[Lnc-business] Avoiding the arrogance of power

Sean O'Toole sean at kingfieldcapital.com
Sun Oct 2 10:15:26 EDT 2016


Another positive step would be the dispensing of the use of political 
titles when introducing or speaking directly to elected politicians -- 
"The honorable", "Mr. President", etc. No one calls Sergey Brin "Mr. 
President".

_________________________
Sean O'Toole
sean at kingfieldcapital.com
(816) 739-2737

On 2 Oct 2016, at 7:13, Starchild wrote:

> Thanks, Alicia. Without being shy about letting correspondents know 
> when I disagree, I try to respond diplomatically to everyone who 
> writes to me as an LNC member – and if they write to more than two 
> or three LNC members, post my responses here as well as to the writer 
> so that LNC members who weren't copied on their "cc" list and folks 
> reading on the reflector list can see what kind of input we're 
> receiving.
>
> 	Part of the way in which power "corrupts" is that it tends to make 
> those who possess it arrogant. Thus I see maintaining humility as an 
> important practice for libertarians in positions of power (whether 
> formal positions like public office or internal party office, or more 
> informal types of power). In traditional stories, wise and 
> compassionate rulers are often portrayed going out of their palaces 
> disguised as ordinary people in order to mingle with their subjects on 
> an equal footing and see things from their points of view in order to 
> learn what's really going on. Not that LNC members are anything like 
> kings of course, but making a practice of politely responding to all 
> grassroots contacts and inquiries seems like a small way to take a 
> spiritually somewhat similar approach. I don't think it's a 
> coincidence that the most libertarian member of Congress, Justin 
> Amash, is also the only one I've ever heard of explaining his votes on 
> each piece of legislation to members of the public.
>
> 	Ideally I think governments seeking to operate in accord with 
> libertarian principles on a sustainable basis would do well to also 
> include some structural safeguards designed to keep leaders humble. 
> Government chambers being designed with the most comfortable seating 
> reserved for members of the public rather than the officeholders, 
> requiring officeholders to commute using public transit, live in 
> modest public housing, this sort of thing. The tradition of the Pope 
> washing the feet of parishioners may be a little weird for modern 
> times, but in spirit it's right on the mark. Seeing members of 
> Congress required to spend a day each year as volunteers helping 
> members of the public fill out their tax forms would certainly be a 
> gratifying exercise.  :-)  I also like the idea, which has been 
> seriously proposed, of requiring politicians to wear uniforms 
> emblazoned with the names of their biggest campaign contributors, kind 
> of like athletes wear jerseys emblazoned with the names and logos of 
> their corporate sponsors.
>
> Love & Liberty,
>                                    ((( starchild )))
> At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
>                                 (415) 625-FREE
>
> On Oct 1, 2016, at 11:49 PM, Alicia Mattson wrote:
>
>> I'm just writing to compliment Starchild on his very diplomatic 
>> response to an absurd request.
>>
>> I found it interesting that her FEC filings say she does not plan to 
>> exceed the $5,000 filing threshold, but she told us she would raise 
>> hundreds of millions of dollars...
>>
>> -Alicia
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Oct 1, 2016 at 11:28 PM, Starchild <sfdreamer at earthlink.net> 
>> wrote:
>> Hi Audrey,
>>
>>         Thank you for writing to members of the Libertarian National 
>> Committee. However, the chances that this committee will dump Gary 
>> Johnson from this year's presidential ticket in October 2016 are 
>> vanishingly small, and if we did, the chances that we'd replace him 
>> with someone whom none of us seem to have heard of, who did not 
>> participate in our party's nomination process, and who for all we 
>> know may not even be a member of the Libertarian Party, just because 
>> she wrote to us out of the blue and told us she'll get 15% of the 
>> vote, etc., are basically zero.
>>
>>         Surely you can understand that it would not be in the 
>> interests of the Libertarian Party or the cause of freedom for us to 
>> operate that way, any more than it would be in your interests for you 
>> to entrust your savings to someone who came up to you randomly on the 
>> street and promised you she could get you 15% interest on your money!
>>
>>         But if you do believe in the cause of minimum 
>> government/maximum freedom and want to help, we welcome your support 
>> and there are lots of ways to get involved. You might contact your 
>> state or local chapter (you can look them up at 
>> http://www.lp.org/states) and attend a local meeting or two for a 
>> start. If (as I gather from your message may be the case) you are 
>> already running for president as an independent, you can use that 
>> soapbox to speak out about government abuses, including the rigged, 
>> undemocratic elections process in this country that harms all 
>> alternative candidates and parties. The way things stand, it would be 
>> virtually impossible, even if the most desirable candidate in the 
>> world came along and offered to be our nominee, to get him or her on 
>> the ballot in all the states now, due to the complex ballot access 
>> rules.
>>
>> Love & Liberty,
>>                                  ((( starchild )))
>> At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
>>                                (415) 625-FREE
>>
>>
>> On Sep 29, 2016, at 6:07 PM, William Redpath wrote:
>>
>>> I am sure that she would get the endorsement of The Detroit News.
>>> --------------------------------------------
>>> On Thu, 9/29/16, Daniel Hayes <danielehayes at icloud.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Subject: Re: [Lnc-business] Fwd: Dump Gary Johnson
>>> To: lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>> Date: Thursday, September 29, 2016, 8:03 PM
>>>
>>> On
>>> another note.  She is going to get 15% overnight but she
>>> couldn't get my email right when she sent it.  At least
>>> I know why I didn't get it..
>>>
>>> Daniel HayesLNC At Large Member
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> On Sep 29,
>>> 2016, at 6:55 PM, Alicia Mattson <secretary at lp.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I'm not seriously
>>> considering doing what this message asks us to do, but I am
>>> curious whether this person is a member of the LP or not.
>>> Is she in our membership database?
>>>
>>> -Alicia
>>>
>>>
>>> ---------- Forwarded
>>> message ----------
>>> From: Audrey Addison
>>> Williams <healingsoulofamerica at gmail.com>
>>> Date: Thu, Sep 29, 2016 at 5:56 AM
>>> Subject: Dump Gary Johnson
>>> To:
>>> chair at lp.org
>>> Cc: Treasurer at lp.org,
>>> Starchild at lp.org,
>>> Daniel.Hsyes at lp.org,
>>> Sam.goldstein at lp.org,
>>> Joshua.kstz at lp.org,
>>> Secretary at lp.org,
>>> Vicechair at lp.org
>>>
>>>
>>> Nicholas
>>> I urge you to call an emergency session to urge
>>> Gary Johnson to step aside.
>>> I am registered with the FEC P60021250
>>> I WILL get enough votes to make the Libertarian
>>> Party viable respected and influential
>>> I WILL bring Milennial and Minorities to the
>>> Libertarian Party
>>> I WILL raise hundreds of millions of dollars
>>> for the Libertarian Party
>>> I WILL quickly achieve the 15% required to
>>> participate in the last debate
>>> Wells remains as VP
>>> You have a responsibility to your Party and to
>>> the American People to ACT NOW!!
>>> Let's do THIS
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>
>>> -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
>>
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