What is LibertyCal?

The LibertyCal is a compilation of pro-liberty events across the United States that are hosted by or relevant to students. Event types listed include:

Screen shot of LibertyCal

• conferences
• student group meetings
• essay contests
• application deadlines
• movie screenings
• speaker events
• socials
• book signings
• important dates in the history of the liberty movement
• and many more.

Why LibertyCal?

The purpose of the LibertyCal is to increase awareness of pro-liberty events regionally and to connect pro-liberty students with other students, non-profit organizations, and community members. Organizations that list their events in our calendar can expect increased attendance, and students no longer have to sort through hundreds of emails, Facebook events, and individual websites to find the event information they want. The LibertyCal is a hub, connecting interested students to the events that will benefit them the most.

How does it work?

The calendar is updated with new events from major non-profit organizations like The Cato Institute, the Foundation for Economic Education, the American Enterprise Institute, and many of our other friends, as well as individual student groups, as soon as we discover them.

For ease, the calendar is separated into four colors: blue denotes events that are not location-specific, such as webinars, internship applications, essay contests, and some international events; green denotes events in the Eastern region of the United States; red denotes the Central region, and tan denotes the Western region. You can select to view all of the regions at once, or select only the ones relevant to you, while also shifting from monthly, weekly, and “agenda” layouts.

You can also sync the LibertyCal to you personal Google Calendar by clicking the “[+ Google Calendar]” button on the bottom right of the LibertyCal screen.

If you would like your event listed on the LibertyCal, click here to submit your event information. Any questions about individual events should be directed to the points of contact listed for that event. Questions or comments about the LibertyCal in general should be directed to the project’s manager, Brandon Wasicsko (bwasicsko@studentsforliberty.org).

These resources are provided to all liberty-advancing student groups in the United States free of charge but a small fee is required solely to cover the shipping of the kits. Included in the kit:

- 10 Pocket Constitutions from The Cato Institute
- 5 Students For Liberty Stickers
- 5 Students For Liberty Pins
- 5 Copies of Reason Magazine
- 5 Copies of “The Freeman” from FEE
- 2 Manuals about free-speech on campus from FIRE
- 2 Copies of Peter O’Rourke’s “Eat The Rich” from The Cato Institute
- 10 flyers advertising upcoming Students For Liberty events
- 5 policy papers from The Cato Institute
- 1 “Successful Tabling” handbook

If you would like a special order with resources from The Cato Institute, the Foundation for Economic Education, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, The Advocates for Self Government, and/or Reason Magazine please contact Students For Liberty’s Internal Operations Manager Peter Neiger at pneiger@studentsforliberty.org.

Click here to order your Tabling Kit!

Are there any interesting stories related to its founding, or early years?

The first day of that first conference is something I will always remember.  All the members of the Exec Board arrived in New York City the night before to finish preparations for the conference, and we went to sleep on the floor/couches of our Columbia member’s common room looking for a good night’s sleep before the chaos of the conference began.  We were woken up at 6am, though, by one student from the South calling to ask: “Is the conference canceled?”  We looked out the window and realized that a blizzard had hit NYC while we were asleep and the city was a mess.  We had put too much effort into preparing that conference to just cancel it, though, so we immediately began to call every single attendee and nonprofit representative to let them know the conference was still going to be held and encourage them to come.  It was a very stressful and frantic start to the first day because we not only had the added work of contacting everyone to overcome that snowstorm, but we had to carry boxes, flyers, coffee, and all kinds of other materials through 2 feet of snow to set everything up.  Our side of the story is just background, though.  The incredible part is how students reacted to the snowstorm.  While we were most worried about students canceling, students were most worried about finding ways to attend the conference by any means possible.  Students from California had their flights to NYC canceled, so instead flew to DC, took a train to New Jersey, then a bus to NYC.  Students from Michigan drove 18 hours straight through the blizzard to make it on time.  Only a handful of students canceled, but almost everyone, both students and speakers, were able to make it on time out of sheer will and perseverance in the cause of liberty.  Seeing the dedication of those students overcome any obstacle in their way to take part in the first SFL Conference inspired us in a way that I can’t describe.  The perseverance of those students cleared away any doubt there may have been about turning the conference into an organization: these students were willing to take on a blizzard to be part of this event.  There needed to be more opportunities and more support for these amazing students than a onetime event.

Anything else you want readers to know? Any other specific achievements you are proud of?

During my sophomore year, I applied to and was rejected by the Institute for Humane Studies Koch Summer Fellowship Program.  During my junior year, I applied to and was rejected by the Cato Institute’s internship program.  I ended up being accepted to KSFP and being offered a job at Cato the year following each rejection.  Instead of taking these rejections (too) personally, I used them as motivation to better myself and figure out what I really wanted to do.  So if you get turned down for an internship somewhere you really wanted, you never know what might happen… maybe they’ll offer you a job the next year.

Special thanks to Danny Shiner for putting this together and taking the initiative to get such a valuable product (the profile series, not mine in particular) off the ground!  The full post is here.

Strong co-founded FLOW with Whole Foods CEO John Mackey. The FLOW Movement combines freedom, voluntary exchange and enterprise from the classical liberal tradition with love, compassion, social and environmental consciousness to create an inspiring and integrated vision.

One project of FLOW is Conscious Capitalism, in which they are working to create an alliance of C-level executives with aligned visions with regard to capitalism.

“At its core, Capitalism is about voluntary association and collaboration, which is one of the reasons Capitalism works, why it won the battle with Socialism in the 20th Century, and why it continues to persist and flourish. But the abuses of the early 21st century (e.g. Tyco, Worlcom, Enron), the recent financial “meltdown,” and ongoing issues including the social costs of externalities, the extreme and widening gap between executive and worker compensation, among others, have undermined trust in business and confidence in Capitalism.”

Register today for one of SFL’s Regional Conferences and the chance to hear from the visionary entrepreneur Michael Strong.

October 9 – Drexel University in Philadelphia
October 23 – Columbia University in New York
November 6 – Harvard University in Boston

GOProud sponsor Lisa DePasquale, who organizes the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, the largest gathering of conservatives in the country, told TheDC that she has seen a general shift in attitudes toward gays among conservatives.

“The movement in general has been supportive of lots of different groups,” she said, adding that she was not speaking on behalf of her organization. “Part of it has to do with younger generations of people now running the other [conservative] groups and I think that probably helps. Most people seem to be okay with it.”

Could it be that Ms. DePasquale is referring to the group of young people below?  (And if so, can we start saying that SFL and the student movement for liberty is starting to change conservative minds?)

Read the full Daily Caller article here.

Generally speaking, both the left and the right are guilty of some level of hypocrisy. Conservatives, who often lament over expanded government spending and new federal programs, are content to spend billions (or even trillions) expanding federal programs overseas through wars, nation building and increasing foreign aid to politically favorable countries, all while encroaching on individual liberties through legislation like the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, the PATRIOT Act and countless others.

Liberals tout their support for civil liberties yet constantly seek ways to increase government control in every individual decision, from healthcare to education and even down to organic food choices, all while increasing taxes and business regulations, thereby stripping individuals of their economic freedom.

The “new Republican” must see the inherent hypocrisy in both the left and the right, and reject it. If Republicans are to be against expanding federal programs domestically, they should also oppose expanding them abroad.

If Republicans respect individual liberties, privacy and property rights as they claim they do, they should also seek to lessen government involvement in personal matters such as marriage. Freedom cannot come piece by piece. It is a single concept and must be defended at all times. Young people recognize this, and the GOP is following suit.

You can read the full article here: http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2010/8/31/future-gop/

It is definitely worth a read.

Watch the video and see how you match up!

Learn more about the Federal Reserve at Silver Circle’s blog.

And get excited for the Silver Circle Movie, coming spring 2011!

The Regional Conferences serve as a local forum of support for students and non-students interested in the ideas of liberty.  They are free to attend, all you have to do is get yourself there. Three free meals and an evening social with hard and soft drinks will be provided at each conference.  These conferences are a great opportunity to meet your fellow pro-liberty students, make new connections to pro-liberty organizations, receive resources, listen to great speakers, and leave with a revitalized vision for the future of the freedom movement.

Here is the full list of conference dates and locations.  They are all one day events held on Saturdays.

• October 9 – Drexel University – Philadelphia, PA
• October 16 – University of Chicago – Chicago, IL
• October 16 – Arizona State University – Tempe, AZ
• October 23 – Columbia University – New York, NY
• October 23 – Kennesaw State University – Atlanta, GA
• October 23 – Pepperdine Univdersity – Malibu, CA
• November 6 – Harvard University – Boston, MA
• November 6 – University of California – Berkeley, CA
• November 6 – Univesity of Texas – Austin, TX

Registration is free, but space is limited.  Register today to reserve your seat, then invite your friends.

Click here to find the conference closest to you and register!

RSVP and invite your friends to the Facebook event!

The last day was entirely dedicated to discussing the possibility of a unified European student movement under the name of European Students For Liberty. The European Liberty Conference in Milan (11-12th October) will be another important step in making this real.

This is the document that came out from the conference held August 25-28:

EUROPEAN STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY

We are a number of European libertarian student associations around Europe. We share a set of values that include a free and open society, individual liberty and responsibility and a free and open market economy.

The EU was first started exactly for the purpose of promoting a free and open European society but we feel that the Union progressively moved away from such values. We think that Europe needs to rediscover and embrace these values and make them the founding values of our society.

We acknowledge that in order for us to more effectively pursue such goals we need to act in a coordinated way across Europe, for example to share ideas, contacts, networks, etc.

We think the most effective way to pursue such goals is to create a pan-European network called “European Students For Liberty” (ESFL), made up of all national libertarian student association in Europe. This would enable us to more easily share information and it would also be an effective way to raise funds for Europe-wide initiatives.

Drawing inspiration from the great success of Students For Liberty in US, we think ESFL should be structured as follows:

1) Every country should have its national Students For Liberty movement/coordinator. (one correspondent for Germany, one for Belgium, etc.). If in a country there are more than one libertarian associations, we think they should team up as soon as possible and produce a national coordinator.

2) There should also be an ESFL network of campus coordinators (one correspondent for HEC, one correspondent for Antwerp University, one correspondent for Berlin University, etc.).

3) Every year, all national coordinators meet for an Executive Board retreat where coordination issues will be discussed: strategies, battles, fundraising, etc.

4) Every year, all national coordinators and campus coordinators meet to discuss more details, etc.

5) We will organize a European Liberty Conference (2 days) every year with academic purposes. We will invite professors, thinkers, philosophers, etc. to discuss the modern challenges of Liberty in Europe. We may be talking about the debt crisis, about libertarian laws, etc.

We think the next things we should do AS SOON AS POSSIBLE are:
nominate the first temporary national coordinators for each represented nation;
nominate the first temporary campus coordinators for each represented University;
Facebook group;
write proper Articles of Associations that will eventually lead to the creation of a legal private entity called “European Students For Liberty”;
create ESFL website with mission, members, a blog, contacts, etc.;

Students For Liberty has a motto: “A free academy, a free society”. We will make our best efforts to render Europe freer.

Brussels, 28th August 2010

The libertarian revolution in Europe is starting now!

States Don’t Have Rights, People Do

In the wake of recent events such as the passage of Obamacare and the federal ruling that Prop 8 is unconstitutional, to name a couple, there has been much discussion about states’ rights recently. Touting the importance of allowing states to enact their own laws and reject subservience to the federal government, states’ rights proponents hold that the more local nature of state governments gives them wider power than the federal government. While I agree with the sentiment that individuals have more of a say at the state level than the federal level, I have to challenge the notion that states have the right to enact laws that violate basic rights.

I believe this for a very simple, but important reason: States don’t have rights. People do.

Most states’ rights supporters invoke the 10^th Amendment to legitimate and concretize their beliefs.  However, the 10^th Amendment has very specific wording:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

The 10^th Amendment nowhere provides for any rights of the states.  Rather, it recognizes that states have certain powers, an ability to do particular things.  And there are two conditions on the possession of any powers by the states: that they are not articulated in the Constitution to the federal government and that they are not reserved by the people themselves.  What’s more, the 10^thAmendment comes after the 9^th Amendment, which also has very specific, and noticeably distinct wording:

“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

So not only are the powers of the states qualified by the authority of the people, but the Constitution explicitly says that the rights of the people shall not be denied, even if not enumerated in the Constitution. With the incorporation doctrine of the 14^th Amendment (that all rights protected by the federal Constitution may not be infringed upon by the states), this means there is a Constitutional guarantee that individual rights will not be denied by any government, state or federal, within the United States.

States do not have a carte blanche right to enact any law they want, even if done democratically. Their decisions are not irrevocable or immune from oversight. The use of state power is limited by the rights of the individuals within the state. If states violate the rights of those individuals, then there is just cause for intervention whether by the people or the federal government.

Federalism does not mean that the federal government has restricted power and states have unlimited power.  The purpose of federalism is to provide multi-lateral checks on government to protect individuals from the excessive growth of any particular layer of government. The value in this decentralization of authority is that each layer is meant to stop the other when it is abusing its legitimate authority. For the very same reasons that we need to check abuses of federal power, we need to check abuses of state power.  Those checks don’t just come from the people and local governments below, but from the federal government above as well.

Yes, we need to restrict the federal government’s power. Yes, we ought to delegate authority to the states when we can. But no, don’t think that states can do whatever they want or are somehow an inherently better type of government than the federal layer.  The power of any government, federal or state, is derived from the people and accountable to protecting their liberties.  Individual rights trump state power every time. Speaking about “states’ rights” confuses the point. Governments have legitimate powers. Individuals have legitimate rights. Powers and rights are very different things.

The “States’ Rights” cause is a misnomer. It should be a “States’ Powers” movement, focused on the authority of the states to check the decisions of the federal government to protect the rights of its citizens from inappropriate government intervention in their lives.

Once this delineation is made, the appropriate justification for states challenging federal decisions can be more clearly articulated and utilized. However, it may also highlight the inconsistencies of those who wrongly advocate a “right” of state government to abuse any of the rights of individuals.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/Examiner-Opinion-Zone/States-do-not-have-rights-People-do-101667933.html#ixzz0xqRrbHjk