Christine Smith, who won six delegates in her bid for the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination, has announced that she is officially leaving the party. Smith gave an angry anti-Barr speech to the convention when she was eliminated on the first ballot, and then went on to do several media interviews trashing Barr and the the Libertarian Party for nominating him.
In this article on NolanChart.com, Smith lays out all of the reasons why she will refuse to support Barr, why she is leaving the LP, and then shares quotes from some messages of support that she claims to have gotten following her speech.
Here’s the main part where she announces that she is leaving the party…
For those of you who have asked: I am leaving the LP. I think the party is a waste of time and resources for anyone who actually wishes to join with others whose priority is freedom (some advances are made on the local level which I think are very good-but as a whole I think the LP is unworthy of the participation of anyone with integrity, ethics, and character–that is my conclusion after witnessing what occurred at the National LP Convention this weekend.) Though some true libertarians will choose to remain in the LP, from the emails and phone calls I have received, I believe many will leave. Each true libertarian must make the choice that is right for him or her; my choice is to fight the battle for liberty in other ways. As for me, I want no part of an organization that could put Barr and Root as the 2008 Presidential/VP candidates. Their choice to do so is, in my opinion, a tragic mistake for the LP. The LP now stands for nothing different than the two major parties – it is a meaningless party as it has become what it always condemned; it no longer offers an alternative choice or voice for liberty at the highest level as should be represented in its presidential candidate. The resulting damage to the party as a means to advance liberty and to attract liberty-minded individuals has been done. No true libertarian would support (or defend) the selection of Bob Barr. (For those who choose to remain in the LP to try and repair it, it will take many years to even return to the place the party was a few days ago.) The hope and enormous potential the LP, as “The Party of Principle,” had in 2008 was enormous – now that has been destroyed.
What is Christine Smith’s current political affiliation?
I don’t know if Christine can delete comments posted on her NolanChart article, but in case she can, here is what I posted, for safekeeping:
Frankly Christine, the fact that you think that as a 2-year party member, you have the final say on who is a libertarian, and you know the future of the LP better than others who have had much more experience with the party, really destroys your credibility on this topic.
I hope others will consider that Christine herself is a recent “interloper” to the LP, and as such her right to try and smash the party because she doesn’t like a decision it made should be called into question. Out of 600+ LP delegates, 6 voted for her, which could be seen to serve as an indicator of how much she speaks for Libertarians. (And it’s a safe bet that most of those 600+ people were party members before 2006.)
Being able to run a competitive campaign is the first prerequisite of a presidential candidate for any party. Barr was the only candidate who possessed this key qualification. I guarantee you that if there was someone with an equal potential for exposure, but who was more of a “true libertarian”, the delegates would have chosen that candidate over Barr. But nobody else on the ballot could credibly offer to run a competitive campaign. So of course he won.
The LP is the country’s best bet for liberty. It was that when Christine Smith and Bob Barr (and probably Wayne Allyn Root) decided it was in 2006, and it is that now. Not only is there no need to jump ship, there is nowhere reasonable to jump ship to.
I look forward to welcoming you back to the party when you’re ready, Christine. Hopefully with a bit less scowling on your part.
-Lance Brown
true libertarian
Christine Smith was a principled member of the LP. She is still principled as a non-member of the LP.
I do not understand how she only received six votes at the convention. I suspect foul play.
Christine Smith should have been the LP nominee. Christine Smith will gain supporters as the days move forward and present and former LP members will look to her for advice, guidance, and leadership.
I am an LP member but will not support Bob Barr. Right now, I am looking at the CP’s Chuck Baldwin. I don’t agree with everything he proposes but he is more of a libertarian than Bob Barr.
I don’t have the post anymore, GE. I simply pointed out Smith’s history of alienating Libertarians and suggested that her poor showing in the nomination was due not to a conspiracy to take over the LP, but rather her own numerous mistakes. She didn’t like that very much, I guess. Oh well. One could fill the NYC phone book with folks who join the LP “ready to change the world” and quit when their magical fantasy of world domination on their terms doesn’t come to fruition.
Brian – She deleted your post? If you have it saved, re-post it here.
I don’t think I represent “total anarchy,” but I do try to represent individualism.
Not only is Christine being a petulant child, but she’s deleted my post pointing out how and why her campaign failed, in detail, and how she ruined her natural base of support.
I’d suggest that people ignore her at this point. She’s not interested in debate, she’s angry that she didn’t get her own way, and is making it all about her and her expectations rather than about us and our success.
Frankly, I don’t support the total anarchy that GE’s position represents, and I also didn’t appreciate his characterization of Outright’s outreach to the LGBT community as “collectivism.”
I want an LP that is welcoming, open, and still trends towards liberty. A George Phillies ticket would have offered that. And if we can be adults and keep up the pressure on the Barr/Root campaign, even their ticket can offer a trend towards liberty.
I realize we’re all radical individualists in our own ways, but I am tired as hell at all the infighting and the unfair attacks on George and others. It seems to me that a lot of it is coming from recent converts to the LP (such as Smith) who have been members for only a couple of years. Whereas George and other longtime members have been fighting for liberty when their critics were Green Party members or Republicans.
We have to work together. We’re not going to work together effectively to realize our common interests if every mention of each other’s names, or candidates, is going to be followed by a treatise on why that candidate isn’t a True Libertarian ™.
Perhaps that’s the lesson the Universe is sending us by pushing the Barr/Root ticket on us. If we can learn to deal with this situation, we should exit this election with valuable experience in compromise and finding common ground between radicals, centrists, reformers and conservatives rather than constantly fighting with each other (and yes, I plead as guilty as anyone else in that regard).
I was never a big fan of smith. Although I agree with some of what she said, even I was very annoyed.
See ya…
McKinney a plant; possible. We should differentiate between agents, CI confidential informants, provocateurs, operatives, plants and dupes. Mere placholders. Somebody the gop/rove/cia lets into a position because they know that person would be ineffective (or effective depending on how you look at it) as opposed to i.e. in place of, someone who would be effective.
Now she can go back to what she does best… writing books glorifying the memory of John Denver.
PEACE
Steve
haha. Just found this post Knapp wrote earlier today.
“What I can comment on is her dedication to the Libertarian Party and to keeping it a libertarian party. She proved to me that that dedication is total, and I’m ashamed I ever doubted it. THANK YOU, Christine.”
http://www.knappster.blogspot.com
I think people need to get over pity issues. There will be no perfect political party or candidate in that party where 100% of people agree on everything. If that were so we would not had six ballot runs. I am a former LP member but usually vote and support LP causes 95% of the time. When I was politically active back in early 2002 I was more concerned about the pulling out of the War then the Progressives who seem more bent on environment till it was cool to protest the war. They had no real interest till we went to Iraq and it was the hip thing to do. Even though I supported Kubby, I’ll back Barr. If he is a supposed plant the Greens maybe in trouble if they nominate Cynthia McKinney because she maybe a plant as well.
GE,
To be fair though–I’d trust Phillies.
In regards to Christine:
She is brand new to the party to begin with, so this isn’t a big loss. She was looking for attention and memorized some Ron Paul lines to make herself sound like a libertarian.
You’re both missing Brian’s overall point, which is:
Brian Miller – George Phillies would have a ton of unlibertarian positions IN THE PRESENT to clarify. Bob Barr is equal to or better than Phillies on immigration, trade, and money.
Doesnt Phillies say we should keep the Fed?
Thanks Fred. I think the LP is bigger than any of us individually. And I also have faith in our ability to pull together and do the right thing, generally. Even if it is imperfect and makes mistakes, it’s going in generally the right direction.
Did the Libertarian Party pick the wrong standard-bearer? Absolutely. George Phillies would have had more appeal with the youth vote and a better grassroots network from day one. He also wouldn’t have unlibertarian positions in the recent past to explain or “clarify.”
However, my guy lost. And I cannot expect folks to get behind my candidate if I walk out the door when I don’t get my own way.
George was right to call for unity. We’re going to fight to preserve the things that matter in our party and to uphold our principles. People who have a tantrum and walk out the door are just as harmful to the end goal of liberty as Richard Vigeurie (sp) or the other neoconservative poseurs who are fancying themselves as Libertarian powerbrokers these days.
“I think the LP is unworthy of the participation of anyone with integrity, ethics, and character,” which happen to be three things Christine Smith did not exhibit during the convention.
I know she pushed her campaign in front of the bus to give Kubby debate tokens. But she’s always seemed like an LP oddball. Idk. All I can say is: come back, Smith. We need to unite.
I tried to interview Smith a few months ago for TPW and she never replied to my phone calls or emails. Seemed weird for a Presidential candidate.
I liked your comment on the original Nolan Chart article Brian, I wonder if Ms. Smith will reply…
While I respect Christine’s right to share her beliefs, I also think she missed the point of the LP. She alienated a lot of her early “purer” Libertarian supporters (like me) and I believe her public attack on Barr was very poor form. Imagine if someone had done that to her.
Ms. Smith is also rather inconsistent herself and not in a position to demand consistency from others. She was a Jane-come-lately to the LP who, herself, had some rather statist ideas before joining (such as support for single-payer health care). She pitched herself to me another other LP members as the “anti-Ron Paul,” only to embrace Paul a month or two later. She also hailed Shane Cory’s attack press release on Dr. Mary Ruwart while the vast majority of the LP community was incensed.
And while I remain skeptical of some “new Libertarians,” I also reject the notion that someone cannot evolve himself/herself on the issues. If Smith held herself to her own standards, she’d find herself wanting.
I have been part of this party for 12 years and have seen good and bad moments. We’ve survived almost 8 years of George W. Bush. We’ve survived over a year of Christine flip-flop Smith. We’ll survive four months of an evolving Bob Barr whose positions are being pulled or pushed towards a more libertarian position.
That fact is ultimately more important than drama queen antics on the convention floor or post-convention blogs.