Jeffersonian Libertarian Reform Caucus scores stunning victory @ LP convention

[FrankChodorov]

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/knowinghumans

Libertarian Party Convention Day Two: Moderates Succeed in Deleting
Half the Platform!

Sunday morning was dominated by the officer elections that followed a
platform retention bombshell.

The Libertarian Reform Caucus succeeded spectacularly in its attempt
to get many or most of the existing 61 planks deleted. The plank
retention vote had never before removed any plank, but in Portland
only four planks survived the retention vote! They were 1.1 Freedom
and Responsibility, 1.12 Property, 1.13 Privacy, and ?????? All
the planks amended or approved yesterday were automatically retained,
and so 45 of 61 planks were submitted for final retention voting.
Chairman Michael Dixon reflected the palpable shock of the delegates
that the Platform had been gutted, and delegates scrambled for copies
of the old Platform to decide which of the old planks didn't deserve
retention. At this writing (3pm), the ballots had not been counted,
but I predict that most of the planks will be retained. I voted both
times only against the planks that were tainted by anarchism and
absolutist non-interventionism:

Individual Sovereignty
Immigration
Taxation
Inflation and Depression
Monopolies
Public Utilities
Pollution
Population
Secession
World Government
International Money
Colonialism
Foreign Intervention

Before the officer elections, the convention considered the "cult of
the omnipotent" change. Only about 45 delegates voted to keep the
current silly wording, but that was enough to meet the 1/8th
requirement for resisting change to the Statement of Principles.


At about 4pm the plank retention votes were announced. Only 4 planks
were retained! Guns, Drugs, Religion, and Communication. The new
platform is thus just those four plus the nine produced by the debate
on the PlatCom report. The absolutist taxation plank is gone, as are
most of the ones above that I voted to eliminate. This is a major
victory for the moderate/reform wing of the LP.

On Friday morning we finished these consolidation efforts and then
considered a series of planks that we Constitutionalists want to
moderate. PlatCom Vice-Chair Guy McLendon took the lead on these
efforts, but here (and later on the floor) he made the mistake of
arguing in effect that the Constitution trumps the Platform. A better
tactic would have been to advocate strict Constitutional compliance as
an easy-to-sell transitional step on the way to libertopia. Clark
continuously grumbled that these changes were violations of
libertarian principle, and flatly denied Squyres' observation that
libertarianism is not the same thing as anarchism.

The most contentious plank was Taxation. McLendon succeeded in adding
language recognizing that some taxes (e.g. income and estate) are
worse than others (e.g. pollution and consumption). Clark vehemently
protested that it's unlibertarian to say that some forms of "theft"
are not as bad as others, but the rest of PlatCom weren't persuaded.
Clark also rightly resisted a tweak to the Government Debt plank that
talked about "generating revenue", and so it was changed to "sell
assets and reduce spending". (I joked to him that I was surprised the
Platform didn't call for repudiating the national debt, and he said
that it should.) The committee also worked a reference to the 13th
Amendment into the Conscription plank.

After lunch on Friday we considered a proposal to change the
Platform's "cult of the omnipotent state" language. We endorsed a
change to "idea of unlimited government". At our self-imposed
deadline of 3pm we adjourned for the purpose of writing the committee
report and a pamphlet promoting our changes. Since Clark had opposed
most of them, he harrumphed and left the room. I excused myself to go
spend more time with my Portland hosts, and I didn't see a pamphlet on
the convention floor.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Thank God for this!  Now the LP will be included in all the debates and get major media attention!

[KBCraig]

Is there a "sarcastic" option on the Curmudgeon Meter?

[srqrebel]

As someone who found hope and inspiration in a political party that unflinchingly stood up for individual rights and non-initiation of force, I find this news stunning.  If one believes in America, and that the American people are starting to wake up to the evils of Big Brother-style gov't, it doesn't make sense for the LP to even appear to back away from the noble principles it has stood for all these years.  Compromising principles has never been an effective way to lead a movement.  The LP has distinguished itself as the third largest and fastest growing political party in the US in spite of the stranglehold of the two party system, and that did not come from backing down! 

Until recently, I have been much more active in the LP than the FSP.  The only reason I became politically involved in the first place is because I perceived the LP as a true Party of Principle regarding individual rights and sovereignty.  If I am reading the reports correctly, it has now resoundingly lost that distinction.  I now face the choice of either remaining affiliated with a political party whose platform no longer reflects my values, or opting for a path outside of politics altogether...

Thank goodness there is the NH Underground to keep the flame of liberty alive... know what, maybe it's not such a sad day for liberty lovers after all!   

[tracysaboe]

I said all along that as soon as the LP gets some power it will get corrupted.

How little power that takes . . . .

Tracy

[FrankChodorov]

read it and weep Tracy!

[AlanM]

read it and weep Tracy!

I had planned to vote Libertarian in the next election. Scratch that. Sorry to those who stand for the old platform.
Enjoy your hollow victory Frank.

[Lex]

Vote for people, not for parties.

[Russell Kanning]

don't vote ...... and live free

ahhhh what a surprise .... the more political you are .... the farther from the truth you move.

[Caleb]

Am I the only one who finds this amusing?

I mean, the LP was a joke to begin with, but at least it was a principled joke.

Now what is it?  A joke that will also whore herself?

Caleb

[Russell Kanning]

They have attained cato inst. status.

[FrankChodorov]

read it and weep Tracy!

I had planned to vote Libertarian in the next election. Scratch that. Sorry to those who stand for the old platform.
Enjoy your hollow victory Frank.

hollow victory?

did you hear Jason's speech at the PorcFest?

a suggestion to endorse Charles Murray's "basic income guarantee" concept for NH as a way to attract the left...

talk about pragmatic!

[AlanM]

read it and weep Tracy!

I had planned to vote Libertarian in the next election. Scratch that. Sorry to those who stand for the old platform.
Enjoy your hollow victory Frank.

hollow victory?

did you hear Jason's speech at the PorcFest?

a suggestion to endorse Charles Murray's "basic income guarantee" concept for NH as a way to attract the left...

Wasn't there. So Jason has sold out too? 

[FrankChodorov]

read it and weep Tracy!

I had planned to vote Libertarian in the next election. Scratch that. Sorry to those who stand for the old platform.
Enjoy your hollow victory Frank.

hollow victory?

did you hear Jason's speech at the PorcFest?

a suggestion to endorse Charles Murray's "basic income guarantee" concept for NH as a way to attract the left...

Wasn't there. So Jason has sold out too? 

and endorsed the science behind global warming...

he is slowly morphing himself into a bonafide left libertarian!

[srqrebel]

Now what is it?  A joke that will also whore herself?

Apparently so.