberty. And where, in 1967, there were no libertarian publications of national scope, save a few esoteric journals, today we have several (Reason, Protos, The Individualist, etc.)

Press coverage of libertarian views and activities has mushroomed from an occasional local item or back-page squib to major proportions (Newsweek, The New York Times, The National Observer, etc.) and the libertarian philosophy is now beginning to find some acceptance among the intellectual community.

“The movement”, in short, has come of age. Yet, despite this new-found acceptance, we have not yet been able to make any major impact on the course of events. Day by day, America moves ever closer to becoming an overtly statist country. And in a few areas where strides have been made towards libertarianism, it has been almost entirely irrespective of the existence of “the movement”.

The question, the, is “What can we do about it?” And the answers that have been given, to date, have fallen (roughly speaking) into one of four categories, whose advocates can be described as follows…

1) The Educators, whose answer is, in a nutshell, “go forth and spread the Good Word, and, in time, people will Come To See The Light – and the millennium will have arrived.”

2) The Infiltrators, whose strategy is to get libertarians into the seats of power (the academy, the media, think tanks, existing political organizations) in the hope that by a sort of reverse Fabianism we can undo past mistakes and “turn things around.”

3) The Snipers, who have devoted their efforts to sharp-shooting at the more obvious and repugnant examples of statism, in the hope of either bringing statist programs to a halt, or arousing the public to the dangers such programs pose; activities such as picketing draft boards, blocking urban-renewal bulldozers, and refusing to pay one’s taxes fall into this category.

4) The Retreaters, whose approach is one of liberation oneself, ignoring the state as much as possible, and encouraging other to do likewise – on the perfectly valid grounds that if everyone did so, all would be well with the world. Variants of this philosophy are the Waldenesque “build a cabin in the woods, and eat berries” approach, and the “start our own country, on the seas or in some remote location” idea.

There is, of course, an overlap in these four approaches – and all are both philosophically sound, and, to some extent, efficacious. The fact nonetheless remains that all of them (except the “infiltrative” strategy) also largely ignore a central fact that one of the major determinants (if not THE major determinant) of the course of events in this country is the political process.

Now, one may argue that politics is an “immoral” game, that political approaches are inherently coercive, that one cannot achieve pure ends by impure means, and so forth. But the fact nonetheless remains that we live in a society whose shape is largely determined by political processes, our chances of achieving our goals are not great.

Many libertarians have recognized this fact, of course – and have expended hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of man-hours in political activities. But to date, we have reaped only a minuscule reward for our efforts.

And the reason for this lack of success, I believe, is simply that the present two-party system is fundamentally “rigged against us.”

The Myth of the Two-Party System...

This statement may seem a little strong, at first reading – especially as most of us have been raised from first childhood to believe that the two-party system is The Best Of All Possible Arrangements.

We are told, for instance, that it is the hallmark of a free society – with the Soviet one-party system held up as its antithesis. Conversely, we are told that a multi-party system produces “chaos”, which in turn means loss of freedom for those persons so unfortunate as to live under such a system.

The fact of the matter, however, is that, logically speaking, if a one-party system is tyrannical, a two-party system is only one step removed from tyranny. And empirical evidence shows that citizens of a country which has a multi-party system can be just as free as we are here in the United States; such countries as Germany, France, and Australia, while hardly libertarian nirvanas, are not significantly more repressive than our own country – and Switzerland, which has a four-party system, is probably the least despotic of any of the world’s major nations.

The second popular argument against a multi-party system – that is produces “chaos” – is, from a libertarian viewpoint, actually an argument in its favor. The prospect of a coalition government, where any of a number of small parties can veto legislation, is far from horrifying to anyone who is inclined toward a limited-government (or no-government) philosophy.

A third argument, often brought to bear against anyone who advocates the establishment of a third party here in the United States, is that (historically speaking), third-party candidates “can’t win”. This argument has two basic flaws in it, however.

First, third-party candidates CAN win – especially in local or nonpartisan elections. Even at the national-government level, it happens occasionally. Third-party candidates have been elected to Congress more than one hundred times in this century, and there are two “third-party” Senators (Buckley and Byrd) in office at this very moment.

And second, “winning” (in the sense of electing someone to office) is not the only reason for having a political party – especially in the short term sense.

In fact, this very mania for “winning now” is one of the factors that makes both of our present major political parties unlikely vehicles for libertarianism. Both the Democrats and Republicans are so concerned with “winning” that they are almost rabidly hostile to the idea of candidates who would “rather be right than President”. A third party, in contrast, can take a long-range approach – running candidates with no intention of immediate victory, for the purpose of building up support and organization for future elections.

Thus, upon analysis, we can see that the major consequences of our present two-party system are as follows…

1) It drastically limits the range of choices open to the voter, and the range of viewpoints which can be expressed in the political arena.

2) It assures that there will be a cohesive majority in the government at all times.

3) It eliminates from contention those potential solutions that are Libertarian-oriented

The Present Situation...

As might be suspected from the foregoing analysis, the two major parties in America today offer little hope as potential vehicles for the promotion of libertarian ideas. The GOP, at the moment is nothing more that a step-n-fetchit organization for Richard M. Nixon – who, even at his most promising, was nothing to rave about, and who is now virtually indistinguishable from his 1968 opponent Hubert Humphrey. The Democrats, by virtue of assiduous efforts, have managed to make themselves even less appetizing. And the present outlook is that neither party is likely to take any stance in opposition to the prevailing semi- statist ethic in the foreseeable future; after all, they both want to win.

Such third-party efforts as already exist are also less promising. Wallace, although probably not significantly worse than Nixon or Kennedy, is “anti-liberal”, and most of his opposition to the “liberal” zeitgeist is on points where libertarians would tend to agree with the liberals (e.g., social issues) rather than where we would tend to disagree (e.g., economic issues).

Such third-party efforts as may materialize on the “left” are also unlikely to offer much. At best they will be hyped-up versions of the Democratic Party (e.g., a Lindsay-Gardner ticket); at worst, they will be voices for totalitarian nihilism.

All of which leads this writer inexorably to the conclusion that the time has come for us to form our own party. We have the numbers to mount a meaningful effort, nationwide. We have both a desire and a need to achieve visible results. And, despite the fact that we certainly aren’t going to elect “one of ours” as President of the United States – at least not in 1972 – there are a number of advantages to be gained by such action.

The Plan...

First, and perhaps most important, we will be able to get a great deal more news coverage for ourselves and our ideas than we have ever gotten before. Public interest in political issues and philosophies is always at an all-time high during Presidential election years, and the media people are actively seeking news in this area.

As a direct consequence of this fact, we will probably reach (and hopefully convert) far more people than we usually do; hopefully, some of these people will turn out to support our candidates, and will thus enable to locate hitherto-unlocatable libertarians (or at least sympathizers).

Third, we will be able to get some idea of how much support we really do have (at least in potential form) around the country; if we can get 100,000 votes the first time out, we know there are at least 100,000 libertarians out there – and whatever number we get, we can figure that it represents only a small fraction of the total, as not all of our potential supporters will even hear about our efforts, and many of those who do will be in States where we can’t get on the ballot.

Fourth, a libertarian political party would provide a continuing “focal point” for libertarian activity – something that “one-shot” projects do not provide.

Fifth, we will be able to hasten the already emerging coalition between the libertarian “left” and libertarian “right”. At the moment, the former group is supporting people like Eugene McCarthy, while the latter is supporting people like Barry Goldwater. A truly libertarian party would draw support both from such “leftist” groups as the Institute for the Study of Non-Violence and the American Civil Liberties Union, and from “rightist” groups like the John Birch Society and the Liberty Amendment Committee, however. This would increase the political impact of the libertarian “movement”, as “leftist” and “rightist” libertarians now usually wind up voting so as to cancel each other (when they vote at all). Furthermore, libertarian votes now get lumped in with “liberal” and “conservative” votes, whereas the votes received by a libertarian party would not be hidden in this manner.

A sixth point is favor of establishing a libertarian party is that by its mere existence, it would put some pressure on the other parties to take a more libertarian stand.

An finally, there is always the possibility that we might actually get some libertarians elected.

Former US LP Chair, LIO Advisor Dr. James Lark III is more than a university professor; he helps enlighten students in all countries on Libertarian tools.

Management thinker and consultant Dr. Jim Lark III has long been admired for his tireless efforts to promote university student groups to study Libertarianism and voluntary concepts in general. Many US Libertarians joke they are in a "Jim Lark Slept Here Club" having hosted his sleepovers in his travels to speak with local student groups small or large, typically at his own expense.  He has now advised in the formation of Students for Liberty, a US group that has gone international, and is honored as a frequent workshop speaker. Recently, it has begun to offer webinars available worldwide, such as this one by Dr. Lark on understanding policy data: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/392324130

A non-partisan effort started by several students cheered on by academics, the group seeks to complement the work of the Institute for Humane Studies in promoting elements of good citizenship, tolerance and critical thinking informed by awareness of voluntary and quasi-voluntary alternatives. The group has a somewhat economic-issue emphasis but readings suggested are wide ranging, say users. It offers manuals, a chartering system for groups, and after a start filled with hard work a growing series of well-attended student regional conferences: http://studentsforliberty.org

RESOURCES:

• http://studentsforliberty.org/college/conferences/international
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_For_Liberty

LIO Advisor Dr. Milton Friedman travelled the world to advance the LIO poverty reduction approach.

LIO Libertarians have led the way in efforts focused on actually abolishing systemic poverty by increasingly sane and voluntary measures, not just creating another coercive program that becomes a political soccer ball.

A negative income tax capturing government efficiencies, spread of freer markets to combat oppression and raise prosperity partu cularly at the local level such as farmer's markets, and a pilot trust fund to provide a permanent income are the 3-pronged approach LIO advisors used to reduce poverty and coercion...but much remains to be done following the greatest poverty reduction program in history. The prongs were Libertarian-oriented or direction initiatives meant to lay the foundations of a better voluntaryt approach;

1. Prior to board appointment, Nobelist Milton Friedman proposed a "negative income tax" that would cut bureaucratic inefficiencies and, capturing improvements be used to provide a stable basic income. In time the program would be peeled away into  separate local public trusts and true social insurance  voluntarily funded to end poverty forever. The concept has created in the US the Earned Income Credit and similar programs in many countries, ending humiliating poverty tests and make work programs as are again being proposed in the UK by the extremne right.
2. A pilot permanent fund trust was proposed by LIO co-ordinator the then young Michael Gilson-De Lemos, and after championship by Friedman was adopted upon motion of Libertarian legislators in Alaska. The Fund provides a regular income top each Alaskan funded from public property, and is independent of the government despite several takeover attempts. Similar voluntary sovereign funds are in place in other countries. In addition, moves to restore personal pensions and trust funds--such as in the US simplified trust law, removal of perpetuity blocks, and promotion of arrangemnents such as Keough and IRA plans--have resulted in great wealth for many people even despite the recent downturn, including pilot social security personalized arrangements in countries such as Chile.
3. Friedman criss-crossed the world meeting with officials to champion freer markets starting at the local level with simple farmer markets, combined with lower tax rates and red tape. He also advised LIO honorary board members in the set up of the educational Atlas think tanks to train young advocates. China, India, the former Soviet Union, many former Latin and African dictatorships,  and many formerly poverty stricken countries have advanced with rises of national income in multiples, and a pressure for more rights and better services by the growing middle class and educated professionals.

Much of course remains to be done: including promotion of completely voluntary and hence de-politicized permanent funds to end taxation not dependent on any one resource and to promote stable services run by the users, and also guarantee a meaningful basic income no matter what. Increasingly, people can take matters in their own hands with IRA type and other arrangements invested in not just stocks but a range of assets, in turn of improving performance as inane regulations are targeted.

Shortly before his death, Dr. Friedman said to us: "Libertarians, especially LIO supporters and advisors, led the non-partisan effort to crush poverty with the tools we had and provided many new ones. Coercive government programs create a vicious circle, we a way out. Communism, the welfare state, be-responsible conservatives and all the rest perpetuated and deepened the problem, we're ending it. The reverse is often unjustly charged, but I did my part, I know what happened, and I'm proud of it. So there."

RESOURCES:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_Income_Tax_Credit
• Why Pay Taxes?  at http://www.bestsyndication.com/2005/A-H/gilson-mike/092705-user-fees-taxes.htm and Alaska Fund History: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22alaska+permanent+fund%22+%2B+%22dick+randolph%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
• Atlas Foundations: http://atlasnetwork.org
• LIO longstanding committment noted: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5t6Nhw38EdEJ:www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Libertarian-International-Organization+%22alaska+permanent+fund%22+%2B+libertarian&cd=52&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
• CATO Social Security project: http://www.cato.org/research/ss_prjct.html

EDITORIAL by Ralph Swanson, past LIO Honorary Advisory Board Chair

The LIO Project for Libertarian Citizenship and Community replaces the old LIO Clubs and focuses on the creation of non-partisan Libertarian and Libertarian-Interest communities from households on using interpersonal, legislative, educative, activist, and political-civic means, assisting the fundamental mission of the Libertarian movement with support projects in each area. These have been tested to pilot community projects along those areas over the last few years.

Now, a project of book-civic action e-clubs around a set reading program--developed by a team assisting the LIO co-ordinator co-chaired by Milton Friedman and myself-- is being rolled out, with a video to put on your site and share with friends, eventual e-groups in every country, and free e-books and low cost readings supporting the LIO Program and also the SMILE initiative. The project was initially developed by M. Gilson-De Lemos, Vince Miller (www.isil.org) and Virginia Heinlein.

The Clubs are facilitated by Libertarian in public office Julie Chorgo, and are meant to serve as a nucleus and support platform of continuity and intake for not just LIO but all interested groups. Clubs may meet for coffee or household study the 3rd Saturday of each month. Other elements will follow in due course. Link to your site for free e-books and spread the good word. The Clubs are non-partisan. Finally, we're delighted to have as project patron Dr. Ken Schooland, whose work "Jonathan Gullible" is the lead reading along with his site's free Libertarian Flash in many languages.

RESOURCES:

• http://www.jonathangullible.com
• http://www.libertarianbookclub.org

Libertarian in Public Office Kennon Gilson addresses county commissioners that he advises on local TV.

Kennon Gilson, son of LIO co-ordinator Michael Gilson-De Lemos, and is a US teen Libertarian in 5 appointive public and quasi-public offices. These include posts such as County Youth Advisory Board and 2 local Library Councils. He received his first post at 14, being one of the youngest Libertarians in public office anywhere. He is also a youth observer to a citizen task force on public safety for the local mayor.

He has so far been instrumental in initiatives stopping a tax rise and studying greater emphasis on voluntary alternatives and policing.

While emphasizing he "is still learning every day" he has taken on a project to help animate youth in seeking non-partisan appointive and local elective public office from a Libertarian perspective, and start a journal on recommendations of Libertarians in public office. He has been key in developing his local Libertarian-interest social community to several hundred participants. He is also now co-editor for the LIO main site and Facebook highlighting activist work. His work has drawn favorable comments and interest not only from the County Commissioners, but notables in the movement.

Kennon urges LIO supporters to consider non-partisan appointive public office involvement to assist their activism and social entrepreneurship, and interest in change through the initiative process and direct democracy. He feels that we're seeing the rise of second-generation Libertarian youth less inclined to see Libertarianism through the political blinders of the past and who take voluntary solutions as a starting point.

Kennon emphasizes that despite his political talents, he has no interest in politics except to use his experience to encourage citizen involvement in non-partisan office and change through citizen initiatives.

Dr. Ralph K. Swanson is the oldest living Libertarian, having taken his pledge from Paul Gilson in 1939. The rights activist is recently on a local council.

LIO Advisory by Ralph Swanson, former LIO Advisory Chair, charter member USLP, co-founder Florida Libertarian movement, helped develop modern LIO Libertarian Project.

The following summarizes and replaces previous advisories.

The Libertarian International Organization (http://www.Libertarian-International.org ) notes its over 600,000 pledged Libertarians must not mis-represent themselves to other groups, or accept other non-Libertarian groups as representing themselves as "Libertarian." Police entities are welcome to examine LIO groups as champions of individual rights and resources for voluntary options, but deceptive or entrapment tactics are immoral and encourages user to report any to police superiors. Libertarian progress requires forthright means, and LIO encourages supporters to act with and keep "motives high."

BACKGROUND

This summarizes several previous advisories stating that one should avoid...

• People claiming to "make Libertarianism more pragmatic or pure" especially while proposing to "take over" or deceive other entities;
• Or  that attempt to identify or conflate Libertarianism with its applications, such as small-government, socialist, anarchist or other limited applications or any constitution, country, economic system (Libertarianism adnits all forms of economic organization so long as voluntary), religious or business group ( an example of a trial balloon to confuse being circulated : http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2605050/posts ) ;
• Or attempt to confuse Libertarian-orientation (less government abuse, more rights) with Libertarian-direction (increasingly voluntarist) or LIO Libertarian approaches, or deride them;
• Or deride purported Libertarian failure (where have they been for years?) which they will help through changing Libertarianism into something else, without reference to the actual goals of its groups, or call on Libertarians to lie in any way as a purported "Reform" group has done;
• Claim Libertarianism is 'do your thing' and urge you to ignore the teachings of Libertarian Founders and elders without which there is no Libertarianism, and so what they demand is OK; or that the latest manufactured crisis is reason to believe the world is collapsing unless you support their (deceptive or expensive) strategy now;
• Or propose expensive schemes on the basis that Libertarians have "done nothing for decades" or that "Libertarians take over" other groups;
• Attack or misrepresent recieved leaders or groups such as LIO or ISIL, or movement "old-timers" including past local team achievements;

...are typically government informants or troublemakers with set instructions to confuse Libertarian discourse along the lines noted above (many of whom are recent military), moles from religious extremists or other parties or groups, or crackpots with their own opportunist schemes. Please simply hand them literature and send them on their way: do not get involved with them.

Many of these frauds are suddenly presented as candidates, instant experts, and leaders of Libertarian groups. While people make mistakes or have variant opinions, the Libertarian movement is periodically subject to widespread infiltration scemes and attempts to conflate Libertarianism with typically extreme right-wing anti-philosophies, or as a cover for anti-democratic propaganda. These groups are well-organized. In many cases they work with police or military groups with extremist ties to induce unstable persons to perform illegal acts. They may seize control of groups, destroy their documents, and block actual Libertarians, then entoil groups with real legal difficulties from misrepresentation. In allince parties such as the USLP, they exploit the range of views tolerated to confuse even fascist proposals with Libertarianism in some cases.

LIO encourages activists to share non-partisan LIO and Libertarian-interest perspectives with all groups in a courteous manner, never to "take over" or attack any group. Social and economic entrepreneurs should be proactive and open in operations as circumstances allow. We encourage tolerant, secular moralism--not fanatic deception.

LIO encourages candidates wishing to advance Libertarianism/use of Libertarian tools not running for educational, ballot or legislative proposal support reasons to run:

1. After satisfactory service on appointed then non-partisan elective boards
2. Several times in low-budget campaigns to build a following
3. Advance voluntary solutions in a non-attack posture in close consensus with affected groups and listening to the public

It does not condone inexperienced, questionably funded, and attack candidates that misrepresent Libertarian and voluntary approaches of any party, much less Libertarians claiming to advance its views. LIO is of the view that Libertarian concepts are best advanced by civil and private entities, direct democracy, and appointive office; elected office is an important stabilizing but trailing factor and an initiative will expand these  guidelines in due course.

The media and researchers should also employ caution in giving credence to purported or assumed Libertarian spokesmen or academic experts who then propound bizarre or palpably anti-voluntary theories. In one case a candidate was apparently letting people believe he spoke for LIO and when confronted, truthfully denied that he ever supported Libertarianism. At Wikipedia a group of Libertarian editors were discovered to be CVommunist Party advocates. This often misleads the media to conserve rigt-wing enthusiasms with Libertariam in the culture: for example, the recent flap against government firehouses using "Libertarian" fees versus the actual Libertarian program of encouraging proactive education, and fireproof/automatic fire suppressants alomg with comprehensive volunteer groups funded by endowments

The USLP has issued a permanent strategic plan developed by hundreds of members for  independent use by all of methods that work for users of all parties and civic groups worldwide. Nowhere does the USLP plan urge people to deception: http://www.dehnbase.org/lpus/library/spt/report-20011220.pdf   .

Sadly, many Libertarian parties and groups have been captured by these people who then wreak havoc. The LIO is in the process of issuing standards manuals for guidance of all concerned.

LIO is non-partisan and promotes dialogue on the SMILE agenda; and its Fellows and observers advise a variety of groups to strengthen, not weaken, democracy and voluntary solutions with a variety of independent projects and tactics, none of which involve pretending to be, or be pretended to be, anything else, especially under color of "helping" the movement and community.

In 1970 LIO facilitator Michael Gilson-De Lemos stated: "They will seek to herd us, but pledged Libertarians shall be herded as cats: when they see the meat, they shall self-organize as a pride of Lions for Big Game, not run after any rabbit they see."

In particular, teams inspired by LIO helped bring about the spread of best-practice oriented democracy and enterprise; the fall of the Communist and other dictators; the rise of the internet by unblocking legislation; the rise of incomes and lowering of costs by fighting corrupt legalized monopolies; and the slow training of increasingly Libertarian civic leaders against all odds in recent years.

If you look at the articles on the LIO page, you'll see LIO Libertarianism and the movement in general  is doing just fine in slowly but systematically attaining its set goals without this nonsense. All Libertarianism needs to triumph is to share this site and its empowering links with common ground groups to every household, and human goodness will do the rest. We are volunteers for voluntary action. 

I suggest you register your group with LIO and join the Facebook  for updates. We're forming groups worldwide over the next few years to provide continuity and training; in the meanwhile, a reading program at our site of free e-books (above) and other materials approved by leading Libertarians is underway.

Remember that what we teach is simple: That with voluntary options that respect rights, things improve. This overrides but ennobles all institutions.

In writing letters to the editor and commenting on blog posts, please simply add "...for more information on what Libertarians are doing, please see: http://www.Libertarian-International.org ."

In summary, the old advice should be followed: Friends never ask you to do anything dishonest. Non-coercion and proaction is our approach.

_____________________________________

Update, 11/14/2010: N.B.-- In contrast, a reader sent us the following noting that nonetheless the word is getting out, while people are busy trying to distort it. The author quotes a 2006 article in the defunct Sierra Times paper. Repeating this type of message is the sort of thing people should focus on:

See: http://nogovernmentcheese.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html  (Posted Nov 14, 2006)

"(I'm unhappy about) People complaining about third-parties, particularly libertarians. Sometimes, they are the necessary ingredient to get coalitions built and get things done.

(from an article) 'Critics of the Libertarian Party, who focus on their modest if growing number of office-holders, are often unaware of the Party's emphasis on local community networking and consensus coalitions that underlie real politics. Indeed, many of their most signal policy victories--the Earned Income Credit, the increasing collapse of ballot restrictions across the US, and anti-poverty programs such as the Alaska Permanent Fund--are the result of the Libertarian willingness to envision and do the hard work coalitions require, and then share the credit.'

The passage of eminent domain limits and amendments in many state elections this year were largely the work of libertarians..."

He also sent us a part of an e-mail he found where we also learned of an attack on this advisory by someone apparently recently in the military and recently in the USLP who originally complained of infiltration by 'pragmatic libertarians' but suggested one must deceptively infiltrate groups then, when referred to our advisory, "...almost point for point used the behaviors above described like a script, including denouncing it for not understanding Libertarian thinker and LIO advisor Murray Rothbard--who co-created the original advisory which I read decades ago. He advises his readers in the post, after his garbled definitions and out-of-context criticisms, to ignore LIO as not knowing anything about 'American Libertarianism,' " says our correspondent, who adds:  "No person in his right mind would presume to lecture on something they've recently come to study...except an infiltrator. Unfortunately there's one in many meetings meeting unless the senior person takes a stand ready to be instant experts instead of getting expert by using the tools."

Finally, it should be noted that Wikipedia is particularly unreliable on Libertarianism, as we have learned an anti-Libertarian group of editors has been removing stories and substituting common misperceptions.

While USLP directed, this sort of thing affects all Libertarian-interested groups. One hopes educative efforts we describe elsewhere will help, but many are printing this advisory for their next meeting.

  New LIO Welcome Host and Board Observer Commander Astronaut Ron Nader developed an independent Civil Space Agency for Ecuador.

In 1977, LIO Board members, led by US Space pioneer and science publicists G. Harry Stine,  successfully pushed for the first conference on private outer space colonization, hosted by the American Astronautical Society in San Francisco. LIO co-ordinator/international curator and facilitator Michael Gilson-De Lemos presented a critical and eye-opening overview, along with many Libertarians such as Robert Poole and other experts and visionaries saying it was time to get beyond the coercive paradigm and explore opportunities for civic action and entrepreneurs. The effort has lead to:

• Simple standards for space projects in the US
• The first spaceports built privately under state sponsorship
• Numerous conferences on peaceful colonization, and interest among entrepreneurs

Now news sources say billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson recently stated that Virgin Galactic is on track to offer commercial space travel within 18 months, and that space hotels are next on the drawing board. The project's SpaceshipTwo, an aircraft built by aviation engineer Burt Rutan and designed to carry paying customers into suborbital space, had its maiden flight in the California desert in March."We just finished building SpaceShipTwo. We are 18 months away from taking people into space," Branson told a business conference in Kuala Lumpur, adding that the fare will start at 200,000 dollars.

http://www.france24.com/en/20100927-virgin-launch-space-tourism-18-months

To encourage the day when we will see a new frontier of privately-driven, low-cost, safe space colonization by peaceful humans respectful of rights, and general interest in Science and its peaceful uses by young persons worldwide especially in developing countries, along the lines of the "Star Trek Universe" delineated by former LIO advisor Gene Roddenberry (as opposed to the nightmarish cautionary tale of the movie Avatar) we salute our new LIO Welcome Host among the astronauts, scientists, authors and and homesteading proponents on our advisory board, Commander Ron Nader.

Resources:

• Relation of seasteading and spacesteading ( http://seasteading.org/interact/forums/community/introductions/hello-seasteaders )
• Wiki article overview ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_colonization )
• RPPI Spaceport page ( http://reason.org/search/results/?cx=000107342346889757597%3All4jwmwz-2e&cof=FORID%3A11&q=space+ports#514 )

 LIO Advisor Attorney Laura Mascaro, here at the Juan de Mariana Institute,  is a public intellectual in Spain who champions Unschooling, public participation and other issues. She is working on a world project to promote schooling empowerment in each country.

Balearic Islands, Spain: As public interest grows, LIO Advisor Laura Mascaro  has published a timely new book on Home Schooling, "Education & Liberty." Home Schooling, once viewed as an inherent right then attacked by the bureaucracy, is now being re-legitimized there and the EU as a whole, and she is also promoting a world conference: http://jipli.free.fr/ . LIO activists work so people have maximum lifestyle options in obtaining education that is high-quality and low cost, and by proper investment and technological economy and promotion of choice, truly free and non-coercive for all.

Over the last 40 years, Libertarians have worked to remove legislation blocking education options, pioneer free to low-cost comprehensive schooling (as opposed to expensive and exclusionary coerced public schemes where costs are hidden ), and today aim to bring the tools to every country. Here are some empowering key resources Libertarians helped create or are publicizing that you can use, discuss and share:

Resources:

> http://www.lewrockwell.com/delemos/delemos16.html" target="_blank">http://web.archive.org/web/20011214194719/http://www.lewrockwell.com/delemos/delemos16.html

( Home Schooled and Free: Thinkpiece on self-directed learners)

> http://www.iahp.org ( Relaxed Homeschooling tools used in infancy equips young to be self-directed learners while improving relations with parents 

> http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/family-and-relationships/back-to-school/more-families-are-deciding-that-schools-out-forever/article1703185/ (Overview of Unschooling)

> http://www.libertarianinternational.org/apps/blog/show/787323-us-car-wash-libs-lead-home-school-boards- (Libertarians in action in Florida, USA, includes HomeSchool resource site)

> http://www.freeworldu.org/static/diplomas.aspx  (Free worldwide HomeSchool with 20,000 learners) and http://www.hippocampus.org/;jsessionid=26BD72EE6D1DDB1041DFBE5642629D1D (Free learning tools )

> http://www.khanacademy.org (World free net school)

>  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudbury_school (Sudbury student run schools)

> http://www.pcsb.org/CI/SAC/ (By school Parent-Student Advisory councils in Florida)

> http://www.flvs.net/Pages/default.aspx (Virtual schools now support both public school and Homeschool students )

> http://www.lewrockwell.com/gatto/gatto-uhae-11.html  (Distinguished public teacher on regulatory history)

> http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/65369.html   (Distinguished Libertarian economist gives quick overview of low-cost alternatives in college now available thanks in large part to Libertarian initiatives)

> http://www.charteroak.edu  (US College with ability to test out at low cost, self-design curriculum, credit for life experience or projects, etc. )

> http://www.detc.org   (The growing network of accredited low-cost US distance learning institutions, including low-cost MBA's, certification programs, and Great Books Doctorates)

> http://www.amazon.com/Bears-Earning-Degrees-Distance-Learning/dp/1580082025 (Vademecum for independent learners)

> Life Long Learning  (GOOGLE Search)

Mascaro is also developing a world initiative to help inform and empower people on schooling options in every country.

Please link to this article at your site.

Native American LIO Advisor Meaghan Walker also champions Homeschooling and educational options in Canada and says many feel it has great value for Native and Original Peoples in preserving their heritage.

NASA GIVES WAY TO SPACESTEADING

US President Obama announced a seismic shift in US policy towards space colonization driven by private entities. Already private-public spaceports exist or are being planned in New Mexico and other states. The matter was first proposed in 1977 at a Libertarian-driven conference on Space Colonization by the American Astronautical Society and international divisions, organized by past LIO Honorary Chair G. Harry Stine, viewed as a father of the modern space effort.

Observers feel that while this may slow return to the Moon and other projects initially, it will lead to vast projects on a firmer basis that will not call for taxation.

LIO will continue to encourage networking to the citizen level on these issues: a safe garden Earth for everyone with sensible Space/Sea homesteading brought by voluntary and peaceful means.

Enthusiasts have begun to build rockets and work to allow more options--

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-08/23/danish-manned-spacecraft

Space privatization and citizen empowerment has gone to the point where hobby groups are building spacecraft.Danish volunteers build manned spacecraft ...

www.wired.co.uk

A team of Danish volunteers has built a rocket capable of manned suborbital flight, and will be launching it...

LIO Libertarians have been key in growing Life Extension movement

The popular Libertarian opinion blog www.LewRockwell.com has a growing number of articles on Life Extension topics. The group, derived from the old Center for Libertarian Studies, includes several LIO friend and advisory board members, and is headed by public intellectual Lew Rockwell. The blog has been bringing increasing focus to the topic, from little-noticed scientific reports to polemics on backfiring legislation to surprising tips on simple things people can do that improve life span at little cost.

In 1976 the LIO organized a group to identify and address legal and cultural blocks to the concepts of immortality, cryogenics, and in general Life Extension. The group included an array of cutting edge scientists such as Dr. Atkins and Dr. Roy Wafford ( http://www.walford.com ). Since then LIO advisors and others have written an amazing array of articles, sponsored conferences, developed magazines, and been involved in nutritional and scientific advances so Life Extension has become a respectable topic and growing area of scientific research.

Here are some articles you'll find searching the site:

Can a State of Hibernation be Molecularly Induced in Humans? by ...Dec 12, 2007 ... Life extension. Recently researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center put a roundworm into a state of hibernation using ...

www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi78.html   - Cached - Similar

What If There Really Were an Anti-Aging Pill? by Bill SardiAug 24, 2010 ... One envious company, which brands itself as the leader the field of life extension, posted a website by a fictitious person (Mark Miller), ...

www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi177.html  - Cached

Can Humans Live Longer?: What we can learn about anti-aging from ...by B Sardi

The majority of the life extension attributed to estrogen, about 2.3 years, occurs only among women with coronary artery disease who take hormones. ...

www.lewrockwell.com/orig/sardi10.html  - Cached - Similar

If You Want to Age Gracefully – Don't Eat This by Joseph MercolaAug 18, 2010 ... The most widely accepted idea for life extension is the free-radical theory, which says that as you age, you begin to "self destruct," ...

www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/mercola52.1.html  - Cached

The Tortoise and the Hare: A Modern Revision by Gary NorthIf you're talking life extension, the big improvements were these: wire mesh screens that kept out insects, separating water supplies from latrine areas, ...

www.lewrockwell.com/north/north216.html  - Cached - Similar

Will Nanny Hour Put an End to Happy Hour? « LewRockwell.com BlogNov 23, 2008 ... Also see an article on how high-fructose corn syrup causes fatty liver disease in the latest issue of Life Extension magazine (not online ...

www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/24139.html  - Cached

Waxman's Anti-Supplement Bill Amendment « LewRockwell.com BlogMay 1, 2010 ... This is what was reported on the Life Extension website. This is a sneaky, totalitarian, corporate state-favoring move to rehash a bill that ...

www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/56941.html  - Cached

How I Lost 100 Pounds by Formerly SphericalJun 10, 2010 ... If not, get the LEF "Life Extension Panel." The test results will show if any of your readings are abnormal. After 6–7 months, ...

www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/spherical1.1.1.html  - Cached

When the Machines Take Over by Bill WalkerJul 15, 2008 ... Extension of human life span or intelligence would be prohibited. This is very important to Skynet, so religions, entire academic ...

www.lewrockwell.com/walker/walker33.html - Cached - Similar

www.lewrockwell.com/murphy-s/murphy-s13.1.html - Cached

LIO Advisor, co-founder of the Liberal International and visionary of the European Community former Spanish Minister of Justice Salvador Madariaga called for free working residence and travel worldwide, first by continent, and serious attention to outer space studies. It's happening.

Quito, Ecuador-- After one-on-one talks at a recent Organization of American States meeting in Florida between LIO activists and diplomats, Ecuador announced it will place a free residence and immigration continental zone of the Americas on the OAS agenda.

At the conference, LIO pointed out a dormant agreement, the Treaty of San Lorenzo, already exists mandating free immigration and proposd an autonomous working group.

The LIO process is that border control except in temporary emergencies  is a per se act of war and remnant of feudalism, not appropriate to the modern age. It counsels advocacy of international treaty processes as an appropriate focus to bring about full freedom. It also proposes dialogue on cultural areas to protect native peoples, traces, and local cultures.

The zone will allow free transit and working residency without necessarily counting for citizenship, sources said. Large parts of Latin America under the Mercosur process have the situation in varying degrees. During his administration US President and LIO advisor-observer President Ronald Reagan called for a similar process in North America. Eventually people will be able to travel, study and work freely about the Americas as they would in their home countries.

The continued progress brought to mind Salvador Madariaga, especially as more European states adopt a similar process, with borders "practically abolished" despite predictions of disaster in Eastern Europe in the wake of the fall of Communism.

The LIO contact group recommends Libertarian-Liberal public officials and candidates call for open borders through a treaty process that realistically addresses local issues.

Left: Activists meet  local Afghan farmers on mini-banks.

February 22, 2010 --Libertarian Parties have been normalizing operations in promoting Libertarian and Liberal ideas and have begun to define the center. In addition, once controversial concepts, including LIO SMILE agenda concepts, are redefining the mainstream more than ever in recent years.

• Costa Rica: After years of focus on local organization and problem solving, the Liberal-Libertarian allaince of the Movimiento Libertario has near 20% of the legislature in the last election and many lov cal posts and groups.
• USA: The USLP has been facing difficulties from extreme right-wing infiltration denounced by many party leaders, including the party lead founder, David Nolan. These followed great success in 2002 when LP Political Director Ron Crickenberger reported "overrunnning" by moles attempting to sabotage the effort. In addition, its work is obscured by the focus on Federal elections, when the US is better thought of as a federation of states or countries. Success is better judged by the local level at this time. At the State level Libertarians have been winning, after a decline, many partisan elected, non-partisan elected and many appointive posts. The LIO endorsed project in Pinellas Florida, using best practices, has attained over 20 local posts and led in activist efforts from ballot fairness to homeless issues. Key also  the USLP has helped create a vast Libertarian think tank and citizen group infrastructure which it feeds.The related Campaign for Liberty of LIO Observer Ron Paul has taken on international dimensions for those interested in Libertarian constitutionalism.Libertarianism is now regularly discussed on US TV. Efforts are also underway for direct change via the initiative led directly by Dr. Ralph Swanson, past LIO advisory head, with a pilot project in Florida (see http://www.floridaliberty.com for a site also chronicling the progress of Libertarian ideals in one sate over several decades). Several variant US Libertarian party groups have been formed by people unhappy with the situation. Mr. Nolan recently stated he will seek a post on the national committee US in an effort to moderate the problem.
• Oceania: The Liberal Libertarians around the ACT! in New Zealand ( http://www.act.org.nz/ ) has been electing to parliament and accomplishing improvements from partial Social Security privatization to school choice; and the Liberal Democratic Party in Australia ( http://www.ldp.org.au/ ) have begun expansion after legal regsitration battles with the government.
• Troubled areas: Libertarian improvement projects in alliance with local groups continue in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq, and East Asia in general. The LIO advisors and fans there report  emphasis is lifestyle Libertarianism such as farmer mini-banks, promoting sister-cities through introductions, teaching civil activism tools such as using cell  phones for flash demoinstrations, and work to legalize religious freedom. Libertarians in China are working through the legal system for in mprovements, continued economic opening, and a "United States of China" plan that has been quietly adopted as long term policy ( China is struggling with internal immigration and travel restrictions and the need for increased localism). Projects such as these are being promoted in all dictatorships and infant democracies. Dictatorships are down to 37 minor countries.

Worldwide Liberal parties of varying quality have been expanding ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism_worldwide ), while new Libertarian-oriented (Libertarian-Liberal) parties are becoming routine.These include:

• Mongolia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(Mongolia), past Prime Minister is a Libertarian 
• Brazil (  http://www.libertarios.com.br )  
• Argentina (  http://www.partidoliberal.org.ar/home/  )  and also the educative Partido Libertario ( http://www.argentinaposta.150m.com/ ),
• Efforts in Spain (  http://partidolibertario.wordpress.com/  also http://www.p-lib.es/ )
• UK ( see the   http://lpuk.org/pages/take-the-test.php ; several electoral local wins reported) .
• Wikipedia has begun a list of Libertarian-interest parties as well (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_libertarian_political_parties ).

Typically Liberal centrist parties attract 5% to 30% of the electorate in European countries (the Swiss FDP is typically on the high end). These report an inceasingly Libertarian-oriented agenda and interest in particularly small government applications and philosophers ( http://www.liberal-international.org/editorial.asp?ia_id=1117 ). In the US Libertarians are attracting or developing that constituency. Recent polls suggest the US public has increased from 6% to 27% Libertarian Leaning and a similar amount centrist in one generation.Libertarian leaders feel this is in large part due to educative and political efforts. In other words, we expect growing Libertarianization of the center.

Libertarian public policy concepts are spreading in the culture:

• Competing currency denominations are being adopted in over 200 US cities.There are now societies that study the subject.
• Many countries have begun normalizing marihuana use. In the US 14 states have some form of exception.
• Gay rights, gambling, and personal rights exceptions are under Libertarian influence becoming also conservative issues; while leftists have endorsed various degrees of privatization.
• Local community and co-op provision options are increasingly being proposed or adopted.
• Sea communities of a Libertarian character have attracted interest and strudy.
• Ballot fairness has been the subject of sevral; coalitions and spreading.
• Communities in the US have been adopting the Libertarian-direction "Voluntary City" concept.

At the same time anti-Libertarian activity is up:

• In the US, 31 Libertarian state parties reported undesirable presence of extremist or government "moles" to LIO. In one state an officer produced information that he had been part of a targeted campaign to smear Libertarian leaders in which the entire state committee was involved with national officers.
• Wikipedia Libertarian articles are regularly tampered with. Even the LIO article has been taken down, and the ISIL article was removed several times. The article on Libertarianism has many inaccuracies difficult to correct as much Libertarian history is at present oral or in reserved documents.
• Conservatives friendly to LIO report efforts are up to confuse the public on Libertarianism. A group paid to enter misleading web articles has been reported.
• Exterme leftists have used these to attack Libertarians as anti-government extremists.

LIO has been as a result shifting its emphasis for the coming years as an advisory organization.

• It is helping develop strict Libertarian Clubs and soon parties worldwide.
• There will be increased focus on SMILE (Space/Sea Migration and Ecology, Machine Servants, Improved Lifestyle, Libertarian, Empowerment through Libertarian Community, Liberal Society) Agenda items.
• The Society for New Intellectuals, the oldest Rand-study group, will be co-operating on joint projects in spreading themes of objective philosophy (e.g. Aristotle, Spinoza, Rand).
• The LIO site is reconfiguring as an educative tools site as support sites on the Libertarian strategic plan are underway.
• A new e-zine is underway to collate Libertarian dialogue and papers in many languages.
• The LIO advisory board will be reconfigured in the next decade to accomodate local action.

SMILE advances recently include:

• The US has adopted a growing posture of unblocking private space exploration.
• Phones are today personal computers linking humanity thanks in large part to the LIO initiative in 1974 to de-regulate the matter.
• Increased attention to autonomous living and issues affecting the yopung hi-IQ
• Libertarian options are spreading.Libertarian management approaches have also gained ground with many management consulting firms, according to the late LIO Advisor Dr. Peter Drucker. Many celebrities have begun identifying as cultural or political Libertarians.
• Extension of life, a taboo subject before the LIO Committee to Eliminate Death project headed by Dr. Roy Walford, is now a subject of regular discussion. Scientists recently announced major advances in understanding the context of genetics in aging and "artificial life." Much remains to be done e.g. end bans on cloning.
• In general, the agenda has entered the culture under the ideas of transhumanism and extropianism, though the approaches are not identical.

By Ralph Swanson, LIO Advisory Chair Emeritus

 (Updated February 2011)

In a series of secure phone conferences ending last October, Libertarian and Liberal participants in the confidential LIO Public Safety Group agreed to move on a long developing plan to help dialogue and advise citizen transition of the world to democracy, and prod democracies to more open systems with increased use of voluntary solutions.

The group is one of 3 advisory teams of the LIO, with a broader open Cultural Advisory Board and a new Network of senior community activists in formation.

The high-level group of over 600 senior retired or promising public safety leaders, diplomats, and social scientists interested in advancing LIO tools through discreet means, with an average of 2 per country, continues the work of a smaller contact group that played a key role in the reforms in Communist and Right-Wing regimes on a non-partisan basis. The conference is the first of its kind, and the group has been greatly expanded in the last decade. It is  autonomously co-ordinated. (A follow up conference was held in October 2010).

LIO curator Michael Gilson-De Lemos circulated his advice that 'the time to close the era of severe abuse' had come. The group targeted the last 29 highly authoritarian countries, mostly in the Islamic Conference ( http://www.oic-oci.org ), and additional budding but troubled democracies for interest. In addition, a focus on seeing formal laws of religious freedom and the removal of official state religions was encouraged as key.

Countries where pro-Libertarian think tanks exist or are being formed, such as China, will be monitored and a process of meetings already underway continue. The curator advised the Cultural Advisory Board things were underway several weeks ago and LIO  supporters have been following events at the e.g. LIO Twitter for the past month. The curator paraphrased Eisenhower and stated national defense was too important to be left to governments and was the proper domain of citizen peace and rights groups; and emphasized that if any leaders should step down his expectation was it would be voluntarily and with honor. The group also blessed creation of a more open group of senior policy experts or retired or promising officals per country as part of the Cultural Advisory Board.

The group set 3 areas of action: Meeting simultaneously with senior leaders in 40 countries ( Done December 21, 2010 in most cases, or staffs) in a show of solidarity to encourage interest in democratic transition and blessed the continuing training of activists in using both new and old communication technologies and street organization techniques by an autonomous group; agreed to encourage dialogue on bringing Direct Democracy plus other items such as jury use and more transparency to all nations, also opening more dialogue on non-citizen track immigration and eventual planetary colonization; agreed to work to ever encourage non-partisan sister city and advisory appointive councils of average citizens in all countries. The group will continue communication on an informal basis.

 The curator re-affirmed that LIO encourages heightened dialogue and research for transitions of troubled countries to Liberal and federalist democracy; of such democracy to increased use of voluntary options in all public services with direct democracy, MMP, jury use, and level ballot access; and in those friendliness towards emerging or eventual Libertarian eco-communities and Libertarian-interested networks in ever area of about 1 million population, and enlightened voluntary societies and solutions in general. Finally, the curator re-emphasized his advice that citizens must have democratic and Libertarian tools to defend themselves from misguided religious and corporate groups that seek to use the law to plunder and control the average person, action must be peaceful and use respectful passive resistance and dialogue; saying: The walls shall come tumbling down, and things improve each generation.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

>Look into participation via your local Sister City board; and contact groups such as http://atlasnetwork.org/ and http://www.ISIL.org on donations to help bring young thinkers to their conferences and activities. (In July 2010 LIO Friends was inaugurated with 100 activists to network a variety of non-partisan and autonomous projects of social entrepreneurship and information sharing on rights issues and change techniques).

 The Libertarian Tool paradigm of Charter Cities is spreading, and now being rediscovered as "new" by economists such as Paul Romer at the TED meeting of world innovators.

Variously called mini-archisms, designed communities, autonomous communities, charter areas, ZEBRAS (Zero-Based Regalation Areas), zones of waiver or exception or enterprise development zones, the idea is for a mechanism for small communities to be exempt from pernicious ordinances and in effect run as mini-societies in many cases. Libertarians such as McClaughry, Van Notten, and Bordenave (who met with Chinese leaders in the early 70's promoting Libertarian concepts)  in China have championed the concept, resulting in the gated community movement, deregulated zones in the Netherlands and other countries, and special status in China for Hong Kong and other areas. In California, statutes specifically enable "Charter Cities" with ordinances that may differ and have the status of state law. See also the article below on cities adopting voluntary city policies in Georgia.

INFORMATIVE TALK

Dr. Romer in his talk gives an informative and entertaining review of the need and use of the concept in recent years, and the state of the art of adoption. Libertarians have been discussing how to use direct democracy to enable the concept in their states or countries, and often catalyzed successful moves in that direction.

In 2001 Charles Champion, a US Libertarian in public office who formed one of the first Libertarian Board majorities in a large area, noted that many areas have charter review boards of substantial powers which Libertarians could bring to the fore. In Florida several Home Rule initiatives are under way.

TOOLS:

>Article XI, section 3(a) of the California Constitution ( http://www.cacities.org/chartercities   recognizes the adoption of a city charter and provides such a charter has the force and effect of state law. Article XI, section 5(a), the home rule provision, affirmatively grants to charter cities supremacy over municipal affairs.  See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_city

>Lang, Diane (December, 1991) (PDF). Dillon's Rule...and the Birth of Home Rule. New Mexico Municipal League. http://nmml.org/files/2008/01/dillon.pdf

Discussion of Dillon's rule, charter cities and home rule in New Mexico.

>In Spain, a long process of Regional and local devolution down to the neighborhoods is public policy and underway, particularly as a means of innovation and reducing tensions. See: http://countrystudies.us/spain/71.htm  "One of the most striking features of Spain's new governmental system is the devolution of power and responsibility to the regions. Regional differences had been the source of longstanding tensions..." (The article fails to realize that under Franco many functions had been devolved further than today e.g. hiring of local patrols was done by neighborhood associations, resulting in 90% of the police force being compensated by tips and a low crime rate. )

>In Switzerland, local area or "Commune" autonomy includes many areas that in other countries are handled by the central government, such as parts of immigration status. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipalities_of_Switzerland

>Work of Van Notten: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=michael+van+notten+d-zones&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

>In the US, states such as Nevada use local rule to handle legalization of gaming and gambling, a method Libertarians have helped make now widespread; sex workers; and other cultural issues. The Gay marriage bru-ha-ha in the US started over attempts to override local autonomy on the issue in California, where cities began to recognize the concept,  led by "small government" right wing politicians and groups. 

>In Florida many functions are being handled by neighborhood associations and voluntary communities, leading to the characterization that the state has substantially privatized government. Accoding to Dr. R. Holcombe, former advisor to the Governor , Libertarians helped play a substantial role in awareness of the tool but it now has a momentum "of its own." See: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=privatized+neighborhood+government+in+Florida&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

>REPORT: http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/faculty/nelson/Kennedy%20School.pdf

Mayor Art Olivier cut crime over 40% with citizen teams.

The paradigm is Libertarian voluntary methods cannot address crime...only more police, punishments and prisons can as the core job of government. Think again.

As mayor, Libertarian Art Olivier cut crime over 40% in 2 years while by refusing to expand police functions or raise taxes. He instead ordered a policy of focus on 'actual, not lifestyle' crimes while forming citizen 'granny' teams that focused on 'causes, not symptoms.'

The teams, called by some 'granny' teams due to the presence of seniors and a soft approach, covered several blocks, would use maps and thumbtacks to target problem addresses, then meet over coffee with those involved and personally mentor ways of addressing underlying problems of domestic abuse, substance misuse, or  anger management issues with available programs."While co-ordinated with volunteer community watches, we were basically intervention teams. We were there to attack the problem, not people; not expand punishment but seek a solution," said a participant. "People don't listen to a policeman they see as the problem when many police forces arrest anyone for anything to look busy or increase overtime. They do listen to a group of neighbors offering a way to shape up. Our crime rate went down where elsewhere it went up."

NO NEW TAXES

The teams were self-supporting and involved no new tax assessments. Police praised the teams as  "allowing us to focus on hard core criminals, actual community policing, and community morale"  and so further reduce crime. In addition, many situations were kept from getting out of hand and becoming actual crimes, say officials.

"The teams offer a substantial model others can adapt, as the city involved, Bellflower, is a Los Angeles suburb with 77,000 residents," said Olivier.

According to think tank RPPI, teams that focus on specific problems and a non-punitive and restorative justice approach work, and the reduction is typical. "The voluntary approach has a lot to offer. I'm increasingly convinced that crime goes down when we stop thinking of it as a government function but more as a person-to-person approach and focus on actual crime," said nobelist and LIO advisor Milton Friedman, who reviewed the statistics. "By doing the opposite of common wisdom Olivier and his teams got a dramatically better result. The Libertarians have tied together what academics have long suspected, or people are stumbling on in bits and pieces, into a simple program anyone can start. This takes programs such as Neighborhood Watch into a new level of 'Neighborhood Help.' Communities even do things like this in Afghanistan, with similar results."

Fans of Olivier say he was not a 'one-hit wonder' but also also applied Libertarian choice ideas in other areas. During his five years on the City Council and then mayor (1994?99), Olivier privatized the city's tree trimming, crossing guards, street sweeping and the Building Department. He eliminated the city's lighting tax assessment and did not allow eminent domain to be exercised while on council. He also did an emblematic measuring of city garbage bins by 'going out there with a measuring tape,' discovering they were smaller than promised and seeing the problem was corrected.

(UPDATE of 2002 LIO Advisory) 

HOW-TO:

http://www.nnwi.org/  (Watches, general)

http://www.ncpc.org/cms-upload/ncpc/File/chklist.pdf  (How to checklist)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorative_justice  (Restorative Approach)

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=neighborhood+intervention+teams&aq=f&oq=&aqi=  (Neighborhood intervention)

Left: Liberal-Libertarian Carlos Lemos Simmonds, former President of Colombia and author of "The Thief State," held early high-level  colloquia on drug and personal rights policy, as LIO advisor and former LIO Advisory Chair, with many Latin and EC leaders. Calling for "common sense for harmless users" he was also famed for risking his life and leading the fight that put major violent drug traffickers in jail. He is the main author of the present Columbian Constitution, which has among other innovations direct appeals for rights violations, term limits, and strong decentralism that are now a model.

Mexico City, Mexico, and Lisbon, Portugal, Combined: August 19, 2009. The paradigm is drug use will never pass or Libertarians have nothing to do with efforts. Think again.

The LIO confidential group working on personal rights has posted wins in Mexico and the EC, and is developing policy contact and study groups for legislators in 12 Latin countries:

>In Portugal, drug decriminalization of small amounts proceeds and has been analyzed as a success by reports from e.g. CATO www.cato.org . Metrics include helping and reducing real addicts while keeping casual and recreational users out of jail. Police are freed to concentrate on criminal groups that seduce weak minded people into addiction.The previously reported study is at: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10080

UPDATE 2010/8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7FshBjkS6U&feature=player_embedded

 ... Portugal legalizes drugs, crime falls.

>Mexico is as a result announcing it will not arrest for small possession of all drugs based on the Portuguese experience. The legislature had previously passed a drug legalization bill in 2006  that was held in abeyance to not irritate border discussions, said legislators and LIO activists who worked on the effort.

Said LIO Facilitator M. Gilson-de Lemos: "At minimum, adults and educated experimenters should as a matter of morality be able to take or not take any drug they want with appropriate insurance, informed consent education, or a doctor's prescription depending on local understanding. All drug laws do is enrich corrupt groups. I believe that both wins show the value of coalition efforts and policymaker education, supported by LIO high-level consultations. LIO recommends similar efforts in all countries, and activists looking into legalization of personal rights--drug and sexual choice, removal of religious based restrictions such as blasphemy laws, punitive petty regulations, freedom from the remnants of Officially Established Religion, etc--by direct democracy where available."

The USLP has encouraged members to join coalition and other efforts, and adopted drug reform as a "signature issue." Non-partisan groups such as the LIO Club in Florida is working on a drug legalization proposal via direct democracy there, and Libertarians have been highly active in the 'medical marihuana' push across the US, while cautioning it should not be used as an excuse for expanded 'non-medical' prosecutions (see links below).

UPDATE: 8/26: Argentine Supreme Court Legalizes Personal Marihuana (GOOGLE)

_____________________________________________

UPDATE: August 20 on.

Combined News:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mexico+drug+legalization&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

Sample news Items are below:

>Comment: US Governments Attempt to Spin Mexico Decision?

Law Enforcement in US Reacts

http://www.pro8news.com/news/local/53999107.html

Say police: " While law enforcement in Laredo don't expect an immediate change they do say they will remain vigilant because the war on drugs at home is what's important...

"To be honest with you people who really want to go out and get drugs can get them right now anyway. We are doing our best to curtail that from happening and take the business away from the cartels because it has a ripple effect."

..."The U.S. government urged former Mexican president Vicente Fox to reconsider a similar bill in 2006, but it appears this time around the Mexican government plans to move forward with their decision."

>AP:Mexico decriminalizes small-scale drug possession

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iP1GlMCOz

YSi8kbAUY1lLDdqc4vAD9A763HO0

MEXICO CITY ? Mexico decriminalized small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin on Friday ? a move that prosecutors say makes sense even in the midst of the government's grueling battle against drug traffickers.

Prosecutors said the new law sets clear limits that keep Mexico's corruption-prone police from extorting casual users and offers addicts free treatment to keep growing domestic drug use in check.

"This is not legalization, this is regulating the issue and giving citizens greater legal certainty," said Bernardo Espino del Castillo of the attorney general's office.

The new law sets out maximum "personal use" amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities no longer face criminal prosecution.

Elsewhere: New "personal use" amounts have been clearly outlined, and detained individuals will no longer face criminal charges.

"Mexico has emphasized the need to differentiate drug addicts and casual users from the violent traffickers whose turf battles have contributed to the deaths of more than 11,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006" said Castillo

>Latin America's Legalization Push

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=latin_americas_legalization_push

"...the multidisciplinary Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy (co-chaired by former Presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia, and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico) called the drug war a "failure" and issued a groundbreaking report urging other governments in the region--including the United States--to rethink prohibition policy. "

>Mexico moves ahead of U.S. in drug legalization

http://nocoercion.com/2009/08/21/mexico-drug-legalization/

"The United States should follow suit, and take it a step further by fully legalizing all drugs in all amounts. Only a complete end to drug prohibition will decimate law enforcement corruption and gang violence..."

>Commentary: Legalize drugs to stop violence

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/24/miron.legalization.drugs/index.html

"...

Prohibition creates violence because it drives the drug market underground. This means buyers and sellers cannot resolve their disputes with lawsuits, arbitration or advertising, so they resort to violence instead.

Violence was common in the alcohol industry when it was banned during Prohibition, but not before or after.

Violence is the norm in illicit gambling markets but not in legal ones. Violence is routine when prostitution is banned but not when it's permitted. Violence results from policies that create black markets, not from the characteristics of the good or activity in question.

The only way to reduce violence, therefore, is to legalize drugs. Fortuitously, legalization is the right policy for a slew of other reasons..."

UPDATE: Libertarians work in coalitions, teams for medical marihuana, sample activity from GOOGLE

>LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF COLORADO BLOG: Medical Marijuana: How ...Sent in by Colorado 420 Coalition and I felt like it might be a talk of interest to some of the readers of this blog: For immediate release: ...

lpcolorado.blogs.com/.../medical-marijuana-how-patients-and-caregivers-can-protect-themselves.html - Cached - Similar

>St. Charles County Libertarians support Kenneth Wells in fight for ...Jun 23, 2009 ... St. Charles County Libertarians support Kenneth Wells in fight for Medical Marijuana. Mr. Wells took his own health away from Government ...

www.lpmo.org/media/releases/2009/PR-20090623-01.shtml - Cached - Similar

>Libertarian Perspective: Respond to Medical Pot Raids with ...Apr 8, 2009 ... Via: Libertarian Perspective: Respond to Medical Pot Raids with ... On medical marijuana, Obama was supposed to signify a shift in policy. ...

www.showmethefacts.org/.../libertarian-perspective-respond-to-medical-pot-raids-with-legalization/ - Cached - Similar

>Libertarian Party - Medical Marijuana - ProCon.orgSep 13, 2007 ... Medical Marijuana Home Page > Biographies > Libertarian Party ... "The Libertarian Party is a long-standing advocate for individual liberty ...

medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewsource.asp?ID=001413 - Cached - Similar

>Delaware Libertarian: It's About Time : Medical Marijuana in DelawareNationwide, efforts like Henry's got a boost last week when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to California's medical marijuana law, ...

delawarelibertarian.blogspot.com/.../its-about-time-medical-marijuana-in.html - Cached - Similar

>Official Steve Kubby Home PageLibertarian National Presidential Debate Part 1 · Libertarian National Presidential Debate Part 2 ... Medical Marijuana in Jamaica ...

www.kubby.com/ - Cached - Similar

Watching America : » Medical Marijuana and Gay Unions - America's ...Apr 22, 2009 ...

RESOURCE: http://www.narconews.com/en.html

St. Petersburg, Florida, Ongoing, first published October 2007--The paradigm is Libertarians don't lead change by not getting into the community...or if they do, 'car wash' Libertarian activists are Libertarian lightweights who blindly attack government structures. Change your paradigm. For while courts from California to Germany debate the advisability or legality of home schooling , they might join the 21st century and see how Libertarians have helped transform schooling in Florida. So says Julie Chorgo, who points out that in Florida home schooling is simple, widely supported by educators, andt Schoolers even have there own appointive school boards to mentor parents and advise on policy.Chorgo serves on one of the boards and helped lead activism for educational change.

"At one time Florida had some of the most retrograde education laws in the industrial world. But starting with brainstorming sessions begun by Libertarians in the 1980's the landscape has been transformed," said LIO senior advisors Marshall Fritz of the Separation of School and State Project  and Ralph Swanson, who advised the effort which forged several coalitions that resulted 'in massive changes' including:

• Consensus on an 'all mentor the learner,' not 'authoritarian educator' model
• A simplified but detailed set of recommended home school standards developed by the home schoolers themselves,  with parents mentoring 2% of learners
• Schooling choice such as magnet (themed, such as classical academies or techical crfts), charter (parent designed), or easy to create private schools
• A privately funded voucher program passed through the state
• Free college tuition funded by lotteries and efficiencies for all students passing tests
• Diagnostic tests and teacher incentives
• Accelerated certification of teachers if one has  university degree
• Work on legalization of the teaching of evolution and advanced biology (UPDATE: In 2008 it was agreed that evolution per se could be taught and teachers could not be fired for using the word).
• Florida public schools have even adopted the Libertarian suggestion of using the internet so public school students can learn at home or get credit for college courses 'effectively reducing class size to one-on-one tutoring while saving taxpayer funds'

Typically, says Chorgo, home schoolers have been religious families or those with very bright or special needs children,  but are increasingly people who see it as a powerful tool to encourage creativity, bring families closer and help students proceed at their own pace.

Chorgo emphasizes 'complete prparation by not only reading things from educational philosophy to current policy' but community outreach. She's become 'the Libertarian poster' for 'Car Wash Libertarianism' encouraging community activism and participation as part and parcel of the Libertarian Project. In 2005, she  co-founded DisasterHelp, a mentoring group which raises money for disaster victims  engaing disabled persons in community activity and which has attracted praise from local officials such as St. Petersburg mayor Baker..(See: http://www.disasterhelp.cjb.net/  )

What next? Chorgo has created resource websites for parents with hits from around the world, and suggests exploring community school boards of the parents and students with voluntary endowments to create 'truly free' education that will raise teacher salaries.

RESOURCE: http://pinellashomeschoolhelp.webs.com/index.htm

Costa Rica, October 2008--The myth is that Libertarians can't get elected to high office and are right-wing anyway. Change your paradigm.

Libertarian centrists are pushing conservatives and progressive wings to think anew with a hardening  line as they declare choice an inherent theme of human rights no law can restrict.

"Legislative efforts to restrict sexual diversity, including of gay and lesbians, are human rights violations," said Libertarian Congressman Carlos Gutierrez of Costa Rica. He invited conservative and progressive legislators in the Congress to join Libertarians in dialogue in a move hailed by Latin American activists as a breakthrough: 'Libertarians have raised the bar.'

"This is a theme of rights. Today we realize that laws punishing people for being Jews, Blacks, Communists, Illiterate, a Single Mother or a Natural Son seem monstrous. We say this generation has a duty  to break that paradigm for people of a diverse sexual orientation." With supporters noting that with even the Catholic Church getting rid of Limbo, "Why do we tolerate  a Judicial Limbo? They are not diseased or contagious. People have a human right to have relations, share retirement funds, or make hospital visits to those they love," he said.

Libertarians worldwide have launched or joined coalitions, information colloquia, and attended events to rally support on efforts such as protecting civil unions and diversity of household arrangements. LIO (www.libertarian-international.org) activists promote quiet dialogue among conseervatives and progressives, positioning the issue as not merely one of diversity but inherent human rights. In the US, Libertarian leaning GOP Congressman Ron Paul says a fruitful 'first step' is to keep Federal  laws out of the issue. Increasingly, even conservative European countries such as Catholic Spain see civil unions as 'inherent policy.'

RESOURCE: With, in 2 decades, over 80 members in public office including 1/10th of the legislature, plus projects for libertarian-leaning  communities, poverty reduction, tax cuts, and a consumer union, the dynamic Costa Rica Libertarian Movement is a libertarian-liberal alliance for human rights. Party: www.libertario.org ; Youth and policy education:  www.institutolibertad.org/  and Consumer Union: www.consumidoreslibres.org/