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Co-founder of the Society for Individual Liberty
Donald Ernsberger

Web Pages

A Brief History of ISIL | Liberty International
Short description of the organizations and key individuals that founded and led to what is now known as Liberty International (formerly the International Society for Individual Liberty)
ISIL began in 1980 as Libertarian International, founded by Canadian libertarian activist and publisher Vince Miller. LI started the international libertarian conferences in Zurich, Switzerland in 1982. The current ISIL was formed in 1989 through the merger of LI with the Society for Individual Liberty, the first explicitly libertarian grassroots organization which had been founded by Jarret Wollstein, Dave Walter and Don Ernsberger in 1969. The original SIL emerged out of an historic split between conservatives and libertarians at a Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) conference in St. Louis, Missouri in 1969.

Articles

Debates: Libertarians shine against old party candidates, Libertarian Party News, Nov 1994
Report on the nationally televised debate between Republican Rick Santorum, Ernsberger and Democrat and Patriot Party contenders for the U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania
This year may be ... the breakthrough year when Libertarians were finally given the chance to face off against the older party candidates. ... One of the most impressive performances was turned in by Don Ernsberger, an LP national committee member and the LP's candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. Ernsberger proved himself to be the most clear-thinking and serious candidate for Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate seat in a live four-way debate that aired Oct. 14, on 14 ABC affiliate stations in Pennsylvania and on C-SPAN nationally. ... 'I think I did well, and I think I dominated most of the flow,' said Ernsberger.
Report on May 9th Don Ernsberger Talk: "How To Be An Effective And Principled Libertarian Candidate", LPDC News, Jun 2001
Report on talk by Ernsberger given at a Libertarian Party of the District of Columbia dinner meeting
A long-time activist and retired teacher, Don ran in Pennsylvania for the US House in 1988 and for US Senate in 1994 ... Don spent $38,000 in his House race ... He got only 5% of the vote ... However, he made enough of an impact that in 1994, that when the Republican Senatorial candidate Rick Santorum heard Don would be running, he ... tried to dissuade Don from running, obviously fearing Don could cost him the election ... When Rick Santorum threatened to boycott their debate because Don would be on the stage, the League told him to go ahead—they would put an empty chair in his place. Santorum had to back down.
Related Topic: Libertarian Party

Writings

Don Ernsberger: LPNY 1994 Convention Report, 23 Apr 1994
Report on the "Howard Stern Convention", the Libertarian Party of New York 1994 convention at which radio personality Howard Stern was elected as LP candidate for New York Governor
This morning (Saturday April 23rd) I drove 4.5 hours to Albany to attend the New York Free Libertarian Party convention. I had been asked to serve as Parliamentarian by State chair Vogel as well as Tamara Clark. By 8:00 AM several hundred LP members as well as many 'Howard Stern fans' had gathered at the convention location. ... It remains to be seen how the media covers this convention ... I personally found the typical 'Stern supporter' to be both more libertarian and more well behaved then I had expected. Howard Stern also impressed many as being more serious and concerned with LP growth then expected.
The Labor Theory of Value (An Analysis), by Donald C. Ernsberger, Jarret Wollstein (editor), 1988
Examines Marx's Labor Theory of Value, including an example, and compares it to the market-exchange theory, exploring some of the flaws in the former
At the heart of economic theory is the concept of value. What gives an article value? Is it something inherent in an object, or is it some other factor? Does value derive from human effort, or something else? The two major and fundamentally opposite economic systems—capitalism and Marxism—give completely different answers ... Indeed, the free market is the only economic system which enables consumers rather than bureaucrats to determine what is produced and at what price. Marx has been in his grave for over 100 years. It is time that his theories were buried as well.