The government being what it is, I’m very glad we DON’T have to fill out a 1040 every day. Just think what a favor the government is doing for us by letting file only once per year.

Of course I am being satirical. This argument is like someone punching you in the face once per week and saying you’re lucky they’re not punching you daily.

So long as we are stuck with taxes, the question is, "How much tax should we pay?" There is a framework, an ultimate range in terms of percentages. We can pay between (and including) 0% and 100% of our income (whether individual, corporate, excise, import, export, blah, blah, blah). Yes, yes, I know--some of you are saying theoretically we could borrow from others to go below 0% or above 100%. . . don’t get all hair-splitty on me.

131 days to pay federal, state, and local taxes;

123 days for federal, state, and local government spending; and

50 days to pay for the state and federal regulatory burden.

Further breakdown:

The annual Gay Freedom Day celebration, drawing hundreds of thousands of people in San Francisco, is an outstanding outreach opportunity for the Libertarian Party, with its strong stand against government oppression of all kinds.

Last year, after a lapse of several years, the LPSF had a booth, which, despite its out-of-the-way location (as the result of a last-minute application), drew an encouraging amount of attention. A large sign saying, "Supporting gay marriage and adoption since 1971" brought people in eagerly asking where to sign up. (We don’t have a copy of the 1971 platform; it’s possible that the first explicit mention of gay marriage and adoption was in Ralph Raico’s pamphlet "Gay Rights: A Libertarian Approach," published by the Party for the MacBride campaign in 1975.) We had a number of petitions for passers-by to sign, and we secretly fear that many people, in their rush to endorse gay marriage and adoption, failed to notice that they were petitioning to repeal the cigarette tax. The "World’s Smallest Political Quiz," with a poster for people to identify their position with stick-on dots, was one of two activities for the curious. Taking another inspiration from the Advocates for Self-Government, we set up two pairs of jars for people to vote with pennies. Each pair was labeled "Less" and "More." The question under the first pair was, "How much do you want the government to control your life?" The question under the second was, "How much do you want the government to control other people’s lives?" Judging from the many embarrassed laughs and agonized expressions, this was an effective device for getting people to confront the inconsistencies in their own political beliefs.

Unfortunately, it was a major embarrassment that we had no literature specifically on gay rights to distribute. Raico’s outstanding pamphlet from 25 years ago was the last published by the LP, and it has been out of print for many

58.4 days to pay for state and local outlays and regulations;

38.8 days for federal regulations;

28.5 days for Social Security and Medicare;

22.3 days for all other federal programs;

13.2 days for defense;

10.9 days for interest payments; and

11.1 days for federal grants to state and local governments.

If you think we are paying too much in tax, come to our next meeting at:

Round Table Pizza, second floor

5160 Geary Boulevard (at 16th Avenue)

5:00pm

Sincerely,

David Molony

Chair, LPSF

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Please send your

e-dresses

The LPSF recently purchased Goldmine software to manage its database, and Dave Molony is in process of cleaning up the database (it was merged from several sources) before turning it over to Vince Grubbs, who will be in charge thereafter. If we do not yet have your e-mail address on file, we encourage you to send it to David Molony at <chair@lpsf.org>. E-mail allows us to get in touch with members both quickly and cheaply with late-breaking news and announcements. Giving us your e-mail address does not mean that you will be sent the newsletter electronically, unless you so request.

Many thanks, however, to all of you who have agreed to receive the newsletter by e-mail. We have heard so far from about 10% of the membership. That would appear to imply that Libertarians are much less connected electronically than we commonly assume--or, on the other hand, this response may represent 100% of those who read the newsletter. In any event, you will be saving us over $20 a month, probably $250 a year.

years. Its references to the McGovern-Shriver campaign are also embarrassingly dated. Mike Acree recently called the National Office to see if a new pamphlet could be produced in time for use at Gay Freedom Day celebrations around the nation this June. Steve Dasbach said they were too busy with other projects to meet that deadline, but that if he wanted to draft a pamphlet, the National Office would help with production. Mike is currently working on that, in consultation with other gay-friendly members of the LPSF.

Although we missed the application deadline for a parade contingent last year, at the March 2000 meeting the LPSF voted to approve the $50 fee to have a contingent in the parade. Now the fun begins. We will need lots of volunteers for that day, Sunday, June 25--including some to staff the booth in the morning while others are marching in the parade. Each contingent must have at least two monitors, whose job it is to keep the crowd from interfering with the parade. Monitors must attend one of several 2-hour training sessions; they wear a special vest, and are not allowed to carry signs. In addition to monitors, we need two people to carry our banner, and still others to carry signs. We have not paid for a float, though conceivably that could be arranged. But there are lots of opportunities for creativity in a walking contingent. Two Miss Liberties walking hand-in-hand? Your imagination is probably better than ours. Just carrying signs--"Libertarian Party: Freedom Is for Everyone," "Libertarian Party: Pro-Choice on Everything Peaceful"--is a great way to expose thousands of people--people in a festive, generous mood--to libertarian ideas. Keep in mind that a pathetically small contingent can create a correspondingly pathetic impression of the Libertarian Party. Let’s make it look as if there are more than six Libertarians in San Francisco. You don’t have to be twisted to join the fun!

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Outgoing Chair

Starchild Fêted

As we all know, extroverts are invaluable to political movements, and the number of outgoing libertarians can practically be counted on the fingers of one ear. Starchild is a rare ENFP, with the accent on the P (for those of you who know the Kiersey-Bates Please Understand Me system, which David Bergland has promoted to Libertarians), and

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all of us now active in the LPSF are indebted to him for reviving interest in the chapter. Among his special contributions are his ongoing outreach efforts to single-interest groups commonly neglected by the LP, such as late-night dance enthusiasts who have been harassed by police. As newly appointed Outreach Coordinator, he will continue these important efforts.

In appreciation of his work on behalf of the LPSF over the past 2 years, several members treated him to dinner on Sunday, April 9 (Nathaniel Branden’s 70th birthday). Like many libertarians, Starchild is a vegetarian; but there are also a remarkable number of libertarians who refuse to eat any vegetables. Consequently, agreeing on a restaurant was something like the experience at a famous conference in Canada some years ago where academic feminists and sex workers met to try to identify common grounds for working together: It turned out that all of the sex workers were smokers and none of the academics were, so they could never agree on a common meeting room, and the meeting fell apart. Thanks to the flexibility of one or two Libertarians who paid generously to eat practically nothing at all, we were able to meet at Millennium Restaurant, at 246 McAllister Street, a gourmet vegetarian restaurant which all except the incorrigible carnivores found outstanding. One attendee, noting that libertarians are not usually known for their rambunctiousness, expressed considerable surprise at the volume level generated by our table. Conceivably the beverage may have had something to do with it; the two bottles donated by Michael Denny brought the total consumption to nearly a bottle per person. Such an extraordinarily good time was had by all that there was talk of instituting a policy requiring an officer to resign from time to time.

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November Supervisors Election

November 2000 will begin the election of 11 District Supervisors in San Francisco, a big change from all at-large positions. Since all candidates will be effectively nonincumbents, it provides a unique opportunity for new people to seek office in San Francisco. All Supervisory positions are nonpartisan; therefore Libertarians have a particularly good opportunity to be successful. Libertarians have had great success in local nonpartisan races around the country where the habit of party-line voting doesn't exist. Wouldn't it be wonderful to hear a libertarian message around city hall?

(Note underscore between gd and board).

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Forthcoming Events

Saturday, April 29: LPSF monthly meeting, upstairs at Round Table Pizza, 5160 Geary Boulevard (at 16th Avenue). Business meeting 3-5; social hour 5-6. Following up on the March Free Exchange topic, Michael Edelstein suggests animal rights as a topic for discussion at this month’s social hour. David Molony proposes taxes. Other recent topics have included Jacob Hornberger’s criticisms of the Browne campaign and the national LP office, and the perennial issue of anarchy vs. limited government. But the discussion itself is anarchistic, a free-for-all without top-down control, so feel free to bring your own favorite issue.

Saturday, May 20: Free Exchange presents HANS-HERMANN HOPPE, famous economist from University of Nevada, creator of the brilliant and groundbreaking "What Must Be Done" tapes, which specify how to get from here (monopoly government/protection racket) to there (freedom to choose one's protection agency). 601 Van Ness Avenue (between Turk and Golden Gate), Opera Plaza Homeowners Community Room on mezzanine level (elevator in front of movie theater). Potluck at 6:30, talk at 8:00. An unbelievable bargain at only $5. For more information, call Jeanie Kennedy at (415) 970-0400.

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David Molony

chair@lpsf.org

(415) 516-3151

Kelly Russell Simpson

KellySimpson@pacbell.net

(415) 487-9325

Vince Grubbs

vwg@sirius.com

(415) 682-9482

Mike Acree

macree@psg.ucsf.edu

(415) 668-5794

Jerry Cullen

gtcullen@slip.net

(415) 567-9642

Mike Denny

mfd@MichaelDenny.net

(415) 616-0643

Starchild

dreamer@ziplink.net

(415) 626-3036

Jerry Pico

picoman@mindspring.com

Opinions expressed in unsigned columns of the Golden Gate Libertarian do not necessarily represent those of anyone but the Editor.

Submissions are encouraged. The deadline (including agenda and calendar items) is the first Thursday of the month. Text sent by e-mail should be put in the body of the message (no attachments) and sent to Mike Acree at <macree@psg.ucsf.edu>. Photos and artwork should be mailed to Mike Acree, 859 45th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94121-3223. Please let us know if you want your item returned.

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