Manhattan LP Freedom Pledge Program

Dear Friend of the Manhattan Libertarian Party,

In a moment we're going to show you how you can help the Manhattan LP to achieve great things for liberty in the next ten months. But first, let's take a look back at some highlights from the past year:

2004 was historic by any measure. The U.S. presidential elections, the War in Iraq and the continuing War on Terrorism, deadly hurricanes and catastrophic tsunamis, the debate over Gay Marriage, genocide in the Sudan, a sputtering economy, the death of President Reagan. It seemed like every headline in the news highlighted another area where our world could be or has been healed and transformed by freedom or free markets.

What if our President was held to his solemn oath to follow the Constitution? What if the United States traded freely in friendship with all, but heeded our Founders' admonition to remain neutral? What if individuals lived tax-free and could pursue free-market solutions to natural disasters and other world challenges, with the full buying power of all their personal resources? What if Sudanese civilians had the right to bear arms and defend themselves? What if the government got out of the marriage business and let people live their lives as they choose? What if taxes were dramatically reduced, igniting our economic potential? What if every President made freedom a personal crusade?

2004 was also a banner year for the Manhattan Libertarian Party. After a successful 2003 under Chairman Gary Snyder, which featured the [in]famous Guns For Tots campaign, preserving our kids' Right to Bear Toys, Jim Lesczynski took the helm of the MLP and embarked on perhaps an even more successful year of libertarian activism and publicity.

It all started in June, at the LP National Convention in Atlanta, when Michael Badnarik came out of nowhere to win the Libertarian Party nomination for President. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared that protestors opposed to George Bush's Republican Convention would be forbidden to gather and assemble in Central Park. The Manhattan LP leapt into action, beating out every other group large or small to declare that New York Libertarians would defy the City's ban and exercise their First Amendment Rights to peacefully assemble. Michael Badnarik joined us at our landmark protest, all the other larger groups of protestors, who previously had waffled and knuckled under to the City, quickly fell into line and followed our lead to protest in the park, and the rest is history.

The Manhattan LP also organized the historic New York City Presidential Debate between Badnarik and Green Party nominee David Cobb, televised on C-SPAN to thousands of viewers. The Badnarik-Cobb Debate in New York led to the campaign partnership between Cobb and Badnarik which culminated in the Arizona LP's lawsuit attempting to block the Arizona major party Presidential Debate, and Cobb's and Badnarik's historic arrest in St. Louis when they tried to serve papers on the Director of the Presidential Debate Commission.

The Manhattan LP also inaugurated a brand new libertarian television show right here in the heart of Socialist Manhattan, syndicating Mark Selzer's well known program "The Libertarian Alternative" on local cable TV. New York Libertarians now have their very own TV show every Monday night at 10:30pm on Time Warner Cable 34 and RCN Cable 107, which is also spreading the LP's message of freedom and individual rights to people who are not yet familiar with libertarian ideas.

In keeping with the libertarian principle of a competitive marketplace, the Manhattan LP accomplishes these public relations and activism achievements on a shoestring budget with tight efficiency and careful planning. We don't have the billions of dollars the government steals in taxes from you and spends on propaganda, nor the billions that many unscrupulous corporations spend on their influence-peddling and political vote-buying for corporate welfare.

The Manhattan LP relies on individual donors like you to fund our activities and our fight for your freedom and rights. That's why we're asking each one of you, now, at the start of another great year of libertarian accomplishments, to join the Manhattan LP's new Freedom Pledge program.

As an MLP Freedom Pledger, when you pledge $5 to $100 dollars a month to the MLP, in addition to enjoying many benefits, special recognition, premium gifts and awards, you'll know that your monthly contribution is the lifeblood funding the MLP's vital initiatives and making a difference for freedom in New York City.

The MLP already has many exciting projects under way for 2005, including our annual Tax Day Protest in front of the Farley General Post Office on April 15^th, and a new New York City-based libertarian publication, soon to be announced, which is sure to light a fire of controversy and outrage in every hovel of the left-wing establishment in the city.

And New York libertarians already have two impressive potential candidates for the New York City 2005 Mayoral election campaign who the MLP is eager to work to support, NYC-CLASH Founder and smoker's rights activist Audrey Silk and distinguished LPNY Chair John Clifton, who will both vie for the LP's Mayoral nomination to relieve Mayor Bloomberg of his duties. We're also looking for other candidates to run in the citywide elections this year. And who knows what opportunities for new activism the news headlines will offer us next?

We must be prepared for any opportunity that presents itself, and be able to respond with decisive action and powerful resources. But to be prepared for these opportunities, we need to have your financial support and backing, because, as you know, activism, and especially politics, costs money.

So, fellow freedom fighter and fellow libertarian, will you please join us now and become an MLP Freedom Pledger? We must be able to count on you to help us win even more victories and public relations coups for individual rights and freedom.

Join the Freedom Pledge program now at a pledge of $50 dollars a month, and you will receive a beautiful MLP cloisonné Freedom Pledger pin, an Official MLP Membership Card with your Pledge Status proudly displayed, a set of JPFO Gran'pa Jack freedom comics and "The Mitzvah" and "Hope", two novels by L. Neil Smith and Aaron Zelman published by JPFO, Michael Badnarik's book "Good to be King", an MLP Liberty Eagle Certificate of Recognition, and you will automatically be an MLP member at the exclusive Founder Level ($500 or more in contributions per year) and will be listed in the Village Choice newsletter and in the Founders' Hall of Freedom on the Manhattan LP website.

$25 dollar per month Freedom Pledgers will attain the Ambassador Level of membership ($250 or more), entitling you to the Freedom Pledger pin, the Liberty Eagle Certificate, the JPFO booklets and books, the Official MLP Membership Card, and recognition on the Ambassador page of the MLP website.

For those of you who choose to give more, if you pledge at $75 per month, you will receive all the recognitions above, plus one (1) free ticket, including dinner, to the MLP 2006 Annual Convention. And for those of you at the $100 per month Freedom Pledge level, you will receive all the previously mentioned benefits plus one extra ticket, for two (2) tickets to the 2006 Convention and dinner, plus an exclusive MLP miniature statuette, commemorating your unique and important contribution to the MLP's work for freedom in New York City, and recognition at the Benefactor Level ($1,000 or more per year), plus The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History.