Home from Denver and rested

I want to first say how much fun Denver was. It was great meeting the people I met on line through the years and finally putting very real faces to sometimes very silly screen names. I roomed with Angela Keaton, partied with Paulie, was goaded into a $200 tip to room service by Stanhope, finally met Starchild, ate and/or drank with Anthony Gregory, Ernest Hancock, Barry Hess and many others, and was even shushed at 3:00 a.m. by Mr. Nolan, founder of the LP and person unlucky enough to have the room next to ours. Yes, it was a great time.

My candidates didn’t win the roles of standard bearers. I’d supported Steve Kubby since he threw his hat in the ring and I gave him my token at convention. I also supported Mary Ruwart since that bullshit smear and brouhaha over at TPW. When it was clear that Mary had more support on the floor, she got my votes on all ballots for prez. I was hoping for a Ruwart/Kubby ticket but that hope was smashed after Bob Barr won, by an ever so slight number, the presidential nomination.

I then thought that perhaps the ticket would be nicely balanced as Barr/Kubby. With the divide between the purists and reformers, it seemed like a decent compromise. Kubby threw his hat in the ring for VP and received my votes on each ballot. Unfortunately, the snake oil salesman that is Wayne Allyn Root (I say this only because of the way he conceded the prez race as an apparent side deal for Barr’s endorsement for VP) had more support on the floor. I was disappointed that Barr essentially demanded from the stage that the delegate body give him what he asked for in a running mate. That race was also close and the reformers got their ticket. We were able to get some radicals on the LNC though. Angela Keaton kept her spot and added to the group was Mary Ruwart and Lee Wrights.

Now, where does that leave all us in the purists vs. reformers fight? Christine Smith, as she was dropped from the prez nominating race, demanded that we all think about what we were doing and vote for a “real” libertarian. Her rant was seen by some as childish but I sought her out to tell her I appreciated her comments. I never supported Ms. Smith for that race but I thought it brave of her to stand up and say what she did in the face of her own politicking style and fear mongering. Now I want to go on record to say that I think it must be time to let the reformers learn and teach and Ms. Smith’s call to keep true to the philosophy of libertarianism is important but perhaps not for the reason she thinks.

Libertarianism is a philosophy of personal liberty coupled with responsibility. When I came to the party-much like Barr or Root- as a disgruntled republican, the first thing I thought is: Great! Now let’s get the potheads and weirdos off of television so we can win! It took me a few years to do the 180 and really get the ideas behind the philosophy and I’m still learning. Barr and Root will hopefully continue to learn as well.

Bob Barr brought a certain amount of excitement to some longtime and new members of the party. Hell, if Bob Barr can change his mind, who can’t? The excitement of Barr makes people more firmly rooted in the idea of the LP as a political party than party of philosophy rally to his cause. But those of us who know that we’re not going to win the prez race this year, who’ve not been benefitting from the ego boost from running campaigns, profiting from a salary from national or our direct mail businesses, or have been through the 180 I described above are understandably wary of a newbie carrying the torch for us. We know how bad watering down the message can be and that is why it’s important not to abandon the cause of liberty.

Like it or not, we have a republican lite Barr/Root ticket. It’s our job to keep them on message and that’s why we need to be close. The radical way is correct in my mind but it takes time to get it. What was for up for grabs at the convention was a prez/veep nomination and it was dealt with in as free a market as you can get. Bob Barr and his team showed up, participated and won. The radicals who sat home watching on CSPAN didn’t and thusly should be reminded of the personal responsibility part of our mantra. Perhaps they will show up at the next convention. And all of us should remember that we’ve only sold our collective soul if we leave and let Barr/Root bastardize our years of work without fighting a whit for it.

~ by Miche on May 28, 2008.