I'm not so worried about regular members but yes those that run for political office or hold office in the LP even as a county chair need to follow the party line or get out, plain and simple, get out of the party, go where you are welcomed, the LP still can work with you on some issues maybe most issues but you clearly do not belong in the LP. It is best to keep a check on politicans because they will have power if they win, power that can easily be abused, if no other party is willing to tell their politicans that they are the hired help of the people not the boss the LP must be the party to do it. If you are running for office and you can't deal with that then get out of the LP, run with another party, run as an indepedent, don't let the LP stop you. You say you know how to get votes then stop talking about it and blaming the LP, do it.--- In [email protected], Jim Syler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Mar 27, 2006, at 6:15 PM, mark robert wrote: > > > Elitism, dogmatism, oppression and terror are things Libertarians > > are fighting against. Curious how you twist that around to mean > > if they fight those things too well, they become them. > > I'm confused by this sentence. Are you claiming that the purists are > not elitist, dogmatic, and as far as membership (or leadership) in the > LP is concerned, oppressive? > > > While it might be true that Libertarianism will never become > > universal, that is no reason to compromise the philosophy. BTW, > > Libertarians do not exclude votes from "impure" Libertarians. > > Don't they? Don't they, by loudly proclaiming that "you're not one of > us" if you don't agree with the purists 100% of the time on 100% of the > issues, effectively do just that? > > > It is true that one has to separate reality from principle, but > > in a reverse fashion from your inclination. Allow the purist to > > be the movers. Don't criticize them for being too idealistic, > > especially when you agree with their principles. Don't blame them > > for the status quo or the ignorance of others. Instead, respect > > the movers for their goals. If you blame them for the fact that > > their goals are less than met, you reason circular. There will > > always be plenty who will compromise; you do not have to promote > > it for it to happen; the "the goal of compromise" is not only NOT > > a respectable goal, it is an oxymoron. > > This idea doesn't bother me. Only rarely have I heard anyone of a > moderate libertarian bent suggest purging the "purists" from the party, > and that only because of frustration because of the constant push by > the purists to get everyone else out of the Party, or at least the > leadership. > > Which is the point, and the problem. If we could all work together > toward liberty, using the "libertarian train" metaphor, that would be > great. But that's not how it works. The purists (admittedly, not all of > them, but I don't hear the ones that don't chastising the ones who do) > do everything within their power to move all others out of the Party, > by ridicule, by condemnation, by calling them "not libertarians," by > loudly trying to exclude them from leadership positions, from trying to > stymie every move in any direction if they are in leadership positions, > ad nauseam. > > I would love to work together. I really would. There have been those > NAPsters (Ken Prazak comes to mind) that I respect immensely, for their > honesty, their dedication, and their contributions to liberty. But as > long as they don't believe that moderates like me belong in the Party > or its leadership, working together is impossible. > > j > > -- > "I used to think romantic love was a neurosis shared by two, a supreme > foolishness. I no longer think that. There's nothing foolish in loving > anyone. Thinking you'll be loved in return is what's foolish." > --Rita Mae Brown > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >
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