A Sweet Swearing Into Office Tuesday

 

Libertarian Party of Wisconsin member Brian Defferding (pictured) will get sworn onto the Neenah City Council, Tuesday, April 21st.

April 17, 2026

Libertarian Party of Wisconsin

www.lpwi.org  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A Sweet Swearing Into Office Tuesday

Neenah, WI—OnTuesday, April 21^st, the City of Neenah, Wisconsin, will swear in their newest city council member, Mr. Brian Defferding, age 49, a member of the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin.

Running for a non-partisan office, Defferding based his campaign on door knocking, listening to people, and sharing their concerns. “When you talk to people, meet them where they are at [in viewpoint]. And then, tailor your response in a Libertarian way,” he said. Enough voters saw the reasonableness of his message. He beat his single opponent by 24 votes.

His opponent, a long-term city council incumbent, told Defferding several years ago that if he did not like the rules of the city, he should “move out to the country.” Instead of heeding her ridicule, Defferding got elected in 2018 as a county board supervisor, where he served a few terms and became a watch-dog against unreasonable government regulations, and an advocate to protect taxpayer money from frivolous spending.

His motivation to run this spring for city council had to do with Neenah’s 6% property tax increase, and its increase of fees by 10-15%. His opponent had always consistently voted for the numerous spending increases, and new borrowing, and tax and fees increases

Defferding also sharply criticized the city government for massive use of taxpayer money to prepare Arrowhead Park for private development.

A notoriously polluted area in the city, the park had suffered decades of chemical runoff from area paper mills. According to Defferding, Neenah’s government has spent $3.5 MILLION in various tests, legal costs etc. etc. since 2010 to try and get the area certified by the Wisconsin DNR as a safe zone for sales and developments to proceed.

Defferding’s opponent, who told him to move out of the city over its refusal to allow him to build a privacy fence several years ago, consistently voted for that spending. Calling Defferding simply an “extremist Libertarian” on her social media, the people replied to her. Defferding says that “Residents want the city to stop spending money” so unreasonably. As a Libertarian, and a new city council member, he can do a lot to protect taxpayer money.

Libertarian Party of Wisconsin 

 

For Immediate Release

April 15th, 2026

www.lpwi.org  

The Case for Privacy and "Forget Your Customer"

There's a plague sweeping across state legislatures. In the name of protecting children, they are adding requirements to add age attestations and even full identity verification, similar to banks, to use computers and/or install software with severe penalties to individual developers, including hobbyists writing free and open source software. This is a patchwork of different bills with different severity. Some just require people to state their age and some require photos and uploading of Real IDs. There’s talk of doing this at all layers: hardware, operating system, application distribution/installation, and websites.

They are building a world of computing of "own nothing and be happy" where the government has full surveillance and control over all hardware and software. There are quickly eliminating all technical workarounds. In addition to being an Orwellian nightmare of tyranny, it will legally require data to be collected and stored in enormous honeypots that will be breached and sold on the dark web. Data can't and won't ever be protected.

To paraphrase a famous cybersecurity quote, there are two types of databases, those that have been breached and those of which you don't know have been breached. Even more ominously, even the most light touch of age attestation will require all computers to inform all predators and pedophiles who query the computer who the children are. Put differently, it'll make it clear who all of the children are and paint giant bullseyes on them for predators to target.

In his recent veto of age verification of social media web sites, Governor Tony Evers called upon legislators to instead require age verification at the operating system and hardware level. The only way to protect people, including children, is for firms to Forget Your Customer. In the Information Age, privacy is security. Age verification is a veil of security when in reality, it singles out the most vulnerable.

Libertarian Party of Wisconsin Reasserts “Defend the Guard” Campaign

 

Libertarian Party of Wisconsin

www.lpwi.org

March 25, 2026

For Immediate Release

Libertarian Party of Wisconsin Reasserts “Defend the Guard” Campaign

The Libertarian Party of Wisconsin this week reaffirmed a bold resolution adopted last year in annual convention. This Wisconsin-specific initiative builds on the national Defend the Guard movement by wanting full state control over the Wisconsin National Guard, protecting it from both undeclared foreign wars and unconstitutional domestic commandeering by the federal government.

The Defend the Guard framework nation-wide correctly bars governors from deploying state Guard units overseas without a formal congressional declaration of war, as required by Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution. However, escalating federal overreach, including use of Guard forces for domestic crowd control, protest suppression, cyber-enforcement, and rapid-reaction duties demands enhanced safeguards.

“Wisconsin must lead by example,” said Reese Wood. “The states created the federal government, not the other way around. The 10th Amendment remains our unbreakable shield against creeping centralization. We will not allow Wisconsin’s militia to be turned into an arm of endless foreign wars or militarized domestic control.”

The resolution adopted by the Party in convention last year states:

“[T]he deployment of National Guard units into active combat without a congressional declaration of war undermines the constitutional balance of powers and places undue burdens on state resources….”

In line with this, the LPWI’s resolution calls on the Wisconsin Legislature to immediately introduce a comprehensive bill that strengthens existing proposals with ironclad protections against using the Wisconsin National Guard for unconstitutional and unlawful, and hence unethical, purposes.

For more on the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin or its Defend the Guard resolution, please visit: www.lpwi.org . To read the full convention “Resolution Supporting Defend the Guard Legislation,” find it here at, https://www.lpwi.org/defend_the_guard_2025_convention_resolution .

Return Liberty To Wisconsin's Budget

 May 13, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Return Liberty To Wisconsin's Budget

As we find ourselves knee deep in Wisconsin's bi-annum budget battle, The Libertarian Party of Wisconsin (LPWI) reaffirms their belief that the budgets of the past several decades far, far exceed their intended scope and the excessive, vote buying programs all need to be stripped out of the budget. It is not the responsibility of a taxpayer in Superior to pay for your childcare in Racine. It is not the responsibility of a taxpayer in La Crosse to pay for your home improvements in Wausau. It is not the responsibility of a taxpayer in Thorp to pay to rehabilitate a derelict building in Manitowoc. 

The intended scope of government at the federal, state, and local level was always intended to be as small as possible. Once we discovered that politicians could buy votes through government handouts, we created a leviathan that demands more and more resources from taxpayers for the illusion of security. 

The only way that we can truly be a society of liberty and freedom is by removing the yolk of oppressive government that requires our subservience at every turn. We should not have to pay to provide for ourselves and our families. We should not have to beg permission to live on a daily basis. We absolutely should not be forced into providing for others under the threat of punishment.

 

"Vote for me. I'll use my office to take another American's money and give it to you." - Walter E. Williams

For more on the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin, please visit www.lpwi.org.

Libertarian Party of Wisconsin 

presslpwi@gmail.com 

Press Secretary—Tim Johnson

LPWI Renounces Actions Of An Imperial Presidency

 May 6, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LPWI Renounces Actions Of An Imperial Presidency

The Libertarian Party of Wisconsin (LPWI), at their state convention last month, passed a

resolution strongly denouncing the actions of the Trump Administration and their perceived

attempts at an imperial presidency.

"That the LPWI renounce the Trump admins deportations w/o due process, the reckless

tariffs, use of I.C.E., attack on free speech and cancellation of student visas, his proposal to

abolish birthright citizenship, his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, weaponization of the

justice dept and consolidation of authoritarian power." - LPWI Convention Resolution

Through the above average and occasional misuse of executive orders, the Trump

administration has given the outward appearance of a person looking to overuse the power

granted to him by the Constitution in an effort to punish perceived enemies.

These actions; paired with the on again, off again implementation of some of them; gives the

outward appearance of vindictiveness at best and the perceived desire to become an elected

emperor at worst.

The LPWI remains steadfast in their belief that creating a civilization of Liberty, one devoted

to the respect and dignity of all, as well as for the individual, will only happen by a committed

person working with the courage and integrity to act like the example people want to follow.

For more on the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin, please visit www.lpwi.org.

Libertarian Party of Wisconsin 

presslpwi@gmail.com 

Press Secretary—Tim Johnson

LPWI Re-asserts Desire For "Defend The Guard" Legislation

 May 2, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LPWI Re-asserts Desire For "Defend The Guard" Legislation

The Libertarian Party of Wisconsin (LPWI), at their annual convention last weekend,

renewed their desire to see the Wisconsin Legislature return control of deployments of

Wisconsin National Guard troops to the Governor unless a formal declaration of war has

been passed by Congress.

Passed in a nearly unanimous vote, the LPWI calls on the state legislature to pass a

version of the "Defend the Guard" legislation that would prohibit Wisconsin National Guard

troops from being deployed overseas unless a formal declaration of war is passed by

Congress, something that has not been done since 1942.

"The Libertarian Party of Wisconsin stands firmly in defense of the Constitution and the

proper balance of powers. Defend the Guard legislation is not only a reaffirmation of state

sovereignty - it's a vital check on endless war and executive overreach. We urge the

Wisconsin Legislature to take action." - Reese Wood, LPWI Chair

For more on the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin, please visit www.lpwi.org.

Libertarian Party of Wisconsin

presslpwi@gmail.com

Press Secretary—Tim Johnson

LPWI Convention Livestream

 April 25, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LPWI Convention Livestream

The Libertarian Party of Wisconsin (LPWI) will be livestreaming their convention this

weekend from Treeehaven UW-Stevens Point. The LPWI invites anyone, from media

members to ordinary citizens, who would like to see more liberty and individual freedom

in both Wisconsin and the United States to tune in to the stream, beginning at 9am,

Saturday April 26.

The stream can be accessed from the LPWI website, LPWI.org/

If you have ever wondered who Wisconsin Libertarians are, what they stand for, or what

Libertarianism is in Wisconsin, you can find out through the stream. If you are a disillusioned

Democrat or Republican, fed up with the disharmony and bureaucratic authoritarianism

plaguing the national and state parties, the LPWI invites you to check out the stream and see

that there is another option for you.

With the election of the new officers, awards granted for past performance, and

presentations from prominent Libertarians and Libertarian causes, you can watch in real time

the LPWI chart their course for the next two years and beyond.

If you have any questions about the LPWI or the convention, please reach out via email;

presslpwi@gmail.com.

"If you are not free to choose wrongly and irresponsibly, you are not free at all." - Jacob G.

Hornberger

For more on the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin, please visit www.lpwi.org.

Libertarian Party of Wisconsin 

presslpwi@gmail.com 

Press Secretary—Tim Johnson