The pledge can work if enough of the membership who attend the
convention are either honest enough to support it or know enough
about the bylaws to attempt to remedy the situation when it has been
violated.I suspect it was the last that enough people attending the
convention are familar enough with the bylaws to bring charges even
if a more than a third had wanted to bring charges. I think that if
more than a third of total national LP members knew they could not
only bring charges but override the parties judicial review against
the charges a lot of things that have went on in the party and a lot
of candiadtes endorsed would not have continued. I also think many
more would have attended the convention from what I am hearing on the
TNLP board my state was alloted 22 delegates but only 8 went, GA only
sent 6, CA. was alloted 200 but only 36
went.
As I have said before on site conventions where people must
attend from all over the state or country is a lousy way to make
group rules and choice a presidential runner. If my understanding is
correct that the Boston Tea Party will hold its convention online,
that is a very good idea and it would pay the LP to seriously think
about doing the same.--- In [email protected], "Thomas L.
Knapp" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I replied to Terry privately and in more detail before realizing
that
> his message was going to the group, but I'll summarize a few main
> points here:
>
> 1) The Boston Tea Party _does_ have a pledge. One becomes a member
by
> certifying that one supports its platform.
>
> 2) The Boston Tea Party doesn't belong to me. It belongs to its
> members -- coming up on 100 now, and I expect 500 or more by the
> organizational convention next month. In creating it I assigned
myself
> a very limited "caretaker" role until that convention. I have no
> intention of exceeding or re-defining that role and tinkering around
> with stuff before the members get their hands into the process. If
the
> members want a pledge like the LP's or whatever, they can write one
> into the permanent bylaws. I'll have one vote on that question, just
> like everyone else.
>
> That said, I believe that the LP's pledge proved its ultimate
> uselessness this last weekend in Portland. The old arguments were
> about what it meant and whether or not it was necessary. Those
> arguments gave way to a third and indisputable argument in Portland:
> It doesn't work. If its purpose was, in fact, to keep the "impure"
out
> of the LP, then it didn't have that effect. The "impure" came into
the
> party, the "impure" went to Portland as delegates and
platform/bylaws
> committee members, and the "impure" came out of Portland with
> significant victories.
>
> The real gauge of how seriously LP members take non-initation of
force
> was not the vote to ditch or keep the pledge. It was the passage of
> the new immigration plank.
>
> Under Rule 7, Section 9 of the convention rules, it would have only
> taken 10% of the delegates to have appealed that plank to the
Judicial
> Committee as repugnant to the Statement of Principles. Did such an
> appeal even take place? If not, then more than 90% of the delegates
> thereby implicitly stated that they endorse the initiation of force.
> Since the plank is still there, either the appeal did not take
place,
> or the Judicial Committee upheld the plank on the appeal, or 3/4th
of
> the delegates or more voted to overrule the Judicial Committee if it
> vetoed the plank. Any way you cut it, it was not just 1/3+1 who
> rejected the ZAP, it was at LEAST 75% and probably more than 90% of
> the delegates. The pledge is therefore, at the very MOST, a pro
forma
> ticket to punch with no real force or effect.
>
> Tom Knapp
>
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