The Libertarian Party of Northeast Ohio is an affiliate of the Libertarian Party of Ohio.  The Northeast LPO encompasses the counties of Lorain, Medina, Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, and Ashtabula.  Our mission is to defend, advance, and restore the cause of liberty to our region and our nation through the political process of building membership, obtaining relations with the media, organizing our infrastructure, and ultimately fielding and running candidates for public offices.  We are always looking for new ways to promote the Libertarian Party and our ideals to Greater Cleveland.

Bruce mentioned that the term "money" is not clearly defined even by the government.  In fact, most economists aren't aware of what it actually is.  Money must possess three qualities:  quantity (how many given items), measurememt (usually determined by weight), and substance (such as silver and gold).  Bruce pointed out that not even bankers can identify what constitutes the qualities for our money system, because they don't exist.  Currently, the term "dollar" is considered a unit of value, but traditionally it was applied as a unit of weight and measure.  For example, "ten dollars" is not a complete measurement because the substance is left out ("ten dollars of silver" would be an accurate description of a given piece of money).  This is a good example of how the government and its interest groups distort the English language to establish control over their subjects.  Nowhere, even in Black's Law Dictionary, is the term "Income" defined, even though every civilian pays "Income" taxes.

Originally, Western money was based on the Biblical principle of Just Weights and Measures.  People would trade goods with certain agreeable weights of a certain commodity, which have historically been gold and silver.  Their values based on weight were determined by the market.  However, the Constitution gave Congress the power to mint money, and "Regulate the Value Thereof," making the "dollar" a unit of value instead of a unit of weight.  This enabled Congress to reduce the amount of silver in every coin lesser than the dollar coin, which occured in 1853.  Early in the Republic, private banks issued notes that represented money, which were "bills of credit," but were never considered actual money.  Bills of Credit were always redeemable with gold or silver.  This changed during the War of the States, when Fiat Money (bills of credit not backed with any commodity) was issued.  After the war was over, the nation switched back to gold and silver, but Fractional Banking was practiced, where banks would issue far more notes than there was gold or silver in its treasury, leading to massive depressions.  This gave the U.S. Government the excuse to create the Federal Reserve System to control the money supply, issuing bills of credit (redeemable with gold or silver), under its own fractional system (which led to the Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression).  This granted FDR the excuse to outlaw the private ownership of gold or silver, to be transferred to Federal Reserve Banks.  By 1968, only 15 percent of the "paper money" in circulation was backed by gold or silver, none of it was circulated, and in the next three years the metallic standard was abolished altogether.  Never again could you redeem Federal Reserve Notes with gold or silver, and Fiat Money became the permanent standard.

The "paper money" in which we circulate has no real market value.  The cost to produce it is actually about two cents, with virtually no limits on how much the FRS may print.  Even the "coin money" which still exists is much less valuable than it used to be, and is not proportional with each other (especially with the Susan B. Anthony Dollar).  The only plausible reason the masses labor and trade for worthless notes is because they are accepted as trade, but cannot be used for anything else.  The government and the banks have enslaved us in debt with Federal Reserve Notes, which are simply debts we owe to the government, which they may claim anytime.  Bruce suggests that the most honorable (and the most inconvenient) thing we can, and eventually must, do is to separate completely from our fraudulent monetary system, and return to the Biblical principle of hard, honest money.
 

Our regular monthly meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of every month, at Denny's in Parma, on the corner of Rockside Road (Snow Road) and Broadview Road.  You can get there by going I 480 to the "Brookpark Road" exit just West of I 77.  Turn Left, and continue through Tuxedo Road, and  keep going until you reach Broadview Road (a plaza will be on the right, a Dairy Queen will be on the left).  Turn Left, and keep going until you reach Rockside/Snow Road (National City will be on the left, Rally's will be on the right).  Turn right, and right after Rally's on your right is Denny's.  Dinner generally starts between 6:00 PM and 6:30 PM, with the speaker to start at 7:00 PM.  All of those interested in liberty are welcome.

Also our business meetings on the second Tuesday of the month are held at the same location and time, and are open to all LPO members.

On Tuesday, April 14th, we will be conducting elections for the different positions available in the Libertarian Party of Northeast Ohio.  These include Chair, Regional Representative, Secretary, Treasurer, Newsletter Editor, Web Director, Media Director, Marketing Director, Legal Consultant, and Outreach Coordinator.  All LP (including LPO) members residing in the Northeast Region (Counties:  Ashtabula, Lake, Geauga, Cuyahoga, Medina, Lorain) are encouraged to cast your votes for the contender of your choice, or if you are a member, you are encouraged to apply for these positions.  Northeast LPO elections will not be held again until March of 1999, so don't miss this opportunity!  Our April 14th business meeting takes place at Denny's in Parma, with dinner at 6:00 PM and the meeting and elections at 7:00 PM.  Directions are described above.
 

On Saturday, local activists included Garry Seman and Keith Donat, while activists from the East Central Region of the LPO included Mindy Terwilliger, Sally Corbett, and Tom Corbett.  On Sunday, Christian Warren was present from our region, with Mindy and Tom from the East Central Region.  Overall, it was an exciting event, and an excellent success.

The Libertarian Party has always upheld a tradition of standing up to the IRS and for freedom by encouraging local affiliates to conduct an annual tax protest on Tax Day.  The Northeast LPO Tax Protest will take place at Orange Street Post Office in downtown Cleveland.  Orange Street is just off of East Ninth Street right near Jacobs Field.  We will be passing out various Libertarian pamphlets to disgruntled serfs (citizens) who usually owe back taxes (according to IRS calculations, which aren't exactly the most accurate).  Trust me, it gets VERY crowded on April 15th during rush hour, and protestors from other organizations will attend as well.  Since we have official ballot forms from the State, we will also be accepting signatures necessary to obtain legal party status in Ohio.

April 15th is on a Wednesday, and the tax protest will take place from 6:00 to 9:00, and we plan to pass out plenty of literature and hopefully recieve some coverage from the media.  I am begging you to roll up your sleeves and join us at Orange Street Post Office that day.  For more information, or to confirm that you will attend, call me at (216)-295-0155.