Recently, I was asked this rather interesting question. To what end have a Boston Tea Party? If the LP is ineffectual, why bother with yet another third party? Here are some excerpts from my reply.

I'm not sure that the LP is ineffectual. It is certainly gaining some attention now that major party candidates like Mike Gravel and Bob Barr are attracted to it. However, I think what we saw in 2006 in Portland shows that the LP needs to be "kept honest." I see the Boston Tea Party as a watchdog for the LP, staying firmly
to the tip of the Nolan Chart, and giving the radical, hard core, dedicated anarcho-capitalist LP members a place to go if the Reform Caucus pursues its idiocy.

Like any good student of history, I'm aware that politics tends to move toward the available center. People compromise. It is in their nature to cooperate, which is what free markets are all about. And, in cooperating, they seek common ground.

So, our role as the Boston Tea Party is to hold down the extreme. We should push further out into the territory of less government, less restriction, more liberty, greater security for private property, and more free markets. If the Democrats and Republicans try to compromise with the LP, they'll find us even more radical and difficult.

So, how are we doing so far?

Here's where the Boston Tea Party stands right now. We have the following officer core:
Chair -- Jim Davidson
Vice-Chair -- Tom Stevens
Secretary -- Michelle Luetge
At-Large -- Michael W. Reid, Jr.
At-Large -- Alex Fitzsimmons
At-Large -- Rocco Fama

and we have affiliates in NY, NJ, PA & now TN. I would like to add Colorado to that set. I also have contacts in Kansas, in Wyoming, and in Texas. I might be able to add Missouri. Dr. Tom says he may be able to get a team in Louisiana if all goes well. Joe Black and Bo Shaffer in Colorado contacted me about forming an affiliate there.

Yes, I believe the BTP may wish to endorse a good LP candidate, such as Mary Ruwart, were she to win the nomination of that party. As well, we could run a candidate of our own, if Bob Barr or someone else similarly evil were to win the LP nod.

Finally, I believe we have sources of funding for ballot access. Like many people who are basically opposed to electoral politics, I think more parties means better options. And since none of the options we want ever wins, it seems very clear to me that we have to keep available a party structure for people who are sincerely principled to run for office.

The reason the BTP was formed was to address the difficulties that arose in Portland. The reason we want to keep it going is to be prepared in case the evil, vicious, reform caucus apparatchiki win in Denver, or in 2012, or at any other time.