George Phillies in a Facebook post at Libertarian Radicals’ page recently noted, regarding the agenda for the next LNC meeting, that:
“The LNC is debating putting on the live meeting agenda for 15 minutes a motion saying that members who do not wish to be addressed as Mr or Mrs or whatever are entitled to be addressed in a reasonable alternative manner. The conflict with Roberts has been noted.”
Wes Wagner has replied with the following:
“Regarding the entire discussion about Mr. Ms. etc…
“I believe it is important to point out that these are the types of concerns that legislators and officials argue about when the empire is crumbling. The actual pressing concerns of the day seem unsolvable and unresolvable so they amuse themselves with tangential and irrelevant topics.
“You may notice that the same dramas that play out in the macro sense in our body politic at the US Government level are often echoed within our LNC. There is a reason for this, and that reason is that the LNC itself suffers from many of the same maladies.
“The reality is that systems once they have reached this state are typically beyond repair though graceful and incremental reformation, and reconstitution is typically required and a new foundation of thought and principle must be laid.
“We lived this reality in Oregon and came out on the other side of it stronger. Us, as members and stakeholders in the libertarian movement, need to come to terms with the notion that the LNC Inc. is a lost cause, and graceful reconstitution is the best method of maintaining the assets.
“If we allow collapse of a failing system to occur through its entire course, the assets typically are lost and destroyed in the process and we will be rebuilding from nothing. If we otherwise make a moral choice to short circuit the collapse of a failing empire, we can salvage as much value as is possible.
“We are faced with this situation on a macro level, and how we deal with it as individual on the micro level will determine whether we have the capacity and character to succeed in our primary objective.”
No word yet from Drs Liberman and Lark.
For what it’s worth this reporter, whose dad and daughter are each MDs (or about to be) and gets confused whenever anyone calls him Doctor Buchmaan, prefers the honorific “Professor.”
I suppose it’s conceivable that the LNC is accomplishing things secretly, but as per the LNCDiscussPublic list, it doesn’t appear this new LNC has done much in their first 6 months.
Excellent commentary from Mr. Wagner, BTW–or should I call him Wes???
As far as for me, as long as the name I’m called doesn’t start with a “B”, I’m sort of okay with it–
There are two “secret” lists that I know of, one is the strategy list which everyone except Starchild (I believe) is on. Nothing has been said on that list that I would personally think would damage the party if we made it public (and certainly no more damaging than this latest farce). I’m obligated to not say exactly what has been said on that list, but that’s my personal assessment.
Nor do I think anything has been said on there that translates into any kind of immediate action to benefit us.
There’s also a second “secret” list that I am not on, along with a minority of LNC. I don’t know what all has been said on that list, but as of the July meeting, Dan Wiener (who set that list up) told me it was low volume.
What a bunch of stupid, anal, bullshit for the LNC to waste its time on. Just call everyone by their first name and be done with it. This is a bunch of nonsense and anyone who thinks that this is a legitimate topic of discussion ought to be removed from the LNC.
Stop wasting time and resources.
Strategize.
Plan.
Organize.
Create.
Execute.
Evaluate.
Repeat.
Stop wasting time on nonsense.
For most of any meeting, you should be able to just meet, discuss and decide without mention of Roberts rules. If you can’t, your meeting and members are defective.
How did the 15 SECONDS in the message become 15 MINUTES here?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LNCDiscussPublic/message/2577
Admittedly I am far behind in following LNC Discuss on Starchild’s relay, but I did follow Jill’s link posted in the IPR October open thread. So if there are other messages with minutes specified, I apologize.
I also read it as 15 seconds of discussion. Of course that will be extended, which will require 2/3 vote, then a motion to amend, followed by a roll call vote.
Fifteen minutes might actually be about right.
15 seconds of debate is even more idiotic than 15 minutes.
I’d really like to hear how someone could POSSIBLY think this is a good idea. On its face, this sounds like something from THE ONION – bizarre, absurd!
Now I know why nobody would vote for me when I submitted for the vacant position… I would not be thrilled about wasting the time/money necessary to perpetuate this insanity on the committee and/or the LP in general.
Staying home in November feels like the smart play now – as maybe the insanity of the last LNC has transferred to this iteration and I am going to stay far, far away….. If I behaved like these folks, my employment would be at risk….
Are you kidding me? This is a BUSINESS. A BUSINESS to help the states with their organizations and to get LP Candidates elected.
Quit this nonesense. Get serious. It’s stuff like this that makes me ask if there is a correlation with the contribution levels being down.
I have gone back and checked. This motion was indeed for 15 seconds of debate. 15 minutes was a reference to a different motion.
Farce is an understatement.
@15 It seems that our National Chair had a different perspective on this matter.
I thought Mr. Libertarian left when the LNC had its Root Canal?
Apparently the Novocaine shot for that went straight to the collective brains, making them loopy to even have to engage in this nonsense.
The LP in general and the LNC in particular strikes me like a dysfunctional family. But even dysfunctional families can find ways to get along and get things done.
Seems to me most people fall into one of four categories:
1. Libertarianists: Dedicated idealists concerned about whether one is a minarchist or an anarcho-capitalist, and how pure.
2. Political Libertarians: Organizers and coordinators who want to raise the money, get the vote, and win elections.
3. Small-government Republicans: Call themselves Conservatives and who are mostly for government non-intervention, except for issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.
4. Free Radicals: Crazy, creative people who want to grow the Libertarian Party by making it more fun. For government non-intervention except for issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.
I love all these people and they all have an important place in the LP. The question is how to get everyone to work together to move the LP forward.
@19 or “Bayter”…