<div dir="ltr"><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-21b21dd6-551c-f854-b79f-a7daf265d31d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Mr. Chairman:</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">A chill wind is blowing. Around this nation, and the globe, opposition is growing to trade, the source of our prosperity. Opposition to difference is growing, as is opposition to immigration. Some see in this a hope for a peaceful future, but this is a mistake - as Mises wrote, when goods and people cannot cross borders, bullets will. We have seen the rise of populism before, we have seen what this combination of nationalism, nativism and protectionism can wreak. </span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The world will need a strong, faithful voice for trade, for international understanding, for peace. The world needs a political party devoted to the principles that stand opposite the rising nationalist fervor. Fortunately, we are here. Tuesday confirmed what we have long promised: that </span><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">we are not going anywhere</span><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. From California to Massachusetts, Libertarian supported initiatives prevailed. </span><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">From coast to coast, Libertarians prepare today to take office</span><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. Ballot access victories remind the nation that our brand is strong and will not disappear. Here in Missouri, voters decided to amend the state constitution prohibiting new sales taxes, and decided against a hike in the cigarette tax. Judge Richard Teitelman of the Missouri Supreme Court, famed for his strong opinions on capital punishment (adopted by the US Supreme Court in </span><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Simmons</span><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">), the rights of the accused, and for his stand against zombie-debt, was retained in office, amidst a Republican sweep of the state. Our ticket shattered records, even against a backdrop of low turnout. While other parties competed, and won, by chasing their opponents away from the polls, our voters came out to support the most experienced and credible ticket on the ballot in all 50 states and DC.</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">One Day to a New Beginning</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">An election has passed. That's time for a new beginning - time to prepare for the next one and beyond. I suggest we begin by welcoming our new members, figuring out how to reach out to them and retain them, and solidifying the opposition to the new government. </span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Raise the Flag of Freedom High</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">For decades, we have warned of the dangers of the imperial presidency. We have asked the citizenry to consider, with each new power handed to government, what that power would mean in the hands of those with whom they disagree. Today liberals, conservatives, and all opponents of the noxious brand of populism now coming to power are realizing that this was not just some philosophical abstraction, nor were our warnings just attempts to scare them into adopting our ideological concerns. </span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Now, it is time for us to hold high our banner, and welcome those who are discovering the importance of our warnings. Let us be careful not to chase them away or send them scurrying back to the simplicity and comfort of advocating government programs to undo the evil effects of other government programs. Let us withhold our need to remind them that we told them so, and focus on the value of what we told them, and on working together to make it so.</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Every Man Will be a King</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">There is a fundamental incompatibility between populism and libertarianism. The libertarian calls for every man to be sovereign only over himself. The populist calls for the every-man to be a King. The populist calls for the highest priority in society to be the economic well-being of the every-man, of the man he thinks of as the silent majority. The libertarian knows that the path to a better world runs through the greater shared prosperity we can realize by protecting the weak, the minority, by making sure there is a voice for the man who cannot speak, and by allowing all to join in our dream of freedom. Narrow sectarian interests of the "every-man" cannot be reconciled with freedom for all.</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">There's a New World for the Winning</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The world that dawns, for us, is the 2017 municipal elections. Let us build on what we accomplished in this cycle, and let our newly elected officials this year and next serve as the important buffers between the people and the government in DC.</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">There's a New World to be Won</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">To our brothers and sisters on the left, we say - the peaceful transfer of power is one of those uniquely American bulwarks of freedom. If you feel, as we do, that so much of what is positive about America is under attack, do not react by throwing away this, too.</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">To our brethren on the right, we say - you are not locked in. You are completely free to fight for what is best in the conservative worldview, for free trade and free movement, for limited government - and not embrace the populism and nativism that have overtaken the Republican Party. </span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Do You Hear the People Sing?</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">There is, now, a new silent majority. The silent majority that stands against hate and for the oppressed. The silent majority that stands for the rule of law, protection of the accused, and due process. The silent majority that stands for freedom against narrow economic self-interest. The silent majority that stands for the wants of the consumer and the needs of the entrepreneur. </span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Supporters of the new populism barely outnumbered those who voted for the old elitism, but the supporters of freedom grew by leaps and bounds. There is, among that half of the population that did not vote, nary a trace of support for the hate-fueled nativism that won, and only modest support for the technocratic form of bureaucracy that lost. There is, though, strong support for the continued growth of our message and our cause.</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">My Place is Here, I Fight with You</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The election map and numbers are stark. On a county by county level, the picture is even clearer. An unscientific poll two months ago asked - who would win, and would it be close, or a landslide? Nationwide, the results were wrong: Clinton in a landslide. State by state, though, the results were revealing: in states that went to Clinton in a landslide, the plurality of the votes said that Clinton would win in a landslide. In states where Trump narrowly edged out a win, a plurality of voters thought Trump would win by a narrow margin, and so on. Only 5 states deviated from this pattern, plus one, New Hampshire, whose results in the poll matched the final outcome, but by pure chance, because there were not enough voters in the poll to give a significant result. </span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">We all live in our bubbles. People predicted the outcome based on what they saw around them. I hear discussions in the academic setting that take for granted the non-existence of Trump supporters. I hear from my volunteer firefighter friends the shock that anyone out there supported Clinton. Yet, this nation is united in many ways. Almost uniformly, I'd suggest, Clinton and Trump supporters agree on their second choice. <i>There is only one choice, then, to unify this nation, to steer away from those freedom-destroying dichotomies and bring forward the liberty-enhancing ideals that we all share. </i> </span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Watch Them Run Amok</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Catch Them as They Fall</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Never Know Your Luck When There's a Free For All</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In Freedom,</span></p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></div><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:garamond;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Joshua Katz</span></span><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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