By Scott Williamson
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=4132
Did you ever read the book “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum? If not, I am sure you have read Dr. Ruwart’s “Healing Our World in An Age of Aggression”?
While the books are different, they both remind us that when we were young we learned the tools of getting along with our neighbor by respecting their individual rights. Somewhere between age five and entering the world of politics some of us have lost what we have learned and are back on the playground pulling hair and name calling.
Recently I received an email from an LNC member, a post the member had made on his state party Yahoo group. In it, he referred to two of our National Chair candidates as “far below bugs”, “NUTS”, and “unbalanced”.
I think those words were inappropriate. As a leader of our party I would never email a candidate for LNC with snide remarks and personal attacks on a fellow Libertarian. Worse than pointless personal attacks on those outside of your party is personally attacking those inside of your party. When a party’s membership is shrinking and its finances are dwindling, personally attacking fellow libertarians does nothing to solve the problems.
Can good Libertarians disagree? Certainly. Can they disagree without being disagreeable? Absolutely! When people do not have facts to argue they tend to turn to personal attacks against those they disagree with.
When they disagree with you, and your facts win, they go on witch hunts to run you off or outright attempt to remove you.
It is time to bring civility to the debate. I do not agree with everything any of our candidates for chair believe. We are all individuals and will have differences. We must respect individuality, after all, individual rights and responsibility is the foundation on which our party is built.
We are presented with a range of candidates for each of our party officers. While they are all fine Libertarians, I do believe there are those who will be better leaders of our party than others. Those who I do not support, I respect as fellow libertarians. I will discuss opinions on the directions each candidate offers to take our party. I will not refer in public to candidates I disagree with as “far below bugs”, “NUTS”, or “unbalanced”. I disagree with some of the current LNC members on the current direction of our party. As a leader of our party I would never email a candidate for LNC with snide remarks and personal attacks.
Can the world of politics be rough and tumble? Of course! However, when those on the left called “W” a dumb cowboy, they make the fact of thousands being killed in an unjust war, the economy tanking, and individual liberties shrinking get lost in the noise. When those on the right claim “O” is not born in the United States, they ignore the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, health care being nationalized, and individual rights still being trampled. Worse than personal attack on those outside of your party is personally attacking those inside of your party. When a party’s membership is shrinking and its finances are dwindling, we should be working to solve the problems.
When some LNC members are busy memorizing the intricacies of RONR, flinging insults, and trying to one up each other on personal attacks our energy is wasted. Instead of misusing Roberts Rules to quiet dissent and trolling email groups looking for opportunities to personally slam fellow Libertarians, some LNC members might better spend their time trying to put our party on a better course. Our party membership has fallen dramatically since 2008. Many of the losses are from those who have been with the party for five or more years. Having party leaders who personally slam those they disagree with is not the best plan for membership retention.
We have an opportunity this May to elect candidates to our national committee. Let us choose wisely. Let us choose those who can disagree and still work together to solve our problems and move our party forward. As a candidate for Regional Representative, I ask for your support at national convention. Also, I ask for you to elect Charles Wilhoit as the Alternate. We will work together to treat all of our fellow Libertarians with respect, find ways to solve our problems, and move our party on a bright new path.
Scott Williamson in a candidate for LNC Regional Representative (Region 4) and can be reached at [email protected] or www.electwilliamson.com.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_words – words and phrases that, while communicating a vague or ambiguous claim, create an impression that something specific and meaningful has been said.
If a (would-be) LP leader said something they shouldn’t have, then please name them and quote them. Don’t LP members deserve to have this information? Don’t the leaders in the penumbra of these vague accusations deserve to be either charged or cleared?