Libertarian Party of West Virginia -- Marion County

News Archives

David Wallace Croft
In reverse chronological order.

1998-02-07

Libertarian to run for State Delegate

Editor, Times West Virginian:

Your "Our Opinion" article "Filing deadline near; Where are all the local candidates?" from 1998-02-05 Thu proved to be a valuable wake-up call that may have gone unheeded by the Republicans. In receiving a call from one of my Republican friends this afternoon some 30 minutes after the deadline for filing candidacy paperwork, he knows of no Republican contender for the 43rd District State Delegate seat. The Young Republicans often spoke last year of the failure of the multi-party system in West Virginia. If this proves to be true, it would be, as you stated, quite disappointing.

However, the Libertarian Party, the largest party after the Republicans, is experiencing an incredible growth spurt within West Virginia, home of the Free Mountaineers, leading the other states in Party membership growth with a rate of about 150% per year. Our principles of freedom in both our economic and personal lives offers the voters a choice that neither of the other two major parties provide separately. These disaffected citizens are responsible for the bulk of our new membership: they have found a home within the Libertarian Party of West Virginia that is consistent with their own core principles.

On Friday I filed my precandidacy paperwork with the County Clerk. On May 9th, I am expected to be nominated at the LPWV convention as our candidate for the 43rd District State Delegate seat. Please find the press release announcing my candidacy attached.


PRESS RELEASE
Marion County Libertarian Chair to run for State Delegate

David Croft, Marion County Chair of the Libertarian Party
of West Virginia (LPWV), announces his candidacy today for
the 43rd District State Delegate seat.  His issues of focus
include:

* School Vouchers
* Initiative, Referendum, and Recall (IR&R)
* Family Automobile Tax Elimination
* Support for the Police and Courts
* Property Owner Rights
* Deregulation
* Smokers Rights
* The Right to Bear Arms
* Reduction in Unnecessary Government
* Government Restraint
* Government Accessibility

"My candidacy is part of a Party-wide organizational plan to
establish presence on the ballot to let voters know that they
have a real choice.  Libertarians have made significant
progress by achieving major party status on the West Virginia
ballot and we intend to keep it by running candidates in
every election.  By voting for the Libertarian on your
ballot, you will be sending a clear message to the other two
major parties that you will not tolerate government
interference in your personal lives or in your workplaces.
Free Mountaineers will now be able to say to government
busybodies, whether it be personal or professional, it is
none of their business!"

David Croft may be reached by phone at (304) 363-7913
or electronic mail at "croft@computer.org".  Further
information may also be found on the World Wide Web
at "http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~croft/lp/".

Paternalism and Smoking

I sent the following letter to the Editor on January 24th.

Editor, Times West Virginian:

I've seen a lot of stories and comments in your fine newspaper recently about good people speaking in support of a smoking ban. What these well-intentioned folks need to consider is that they are advocating paternalism. "Paternalism" is a form of soft "Big Brother"-ism in which the government tells us what is good for us without giving us any personal responsibility. As an example, the recent rumors I've heard about a proposed law to require all snow skiers to wear crash helmets just adds to my concern. These kinds of things indicate a bad trend and are really not the business of the government.

What we need at this point is a new amendment in our state constitution which would recognize and guarantee the right of free adults to take on personal risks and their consequences. It should be a statement that conveys the understanding that the only legitimate purpose of government is to protect the rights of its people, not to protect them, rights or no rights, against their will. Given that, allow me to propose the following for your consideration:

"The right of a competent and consenting adult to engage in behavior that risks harm to his person or property, but otherwise does not violate the rights of others, shall not be infringed, abridged, or denied."

1998-01-12

Private Property, Public Use, Just Compensation

I sent the following letter to the Editor this morning.

Editor, Fairmont Times West Virginian:

G. L. Reymond eloquently presented his case in his January 12th "Readers Write" letter, "No-smoking ordinance form of communism". I appreciate his call for a direct vote instead of leaving it up to a committee on the decision to ban smoking on private property but I wonder if a majoritarian dictatorship is any better than a "totalitarian non-representative form of decision-making process" when it comes to the rights of property owners.

Fortunately, his warning that "If this ordinance is passed the loss of money will be tremendous" should not be a cause for alarm for the property owners as Amendment V of the U.S. Constitution provides them relief from the whims of a self- righteous majority: "...nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation". Our State Constitution is even more sympathetic to the rights of individuals as it ensures compensation for property taken -- or damaged -- with the amount to be determined by jury.

The health board has determined that any private property that is accessible to the public is considered to be of public use and therefore its business operations may be controlled by the public. Similarly, the White Hall Town Council has dictated that privately owned convenience stores which serve the public must install government selected surveillance cameras to monitor their workplaces. While I am thankful that our Constitutions will allow the property owners to recover the damages incurred from these governmental intrusions, I am disappointed that those taxpayers in the minority, who chose not to go along with a majority lacking in historical perspective, will be forced to pay the costs as well.

White Hall Town Council questions payments for stoplight

Later that evening I attended the White Hall Town Council meeting which started with my sitting through the "Pledge of Allegiance (to God)" and the prayer to the God of Jesus Christ as I contemplated our Constitutional right to a separation of Church and State. Afterwards, I had this to say:

Editor, Fairmont Times West Virginian:

I was much impressed by the due diligence that the White Hall Town Council exhibited at their January 12th meeting. On quite a number of issues, they questioned whether they were getting fair value for the the taxpayers' money. I appreciate this.

One example of which is where two or three of the Town Council members questioned why they were being required by the State to pay for the maintenance of a new stoplight when they had no say as to whether they even needed it or not. I applaud their spirit of independence and sense of fair play and I now ask them to consider this: if they resent being forced to pay for something "for the public good" in their own home town when they are not necessarily of the opinion that they need it, perhaps they can understand why private property owners might resent being forced by the recent White Hall Town Council ordinance to install surveillance devices in their workplaces "for the public good".

One issue at the meeting I did not understand is when Mayor Corley started speaking in pronoun code. His statement that "The guy I was talking about earlier has agreed to put that thing on that property." It was clear to most of us in attendance that he was deliberately obscuring something but one innocent Council Member asked as to which property he was referring. In response, Mayor Corley pointed south and another Council Member reminded the group that they were not to speak of the issue publicly. I was uncomfortable with this sort of treatment toward the attendees. I do not know what the Town Council would need to hide from the people on whose behalf they make decisions. Is the Town Council dealing with classified material? How are such things written up in the minutes?

Speaking of the minutes, I enthusiastically applaud their decision to proceed with setting up a White Hall web page. I look forward to them making their documents such as rules, meeting minutes, treasury reports, and proposed ordinances readily accessible to the public. This move to make the local government of the people more accessible and comprehensible is something to be emulated at all levels.

1998-01-11

LPWV Executive Committee Meeting

The ExeCom Meeting yesterday was quite interesting. About 20 of us met in a small room in Charleston where John Brown works. Some of us had to sit out in the hall. This is even more interesting when you consider that there are only 9 or so members actually on the Executive Committee.

I was given the opportunity to push the idea of changing or removing the LP Pledge and apparently others had already been thinking of this as well. After much discussion, John Brown asked for a show of hands as to who would be interested in changing or dropping the pledge at a later date. Of about 20, about 8 were for and none were against.

John Brown, as a member of the LP Platform Committee, solicited suggestions for changes to our planks. I made formal my request to change the Protection of Privacy plank to insert the words "or overt" into it so that it would then read

"The government should not use electronic or other means of covert or overt surveillance of an individual's actions or private property without the consent of the owner or occupant."

When Chairman Brown asked for an enumeration of our priorities for the coming year, I proposed that we throw our full weight and support behind the Voters Rights Initiative of WV. This would give WV voters the right to recall elected officials and to propose laws for direct vote on the ballot. I enjoyed this right when I lived in California as I liked to be able to vote directly on laws myself without having to go through a representative. I also think it is a path to libertarian policies in WV as the people usually reject proposals to increase taxes or give favors to one segment of the population over another. Witness the home owner tax revolt, repeal of affirmative action, and legalization of marijuana for health purposes, all of which passed in California by the direct vote of the public though propositions on the state ballot. And in many of these decisions, by being the only ones to provide the "con" argument paragraph besides the propositions in the ballot, the Libertarian Party becomes well-known for its principles.

I suggested that those LPWV members in attendance at the meeting should have the right to vote. As it stands now, non-ExeCom members at the ExeCom meeting have the right to speak but not to vote. I'd like to see it the other way around. One example of this type of arrangement is our court system where the judge referees, the advocates argue the pro and con, and the jury decides. Also, as the number of attendees at the ExeCom Meetings grows to about 30 or 40 or so, which already includes a fair number of non-Libertarians, the ability to require those who are not ExeCom members to request permission to speak or be invited to speak before actually speaking will be the only way to avoid chaos.

Out of my original intent to avoid driving, I accidentally volunteered myself to host the next Executive Committee Meeting here in Fairmont. I think I am going to try and reserve a room in the Court House. This would require that the meeting be open to the general public but that is just fine with me. I may even advertise it.

Sunshine Act

I sent the following request to Chairman Brown today.

Please add to the agenda for the next Executive Committee meeting the decision to append the following to "III section 1" of our LPWV constitution and bylaws:
"All meetings of the Executive Committee will be open to the general public."

1998-01-09

White Hall Video Camera Ordinance

Back on the 6th of December, I wrote a letter to the Editor of the Fairmont newspaper Times West Virginian expressing the opposition of the Libertarian Party of West Virginia to a proposed White Hall Town Council ordinance to mandate video cameras in convenience stores. Since then, I have had a number of letters to Editor printed, appeared on local television stations, and had a couple of confrontational meetings with the Town Council as the representative of the Libertarian voice. I have attempted to document the chronology of this significant local Libertarian effort against Big Brother. Please follow the link to the current summary of events in what may become a large scale endeavor for WV Libertarians.

The Libertarian Oath

Tomorrow I attend the LPWV Executive Committee Meeting to promote the amendment of our LPWV constitution with regard to the Libertarian Pledge, or Oath, that all new members must sign. I believe that, as Libertarians are neither Pacifists nor Anarchists, the current Pledge does not adequately represent our Libertarian Principles. As the imminent merger, under the Unified Membership Plan (UMP), of the LPWV recruitment activities with those of the National Libertarian Party requires a Libertarian Oath or "similar statement" for voting membership, I am proposing the substitution of our current inconsistent Oath with the following:

The only legitimate role of government is to protect the rights of its people.

1997-12-14

LPWV E-Mail Discussion List

The LPWV majordomo mailing list server is up! See the instructions below to subscribe.

1997-12-06

The Pledge

Two weeks ago, Dr. Richard Kerr (LPWV State Vice-Chair) was kind enough to invite me and a number of other Libertarian Party members from the area to a reception at his home for Prof. Jim Lark, "the national party's leading proponent of campus libertarian organizations". Prof. Lark is a knowledegable, entertaining, and courteous conversationalist so the evening was quite successful.

After discussing regional issues of concern for some time, I then began to ask questions of a more philosophical bent, as is my nature of late. Of the things we pondered, I questioned whether the Libertarian Party pledge was a barrier to our success. By the pledge I refer to the following which is presented to all new potential members.

The Libertarian Party is the party of principle. To publicly affirm what we believe -- and to ensure that our party never strays from our principles -- we ask our members to proudly sign this statement:

I do not believe in or advocate the initiation of force as a means of achieving political or social goals.

I question whether this really does represent our core principles and I wonder what our revolutionary forefathers would have thought of this. For three years I contributed to the Libertarian Party while abstaining from signing this oath. Only recently did I rationalize away my reservations and did sign on the line as I wanted to be able to participate fully in the LPWV.

After that wonderful evening of seven enjoyable hours of philosophizing into the early hours of the morning, I had not given much thought to the issue until just last night. I had introduced a friend and community-spirited fellow, whom I keep bumping into at local educational, charitable, and political events, to the ideas of the Libertarian Party. As part of our state-wide effort to promote membership, I had given him a postcard which he could send in for a free membership and subscription to the state newsletter for a year. When I bumped into him again last night at the First Annual New~U Foundation for Missing and Exploited Children Fundraiser, I asked him whether he had sent it in. He said that he had but that it was returned because he had not signed the pledge. By his expression and tone, I could tell that our Party had just given him a slap in the face. I was thoroughly embarrassed and apologized on behalf of the Party for the rude behavior.

I have read that the pledge was instantiated in the early days of the Libertarian Party to distinguish ourselves from a number of other third parties of which the public had little knowledge and a lot of fear. By stating that, unlike the Communists who believe in the violent overthrow of the government, we did not advocate force as a means of achieving political or social goals, we were able to side-step a great deal of harrassment and undue investigation as we were presenting ourselves as harmless pacific freedom-loving intellectuals. Later the pledge was watered down by changing "advocate force" to "advocate the initiation of force" as many Libertarian Party members, when reflecting upon history, thought it might come in handy to be able to defend themselves at some future date. More recently I have seen the word "initiation" italicized on the membership forms, perhaps to stress further that the pledge should not be so unpalatable to the minds of a nature common to many of our prospects.

The times have changed and it has been a number of decades since the Communist witch-hunts. The pledge today does more harm than it does good to the Party and it is does not reflect the main principle of our core values. It is time to remove it.

Government-mandated Video Cameras

After reading today in the paper that Rep. Mike Caputo and White Hall Mayor Jesse Corley were proposing an ordinance to force 24-hour convenience stores to install video cameras, I e-mailed the following letter to the Editor.

Editor of the Fairmont Times West Virginian:

I am concerned that White Hall Mayor Jesse Corley is proposing an ordinance which would mandate that certain area businesses purchase security cameras for their own protection. I think that, as a general rule, we should think twice before we consider allowing the government to force us to place video cameras in our daily lives at our own expense.

While I understand that the recent violence has left us feeling helpless, I am disturbed by the growing number of reactionary government laws that seek to usurp the judgment of free citizens for our own good. As Mayor Corley said, without having to quote him too far out of context, "This could grow into a much bigger thing."

David Wallace Croft
White Hall Resident
Marion County Chair, Libertarian Party of West Virginia

1997-09-20

John Brown (LPWV State Chair), Dr. Richard Kerr (LPWV State Vice-Chair), Karl Swisher (LPWV VP Membership), Travis Raines (WVU LP Club President), and I had the opportunity to get together on the 5th at Dr. Kerr's home to go over membership literature issues. Unfortunately, it has been too long for me to remember all that we talked about. I do recall, however, that we decided that it would be a good idea to practice our Party procedures as though we were a large party so we wouldn't have to change our structure as we grew. We also decided that it might be a good idea to combine our membership revenues with the national Party later down the road.

We talked about requesting the funds for a real domain name, lpwv.org, at the next Executive Committee. We may have briefly touched upon the idea of communicating using an electronic mailing list server. I volunteered to convert the old snail-mail state newsletters to web pages so that they would be accessible to our posterity. Here's a start.

Today I attended the third meeting of the Young Republican Club of Marion and Harrison Counties. I am now a member. There are a lot of closet Libertarians in that bunch. We talked briefly about coming up with a platform. I would like to see Marion County Libertarians come up with a platform as well so we could compare them side-by-side, Republicans and Libertarians. It was suggested that a booth be set up at the October 10th Balloon Festival. Perhaps the Libertarians can show some presence as well.

One of the things we talked about at the YR meeting was the upcoming vote on whether to change the state constitution to allow the WV government to invest pension funds in the stock market. My opinion is that we shouldn't. I don't trust the government to manage money. They'll just buy high and sell low. I also don't think that that is a proper role for government.

1997-08-23

Dr. Richard Kerr (LPWV State Vice-Chair), Travis Raines (WVU LP Club President), Mr. and Mrs. Bergen, and I spent some time working an LP booth at the Monongalia County Fair recently. It was fairly successful. We used materials that Dr. Kerr had procured from the "Advocates for Self-Government" (http://www.self-gov.org/). We had a survey which asked 10 questions, 5 on issues of personal freedom and 5 on issues of economic freedom. Once the prospect had filled out the form we would then use the answers to map them on a board as one of the following: Libertarian, Conservative, Authoritarian, Liberal, or Centrist. Of course, we pushed literature and collected names, especially from those who fell on the grid into the Libertarian area. You can take the survey yourself at the aforementioned web site.

Today I sent the following by snail mail to all registered Libertarians in Marion County.

Marion County Registered Libertarians and Prospects:

Please allow me to introduce myself. I am David Croft, presently the Marion County Chair for the Libertarian Party of West Virginia (LPWV). My family and I have recently moved here from California. When I found out that Marion County was one of the few counties in WV not to have a representative Chair, I volunteered and found myself appointed by John Brown, our State Chair, at a recent LPWV Executive Committee meeting.

John Brown suggested that I might wish to contact the Marion County Clerk for a list of registered Libertarians. I did so and discovered that, as of 1997-08-11, there are 8 of us. I am hoping that we can get together occasionally to discuss Libertarians ideas and pitch in to support the Party efforts. If you would, please send me your phone number and your electronic mail address and I'll contact everyone to see if we want to have an initial luncheon or some such.

For your information, I've been keeping a few notes on the Marion County arm of the LPWV on the Internet. You can find this at the web page http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~croft/lp/marion.html. I do not know if I will be sending out a newsletter by paper mail or not. I suppose this depends on what we decide to do as a group.

I would love to hear from you. Please give me a call and I'll jot down your number. Later I'll call around and see if we want to meet to discuss LP issues, especially those of specific interest to Marion County residents.

1997-07-29

On this date, this web page was first posted.

I recently attended the Libertarian Party of West Virgina (LPWV) Executive Committee (Execom) Meeting on the 26th. John K. Brown, the LPWV Chair, introduced me as the Marion County Chair, to my delight.

At the meeting, I learned that there are an estimated 5 registered Libertarians in Marion County. It was also announced that the Libertarian Party had been promoted from the "Other" category to a checkbox of its own alongside the Democrats and the Republicans on the forthcoming WV State voter registration form.


Comments regarding this web page may be sent to
David Wallace Croft