I have always been pushed toward independent candidates and the libertarian platform.
Why run for office?
I run for office because I am tired of the theft of service provided by the city which could be seen as a monopoly. All they do is allow the environment to be torn up and panic peddles people from area to area.
What do you see as the issues?
I see so many issues that need to be addressed with the city. Two would be corruption and inequality.
What would you like to accomplish?
I hope to restore public faith in our local government.
How can we help?
I’m not sure how I could use help. I enjoy door knocking personally.
I became a Classical Liberal when I was an Intern at Pakistan’s leading free-market think tank Policy Research Institute of Market Economy (PRIME), Islamabad. There I learned the exact meaning of classical liberalism.
The more I studied and worked there the more I realized about the free-market economy and the hold of government. Later on, after completing my degree in Economics, I joined Alternate solutions Institute (AS Institute is Pakistan’s first Free Market think Tank) as a Training Coordinator, where I learned a lot about classical liberalism.
I thank Mr. Ali Salman, Dr. Khalil, and Dr. Raza Ullah with whom I worked closely for developing an interest in me regarding classical liberalism.
What is the vision for the “Alternate Solutions Institute”?
ASI’s vision is to promote a limited responsible government that protects liberty, life, and the property of the citizens of Pakistan under the rule of law.
What is the plan to attain that vision?
To achieve these ends, A. S. Institute
engages in the translation and publishing of relevant texts from other languages into Urdu;
prepares original texts based on research suggesting particular solutions to particular challenges;
and conducts seminars, workshops, and conferences to educate interested students, teachers, and journalists in the principles of classical liberalism.
What challenges do you face?
The main challenge that I face is; most of the citizens lack awareness of classical liberalism’s ability to bring political and social change. The second challenge is finding research topics that take into account the concerns of the citizens. Citizens need to understand the research. Barriers to research include socio-cultural barriers and limited available funds to do surveys.
How can we help?
You can promote my work in classical liberalism by sharing my writing.
Cameron County Frank Lozano 956-272-8929 cameron@lptexas.org Elected March 14, 2020
How did you become libertarian?
Ron Paul. It was during the 2008 primaries and I was non-partisan at the time. Trying to decide between becoming a democrat or republican. I especially liked Kucinich in the dem debates and Paul in the GOP debates. Ultimately, I sided with Dr. Paul.
How did you become chair?
When the prior Cameron Chair retired from his post I took up the mantle around 2017. Another former chair, Ben Neece helped out too, he had switched back to being a democrat, a self-described DINO.
What have you tried in the county?
I’ve tried meetings, election night watch parties, and some canvassing still trying to figure out what works.
What has worked, what hasn’t?
Nothing has really worked well. There isn’t much civic engagement or really any type of meetup infrastructure down here.
What is your vision for the county?
I hope to recruit more Libertarians, I have met with many libertarian-leaning folks and they just don’t see the point of the party. Some even think it’s counterproductive or hypocritical. I hope within the decade we can field at least one local candidate with a (LIB) next to their name.
What is your plan to attain that vision?
Raise awareness at any local events where I can talk to people and pass along pamphlets or stickers. There may be someone willing to try. If not, start planning my own run, if nothing else than to raise awareness.
What challenges do you face?
Apathy mostly. Also, this is a very poor community and a less educated one. We have the typical rural problem of a few families dominating politics along with cronyism and nepotism. Libertarianism at its core stands on a philosophy that really requires a person to be a few steps up Maslow’s hierarchy to begin to examine.
And interestingly, it’s less intuitive to understand than socialism or authoritarianism.
How can we help?
Sharing your knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. Also, just maintaining a network is crucial especially in our modern era.
A Chinese business is building a private city called Forest City on four reclaimed islands in Malaysia two miles from Singapore. The city will have 700,000 residents with commercial and industrial businesses. Originally Malaysia promised residency to the primarily Chinese property owners but has recently rescinded that promise.
I’m a second-generation Libertarian, my dad was involved with the party at local and state levels for a number of years, I was pretty young at that point though, so I didn’t have much interest in it.
My parents raised me and my siblings with —what is known as— Libertarian principals in mind, (Don’t hurt people, and don’t take their stuff.) but instead of instilling it in us as “Libertarianism” they just called it “doing the right thing” “kindness” and “being a decent human being” so as I grew up, naturally I fell in with Libertarians on the political spectrum.
How did you become chair?
I saw there was a need for advocacy of another choice other than just Red or Blue (mostly just Red around here). So I got the info from my good friend that was the chair of another county in the area (shout out to Kate Prather) and I’m now working to fill that need.
What have you tried in the county?
We’ve been active for almost 2 years now, our county is very small and VERY RED. We’ve had monthly meetings, and had a presence at festivals, and had a great response from people in the area. Right now we’re focusing on growth.
What has worked, what hasn’t?
I see everything as progress in one way or another. So far what we’ve been doing to grow our county has been working, even if it’s slowly.
What is your vision for the county?
I want to see a Libertarian on the ballot in every race in Camp County. Past and present it’s been “choose one of these 2 Republicans in March.” And that’s the only choice people have here, there will be a Democrat here or there, and maybe a contested race ever 25 or so years. It’s ridiculous.
The elitism here is insane. The incumbents stay in office for 10-20 years and then when they’re ready to leave they basically pick their successor.
What is your plan to attain that vision?
Grow the party, advocate for change, create a reputation as a legitimate choice, select good candidates, get Libertarians elected.
What challenges do you face?
The ever impending boot of the Duopoly stomping the life, liberty, and happiness out of those who seek to diminish their power. Y’know, the usual stuff.
How can we help?
Keep fighting, keep growing, and if you have any friends in NE Texas, send them my way.
I actually became a classic liberal at the end of high school. I read a variety of literature from political philosophy and soon realized that leftist ideals and policies are utopias that in practice lead mostly to a completely opposite result compared to the proclaimed ideals.
On the other hand, with conservatism, I have always been repulsed by his closedness to experimentation and too rigid treatment of life. So, I realized that classical liberalism is a philosophy that is not only adapted to human nature but at the same time allows the greatest possible freedom to the individual with the greatest degree of prosperity and standard of living.
Thinkers like Friedrich Hayek and Herbert Spencer have shaped my view of the world. All other ideologies that seek to desecrate the principles of classical liberalism to ensure greater security or equality generally end up in even greater insecurity, autocracy, and inequality.
There are many examples of this, from Venezuela through Cuba to the former Yugoslavia.
What is your vision for the “Liberal Forum”?
My vision for the Liberal Forum is for it to be a large, pivotal organization of principled advocacy for liberal policies, reforms, and values in Bosnian society.
What is your plan to attain that vision?
We have been realizing this plan for years through our education projects, public engagement, policy proposing, activism, but I believe in unlimited progress and every day requires new activities, ideas, and engagement in the promotion of liberal ideas and values.
My general plan is to gradually increase the scope and quality of activities and to a greater extent propose concrete policies in society, with the aim of achieving the strongest possible change.
What challenges do you face?
There are many challenges we face. We in Bosnia and Herzegovina have the traditional domination of conservatives and socialists in political and intellectual life and we do not have an established tradition of liberalism.
Therefore, we are almost at the very beginning of branding and building a liberal position in Bosnia, which is perhaps a longer and more difficult path, but it also gives you more motivation because you are becoming a pioneer in creating something truly epochal.
Another problem is that Bosnia, as a multiethnic society, is today burdened by ethnic nationalisms and the conflict of national policies, in relation to which some liberal policies and ideas receive less attention. We are just looking for a way to establish liberal ideas as a true alternative to all nationalist policies.
There are also purely technical issues, such as the fact that Bosnia as a former communist state does not have a tradition of private donations to organizations. Here NGOs become prey for domestic and foreign governments to promote their political interests, and we certainly want to avoid this and stay independent.
The problem is also that many people here are still afraid to openly advocate liberal ideas and values, because of the possible “negative reactions” of society, which is why the number of people who publicly present these ideas and are ready to be activists is much smaller than the actual number of followers.
But we are generally satisfied with the path we have taken.
How can we help?
Any support in terms of promotion and support for our work and especially connecting with individuals and organizations from around the world who fight for the same goal and the same values is very important for us because as part of a broader global movement that can use the knowledge and experience from our friends from other parts of the world, we can also do much more in little Bosnia.
I was looking to run for public office and researched all the parties in 2013. The Libertarian Party fits with my freedom concepts more so than the others.
How did you become a chair?
I applied. I went thru a vetting process of phone calls and was appointed a temporary chair. And then Have been elected for my 4th term this past convention.
What have you tried in the county?
Meetings, events, block walking, posting in social media, working with counties close to us to do events.
What has worked, what hasn’t?
Staying silent on issues. I need to post more. I live in a very red and very rural county. So need to be more vocal about liberty and our candidates.
What is your vision for the county?
To grow it so I cannot be chair. I want to see my county gold in each election. from local to federal.
What is your plan to attain that vision?
More social media posts in the days of the current pandemic. Then block walk more it works. Reach out to minorities more and make inroads into strongholds that the two old parties have. More events and spend more money on behalf of the county party with local businesses, so they know it is the Libertarian Party of Hale County doing business with them.
What challenges do you face?
Funding. Not have the materials to hold events, boost posts, place ads, block walk.
How can we help?
I would love to have a direct donation lead by leaders that help counties with having the basics and not just at election time.
Marianna is Director of External Relations at the Foundation for Economic Education aimed at teaching the humane value and ethical principles of free markets and entrepreneurship to FEE’s student audience.
She is a Ukrainian immigrant, raised in an entrepreneurial family, and has developed a life passion for promoting the ideals and virtues of liberty, strong character, personal responsibility, and private enterprise as a foundation required for human achievement.
Marianna has served as a Russian instructor for the US Air Force and is a fierce advocate and defender of homeschooling rights. For fun, Marianna is an accomplished ballroom and Latin dancer and instructor.
She also enjoys international travel, studying parenting and educational psychology as well as Objectivist philosophy. Marianna holds degrees in Communications, Russian, and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Aspen University.
Why do thousands leave Honduras each year and risk their lives to get to the United States, where most of them will become illegal immigrants with no rights? Conversely, why is China becoming prosperous so rapidly?
In the past 20 years, hundreds of millions of Chinese have escaped poverty. Average urban wages in China today are more than five times what they were 20 years ago. The Chinese Special Economic Zones (SEZs) were key to this burst in prosperity.
As Nobel laureate Ronald Coase and economist Ning Wang show in “How China Became Capitalist,” the SEZs created the conditions under which the Chinese working class began the path towards dramatically higher wages.
Free zones were created in Honduras in the late 1980s. At the time it was predicted that they would create more than 100,000 jobs. At their peak, they did exactly that. But due in part to competition from China, they did not result in significant wage growth.
How can Honduras up its game so that it can bring higher-quality, higher-wage jobs to the country? Traditional free zones and special economic zones have been on balance a spectacular success at reducing poverty around the world.
In Mauritius, Mexico, Ireland, China, and elsewhere zones have begun the booms that later resulted in greater economic liberalization and increased economic growth. Jeff Sachs lists export-processing zones as one of the very few successful approaches to reducing poverty.
The management guru Peter Drucker was blunter: “zones are the only anti-poverty program that works.” But traditional zones only reduce taxes and regulation. This is often an important step in attracting investment, creating jobs, and creating prosperity because most developing nations have byzantine tax structures and/or excessive regulation.
The next step in zone development consists of the creation of zones that provide access to higher quality law and adjudication.
I read Harry Browne’s book “Why Government Doesn’t Work” years ago. It was so informative, sensible, and practical that I couldn’t believe everyone didn’t want to be a Libertarian. At that time, there were few, if any Libertarian people in my area, and of course this was before the proliferation of social media.
I was a life long Republican, so stayed with that until a few years ago. Getting acquainted with Ron Paul helped tip me more to the Libertarian side of politics. When my husband and I saw that we couldn’t sway the Republican party towards being more for small government, we decided to commit to being Libertarian.
I was appointed the County chair of Navarro county. With my husband as co-chair, we have stayed active trying to spread the word.
Why run for office?
Because Neal Dikeman asked me to. LOL
Truly never thought about it till then. But I want to make sure that Libertarians have a presence and that people know we’re here and fighting for their liberty, even if they aren’t ready to vote for us.
Someone will hear the message and take it home with them. They may not want to vote for a Libertarian President yet but may decide to support a down-ballot candidate. Every step toward smaller government and more freedom is an important one.
What are the issues in the campaign?
My issues of concern are Social Security, Health Care, and the Federal Income Tax. What the government gives, it can take away. Medicare and Social Security seem to be under threat much of the time.
Privatizing Social security and/or making it a voluntary program would be a start. Medicare is such a complex issue and the main thing available to older people who pay in for years; so it’s not a program that will easily be changed.
Whenever possible, free-market solutions and getting government out of healthcare as much as possible is the goal. Encouraging businesses to offer monetary incentives and packages to employees who can use it to buy their own insurance would be one option.
This would save employers money as well as giving employees more choice in the coverage they buy. A person who loses their job shouldn’t have to pay the huge premiums from COBRA, or lose their coverage.
Taxing a person’s income… more or less carving money out of their time..is one of the most reprehensible taxes there is and must be done away with.
What do you want to accomplish in office?
To be a voice for liberty-minded people. To help spread the word of liberty and small government. I would anticipate looking at most spending bills with caution, and an intent to vote ‘no’ on them.
Of course, I realize that we have to work with the tools we’re given and the people around us. My philosophy is pragmatic…do what you can with what you have while working toward your goal to decrease or eliminate government spending and power.
How can we help? Keep getting the word about Libertarian principles.
Self-Determination Advocates 