Retired UT Austin Professor Joanne Richards is Vice Chair of Ranked Choice Voting for Texas, as well as the founder of Common Ground for Texans, and will bring that experience and her education in human physiology & philosophy to our next meeting this month to speak about RCV and how we may lobby for it spreading to where we vote.
Since majority votes elect officers, including presidents of the United States on down the ballot, people have been moving away from plurality voting methods which can result in expensive runoffs, and toward alternatives such as Approval, Star, and Rank Choice Voting.
The movement not only reduces time & money spent by voters, it opens the door to voting for whom we want rather than against whom we fear winning, thus may finally get us unstuck from the uniparty’s self-serving, 2-party system, freeing people to elect candidates they want as opposed to the proverbial lesser of two evils.
“By eliminating runoff elections, ranked choice voting saves money for taxpayers and candidates and voters don’t need to wait for a second election later to determine the winner. Candidates campaign on issues rather than denigrating their opponent.
“What is not to like about ranked choice voting?”
Notice of Special Convention
“Libertarian Party of Travis County will hold a special convention to elect a new Treasurer due to the resignation of Diane Engel. Affiliated members are eligible to run for the position and to vote on the position. The convention will be held in conjunction with our monthly meeting” in August 2023.
LPTravis Chair, @tedbrowntclp
So please join us on Monday, August 14, 2023 at 6:45-9:00 PM at Casa Chapala, 9041 Research Blvd., in Austin TX (183 & Burnet Road).
And invite friends, too!
This month’s meeting features a couple of country-trotting activists who’ve been making a big splash and a big difference in the liberty world: Jeff Charles & Doni Anthony
“Fierce Defender of Liberty” Doni is a human rights activist who travels across the country to teach groups of people how to defend their individual liberties. She produces blogs & podcasts for Liberty or Else.
“Liberty Nerd” Jeff Charles hosts the podcast A Fresh Perspective, and is a contributor for RedState, Newsweek Opinion, and his Substack titled Chasing Liberty. Jeff is also a freelance writer and political contributor who has appeared on Fox News, The Hill’s “Rising”, Fox Soul, Newsmax, and the First TV Network.
Separately and together they’ve taken the countryside by storm, promoting freedom and actively fighting for it, and have become Twitter sensations in their own right.
So please join us on Monday, July 10, 2023 at 6:45-9:00 PM at Casa Chapala, 9041 Research Blvd., in Austin TX (183 & Burnet Road).
And invite friends, too!
This month’s guest speaker is an entrepreneur and tireless freedom advocate who has taken the FDA to court, and more.
Travis Pinkerton serves as the President of the United States Vaping Association (USVA), a trade organization he founded in 2020. Along with like-minded small business owners in the industry they came together with one common goal: Fighting back against over-regulation of the vape industry.
The organization was an easy sell to other small businesses that grew frustrated with powerful advocacy groups that had burned through millions of dollars with little to show for their efforts. The first action taken by the USVA would be to file a lawsuit against the US government and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This organization continues acting against burdensome regulations that disproportionately affect small businesses in the industry. The success of the USVA has proven that direct action by citizens with the rule of law on their side is an effective strategy to combat overreaching actions taken by a government that favors corporations. Nearly all the success in fighting back against the government has been by the actions of the USVA with the backing of small businesses.
Travis owns thriving businesses Premium Vapor Technologies LLC (VTA), Primitive Farms LLC, and Chillohs.
In 2014 he started VTA as a DBA hoping to carve out a little niche in an industry that was at the time a novel idea. Through much sacrifice and hard work, he grew the business from the ground up without any outside help, and it quickly grew into a small business that required its own space and staff.
Primitive Farms was established in 2016 to expand the operation to hemp-based CBD products.
Then in 2018, with the expansion of The Farm Bill, Chillohs was formed to address consumers‘ desire for alternative methods of delivery for an array of hemp products newly legalized in the US.
So please join us on Monday, June 12, 2023 at 6:45-9:00 PM at Casa Chapala, 9041 Research Blvd., in Austin TX (183 & Burnet Road).
And invite friends, too!
May’s meeting will feature special guest speaker Max Borders, plus legislative updates possibly from LPTexas Legislative Coordinator Kevin Hale and/or activist & cannabis advocate Elizabeth Miller.
Max is a prolific writer & speaker and theorist & futurist, as well as serial entrepreneur & generous philanthropist. Among other ventures & endeavors, he’s the former Editor & Content Director at Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) and current Executive Director of Social Evolution, and co-founded experiential events such as Future Frontiers (preceded by Voice & Exit).
Also an author, he’ll be available for book signing and may have a few tomes onhand for sale if you don’t have any yet.
Max’s next book is due for release in May 2023: Underthrow.
And ask him about the $20,000 Constitution writing contest!
So please join us on Monday, May 8, 2023 at 6:45-9:00 PM at Casa Chapala, 9041 Research Blvd., in Austin TX (183 & Burnet Road).
And invite friends, too!
The Libertarian Party of Travis County is endorsing a Yes vote for Prop A, and also a No vote on Prop B here on the May 2023 ballot.
It’s a sordid story full of misdirection. Prop B is almost an exact copy of Prop A, except that the Austin Police Association watered down or outright removed key citizen oversight demands altogether. Instead, these half measures would be left in the hands of the union or the force itself.
The Austin Chronicle isn’t always aligned with our voting choices, but they’ve written a lot about the issue, and summed it up nicely here.
Early voting is open until May 2nd, election day is May 6th. Early voting locations here.
Libertarian Party of Travis County 