Well, it was quite possible to meet LNS in Denver – he and Scott Biesser were in the vendor area for most of the convention, at the “Big Head Press” booth. I spoke to him several times, purchased several items, and just wish I’d brought my collection of his books with me as I collect inscribed books, and have an (I think) complete collection of his books – would have loved getting them signed…

I do self-describe as an “LNS-style Libertarian” as I’ve long believed that Jefferson defined the proper equation for the best government, which equation has a logical solution, but my biggest reason for thinking that LNS would be a good alternative to putting Barr on the ballot is that IMHO it provides the greatest level of contrast between Barr and what a “pure” Libertarian would be… BTW I believe that if you look up the history of the LP, you will find that LNS played a major role, my understanding is that he wrote a fair bit of the Statement of Principles – he denounces the current LP because he feels it has strayed from it’s origins – after Denver I tend to agree…

ART

My apologies for the unhelpful snark about you “not calling the shots” above.

If there is a moderator reading this, please delete my above comment, and this one.

Thanks.

I don’t use Micro$oft products, my system runs Gentoo Linux, and KDE, with Opera as my preferred browser. After deciding to comment, I found that while I could register with Opera, I couldn’t get logged in – I kept getting returned to either the login screen or the original story.

To troubleshoot, I tried KDE’s Konqueror, which I like much less, and found that it did work… Please fix this bug!

ART

“BTW I spoke with L. Neil Smith in Denver, and he says he would be honored to be placed on the ballot in place of Barr as long as it didn’t cost him money or require him to travel”.

Far as I know, L. Neil Smith never has been seen by most Colorado Libertarians—NEVER. When I lived there, I asked several. Most didn’t have a clue about whom I was inquiring, and three or four who did, well, they hadn’t any kind words.

Does the concept self-promoter mean anything to you?

I ask as one who has been very well entertained by his writings. I sure as hell wouldn’t “follow” the guy…wherever it is he’s at.

He does nothing for the LP, except, periodically to denounce it.

He’s a hell of a writer and, if your quote is accurate, the guy’s got one hell of an ego.

2. The meeting – it was a STATE COMMITTEE meeting, not of electors, however most of the SC are electors, and we did discuss whether or not any of the electors would be withdrawing. We do NOT want this to happen as it would require us to restart the entire petition process – possibly endangering Bob Underwood’s US Senate campaign which is on the same petition. I am not withdrawing for this reason. To the best of my knowledge, NONE of the Mass. electors are happy with Barr being chosen, but none are going to withdraw, and all will cooperate with putting Barr’s name on the Mass. ballot. (Whether or not they will vote for him if the LP carries Mass. is a separate issue, I know my plans, but not what others will do)

Given that there is apparently no workable path to keep Barr off the Mass. ballot, the SC did reluctantly agree to substitute Barr, in order to ensure that Bob Underwood would be on as the LP Senate Candidate (with speculation on how much Barr might give to his Republican opponent…) I regret this, but am going along in order not to harm Bob Underwood’s campaign.

Given that we decided not to attempt to replace Barr, we debated calling a Special Convention to express our displeasure at Barr’s nomination, and to consider affiliating with some other organization instead of / in addition to LPUS, and I was outvoted in calling a convention AT THIS TIME – instead we will be having an informal gathering at Georges house (chosen because Worcester is approximately the center of the state, thus is equally inconvenient to all :-} ) At this gathering we will be looking for input from a larger number of LPMA members, and based on that will consider further actions.

Some of the pre-convention pledges for ballot access we received have already been withdrawn, others may be, so it does appear that LPMA will not be able to contribute as much to the cost of our ballot access drive as we had promised to earlier, however given what has already been done for access it would not make fiscal sense for the LNC to attempt a new drive from scratch. (approximately 1/2 the needed sigs have been collected)

Personally I will continue to do all in my power to discourage support for Barr, and urge my fellow Libertarians to ignore him, and focus their efforts on supporting down-ticket candidates, other Libertarian activities, party-building, and otherwise working to repair the damage that Barr’s candidacy will do to the LP.

For instance, in Mass. we will have referendum questions to repeal the state income tax, and to decriminalize marijuana possession <1 oz. – I think we should be focusing on supporting these efforts – I spent this afternoon helping the Income Tax repeal folks sort petitions….

(please note that I am speaking as an individual in these postings, not as an official spokesperson for the LPMA, other than the fact that my position gives me better knowledge of what is going on than people who aren’t even at a meeting.)

I am NOT the party chair, nor am I the only member of the LPMA State Committee – I can NOT single handedly refuse to place Barr on the ballot, call special state conventions, etc. I am still in favor of such actions to some degree, but if I am outvoted at the SC meeting, it doesn’t happen. Currently as mentioned in some of the earlier comments, we will be having a gathering at George’s home to further discuss the desire for a special convention (see the LPMA website for details) I will be at the party, and urge the attendees to call for a State Convention to express our unhappiness with Barr / Root, and possibly to investigate affiliating with groups other than the LNC.

I am NOT withdrawing as an elector because doing so would (under Mass. Law) cancel all the petitioning we have done to date, which would have the effect of damaging the Bob Underwood for US Senate campaign. Essentially I have been convinced that there is no viable path to keeping Barr from appearing on the MA ballot, so I am no longer pushing in that direction, much as I would like it. (BTW I spoke with L. Neil Smith in Denver, and he says he would be honored to be placed on the ballot in place of Barr as long as it didn’t cost him money or require him to travel – I will probably write him and Vin S. in on my general election ballot in November, I won’t vote for Barr at any rate…)

Barr’s ACTIONS regarding Wicca, and attempting to prevent military Pagans from being able to practice on base I find unforgiveably offensive. That I am Pagan myself makes it more personal, but if he had *merely* said he felt my religion wasn’t valid I could forgive it – opinions are like anal openings; everybody has one, myself included! However he went PAST the acceptable point when he decided that the 1st Amendment should only apply to religions he approved of… Given that he has attempted to HARM the Pagan community, the reparation I would require is a public pledge to order the military as CIC to make reasonable accommodations for all faiths, including minority / unpopular religions.

I have multiple relatives and friends that are gay – I couldn’t look them in the face and tell them I supported the AUTHOR of the “Defense of Marriage Act” – especially when Barr’s response is only to offer to try and repeal the Federal portion, leaving it as a “State’s Rights” issue, just like “separate but (in)equal” prior to Brown vs. Board of Education – Barr apparently has never heard of equality under the law, or full faith and credit… Given his HARM to the GBLT community, I would insist on reparations being a PUBLIC pledge to work for the ENTIRE repeal of DOMA, and to work towards changing “Don’t Ask – Don’t Tell” to “Don’t Ask, Don’t CARE” (with appropriate changes to the UCMJ)

Given his funding of Republican Candidates with Libertarian opponents WHILE A SITTING LNC MEMBER, I would expect the corresponding reparation to be very generous donations to the campaigns of Libertarians, along with visible and consistent support of local candidates at any appearances he makes (at least if those local candidates are willing to be seen with him…)

I could go on down the list of Barr’s problems but I’m running low on space, suffice to say there are plenty, in just about every area I care about he is negative.

I have been an active LP member for over 26 years, Barr is the FIRST candidate I absolutely can’t support given his current record. I don’t consider this “faithless” – I pledged to support Libertarians, and IMHO Barr doesn’t deserve the title – if he starts BEING a Libertarian I might be persuaded to reconsider…

Arthur Torrey
LPMA State Committee
Potential Presidential Elector (not for Barr)
Elected Libertarian (Town Meeting, Billerica)

“There is no state that will keep a presidential or vice-presidential candidate off the November ballot based on how he or she is registered to vote. Anyway, Texas doesn’t even have voter registration by party. George W. Bush is not a registered Republican because there are no registered Republicans in Texas.”

I know, that’s why I wrote what I wrote above, about Paul’s Texas reg being checked cause it sounds like some people(I didn’t know if Libs had ever qualified for purposes of registration…thanks for clearing that up).

Ron Paul ran as a Lib because he became a member of the Party.

My reference to party affiliation other than L by “weasels” is because there were some high ranking L’s in states where registration IS by party who NEVER were L’s but R’s. John Fund, former Exec Director of the California LP is one example.

It is WAY past time that the LP grow up and stop hiring R’s to beat the R’s. Still, it goes on, and on, and on.

Jeff – Why are you trying to destroy me, again?

That’s what we do

Rookies make rookie mistakes, and I am a rookie.

Fair enough.

Rookies make rookie mistakes, and I am a rookie.

LPiberty – What do you think? My impression is that in the third-party world, the rumor itself is news.

That’s why bloggers have such a bad reputation. One source is not good enough. Not calling the named people in the report prior to publication is a rookie mistake.

Let’s hope this doesn’t turn into a TPW cesspool.

Members of major parties who have been on the ballot in all states as third party or independent candidates include John B. Anderson (who had voted in the March 1980 Illinois primary so was considered under state law to be a Republican), and George Wallace (who had voted in the June 1968 Alabama Democratic primary so who was considered a Democrat). Also Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 was a registered Republican in New York state (he couldn’t register Progressive because it wasn’t a qualified party), Robert La Follette (who continued to list himself as a Republican during 1924 in the Congressional Directory) were on the ballot in all states but one, and the one state for each of them didn’t bar them because of registration.