[Lnc-business] How the principled have fallen

[Starchild]

Hi Jim,

	Thanks for writing – I get it. It's unfortunately true that William Weld and to a lesser extent Gary Johnson have been saying some un-libertarian things while serving as our presidential ticket, and many Libertarians are understandably not happy about it (myself among them). 

	How did it happen that the Libertarian Party chose these standard-bearers? Quite simply it came down to who showed up and voted. We needed more strongly libertarian folks like yourself at our convention in Orlando – Weld squeaked in as the VP nominee by the skin of his teeth. With that in mind, I hope you will rejoin the party and take part in the process so that you can help ensure a more solidly libertarian outcome in 2020. 

	Meanwhile, short of rescinding our nomination(s) which would probably do more harm than good at this point even if it were politically possible, all we can really do is commend them when they get it right – which they do on some issues – and pressure them to improve when they don't. It's not like there's anyone better out there who's on enough state ballots to be elected president. Certainly not Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, who make Gary Johnson and Bill Weld look like Murray Rothbard and Friedrich Hayek by comparison! If we know anything, it's that either Clinton or Trump being elected would be a disaster. A vote for Johnson is a vote to #DumpTheCLUMP!

	As a member of the Johnson/Weld campaign's Libertarian advisory board, I'll do what I can to urge them to present a more libertarian message. You can help by sending me specific examples of stuff in print or on the air (links and details on where to find the material in the link if it's not immediately discoverable) where Johnson or Weld, or materials being put out in their name, are going against our party Platform and the libertarian idea of non-aggression for which it stands, so we can look at them and try to come up with suggested alternative messaging to recommend to the campaign. 

	Your suggestions are always welcome too of course, on this or any other topic. Thank you again for taking the time to voice your justified concerns, and for all your other efforts as a freedom activist. Hope to see you at our next convention.

Love & Liberty,
                                   ((( starchild )))
At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
                                 (415) 625-FREE


“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, and this without any qualification as to their condition or degree, as is the case in the British government. This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty... The right of self-defense is the first law of nature; in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Whenever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”
– St. George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England (1803)


On Aug 15, 2016, at 10:46 AM, James Funk wrote:

> To whom,
> 
> A former party member, I can't believe how far off message the LP now is. How can Weld possibly be your VP candidate? Besides being either totally uninformed or ignorant, it's not really even a conservative Republican position he's espousing in the article below (which is amusing): http://bearingarms.com/bob-o/2016/08/12/bill-weld-just-compared-ar-15s-weapons-mass-destruction-said-pistols-even-worse/
> 
> I would think his comments would automatically exclude him from any consideration by the Party. No liberty at all in them. How could he have been chosen? Must be the Freedom is Slavery approach to relevancy, I guess. Amazing you picked Johnson again, as well. What a waste of time, and departure from principle, again.
> 
> You've really lost your way. The world doesn't need a Republican Party junior varsity or farm team, guys.
> 
> Jim Funk
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business/attachments/20160816/222dfc1b/attachment-0001.html>