I recently participated in a panel discussion among Utah political party leaders on KCPW's "Midday Metro." Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson hosted the program.

During our discussion, Mayor Anderson asked Deanna Taylor of the Desert Greens about the impact Ralph Nader's Green Party presidential bid arguably had on Al Gore's Democratic Party presidential bid. Did Nader spoil the race for Gore and elect George W. Bush?

Many Greens believe that spoiling Democrats like Gore is preferable to electing Democrats like Gore.

Memorial Day 2006 marks the anniversary of Liberty for Utahns!

In a year's time, how have the women and men who are serving, or have served, in the U.S. military fared?

"It's always the war widows who lead the Memorial Day parade."

--Charlie, "The Americanization of Emily"

In May 2005, there were 1666 U.S. fatalities resulting from military operations in Iraq.

The approaching anniversary of Liberty for Utahns! inspires me to explain why I came up with the title for this blog that I did.

Doing so requires an exploration of some differences between both libertarianism and statism, and liberty and democracy.

If you glance at the upper-right section of the LPUtah's homepage, you will see a diamond-shaped graphic that contrasts not only left-liberals and right-conservatives, but libertarians and authoritarian-statists.

The position of these labels describes the degree of economic and personal freedom favored or disfavored by those who hold these political philosophies.

SALT LAKE CITY -- At its nominating convention on Saturday, April 29, 2006, majority of delegates present nominated the following individuals as the Libertarian Party of Utah’s candidates for this year’s general election:

SALT LAKE CITY – The April 21, 2006 deadline for the first Fair Representation Challenge to Utah's colleges and universities passed without any entries, according to the Libertarian Party of Utah.

As a result, the $1,000 intended to be donated to the general scholarship fund of the winning school remains unawarded this year.

However, the LPUtah's Chairman Rob Latham will ask his party leadership to authorize the award next year.

"Our desire to encourage the use of more competitive and representative electoral systems at Utah colleges and universities remains the same," says Latham.

April 19th is a storied date in American history and the fight for freedom. The "shot heard 'round the world" that started the American Revolution was fired in Concord, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775.

In Waco, Texas on April 19, 1993, a raid by federal agents left 76 people dead.

Motivated by the events in Waco, Timothy McVeigh admitted to participating in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that left 168 people dead exactly two years later.

"Let's not reform taxes. Let's eliminate them, starting with the income tax."

--Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

If you had $1000 to donate, would you give it to the Salvation Army or to FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency)?

Would you give it to the Shriners Hospitals for Children, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which administers Medicaid?

Unable to remove from their hands the metaphorical blood of innocent Afghanis, Iraqis, and misled U.S. soldiers, Utah neoconservatives have turned their attention to undermining fair elections in Salt Lake County.

The neocon presence in Salt Lake County, much less Utah, hasn't received significant coverage by members of the local mainstream media -- some of whom oftentimes seem content to take an uncritical approach and cheerlead when on press tours sponsored by members of the military-industrial complex.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Republican candidates in Utah's swing districts will receive special attention from Libertarian candidates as a result of the Utah GOP's loss to Utah Democrats in the Fair Representation Challenge.

In advance of the candidate filing period, which begins Tuesday, March 7, the Libertarian Party of Utah announced that the Utah Republican Party is the incumbent party that did the least to make elections in Utah more competitive and representative.

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Utah notes the passing of the party's 1996 and 2000 presidential candidate, Harry Browne.

"It's a sad day for me and many other Libertarians," said Rob Latham, Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Utah. "On behalf of the Libertarian Party of Utah, I extend our condolences to Harry's family, and share our collective gratitude to his family for sharing his life with us."

An author of many books, Browne made several visits to Utah during his presidential runs. During one of his visits, he met with the editorial board of the then-named Deseret News.