[Lnc-business] Your Libertarian Party Membership

[Caryn Ann Harlos]

Gordon, thank you for writing your concerns.  Starchild responded
extensively so please just let me encourage you not to leave - passionate
people who stay help to influence things in the directions they think best.

I hate to see long-time members become disillusioned.  The cause for
freedom needs all of us.

On Wed, Feb 1, 2017 at 7:14 PM, Starchild <sfdreamer at earthlink.net> wrote:

>
> Gordon,
>
> Thank you for taking the time to provide this thoughtful feedback. I think
> most of your points are very well taken. The Libertarian Party *has*
> often come across as too conservative in our messaging, even though the
> libertarian philosophy as you correctly point out does not inherently favor
> the wealthy and powerful. I strongly agree that we need to do more to speak
> out on behalf of the poor and the marginalized, and the issues which affect
> them, while recognizing that big business and the wealthy are often
> beneficiaries of government welfare and privilege and no friends to
> freedom. It pains me when our failure to adequately do this costs us the
> support of longtime committed libertarians like yourself who've been part
> of this endeavor for decades. I started the Grassroots Libertarians Caucus
> to address our left/right imbalance among other issues (see
> https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grassrootslibertarians/info), and
> continue to fight for those values. The day after the Nov. 8 election, I
> started a petition to urge members of the Electoral College to reject
> Donald Trump which amassed over 8,000 signatures (
> https://www.change.org/p/the-538-members-of-the-u-s-elector
> al-college-electoral-college-members-please-save-us-from-donald-trump),
> and I subsequently urged the Libertarian National Committee to support the
> recount efforts led by Jill Stein and the Green Party.
>
> Sadly we did not do that, however I do think that our messaging at least
> at the national level (I can't keep up with what all the state and local
> Libertarian party affiliates and candidates are saying) has improved
> somewhat in recent years. Our 2016 presidential and VP candidates Gary
> Johnson and Bill Weld were repeatedly outspoken in criticizing Donald
> Trump, even while being arguably softer than warranted on Hillary
> Clinton. I think our current chair Nick Sarwark appreciates the need to be
> more balanced than we have been in the past in terms of appealing to the
> left at least as much as to the right, and that the press releases he and
> staff have put out this term generally reflect that.
>
> Among the LP's recent communications this year have been a strong
> statement of solidarity with American Muslims who are threatened by the new
> administration (https://www.lp.org/we_stand_with_you/), a defense of
> peaceful immigration (https://www.lp.org/the-libert
> arian-party-opposes-restrictions-on-peaceful-immigration/), a defense of
> sex work and free speech in the face of government pressure on adult
> advertising platform Backpage.com (https://www.lp.org/libertaria
> n-party-accuses-senate-subcommittee-of-aiding-child-sex-traffickers/), a
> rejection of Trump's nominee for attorney general, Jeff Sessions (
> https://www.lp.org/lp-warns-cut-sessions-short/), and a condemnation of
> the Republican secretary of state and state supreme court in Ohio as
> "bullies" on ballot access (https://www.lp.org/bullies-in-ohio/).
>
> I don't want to give you the impression we agree on everything (what two
> libertarians do?). I confess that, in the spirit of giving credit where it
> is due, I just  yesterday posted a message suggesting that the LP issue a
> press release commending the Trump administration's unprecedented freeze on
> issuing new regulations and executive order mandating two regs be
> eliminated for every new one enacted. But that does not mean for a minute
> that I think we should go easy on Trump, whom I consider psychologically
> unfit to be president and a clear and present danger in the Oval Office. I
> respectfully disagree with vice-chair Arvin Vohra (unless he has changed
> his stance since the press release you mention) in that I *am* ready to
> protest his administration now! I've joined a couple local #Resistance
> groups here in San Francisco, attended an anti-Trump event, written
> numerous critical messages and posts about him, and intend to do much more.
> And I know that many other Libertarians feel the same way as we do, that
> his temperament, authoritarian tendencies, and repeatedly expressed
> admiration for tyrants abroad, make him a potentially a greater threat to
> freedom than Barack Obama.
>
> I am also an anthropogenic global warming theory skeptic, but this
> skepticism predates my tenure as an LNC representative and has nothing to
> do with what I think our donors may want. Indeed although David Koch, as
> you probably know, was the party's vice-presidential nominee way back in
> 1980, my understanding is that the Koch brothers have not been Libertarian
> Party donors for decades. My views on that subject also have more to do
> with seeking to protect the environment than with seeking to protect the
> fossil fuel industry – I am concerned that exaggerated fears about global
> warming over which humans have limited influence are diverting attention
> from the more serious environmental issues of habitat destruction and
> species extinction that demand our urgent attention. While public fears are
> disproportionately focused on a possible warming of a couple degrees over
> the next century and related concerns about polar bears and pipeline
> construction (by the way I do oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline for its
> reliance on eminent domain and violation of treaties with Indian tribes, I
> just don't see it as a major environmental issue), the areas of greatest
> biodiversity on the planet are endangered. Tropical rainforests are
> burning, species like tigers and elephants are being poached to extinction
> in the wild, and coral reefs dying due largely to destructive government
> policies that keep people in the parts of the world that contain these
> habitats poor, and fail to uphold the property rights and market mechanisms
> that are needed to effectively safeguard the world's natural heritage.
>
> Regarding police abuse and mass incarceration and their disproportionate
> impact on minority communities, it's not true that we've entirely ignored
> these issues. For instance in a press release last July, Nick Sarwark wrote,
>
> *"The frustration in the black community is palpable, and frankly,
> justified. When rogue cop after rogue cop gets off scot-free after using
> excessive force and changes are not made, and consequences are not felt, it
> causes this horrible tension we are feeling today." *(
> https://www.lp.org/libertarian-party-calls-for-an-end-to-all-violence/)
>
> But you're right that we have too often been silent when it comes to the
> injustices associated with police and prisons in this country, and that we
> need to speak out about them louder and more frequently. We badly need
> voices like yours to remind and encourage us to do this, and hold our feet
> to the fire when we do not. The number of people involved in the LP is not
> so great that one person like yourself cannot make a critical difference. I
> often point out to Libertarians or prospective Libertarians who are unsure
> of whether it's worth putting their personal time and energy into the LP,
> that just a dozen additional delegates could have made the difference
> between having former Republican congressman Bob Barr (an apparent
> opportunist who subsequently went back to the GOP) as our presidential
> candidate in 2008, or Mary Ruwart, a hardcore libertarian who wrote
> "Healing Our World", a book that I consider one of the best in-depth
> resources for showing people on the left the compassionate and cooperative
> nature of our philosophy. Will you do your part as a movement elder to help
> give the Libertarian Party you helped birth more leaders who understand
> these issues?
>
> Writing to your national representatives is a good first step. You might
> be surprised how few LP members take the time to do this. I have copied
> your message along with my reply to the Libertarian National Committee
> list, so that the dozens of people subscribed to our reflector list or
> reading these messages online (available at http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc
> -business_hq.lp.org/) will be able to hear your concerns. Instead of
> abandoning the most pro-freedom party in the United States, of which you
> have long been a loyal member and activist, and increasing the likelihood
> of it becoming a "crabbed version of an alt.Republican Party" in your
> words, I urge you to join those of us who recognize this danger, roll up
> your sleeves and get to work! Please feel free to give me a call any time
> if you'd like to discuss more ideas on how to do this.
>
> And thank you again for caring, taking time to write, and your efforts in
> the struggle for freedom!
>
> Love & Liberty,
>                                   ((( starchild )))
> At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
>                                 (415) 625-FREE
>                                   @StarchildSF
>
> *“If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor
> freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing
> up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning… This struggle
> may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral
> and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a
> demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will
> quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and
> wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they
> are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of
> tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”*
>
> – *Frederick Douglass *, 1857 speech at Canandaigua, New York (
> http://www.blackpast.org/1857-frederick-douglass-if-there-no
> -struggle-there-no-progress )
>
>
> On Feb 1, 2017, at 7:03 AM, Gordon Rogers wrote:
>
> Mr. Benedict --
>
> I have attached my response to your query about renewing my membership in
> the LP as a Word document as well as answering you in the text below.
>
> Gordon Rogers
>
> ---------------
>
> Dear Mr. Benedict et al:
>
> I want to let you know why I decided to let my membership in the
> Libertarian Party lapse.
>
> I am not sure how long I was a dues-paying member of the party.  I know
> that I voted for John Hospers in 1972.  (I had to write in his name, since
> he was on the ballot in only two states when he ran).  I was an annual
> dues-paying member of the LP for a long time before I became a monthly
> donor, and I was a monthly donor for many years.  I have also been a
> candidate for office as a Libertarian and I have been a delegate to
> national conventions, both more than 20 years ago.
>
> I have been increasingly disappointed in the extent to which the LP has
> mirrored the Republican agenda and their talking points.  I understand that
> Libertarian positions are distinct from Republican ones on several issues,
> but I am concerned that the LP has put on blinders when it comes to seeing
> the change that is actually needed in this country.  The number of areas in
> which the freedoms of citizens could be improved is countless but the focus
> of the party seems to be primarily on those areas chosen by the Republicans
> for their own agenda.  (I am under no illusions that the Republicans will
> actually do what they say they want to do, but that is a separate issue.  I
> am not leaving the LP for the GOP – far from it).
>
> The agenda of the Republican Party seems to be determined by the two main
> elements of its base – the so-called social conservatives and the business
> community.  The LP has successfully distinguished itself from the social
> conservatives, but due to its own failings it has allowed itself to be
> perceived as just like the Republicans “only more so” in every other
> respect.  I think it is indisputable that the Republican agenda, despite
> its rhetoric, is not primarily a free market agenda but a large corporate
> business agenda.  The public messaging of the LP does little to counter the
> impression that the LP is “only more so.”
>
> I am not suggesting that the LP has abandoned its principles.  I am saying
> that the LP has allowed its focus to change in ways detrimental to itself,
> to its ultimate goals and to the American people.  I suspect that the
> reason for this is that while attempting to adhere to its principles, it
> directs its focus to areas favored by its largest donors – and yes, I am
> thinking of the Koch family when I say this.  I appreciate the efforts the
> Kochs have made to advancing ideas of liberty, but I am under no illusions
> that they are much more self-interested than they are liberty-interested.
> My concern is that even while advocating liberty for all, focusing efforts
> to increase liberty primarily in selected arenas of society is actually
> anti-liberal.  I am sure you are familiar with the Anatole France quote: “In
> its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under
> bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.”  The point for me
> is that even if the focus of the LP is exclusively on increasing liberty,
> it cannot work to increase liberty just for some without also working to
> create an unjust and illiberal society.  Perhaps an extreme example of this
> principle is the American South in the early history of our country.  Many
> of our strongest early advocates for liberty came from the South and yet
> they countenanced the most egregious abuses of human liberty possible.
>
> We have real problems in this country and many of them are not being
> addressed by the LP.  I hear the LP arguing for lower tax rates, for
> repealing the ACA (“Obamacare”), for repealing laws adverse to alternate
> political parties, for reducing federal regulations.   I don’t hear much of
> anything from the LP, for example, on climate change (other than hints that
> the LP may be a climate change denier, and is at least skeptical to the
> point of pooh-poohing any problems).  Whether you agree or not, a majority
> of the American people sees climate change as a vital problem and wants to
> have it addressed.  This is a problem that can be addressed using freedom
> principles but because these principles impose costs on those contributing
> to the problem, most of the larger, corporate contributors are opposed to
> them.  The LP shouldn’t be, though.  And neither should it be silent.
>
> I don’t hear anything from the LP about the black incarceration disgrace
> or police shootings of unarmed blacks other than that drugs should be
> legalized.  Yes they should, but that is not the sole or even a major cause
> of those two problems.  If it was, there would not be a disproportion in
> black versus white incarceration rates or lengths of prison sentences, just
> as there is not a disproportion in black versus white users or
> distributors.  Income disparity in this country is not increasing so
> dramatically merely because of new regulations imposed on small (or large)
> businesses, but you wouldn’t know it from listening to the LP (or to the
> GOP).  And so on.
>
> These are among the biggest problems our country faces, problems that
> threaten to tear us apart.  Yet there is scant attention paid to them by
> the LP, and to the extent that attention is paid, the solutions offered are
> peripheral to the causes.
>
> What I see nowadays from the LP is a “libertarianism” that primarily
> benefits the large banks, the large corporations, and those who are
> well-established in society.  But libertarian principles don’t favor them –
> they favor all people equally.  While it may be mentioned in the fine print
> somewhere, there is no outcry from the LP about laws and regulations that
> were lobbied for and often written by large corporations and which benefit
> them exclusively.  Sure, these kinds of things are obscure – deliberately
> so – but they are responsible for much of the lack of freedom and
> opportunity in our country.  Everyone knows they are there.  Everyone knows
> the system is rigged.  And no one – certainly not the LP – seems
> particularly interested in fixing that problem.
>
> People deserve the right to become rich.  However, relatively few of the
> super-rich today became that way while observing libertarian principles.
> The fact of their wealth does not merit coddling or silence by the LP.
>
> I stopped my financial support of the LP before the election, but I have
> to add that the LP’s response – or should I say non-response – to Donald
> Trump is outrageous.  “Not protesting Trump – yet” written by the LP
> vice-chair is the only word from the LP I have seen on Trump to date, and
> in it he compares Trump favorably to Obama – who WAS protested frequently
> and often.  If you cannot see already that Trump is a far worse disaster
> for liberty, for the constitution, and for our country that Obama ever was,
> then I have no hope for the LP.
>
> When I was younger and the LP was younger, the LP was known for having
> vision and for being independent.  Now it seems to be nothing more than a
> crabbed version of an alt.Republican_Party, scurrying about within the
> bounds set presumably by its donors.  It should tell you something that
> after all this time, it is still so hard for the public to distinguish
> “libertarian” from “very conservative.”
>
> I still support human freedom.  I am sorry to say that I no longer have
> any desire to be associated with the LP.
>
> Gordon Rogers
> 111 Anderson Ave
> Columbia MO 65203
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Wes Benedict <info at lp.org>
> *To:* grogersrn at yahoo.com
> *Sent:* Sunday, January 29, 2017 2:07 PM
> *Subject:* Your Libertarian Party Membership
>
>
>
> <http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=59199439&msgid=580364&act=QFQR&c=1115108&destination=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lp.org%2Fmembership%3Futm_source%3DiContact%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DCampaign%20Wes%20Benedict%26utm_content%3DMembership%2BRenewal>
> Dear Gordon,
>
> By being a Libertarian Party member, you are a revolutionary, working
> toward a better system and a better country.
>
> By being a Libertarian Party member, you stand in defiance of the Rs and
> Ds and their big-government antics.
>
> By being a Libertarian Party member, you stand for liberty and justice,
> for all people, all the time.
>
> *Thank you for being a member of the Libertarian Party.*
>
> We are growing like never before and are proud to have you standing with
> us.
>
> Gordon, please know that your sustaining membership expires on 12/31/2016.
>
> *I hope you will renew your Libertarian Party membership as soon as *
> *possible.*
>
> We need devoted Libertarians like you standing with us every day as we
> build the Party all across America.
>
> Renew your membership online by clicking on the button below or by phone
> by calling 1-800-*ELECT-US*.
>
>
> <http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=59199439&msgid=580364&act=QFQR&c=1115108&destination=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lp.org%2Fmembership%2F%3Futm_source%3DiContact%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DCampaign%20Wes%20Benedict%26utm_content%3DMembership%2BRenewal>
>
> Thanks again for your support.
>
>
>
> Wes Benedict
> Executive Director
>
>
>
> <http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=59199439&msgid=580364&act=QFQR&c=1115108&destination=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lp.org%2Fmembership%3Futm_source%3DiContact%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DCampaign%20Wes%20Benedict%26utm_content%3DMembership%2BRenewal>
>
>
>
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>


-- 
*In Liberty,*
*Caryn Ann Harlos*
Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska, Arizona,
Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
<http://www.lpcolorado.org>
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
<http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
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