A new online database designed to track candidates seeking national leadership positions within the Libertarian Party has begun accepting entries ahead of this year’s Libertarian National Convention.
The platform, called “LP Merit,” was announced Monday by the LPAlliance, an inter-caucus coalition within the party that is maintaining the project. According to the platform’s website, it aims to compile information on candidates running for seats on the Libertarian National Committee and the Libertarian Party Judicial Committee.
The platform was first discussed publicly last October by Thomas Rowlette, a member of the Libertarian Party of Missouri and an amateur party historian. In an email to former party treasurers, Rowlette said he was preparing a soft launch of the site and was in the process of developing candidate questionnaires. He was also conducting outreach to the former treasurers to help design questions specifically relevant to that role.
The platform argues that delegates often lack sufficient information about candidates prior to voting, particularly in races where individuals declare their candidacies shortly before the convention. It is intended to be a neutral resource among the party’s various internal factions, focusing on aggregating details on candidates to help delegates make informed choices.
“The main reason delegates make poor choices when voting for candidates at convention is that enough information about them isn’t available to make a good choice,” the site states, presumably taking the perspective of Rowlette. “In general, I trust the judgment of the delegates when given access to adequate information.”
The platform is modeled in part on Ballotpedia, a nonprofit encyclopedia of American elections and candidates, and presents individual pages for each candidate where participants can provide background information.
Candidates are able to respond to standardized questions about their experience with party operations, including fundraising, convention planning, database management, and ballot access efforts. The site also includes prompts tailored to those seeking specific positions and provides an option for readers to submit brief written statements supporting or opposing individual candidates.
“I’m adamantly of the opinion that the LNC meritocracy website should be true neutral between all caucuses, Classical Liberal, Mises, Radical, or whatever,” the site continues. “If we simply got the best talent from each group there wouldn’t have to be a group that was kicked out after a takeover. The balance would be restored naturally.”
Since its launch, three candidates seeking leadership roles at the upcoming Libertarian National Convention later this spring have already been added to the database.
The same could be said about every caucus in LP history.
This sounds promising. LP Merit should consider soliciting and publishing Nolan Chart type scorecards for those seeking Libertarian Party leadership positions. Get them on the record on a range of specific libertarian issues, both personal liberties issues like drugs, immigration, prostitution, guns, gambling, etc., and economic liberties like taxes, wage controls, regulations, government spending, etc.
Some questions about world freedom issues like military interventionism, right to secession or self-determination, opposition to dictators and un-democratic regimes, free trade, etc., would also be useful, although the physical Nolan Chart model only covers economic and personal liberties.
“If we simply got the best talent from each group there wouldn’t have to be a group that was kicked out after a takeover. The balance would be restored naturally.”
The problem is that a certain caucus wants total control and doesn’t care about finding the best people.