Where do we go from here?

Two days ago I was actively discussing with the leadership of the Libertarian Party of Delaware the possibility of disaffiliating en masse with the LP in order to come over to the BTP. I have that much had it with the LNC model for ruining the Libertarian movement.

Today I find myself wondering about the BTP's long-term prospects for survival.

Patterns of genuinely self-destructive behavior are nothing new for Libertarian organizations, and they are the inevitable hurdle we have to surmount in order to get beyond the bitching, back-biting, website-building, petition-handling stage and into the real competitive arena of political ideas.

How the hell do we do that? Jim Davidson champions the idea of completely transparent decision-making about virtually everything. That's an idea which sounds really good, really ethical, until you realize that the situation it is going to repeatedly leave us in could be best described as "Survivor: BTP."

The alternative to complete, shorts-pulled-down transparency, however, is not smoke-filled rooms and corrupt political bosses, it's the realization that sometimes people need to do private and semi-private brainstorming before they bring policy suggestions to the table. It's the realization that politics is the art of building consensus, and that sometimes that consensus has to be constructed one on one without everybody watching. People need space to try on new ideas--sometimes private space.

That having been said, decision-making for the party should always be public and accountable--and as much as possible divorced from issues of persons or personalities. Sometimes I'd like to see somebody decide not to post something derogatory about another libertarian just because it's less important to be individually right than to keep ourselves united in support of the long-term battle for human freedom.

Between this November and the next presidential election cycle there is a lot of work to be done, especially at the State level, where we actually need to organize for freedom from the bottom up. This is intricate, detailed work, almost boutique politics even in our larger states.

It is work I see Jason Gatties as being particularly well-prepared to do.

I'll be honest (transparent): I'd like to be there to support him on the National Committee as an At-Large member, but I am realistic. Other than a few folks who may have read my blog [Delaware Libertarian], I don't know anybody in the movement really well, so that probably won't happen. Even so, I'll continue to work within Delaware and the larger BTP to strengthen this movement. We need Jason, Matty, Susan, Jim, Chris, and everybody else in order to get anything accomplished.

Submitted by Steve Newton on Mon, 10/20/2008 - 19:39
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Comments

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planetaryjim:

Steve, I thank you very much for your work at promoting the Boston Tea Party, and for your other work for liberty in Delaware and on the national scene.

I agree with your criticism of the straw man. Total transparency in everything isn't workable. People are going to have private conversations.

I made it clear in my statements responding to Charles, Tom, and Darcy, that I did not like what they were saying about Todd's handling of the situation. I also made it very clear, repeatedly, that the campaign was not to be controlled by the party, and if the campaign wanted to organise itself with private meetings and secret e-mails, that was fine with me.

However, in addition to the openness versus secrecy controversy, there is also a power grab going on. Killing the messenger was the first step. Sadly, Todd relented and let them nail his hide to the wall. Even more sadly, Chris came to his defense, and got slammed hard by Tom, and left.

Note that Chris phoned me up and asked me to resign. Chris said that Charles Jay sent him on this task. Charles denies it, but Charles has broken his credibility with me by making direct false statements about what I said, ones that I can disprove.

Yesterday, there was less than a week to go before the convention. My term ends with the election of a new chair. I'm not seeking election. Everyone knows these things.

And that was not good enough for Charles Jay, so he had to lie about what I was saying in his press release on his site. And I can prove that he lied. So he had to coerce John's vote to disaffiliate the Florida BTP, which John says he did. All to prove the point that Charles is upset, as John says, and to "show his power."

Here are the relevant comments from John: "I tried for 15 minutes to prevent it. I used all of the arguments available not to do so. Charles Jay was so intent to show his power that he made it known that he would throw me off the ticket if I did not agree. Final vote 4-0 Tom was not there and he has no reason to say that I really supported the action. If he is basing his argument on what Charles and Darcy say he is a fool. While I have not been comfortable with Charles for some time. ... I only resigned when presented with the facts that there were many lies supported by Charles and Darcy."

Less than a week. Charles and Darcy could have sat still for less than a week, done nothing, and I'd be gone. But they wouldn't sit still for me being in office for even a week, so they want me to resign, and this Florida BTP disaffiliation thing is their way of demanding it. And I still won't resign.

Because they killed the messenger, Steve. Todd was just the messenger with the bad news of the allegation he received from Ms. Barnes. So they nailed his hide to their wall and came after me. If I were to let them coerce me into resignation, they'd do the same to Jason. And every presidential campaign from now on would do so.

Shades of Perry Willis and Harry Browne. If the staff or officers or state affiliates of the party are to be controlled by anyone, they are to be controlled by the members of the party, or the representatives of the members on the national committee. If we allow a presidential campaign to flex its muscles and stomp on the principle that the campaigns must be separate from the party, then we have just what the LP had in 1996 and 2000.

I wholly concur with your assessment of Jason. I think he would be excellent. I fully intend to support him if he is elected. I fully intend to work with anyone seeking to form a new state affiliate. I am willing to travel to the various states to make presentations about the party, and to continue making swag with logos derived from the party's logo that I designed.

Not only do I value the people you list, I think Kent McManigal has been heroic in this situation. I think very highly of you and Jason, Niel, Eric Sundwall, and many others I've met on this brief journey. And I expect the party to run before this storm and emerge faster, sleeker, more powerful, and more nifty than ever.

10/20/2008 - 20:59