From our Chairman, Mario Barnes I was elected to serve as your Chairman this past April. I can’t tell you how honored I am to be given this opportunity. I would like to give you all some information regarding my history and how I came to the Libertarian Party. I was raised in north Mississippi in the small town of Iuka. I grew up playing baseball, football, basketball and, for about a week, attempted the cross country running team. Following graduation from Tishomingo County High School, I went to college for a few semesters. After deciding school wasn’t something I wanted to do at the time, I joined the Air Force. The Air Force brought me around our country and into others as well. I went through basic at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX. I then went to technical training at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX. After several months of training, they shipped me to my permanent duty station at Mountain Home AFB in Idaho, which is where I served the bulk of my service. While in Idaho, I was deployed to Turkey for Operation Northern Watch after the first Gulf War which is where I earned my Air Expeditionary Medal. After separating from the military, I joined the (IBEW) International Brotherhood of Electrical Worker’s apprenticeship program. This was a union job working out of Local Union 852 located in Corinth, MS. During my apprenticeship, I never worked in my own jurisdiction. I was on the road working in Alabama or on the MS Gulf Coast. One day on my way back to the union hall after a layoff, I heard on the radio that KBR was having a job fair in Birmingham for work in the Middle East. I stopped by and was offered a job as an electrician in Iraq. I spent about 3 years working as an electrician in Iraq and Afghanistan before I started applying for different jobs. Immediately, I was hired as a Quality Inspector. Six months later, I was promoted to Quality Technician. I did this for another year and a half or so before I received another job offer in Doha, Qatar. I took this job working as a consultant to US Air force Central Command and loved it for the entire two years. That job allowed me to travel throughout the entire Middle East on a consistent basis. I made many friends while I was over there, and lost a few as well. I came home in 2011, met my wife and now have two sons, Johnny, whom we named after my father and named our second after my Uncle Marshel. And, while I am still working on my BS of Construction Engineering, my wife graduated from USM with a BS in Industrial Engineering and a minor in Logistics. We now own and operate a Real Estate Brokerage and a small residential construction company. She pretty much runs everything. I consult with her on what I can during my schooling but she is the boss. I am so thankful for her. Without her support, there is no way I could have participated so much in the Libertarian Party or in my role as the Senior Vice Commander of American Legion Post #2002 in D’Iberville, of which I am a proud member and honored to be considered for such roles of responsibility. Now, this brings us to why I am a Libertarian. Well, I came from the Democratic Party. Being in the union, they tell you “If you want work, you vote Democrat”. At that time, I didn’t really pay attention to politics, just followed suit. My dad was in the union as well as my uncle and cousin. Our families voted Democrat. In my time overseas, the amount of fraud, waste and abuse that I witnessed first-hand was disturbing to say the least. I saw politicians sending over Special Investigator Generals for obscene amounts of money to figure out ways to save miniscule amounts. I saw news channels exaggerating stories, or even outright lying about them to the people in the states. I sensed the system was flawed, and not in a way could be overlooked. I started having conversations with my cousin Corey. He graduated from Mississippi State University majoring in Political Science; I figured “He’s got to know something about politics”. He started opening my eyes about issues I never had time to look into and no one ever took the time to explain. Then, in comes Ron Paul. He seemed to make politics popular to a younger generation, even me. It was the opposite of what the media, songs and school ingrain into your mind. Then I found the Libertarian Party of MS. After six months of following Danny Bedwell’s lead, I was voted in as the 4th District Representative for the MSLP. I still didn’t know as much as I thought that position required, but I was dedicated to promoting the Party. And indeed, the Party started to grow. Just in my district alone, the amount of participation and events increased dramatically. I started reading Rothbard, was introduced to Walter Block (literally). My general beliefs and understanding of Liberty were there, but I was still unable to articulate my feelings in arguments. This problem has started to wane since beginning my conversations with the Libertarians in my district. I have learned so much and continue to do so every day. My knowledge of policies and procedures started to expand, though I still pale in comparison to many of our members. I am a common working man. I am not a public speaker. I am not a politician. I am a worker. I help plan events and show up to support others. I attend as many meetings as possible to help the Party grow in numbers and influence. I did not accept this position to watch the Party stagnate after a record attendance at our annual convention. I accepted to build on this. This is going to be a year of work. I will need your support to accomplish our goals. We would like to put the Party on path to have a county affiliate in EVERY county over the next two years. We have a small excess of cash which we intend to use solely on outreach efforts. These outreach efforts include newspapers, television and social media. We would also like to see our number of delegates sent to the National LP Convention doubled over the next year alone. These numbers are based on 1 delegate per every 0.14% of the National LP membership. With this growth, we will naturally begin to see more and more qualified candidates coming to the forefront to run for offices in all levels of government. And also, as we grow, you are going to see an increase in the amount of criticism we receive. This is natural to the growth of a third party coming out of obscurity and into the mainstream. Ridicule will come from all parties, including our own. Because most of us our so leery of government, we might be afraid if one of our own gets elected, they might make a fool of all of us. We can’t let these types of mentalities rule the Party or run off perspective members. I don’t plan on making everyone happy. As you know, that is an impossible feat, especially within the Libertarian Party. We need to be accepting to interested people from all walks of life. We may not agree on all issues, but it is important that we focus on the survival and prosperity of our countries future. At the end of the year, if my work appears insufficient or a better candidate for Chair arises, you can vote me out. As I stated earlier, I need your support. Don’t feel you are wasting your time and money. Given the necessary financial support and the support of dedicated members, there is no reason we could not reach our goals. We have an extremely knowledgeable and diverse group of Party Officers. Now is a great time to put your faith in us. There are many folks that have been on the sidelines for years. This is a great opportunity to come off the sidelines and get in the game. I believe that many others in our state will follow your lead. This is our year to make ourselves known, let’s take this opportunity and show exactly how tired we are of the status quo. Join the Party, donate and come on out to our events. This is our year. Feel free to find me on FB or email me at [email protected] Thanks for taking the time to read this, Mario Barnes Chairman Libertarian Party of Mississippi
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 03:17:00 +0000
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