Real Experience, Real Leadership, Real Results
Apr 12, 2010
Mark Hinkle’s Political Resume in the Libertarian Party
• Served 10 years on the LNC as a regional representative or alternate from California.
• LP of California (LPC) Chair: elected 4 times for a total of 6 years.
• LPC Executive Committee member for over 25 years.
• County Chair, County Vice-Chair, and County Newsletter Chair.
• LPC Northern Vice-Chair.
• LPC Fund Raising Chair.
• LPC Newsletter Chair.
• Chair of the LPC Judicial Committee: 2008-2010.
• State Assembly candidate 5 times. Earned 10% of the vote in a 3-way race in 2008.
• Twice winner of the Sons of Liberty Award for the most principled partisan race (State Assembly).
• Twice a candidate for the Gavilan Community College board of Trustees.
• LPC’s liaison to the CCRS (California Civil Rights Alliance), a coalition of mainly Muslim groups concerned with Civil Rights violations by our government. Successfully passed an Anti-PATRIOT Act resolution through both houses of the California legislature.
• Campaign manager for the very first partisan race after the LPC achieved ballot status: Bill White for State Senate, 1980. He received 13% of the vote in a 3 way race.
• Authored many anti-Bond and and anti-parcel tax ballot arguments, successfully defeating many tax increase measures and thus saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
• Member of the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association, which won it’s 2008 California Supreme Court case overturning an illegal tax increase by the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority. We forced the agency to give money back to the taxpayers. And I’m a chief plaintiff in the next case to overturn yet another illegal tax.
• Convention Chair for two LPC statewide conventions.
• LP guest speaker for more than 22 years in local high school Civics classes.
• Past LNC and LPC Platform committee member and LPC Bylaws committee member.
• Life member (both state & national) since 1974.
• Cast write-in vote for Libertarian Presidential/ V.P. candidates John Hospers & Tonie Nathan in 1972.
PROFESSIONALLY, I’m a small business owner in the San Francisco South Bay Area and have increased my sales each year. My business focuses on child safety and drowning prevention.
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Thank you for taking the time to visit my web site and for your interest in my campaign to become Chair of the Libertarian Party.
History tells us that great nations are not conquered by outsiders, but are destroyed from within. After the greatness is gone, then and only then, do they fall prey to conquerors.
It may be that our republic is doomed by the destructive theology of Socialism that Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court are trying to force feed us. However, I’m not willing to give in without a fight.
Fortunately we have many allies in the cause. The backlash against Socialism is giving new life to the dream of freedom that the Libertarian Party has kept alive for the last 39 years.
We have allies in the TEA Party movement and in the Ron Paul Revolution on the economic and taxation fronts. We have allies even within the Green Party on issues such as repealing the Patriot Act and certainly in regards to ballot access issues. Here in California, where I live, we’re on the verge of legalizing marijuana (cross your fingers and your toes) this coming November.
Not since the Vietnam War have we seen the public protests now occurring all around the U.S. People are pissed.
I think it’s critical for the Libertarian Party to regain it’s leadership position in the freedom movement.
And we can with competent leadership. It’s simple, but not easy. All you have to do is 1. set goals, 2. create a plan, 3. execute.
That’s exactly what I did as LPC Chair. I set 3 goals: 1. 5,000 dues paying members in California, 2. raise $150,000 , and 3. hire an Executive Director (Juan Ros). We focused on those goals, created plans to achieve those goals and then executed until they were accomplished. Simple, but not easy.
A dedicated team of paid professionals and competent volunteers, working together towards a limited set of common goals was the key to our success.
We did it once with great results. With your help and support, we can do it again.
Our very future may depend on it.
Please elect Mark Hinkle as LP Chair in St. Louis over Memorial Day weekend.
Yours in liberty……………….Mark W.A. Hinkle
Email: mark@garlic.com
Our government has been spending more than it collects for many years. This budget deficit has created the almost unimaginable national debt which recently broke the $12 Tillion level. But what is the Real U.S. National Debt and what is it made up of? Here’s an illustration that puts it into perspective showing the current debt of more than 12 trillion dollars plus the unfunded liabilities of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and retirement benefits for civilian and military personnel. This is the legacy we leave our children and grand children, a debt of 184 thousand dollars for every man, woman and child in America or 483 thousand dollars for every household in the United States. And it is rising faster than we can pay it off. The U. S. Government continues to spend more than it budgets year after year, adding to our National Debt.
Here are just some of the goals that the LNC should undertake during the 2010 to 2012 term:
- Ballot Access in all 50 states (to the extent our members are willing to fund it).
- Membership growth among at least 2 key demographics: 1). young adults (we need fresh blood; and 2). business professionals (we need rich blood).
- Create single-issue coalitions with any other liberty-oriented organizations. Power in numbers!
- An online Congressional lobbying effort, something akin to DownsizeDC.org.
- Candidate and affiliate support training akin to the LP.s nationwide .Success. seminars of the late 1990.s.
- Internal education. We need to remind our members of why we exist and what we stand for. Ideological drift will doom the LP to an early death. This must not happen!
- Creation of a Liberty Sales Team: pay Libertarians a finder.s fee to obtain LP memberships.
- Creation of a Libertarian Speakers Bureau to provide Libertarian experts to discuss issues of the day with the media.