Dear fellow Libertarians,
Members of the Libertarian National Committee have been debating whether or not to list presidential candidates at our web site, and if we do, whether to qualify those who are posted.
There are good arguments for all sides.
Examples of reasons for listing Libertarian presidential candidates:
An LNC motion to decide whether to entirely remove the list of candidates is currently pending.
What's your view? Vote today on how you think this delicate matter should be handled.
In Liberty,
Carla Howell
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee
P.S. If you have not already done so, please join the Libertarian Party. We are the only political party with a mission to give voters a choice for much less Big Government, much lower taxes, and much lower government spending. You can also renew your membership. Or, you can make a contribution separate from membership
Members of the Libertarian National Committee have been debating whether or not to list presidential candidates at our web site, and if we do, whether to qualify those who are posted.
There are good arguments for all sides.
Examples of reasons for listing Libertarian presidential candidates:
- To inform members and, in particular, delegates who must choose our nominee.
- To inform the media and the general voting public, some of whom will vote in primaries.
- To offset the lack of institutional and media support for Libertarian Party candidates.
- To screen out candidates who are not dedicated to advancing our libertarian agenda, or who actually oppose it.
- To exclude individuals who appear to be disingenuously using the LP.
- To disqualify candidates who are running for the nomination of more than one party.
- To avoid publicizing candidates whose presentation is viewed by most Libertarians as embarrassing or inappropriate for a presidential candidate and who could reflect badly on the party.
An LNC motion to decide whether to entirely remove the list of candidates is currently pending.
What's your view? Vote today on how you think this delicate matter should be handled.
In Liberty,
Carla Howell
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee
P.S. If you have not already done so, please join the Libertarian Party. We are the only political party with a mission to give voters a choice for much less Big Government, much lower taxes, and much lower government spending. You can also renew your membership. Or, you can make a contribution separate from membership
Members of the Libertarian National Committee,
ReplyDeleteI understand there is a significant ongoing controversy over which candidates for president shall be listed on our party's national website, LP.org, and which rules determine those listings.
While our party’s rules do not unambiguously prohibit the party chair, executive director, or Libertarian National Committee from giving some candidates for the LP presidential nomination an advantage over others, neither do they offer firm support to those who say the LNC — let alone the chair or executive director acting unilaterally — has the authority to arbitrarily exclude candidates they deem “not serious” from being listed on LP.org.
Bylaw 8.1 states that “The National Committee shall have control and management of all the affairs, properties and funds of the Party consistent with these Bylaws.” But it seems rather a stretch to assume that party leaders taking actions which amount to picking presidential winners and losers prior to the convention is “consistent with these Bylaws”, when our bylaws clearly set forth nomination requirements for presidential and vice-presidential candidates in Article 14 which do not establish any leadership role in the selection process prior to the presidential nominating convention.
I believe the spirit, though apparently not the letter, of our bylaws dictates that party leaders must in their official capacities remain strictly neutral in the LP presidential race until the party has is a nominee, and that listing some candidates on the party’s website but not others is a violation of that neutrality.
However I think the LNC could remain effectively neutral while still providing tools on the website that allow people looking at candidates listed there to do their own filtering, as long as such filtering tools were designed as neutrally as possible. For instance, the section or page of LP.org pertaining to 2012 Libertarian presidential candidates could feature a menu with multiple check boxes including:
[ ] List candidates who are seeking the Libertarian Party presidential nomination exclusively
[ ] List candidates who have filed with the Federal Elections Commission to run as Libertarians
[ ] List candidates with current websites including contact information
[ ] List candidates who are dues-paying members of the Libertarian Party
[ ] List candidates who have signed a statement in support of the Non-Aggression Principle
[ ] List candidates who have signed a statement of support for the current Libertarian Party platform
[ ] List candidates who have raised and reported no less than $2500 in donations, not counting self-donated money or donations from immediate family members
[ ] List candidates who have raised and reported no less than $5000 in donations, not counting self-donated money or donations from immediate family members
[ ] List all candidates who have declared an interest in seeking the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination
(continued from previous post):
DeleteBy checking as many or as few of these boxes as desired, each website visitor could choose his or her own preferred filters before viewing the list of presidential candidates, thus avoiding seeing the listings of any candidates who did not meet his or her chosen criteria.
I believe this approach, relying on bottom-up choice rather than top-down control to filter less serious or desirable candidates, would preserve the essential neutrality of Libertarian Party officials in the presidential nominee selection process, and thereby avoid going against the spirit of our bylaws.
I look forward to hearing your feedback.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Libertarian Party of California Executive Committee At-Large Representative*
P.S. - As always when writing the LNC, I welcome and encourage responses from all members, and specifically request responses from my California representatives, to let me know whether they support this proposal or not, and what actions they have taken and/or intend to take on this issue.
*title provided for identification purposes; the views expressed above are my own (though perhaps shared by many party members)