Local residents establish Libertarian Party of the Hi-Line

A group of Libertarians braved sub-zero temperatures Tuesday night, when they met at the Havre-Hill County Library for the inaugural meeting of what is now the Libertarian Party of the Hi-Line.

The hour-long meeting drew about nine attendees including Mark Wicks, a rancher and entrepreneur from Inverness, his wife, Becky, and two of their four children. Mark Wicks was selected chair of the party.

During the meeting, those in attendance decided on a name, formed a standing committee, spoke about the likely upcoming special congressional election and spoke about their vision for the young chapter of the party and of government as a whole.

"It's a small start, but you've gotta start somewhere." Wicks said.

Attendees at the meeting voted to name themselves the Libertarian Party of the Hi-Line, extended invitations to residents in Blaine, Chouteau and Liberty counties to join the party, and voted to make Jay Getten, who is a substance abuse counselor at the Bullhook Community Health Center, party secretary.

The filling of most of the other party officer positions, including co-chair, committeeman and committeewoman, state congressional man and woman and party vice-chairs, was tabled.

The party voted to establish its first standing committee to look at a way to provide transportation for low-income people.

Wicks is one of seven candidates vying to be the party's nominee should there be a special election to replace Rep. Ryan Zinke if he resigns Montana's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Zinke is awaiting a vote from the Senate to be the next secretary of the interior.

If Zinke resigns, the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian parties will choose their respective party candidates, at state party conventions, to be on the ballot. Gov. Steve Bullock would call for a special election that would take place between 85 and 100 days after Zinke's resignation.

That is why the group is launching a party now rather than waiting until the spring when the party could have drawn more people to come out in warmer weather for a barbeque or other event, Wicks said.

He said the possibility of a special election is a motivating factor in starting an active party chapter in Hill County. Each county will send two delegates to the party's convention in Helena Feb. 19 to select the party's eventual nominee.

Selection of those delegates was postponed because those who were in attendance were unable to guarantee that they would be able to commit due to possible scheduling conflicts related to work.

Wicks said he would like to know by the next meeting how they will prepare for the coming campaign.

"Even if I don't get the nomination, I hope that it is somebody good that we can stand behind," Wicks said.

The meeting was part of a larger push to reinvigorate the party at the local level, he said.

"My hope is that we can build something up at both the county level and the state level, where people are actually listened to and it is not top-heavy, it's people-heavy," Wicks said.

Conor Burns, a member of the party, said that approach is more in line with the party's philosophy then a top-down organizing approach.

"We're not big fans of centralization," Burns said.

He said that research and history shows that when authority is decentralized outcomes are better because issues people are dealing with in different states, counties and communities differ from one another.  

Burns said that getting Libertarians to agree can often be like herding cats.

A self-described constitutionalist and libertarian, Wicks said he looks to push back against what he calls OCG: obsessive compulsive government.

It's a message those in attendance said they agreed with on issues ranging from marijuana legalization to opposition to national education requirements.

Burns said that until 1979 when the U.S. Department of Education was founded, the American education system was "the envy of the world."

"Now, you have this Department of Education that wants to oversee the education of the entire country," he said, adding, "It's like you get that one-size-fits-all answer. It doesn't fit most."

Wicks said he favors doing away with the Department of Education and block-granting all the money to states.

"Then you would have 50 different educational programs going on and the ones that succeed would be copied by the ones that aren't doing as well," Wicks said.

The party can be reached on its Facebook page, which as of this morning was still the Hill County Libertarian Party, despite the agreed-upon name change.