Statement from the LP Classical Liberal Caucus (LP-CLC) Discord site:
In June we will be releasing a report on the health of the LP, which is one full year from convention. The LP is in serious trouble no matter how you dice the numbers, and our members and LP members should have a full knowledge of the state of the party, especially if we aren’t getting the full picture from the LNC. We will be releasing a report in a few months that details how the Libertarian Party can recover from the mess it is in.
I know that the LNC will probably ignore it, but we will show people that we have a plan that can be implemented to turn this ship around. The Libertarian Party has lost touch with the liberty movement, and that needs to change ASAP.
The LP-CLC Annual General Meeting will he held on Discord July 22nd, 2023 at 2 CST. All members are invited to attend. Voting members can vote (see requirements below)
They state:
Since the beginning of the CLC in 2022, we’ve had fantastic growth and support from the liberty community, we’ve endorsed candidates, been joined by a fantastic board of advisors, and built a compassionate community of libertarians. With time comes challenges, and it is more important than ever to bring up leaders to provide a vision for the LP.
At the 2023 General Meeting, there will be 3 seats on our board open for election: Vice-Chair, Treasurer, and At-Large Member. If you are interested in seeking one of these positions, don’t hesitate to reach out to our secretary by email, or in the 2023 General Meeting channel in our discord. The only requirement for running for the board is that you are a voting member of the CLC in good standing. For full responsibilities of a board member, please see section 5 of our bylaws.
A member is anyone who has signed up on our website, signing both the NAP pledge and support for our purpose and values. Voting members are members who have donated $10 a month for at least 3 months, or $120 over the past year. The donation requirements can be waived by the board. Please email the secretary to request a waiver, particularly if you are a CLC volunteer.
These members will select the new board members and changes to the bylaws and platform. If you would like to participate in the discussion around proposed changes, make sure to join the discord!
This next year will bring a lot of challenges for the Libertarian Party, we will be looking to provide a positive direction for it to go in. And with the 2024 Presidential election right around the corner, it is imperative we work to have a principled libertarian who can speak for our values at the top of the ticket. The CLC needs your support to make that happen. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the General Meeting, and working with the new members of the board!
No. Nick Sarwark is working through the Libertarian Policy institute.
Didn’t know the stuff about 1989 and such. The history of this party is something I’ve always felt should be discussed more because for the hands around a long time it shapes their opinions on lots of things, and it’s simply unknown to most people because the party gets no media coverage. Really all I know about is some bits of the founding, the 1983 Convention, the Dallas Accord as a philosophical thing only, the “Portland Massacre”, and recent items where I was actively following. There’s LPedia but for historical events of note in the party it reflects the views a lot of Caryn Ann Harlos who runs the Historical Committee (the story on the 2006 Portland Convention at the site completely reflects her point of view).
One thing I heard and found enthralling was in the aftermath of New Hampshire and JBH resigning, Chris Spangle had a podcast with old Indiana veterans of the party to talk about internal discord in the party and how it’s hardly new – Steve Dasbach, Joe Hauptmann, and Mark Rutherford. Hauptmann had a great oral history of the ’83 Convention, including tidbits like “I was sitting next to a delegate that was from Canada”. He also had a great story of how after Ravenal in Hauptmann’s opinion gave this terrible condescending east coast elitist speech to the delegates, went up to Koch to tell him it’s over and Koch was sitting there playing with a stack of Krugerrands.
Is this Sarwark’s group? If so count me out.
Ah, the 1989 convention. Rothbard hoist by his own petard, caught in a bald-faced lie he issued from the podium. And he never knew he still came within one delegate vote of winning the LNC chairmanship for his guy.
Also, Jim’s history skips the nonpresidential convention in 1989 played in their exit. They did not simply depart because they were unhappy with 1988 presidential results, but rather because they failed to capture the lnc chair the following year. As for Buchanan, he went hard left on trade and related issues with a quip about dead economists or something like that. Having learned nothing, the same people roughly speaking created libertarians for Trump and no doubt will again .
It won’t play out like 1983-9 because the Heise PAC is more disciplined. Rothbard just dreamed of having a Leninist cadre, but in reality they were a lot less disciplined. 40 years later, the Heise PAC is a lot more grounded in weaponizing parliamentary and internal as well as external legal procedure at all levels to maintain control of the party and its diminishing resources. When, not if, they make their foray to unite with the worst people in the GOP to play the same games there, they will make sure the l.p. remains either as a fallback position in case they have to retrench or at least completely ruined for anyone else, partly out of spite and partly so it can’t be a “spoiler” to their GOP. It’s time to acknowledge the party is over and move on.
I wonder if this will all ultimately play out, in broad strokes, like the LP during 1983 – 1989 period. Rothbard’s radicals took control of the party. The moderate Koch faction walked and took their money and organizational ability with them. The radicals nominated a radical. The election results were a disaster. 4 years later they brought in what they considered a big name. They were disappointed with the results. Then they quit the LP and joined the Koch’s in the Republican party, where they proceeded to abandon any adherence to radical principles in favor of compromising on an electable candidate in the form of Pat Buchanan.
I’m very skeptical that it’s possible for any plans they come up with to succeed. They would need to take control of enough state parties to send enough delegates to the national convention to prevail. That worked for the Heise PAC after 5 years of groundwork, but the situation now is not analogous.
The HeisePAC is a lot more on guard against the same being done to them (witness their top down command and control view of and extreme litigious approach to dissent below the national level), much more willing to play hardball and go nuclear, forged in the irons of Ron Paul revolutionary politics amidst the nasty ugly GOP counterrevolution, imbued with paranoia and conspiracy theories, possessed of a true Leninist tactical vanguard cadre, messianic in dedication, not worried about changing rules midstream when deemed advantageous, and if worst comes to worst (from their perspective) not in any way unwilling to cause maximum possible embarrassment on their way out the door and sniping for maximum possible damage in retreat.
And that’s before you even try to sort out what truth if any there might be to rumors they have behind the scenes advice and/or funding from the likes of Steve Bannon and Roger Stone. It seems vanishingly unlikely that both of the following could simultaneously be true:
Classical Liberals can take leadership in the LP
AND
There will be a LP worth taking back and rebuilding if and when that becomes possible.
So..
Good luck. I’ll spend my time and money elsewhere. I consider the LP to be a lost cause and party centered politics to be mostly a thing of the past, particularly to younger generations coming up who see political parties as at best temporary vehicles to use, get in and out of, and discard as appears most advantageous at any given moment. This will still be true if and when ever the GOP Heise PAC takes off, as the LP Heise PAC is by some accounts a stepping stone to.