The Libertarian Party lauded the recent selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head President-elect Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Department as a “groundbreaking moment” for the party in an email this week, referencing Kennedy’s lifetime membership with the party.
“We are thrilled to announce a momentous achievement for the Libertarian Party: President-Elect Donald Trump has officially nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a proud Lifetime Member of the Libertarian Party, as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services,” the party stated on Monday.
The party praised Kennedy’s selection, calling it significant for both the organization and Americans who value “transparency, personal choice, and medical freedom.” The email outlined several libertarian approaches Kennedy has supported or committed to pursuing, including opening federal health databases to the public, removing conflicts of interest at the Food and Drug Administration, cutting financial ties between regulators and their respective industries, opposing vaccine mandates, and defunding studies “influenced by big pharmaceutical and agricultural interests.”
“We are proud to see a Libertarian Party voice at the forefront of one of the most abusive areas of government and hope RFK Jr. will choose libertarian solutions over federal control,” the party added.
Earlier this year, then-Republican candidate Donald Trump addressed Libertarian delegates and his supporters at the Libertarian National Convention, pledging to appoint a libertarian to his cabinet if the party supported him. However, Trump did not clarify whether the appointee would be an ideological libertarian or a member of the Libertarian Party, leading to considerable speculation within the party. That same weekend, Kennedy became a sustaining member of the Libertarian Party in order to be eligible for its presidential nomination under party bylaws.
Additionally, in October, Kennedy hinted that he could potentially be Trump’s libertarian appointee. When asked by New York Sun reporter Caroline McCaughey who the libertarian in Trump’s cabinet might be, Kennedy reportedly replied, “Maybe me. I’ve always considered myself libertarian.”
@Darryl W Perry
Yah boo sucks! Thanks, I didn’t know that.
In that case, only the OKLP and LPM offer(ed) (semi-)reasonably priced lifetime memberships.
And what is up with the Illinois LP and especially with the LPMA, that they think they have so much more value to offer members compared to other state parties and even the national party? I don’t think of either of those state parties as being particularly high-profile or weighty – unlike, for example, the LPNH or LPCO, which are disproportionately loud for how few LNC donors they have (which is a very dubious metric, I will say).
If you look at what the LPMA offered in return for $4.8-5k per annum, it is basically nothing. For that price you better be offering me a guaranteed position on the board, a gift-wrapped Tara DeSisto as chattel slave and the head of Cris Crawford on a gold platter…
@Nuña
The discounted rate of LPNH Life Membership applies only for Life Members of LP National.
@Curious
Yup. According to Lpedia, as of April 1st, 2019, fourteen state parties had some form of life(time) membership:
Alabama $1000
California $1000
Georgia $1000
Illinois $1500 (because of course the IL would be more expensive U+1F644)
Iowa $500
Louisiana $1000
Massachusetts $400/month or $5000/year (WTF!)
Michigan $250 (that’s more like it)
New Hampshire $500, but when on sale $200
New Jersey $500 or $500/year (it isn’t clear which)
New York $1000
Oklahoma $250
Pennsylvania $500
Wisconsin $1000
In addition, New Mexico had paid state party caucus life(time) members(!) $100/month up to two years, after that free.
And in some cases, it sort of makes sense – state party life memberships, that is, not caucus ones. For example, say you moved to NH because of the Free State Project. I could certainly imagine pick up an LPNH lifetime membership for on discount for $200 without wanting have any type of national party membership, much less giving the national party a whopping $1500 in a year.
You’re welcome. I don’t understand the difference between the two dates, do you? Or why they have you listed twice?
X: Thank you. I am not able to view the my.lp.org.lifetime members website. When I try I get a message saying that it can’t be reached. Thanks for showing the results you got. They look accurate.
State party life member ?
Searching the Orwellian government agency database for contributions by Robert Kennedy to Libertarian National Committee in 2023-4 produces zero results. This leaves several possible ways he might still be a life member:
1) He became one prior to 2023; someone else can do that search but this seems unlikely – Seebeck (and I think others) report that he joined as a basic member ($25 level) at the convention, which would not have been needed if he was already a life member, and he was a Democrat at that time.
2) the government database isn’t current either, and he became one more recently than it was updated
3) I flubbed the search – this isn’t something I do regularly, so someone else can check my work.
The $25 contribution wouldn’t have to be in there since it’s under $200, if I understood correctly.
https://imgur.com/a/A1uCL8w
https://my.lp.org/lifetime-members/
When you do a search enter only your last name and no part of your first name
Hi X, Would you be so kind as to post the link where you saw my name listed as a Lifetime Member? I carefully went through the list from the link shown in this article (imgur.com) several times but could not find it. I did see a Wakefield and a Whitaker. I tried to view the other link http://www.lp.org/libertarian-party-lifetime-members/ but was unable to reach it. Thanks a lot!
There are lots of different types of “member”.
In general, you don’t have to take the LP pledge, or to give the LP even one cent of your money ever, or to have an account on lp.org, etc. to be a member. You just have to fill in LP as you party when registering to vote.
That is what “party membership” without any further elaboration is most widely taken to mean, as that is the type of membership that the government keeps tabs on. And that is also the most important type of membership by which to judge the health of the party (since funds can be raised from many other sources than party dues).
But I’m confident there are lifetime LP members who register as Republican or Democrat in closed primary states – at least during even years. And I wouldn’t be at all surprised, if there are dues-paying, card-carrying members – perhaps even life members – who have never taken the pledge at all.
This possibly outdated, almost certainly incomplete, online list of lifetime members is beans as far as figuring out whether RFK is a (lifetime) member, as I said before, and in no way can be taken to constitute “pArTy ReCoRdS”.
But I doubt a record of who has taken the so-called “Libertarian Membership Pledge”TM would be conclusive either, even if you could get you hands on a comprehensive and exhaustive one.
Unless Kennedy or some relevant national party official cares to comment and elaborate, we might not even have any way of knowing exactly what kind of LP membership(s) he obtained at what time(s).
The long and the short of it, though, is that – unlike Trump – RFK was deemed eligible to be nominated at the (admittedly chaotic and sloppy) national convention, that the objections raised at the time were resolved or struck down, and that the LNC and LP have since then referred to Kennedy as a member.
Thus my original question: “what makes you say he isn’t a life member of the LP?” – because I think it is fair to say that the burden of proof is on whosoever’s claim goes against all of the above. But apparently asking, not even for hard evidence but for any semblance of argument or reasoning, makes me an “ignorant, insufferable twit” in the eyes of the habitual liar which doesn’t like to have its lies questioned… xD
PS.
Yes, the price of life membership has gone up. Presumably, partly because of the party’s ego growing (the more important the party considers itself, the more they expect you to pay for entering their little VIP club/masonic society). but also largely because of inflation.
Tim Barrus supposedly paid $250 to become the first “life sustaining member” (as opposed to “life member” – no idea what the difference was) back in 1972, which accounting for inflation would be like $1800-$1900 today. So that would suggest the current $1500 within 12 months is actually a “steal”…
But then compare the national party to some of the state parties’ (e.g. MI, OK and NH) relatively modest pricing for life membership (if they offer it at all, that is): https://lpedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_Membership
Not everyone who donates the required cash amount for any given membership level is a member. It also requires signing a cryptic oath that people widely disagree with on the meaning of. People who donate any amount of money, even enough for a lifetime membership, are not members if they don’t sign this pledge. Only Party officers entrusted with keeping the list of those who signed the oath secret have access to that list, and here they are publishing it for everyone to see.
The Orwellian agency also has a limited number of years in its public tracking and mutual information tools, and the LP lifetime memberships database goes all the way back to the party being founded, which is earlier than that. Lifetime memberships may have even been less than 200 frn originally. I vaguely recall them being 300 frn in 1987, although my memory has faded on that.
Anyone who donates $200 or more to a political party’s national committee, or to a candidate for federal office, in a calendar year has their name and addrees posted on the Federal Elections Commission website which can be viewed by anyone in the world.
State political party committees and candidates for state offices have similar requirements at the state level.
You’re actually listed in there twice. Search by your last name. I also looked up someone I know who made the mistake of getting a life membership and they have his state listed incorrectly. Their data is faulty in addition to opt out (if that even works) being an egregious privacy violation.
I could not find my name on the list of Life Members. Yet I am holding in my hand a Life Member Card issued to me by the Libertarian National Committee. It states that I have been a Libertarian since March 12, 1979. I think the party’s current records are not accurate.
Sorting the entire list by join date, the most recent ones are from March or July depending on which of the two dates are used. I’m not sure what the difference between them is. In any case, there’s plenty of time since then when the records on the site may be out of date.
@Darryl W Perry
Thanks for the screenshots, as I can’t view the page myself.
Unfortunately, the list on their website isn’t indicative and certainly doesn’t qualify as anything like “PaRtY rEcOrDs”.
—
@Curious
“Do they update this list all the time?”
Probably not. The LP is in general quite bad at updating their website and their wiki. Look at the bottom of Darryl’s screenshot for example, and you see that web page thinks it’s still 2023 even though 2024 is almost over…
“isn’t the membership list supposed to be confidential?”
One would think, right? But what can you expect from “Libertarians” who care so little about privacy that they use G Suite…? SMDH.
I think it used to be that non-officer members could OPT IN to having their name publicly listed, but I believe they’ve since moved to doing that by default and instead allowing you to OPT OUT of being listed. But I could be wrong about that (someone who is a member of the LP, please confirm/correct).
In any event, it should presumably still be possible to not be publicly touted/shamed as a lifetime member; and so the list is beans as far as figuring out whether or not RFK is a lifetime member.
“I didn’t find a link to it on the site, but maybe it’s only in the full screen version?”
It’s hidden away, and you have to click through a bunch of other pages to find it. I think this is the link (I can’t verify to check):
http://www.lp.org/libertarian-party-lifetime-members/
But even then I can’t view it, because they forgot to update their TLS/SSL certificate. (It probably thinks it is still 2023 too.)
Visiting the unencrypted page just returns either a “The connection was reset”, a “Connection Timed Out”, an “Your Clock Is Ahead/Behind”, a “This site can’t be reached” or a “The document contains no data” error, similarly suggesting that they have been neglecting to update and maintain at least the webpage itself, if not the data on it.
Do they update this list all the time? And, isn’t the membership list supposed to be confidential? I didn’t find a link to it on the site, but maybe it’s only in the full screen version?
I just looked on the LP website’s list of Life Members, and Robert Kennedy isn’t listed (screenshots for documentation):
https://imgur.com/a/AigV27F
@Arrogant and self-suffering* twat
Nebulous “party records” again, right… So you’re are just pulling shit out of your ass again, just like last time, and the time before that, and the time before that, etc. I thought so, but thank you for confirming. U+1F60F
* You always instantly have a melt down and start throwing a tantrum when you can’t back up your bullshit claims. It brings me great joy every time, to watch you embarrassing and humiliating yourself like this.
The gaslighting by the leadership of the LNC is quite amazing. How these people got reelected is beyond me.
@Nuna “what makes you say he isn’t a life member of the LP? ”
Party records, you ignorant and insufferable twit.
Yet one more piece of evidence that my resigning my National membership upon the MC takeover was the right decision.
@Andy cc. George Whitfield
“Gale Norton, former Libertarian Party member […] who was appointed to the position of Secretary of the Interior by President George W. Bush”
I feel like I’ve heard of an LP member by the name of G. Norton before, but I wouldn’t even have been able to tell you their first name, nor anything else about them – certainly nothing so memorable as having been Secretary of the Interior – so perhaps it is merely a false sense of familiarity – a trick of the mind, a la deja vu.
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@Anonymous Observer
“RFK is neither a libertarian nor a Life Member of the LP.”
No debate on the former, but what makes you say he isn’t a life member of the LP? One “only” has to give the national party like $1.5k or something within one year, and after that you’re a member for life. And surely, Kennedy could easily afford to invest that as part of seeking LP endorsement, setting up the joint fundraiser, etc.
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@NewFederalist
“Great choice! Greatest libertarian since William Weld!”
Certainly much better – and far less unlibertarian – than that.
Great choice! Greatest libertarian since William Weld!
RFK is neither a libertarian nor a Life Member of the LP.
As usual, all spin and no substance, and the McArghle regime is trying to claim victories where there are none.
Thanks, Andy. Great history there. I had not been aware of Gale Norton being a member of the Libertarian Party before.
More on Gale Norton, former Libertarian Party member and alleged small “l” libertarian who was appointed to the position of Secretary of the Interior by President George W. Bush
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gale_Norton?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1vSfmhI69L0SQt_8rSYVSohdB-ti5CwsMFdD1NiaHPnXfq5ZTOcvrOTMk_aem_dol88JI6YB9D4aVeaTzVAw
I have been following this stuff closely since 1996, so I remember this, but a lot of people either do not remember it or are unaware of this, but President George W. Bush appointed a Libertarian as Secretary of the Interior. Her name was Gale Norton and she had been active in the Libertarian Party in the 1970’s and 1980’s. I am unaware of this having a profound impact on anything.
https://www.pilotonline.com/2001/01/23/interior-appointee-is-ex-libertarian/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR126dz6uEUPN-KMh0gLhqX5v8TOefC4-JcRiRl_0-jHV-1X74UQShiFPME_aem_XSOrXxYLRaA0_wOsWsn0vQ
“We are thrilled to announce a momentous achievement for the Libertarian Party: President-Elect Donald Trump has officially nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a proud Lifetime Member of the Libertarian Party, as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services”
A momentous achievement for RFK. And while the prospect of having Kennedy in charge of the HHS is very nice, it is also stale news and not something for the LP, which has mostly profited from and attempted to undermine Kennedy, to take any pride in whatsoever. I’m much more interested in hearing who’s going to be the libertarian or Libertarian on Trump’s cabinet, and which position they will get…
Apparently, Trade Representative, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Administrator of the Small Business Administration and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy are the only things still up for grabs, and a libertarian would be well suited for at least the former three of those.
“We are proud to see a Libertarian Party voice at the forefront of one of the most abusive areas of government and hope RFK Jr. will choose libertarian solutions over federal control”
An LP voice? Just because he has a life-time membership? That’s a bit of stretch. Sounds like trying to take credit for what he achieved IN SPITE OF you.
“Trump did not clarify whether the appointee would be an ideological libertarian or a member of the Libertarian Party”
Indeed. Obviously the former is preferable, but the latter would still technically fulfill his promise, if he appointed a (former) LP candidate or party official with a long history of dedicated service to the party. So which will it be?
“Maybe me. I’ve always considered myself libertarian.”
Ahahaha! He even has a sense of humor, bless him. But seriously though, who is going to be the libertarian or Libertarian cabinet member Trump promised? There are only four jobs left.
Breaking that promise would be remembered by more than just the LP, and could have some serious consequences in 2026 and 2028, especially with how anti-libertarian many of Trump’s other picks are…
Wow… I’m sorry but this is pathetic.