[Lnc-business] Email Ballot 2018-22: PROPERTY RIGHTS RESOLUTION

[joshua.smith at lp.org]

Good afternoon everyone,

   Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the right to own 
property.

46 years ago, a few people in a living room in Colorado knew that these 
4 things were what would create a free society. They put their heart and 
soul in to creating a vessel to get us there. They bled, they argued, 
they lost sleep, they wrote, and they laid a foundation that would 
eventually create the Libertarian Party. The place that all of us here 
call home today. A place for the principled to go and fight back.

They did this as a direct opposition to tyranny. They did this because 
people in this country yearn to be free. They knew that people in this 
country live their lives every day under an oppressive rule, and they 
suffer heavily from Stockholm Syndrome. They created this party to wake 
people up, and show them what a free society could look like for them. 
The founders of this party had and still have intestinal fortitude. They 
stood up to tyranny. They looked it directly in the face, and asserted 
that it would not break us. They STOOD ON PRINCIPLE, always.

Today, I stand witness to members on this board kowtowing to tyranny. I 
am watching you open up this party to the exact types it was created to 
defeat: Bullies who wish to prevent a free society, collectivists who 
refute the rights of the individual, those who would contend that you 
don't have the right to own a summer home or an extra car, and people 
who will take your things. Communists and socialists, ideologies that 
have literally killed more than 100 million people in the name of "the 
greater good". I am ashamed to lay witness to leaders of this party who 
act like that doesn't matter. This resolution was written in a style 
that leaves it open for advocates of antithetical economic values to 
participate, as long as they push for a voluntary model. The "lawful" 
part many of you are upset about is an appeal to natural law- the law 
that governs our rights. Those same rights that exist in the state of 
nature, prior to, and in the complete absence of a state. What it did 
not do is give those who wish to twist our principles into violence 
against property and business owners even a single inch of wiggle room 
to operate inside of our party, or our on platform. It was solid, and 
worded exactly how it needed to be.

Many of you ask "Why are we giving credence to 6 people in the party who 
are whackos"? It's because it's not just 6 of them. I have personally 
been in the trenches of this battle for the heart and soul of this party 
for a year. They are recruiting. They are telling media and the public 
that we support violence, the abolition of property and capital, and 
terrible policy points like "Medicare for all". One of them did this on 
RT; many of them are doing it through candidate statements. They are not 
only driving good members and volunteers to leave, but they are 
destroying our outreach. This resolution demonstrates to the outer 
circle of this party, and the thousands and thousands of small l 
libertarians that we care about principle, that we will not be bullied. 
Standing up to tyranny is what Harry Browne did. It's what David Nolan, 
and John Hospers, Ed Crane, Tonie Nathan, and Murray Rothbard did. These 
great men and women who took up swords and said no more. Where is the 
fight in you? Have that many of you really lost your way? Are you really 
scared to reaffirm our stance on property in a way that secures our 
party and principles from tyranny? We are always crying about people not 
doing enough, and we can't even come together on something as simple as 
strengthening our principles? What manner of example do you want to set?

I unequivocally vote yes on this resolution. We have until Wednesday 
night to show the party that we wont be bullied, or cater to communists 
and socialists. There is still time to prove that you have the 
intestinal fortitude to say "enough".

I hope you will make the right decision in the eyes of our candidates, 
local and state leaders, and hard-working volunteers across the country 
who deserve a national leadership team that will undoubtedly stand on 
our principles, always and without hesitation.


Thank you,
Joshua D. Smith
LNC At Large
Joshua.Smith at LP.ORG