Results from the 9 October UNM Rally

Current mood: excited

For those wondering how the Gary Johnson UNM Rally for Jobs, Opportunity and Diversity on Tuesday, 9 October 2012 went, here's some of the details:

I arrived right at about 5:25 PM, after spending about ten minutes looking for a parking lot – the "A" lot was packed. I ended up paying the ∅7.00 for a spot in the parking structure next to the square by the SUB.

Upon arriving at the ballroom, I dropped off my plastic milk crate full of brochures at the LPNM table manned by Mark Curtis, Ron Bjornstad, Elizabeth Honce, Elisheva Levin, and others.

After dropping off the supplies (it was a bit painful to carry that crate from the parking structure to the ballroom), I met Tom Mahon and Todd Myers where "Jack Gault" was parked. They had a spare Sharpie marker-pen on hand, so I signed the van on the front of the hood – dead-center, right above the edge where the latch is located.

At the same time, I made contact with the Sigma Alpha Epsilon representative and made myself available for my speaking slot.

While waiting for my speaking time, I went to the "green room" and had my picture taken with Gary Johnson.

So I presented my speech, came in at 6:20 – 1:20 longer than the 5 minutes I had planned for. While I didn't get the standing ovations that later speakers got, several people came up to me afterwards and complimented me on my bit.

Next up for the podium was the Independent American Party's candidate for U.S. Senate, Jon Barrie. If Jon wasn't running, I suspect many New Mexico Libertarians would be casting blanks come their time at the ballot "box." Jon talked for about ten minutes, mentioned that the politicians had their chance (too many chances to be forgiven come the election) to fix things, and ended with a standing ovation from the audience.

Following Jon Barrie was Paul Gessing of the Rio Grande Foundation, New Mexico's only think-tank that supports what the Tea Party claims to support – free-market economics, public-sector fiscal restraint, individual rights and Constitutionally-limited government. Paul talked about what New Mexico needs to prosper as a state.

After Paul, Jim Villanucci of 770 KKOB-AM spoke about how much crap listeners were giving him about his not supporting Mittens. After all, it's either "you're for Romney or you're for Obama," correct? Not even close – and with that, Jim introduced Gary Johnson as the only candidate in the presidential race worthy of libertarians' support.

Here's the video clip on YouTube of Gary's speech – http://youtu.be/bInmA5MhXTg

What did Gary discuss? First, he talked about his business background – he started Big J Enterprises on his own out of college, built it to 1,000 employees, then sold it in 1999 without having to fire anyone. He said that his business career is just a testament to showing up on time and doing what you say you'll do for people, maybe a little more.

His unsolicited advice to the audience? Go into business for yourself as opposed to punching someone else's time-clock – you'll find it much more rewarding. This dovetails with what I've heard from other libertarian entrepreneurs . . . .

Here's some of his talking points:

• With everything that you do in life, there are obstacles – you just have to keep going.
  
  
• When he first ran for office (1994), the GOP leadership blew him off as "unelectable," but he ended up winning the general election.
  
  
• While serving as Governor of New Mexico, he vetoed 750 pieces of legislation – more than the other 49 governors in the country put together. He had thousands of line-item vetoes, taking it to a new level – only two were overridden.
  
  
• With those vetoes, he saved up a few dumptrucks-full of ∅∅∅∅∅∅∅ by cutting out unnecessary spending and blocking regulations that weren't going to make us the slightest bit safer.
  
  
• The powers-that-be predicted imminent disaster after Johnson's vetoes, which didn't happen. Also, he was an equal-opportunity vetoer – he vetoed bad bills from Republicans
  
  
• Of all of the presidential candidates for the 2012 election season, he's the only one viewed favorably in his home state – "people wave at me with all five fingers, not just one."
  
  
• Of all the presidential candidates, he had the best record on job creation, except that he didn't create any jobs as governor – any jobs created were created by the private sector. There was certainty in New Mexico's regulatory environment, and that makes it easier for the private sector to create jobs.
  
  
• Out of all of the presidential candidates, he has the most "Liberty Torches" from the ACLU (21 out of 24).
  
  
• He's the only candidate who doesn't want to bomb or use sanctions against Iran. Iran isn't the threat to America or anyone else that the hairspray-heads supporting the Imperial District make it out to be.
  
  
• China isn't a threat to America due to the way the two countries trade with each other.
  
  
• Bring the troops home from Afghanistan now.
  
  
• Military interventions around the world mostly create more enemies for America.
  
  
• Marriage equality is a federal issue and constitutionally guaranteed.
  
  
• He's the only presidential candidate who wants to end the drug wars now. Over fifty percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana. Ninety percent of the drug problem is prohibition-related, not user-related.
  
  
• If he had been president after "9/11," hw would have vetoed the USA-PATRIOT Act of 2001 and the NDAA-2012. "Homeland Security" is incredibly redundant. Let's leave airport security to the airports, airlines, cities, etc.
  
  
• We need to balance the federal budget now – he promises to submit a balanced budget to Congress for 2013. Otherwise, with the current out-of-control Federal Reserve, we're looking at a monetary collapse at some point in the future. What we need is a 43 % cut in spending across the board.
  
  
• When someone complains about the idea of a 43 % cut in Medicare spending, the alternative is NO Medicare. (Same goes for the rest of the welfare state, too – tighten the belt or lose your shirt.)
  
  
• Cut military spending by 43 % too – the operative word there is "defense," not "offense," not "nation-building."
  
  
• The current spending situation is the biggest threat to our national security.
  
  
• He's the only candidate who wants to dump the income tax, corporate tax and replace them with one consumption tax – the "Fair Tax."
  
  
• He's the only candidate that would shut down the Federal Reserve.

Notes and recollections from the event:

• The estimated total attendance was around 500 people.
  
  
• Cleanup was rather easy – it mostly consisted of policing up unused campaign supplies that were left behind by attendees.
  
  
• I was expecting someone from the GOP to attempt some sort of disruption – bringing in signs for Romney or Wilson, that sort of thing. Luckily, nothing of the sort happened that I saw.
  
  
• I found some campaign cards from three Republicans running for State-level judgeships on the floor in the seating area – Miles Hanisee, David Standridge, and Samuel Winder. It was also reported to me by event staff that Judge Winder himself had been in the audience.
  
  
• Someone (ID unknown) had apparently issued invitations to both Martin Heinrich and Heather Wilson to appear on the speakers' list. After all, it's a non-partisan event, due to SAE being a 501-C-3 entity and all. I was told that while Heinrich declined immediately, Wilson dithered and vacillated around about it for two weeks, declining for sure on the Monday before (8 October).
  
  
• About 60 percent of the brochures that I brought with me were picked up by attendees and passerby – which helped a lot on the way back to the parking structure. (Note to self: get a hand-truck for next time!)

All in all, this was the best-attended LPNM event I've seen yet in my 18 years with the organization. Thanks to all who made it possible:

The UNM Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Jon Barrie
Ron Bjornstad
Chris Chase
Mark Curtis
Paul Gessing
Susan Ann Holland
Elizabeth Honce
Melanie Hyland
Gary Johnson
Bruce Levin
Elisheva Levin
Tom Mahon
Sean Mallory
Todd Myers
Reviva
Kyle Ruggles
Jim Villanucci
Bob Walsh

Apologies to anyone I've omitted – the fault there is entirely mine.

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NOTES

1. Reposted –
   
   
   1. Personal micro-blogs – Facebook / Google Plus / Twitter / Xanga
      
      
   2. Personal blogs – Blogspot / Wordpress / Xanga
      
      
   3. LPUSA / LPNM – LPNM Blog / LPNM Facebook group / New Mexico Libertarians Facebook group / [LPNM-discuss] Yahoo! group
      
      
   4. The Weekly Sedition
      
      
   5. Duke City Fix / NMPolitics.org

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