Dear Friend of Liberty,
I just returned from FreedomFest, a conference which bills itself as “The Greatest Libertarian Show on Earth!”
FreedomFest is not affiliated with the Libertarian Party, but lots of Libertarian Party members attended. There were over 2,000 people, and many organizations that support libertarian principles participated.
The Libertarian Party had a strong presence, with three of us listed in the program guide as speakers, including an opening by LNC member Wayne Allyn Root, a presentation on “The Case for the Libertarian Party” by LNC Chair Mark Hinkle and me, and exhibitor booths by the California Libertarian Party and the national LP.
The program guide contained tributes to eleven freedom advocates including LP co-founder David F. Nolan (1943-2010), and the first LP presidential nominee, John Hospers (1918-2011).
Our Vice Chair, Mark Rutherford, and elected Libertarian Indianapolis Councilor Ed Coleman attended, as well as the LP California Chair, Kevin Takenaga (along with many other California Libertarians), LP Pennsylvania Chair Lou Jasikoff, and many others, including some of the top donors to the LP.
My goals were to promote the Libertarian Party, network with other organizations, and learn from some of the top speakers in the movement.
Rob Kampia, Executive Director of the Marijuana Policy Project, gave a presentation entitled “Is marijuana policy the only issue heading in a libertarian direction?”
I was unable to attend Rob’s presentation, but unfortunately, the answer to his question may be yes, because there aren’t too many areas where freedom has advanced lately under either Republican or Democratic control. Certainly the topics at FreedomFest seemed more oriented towards pointing out encroachments on freedom and protecting your investments in a failing economy, rather than celebrating the advancement of freedom and prosperity.
My favorite speaker was Judge Andrew Napolitano, host of Freedom Watch on Fox Business Network. He gave a great speech focused on defending our freedoms against abuses by the government. He ripped the Patriot Act and many other recent and long past abuses of the constitution. In response to the question “What can individuals do to fight back?” Judge Napolitano said something along the lines of, “Point out in public when your congressmen are violating the freedoms protected by the Constitution.”
That’s something Libertarian Party candidates are excellent at.
We’ll have videos from the event to share in the coming days.
Sincerely,
Wes Benedict
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee
He’s thinking of the national LP booth you were texting me about, I think.
LPNH had a Nolan Chart at PorcFest, I took a glance one day and it seemed that all except a handful (literally 4 or 5) were at the top-tip… the others were VERY CLOSE, maybe 90/80 or 80/90 – all well inside the “libertarian” quadrant
While there were some true people who believed in freedom that was there. I also notice there were some business selling themselves that acted like a timeshare along with some liberal minded like people who also showed up and didn’t agree with the freedom loving minds. I had spoken to one of these people who was an overtalker and didn’t want to hear what another person had to say, except to listen to themselves talk. I am guessing they didn’t want to hear reality of what is going on in this country. Just believes the union and the government is going to take care of them.
Here is Jack Hunter’s report on the foreign policy panel.
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2011/07/19/am-i-evil/#more-13868
Sharon Harris of advocates said their Quiz takers were almost exclusively in the Lib quadrant and much more so than any other year, if they kept the quizzes perhaps they can see where the changes have occured
most accepting libertarian crowd ever. Ive worked many a different LP booth for FreedomFest and usually there are disgruntled Repubs who like to come pick a fight about giving babies heroin or owning personal nukes, also usually they bash our candidates and call us spoilers.
none of that happened. In fact the LP at con booth had the GOP wall of Shame , and everybody loved it . It was the #1 attention getter and noone even argued or got offended when they realized their supposed Liberty Messiah , Reagan < was the secret Shame-ee.
it all the more funny because ive heard from people that Wayne and other conservatives in the LP dont like the Wall , they dont want to offend. but they all loved it , sooo the lesson is even most liberty loving GOPers are more disgusted with heir own and libertarian leaning than those in our own party.
andy , te LPNevada did not have a booth , they put on some special event and Sat. the day I was there , I saw only a handful of LPNevada members. i think i was the only 1 that worked the booth , not sure tho
I asked Daniel McCarthy, who moderated a foreign policy panel, about the interventionist?non-interventionist mix. This was his response:
“More noninterventionist than in recent years, but still surprisingly interventionist in many corners.”
I heard that the Libertarian Party of Nevada also had a booth or table there.
FreedomFest is traditionally libertarian leaning, but also still somewhat movementish. In the past foreign policy has been a divisive issue at the attendees. My sense is that it is strongly trending toward non-intervention these days. Is there anyone who attended who can report on the trend?