Last updated on April 26, 2024
An Editorial from Nick Sarwark
Many things have happened in and outside of the Libertarian Party that have shifted the momentum against the Mises Caucus, but there’s still much work to be done. How can you help?
Dear Friends,
It’s been eleven days since we published our last Situation Report on the Libertarian Party. It covered the resignation of the Convention Oversight Committee Chair, Adrian Malagon, as well as the resignation of his girlfriend Meredith Hays from the same committee. Both of these LNC members resigned from the committee charged with making the convention a success and neither of them even plan to attend the convention in D.C.
Since then, a member of the Credentials Committee has also resigned.
Treasurer Todd Hagopian, who has announced that he will not seek another term at the D.C. convention, released very late* financial reports for January and February, showing a dire financial situation. He also sent out a slide presentation summarizing how bad a financial state the Libertarian National Committee is in. He tried to get an emergency meeting of the LNC by March 30, but it was derailed by the Secretary’s parliamentary wrangling. At the current rate of monthly losses (~$45K per month in one recent month), the Libertarian National Committee will be out of spendable cash prior to the opening gavel.
Trends for the Libertarian National Committee’s finances
We see why the Treasurer wanted to avoid releasing January and February financials as long as possible…
Attorneys from Veritas Law representing at least one member of the Libertarian National Committee and over fifty members of the Libertarian Party sent a demand letter to Angela McArdle, along with all other members of the Libertarian National Committee as well as to Oliver Hall, Special Counsel to the Libertarian National Committee.
Excerpt from demand letter to Angela McArdle
A demand for accountability and transparency
The Treasurer has started a motion to rescind a vote to spend $5,000 in supporting Andrew Chadderdon’s attempts to overrule the election of delegates to the national convention at last month’s Michigan convention. It already has enough co-sponsors to go to a vote, even though the Secretary, Caryn Ann Harlos, has claimed it to be out of order in some way.
Angela McArdle fired the last development staffer, Luke Troxell, on Easter weekend. That ensures that Mr. Troxell does not have health benefits for April. While he was not effective in his role, firing someone on a holiday seems to be cruelty for cruelty’s sake.
LNC Member Mark Tuniewicz separately called for Angela McArdle’s resignation, along with the resignation of other board members who have engaged in malfeasance or incompetence that has brought the party to the brink of financial ruin. The continued stonewalling and unprofessional mistreatment of board members and staff has even caused him to consider joining in a derivative lawsuit to force the board to follow the rules.
There’s a lot more going on, but that’s quite a bit for a Monday morning.
What can you do to help?
You could sign up to help stop the Destruction of the Libertarian Party. Join over eighty other members in fixing what has been broken.
You could forward this email to Libertarians you know who may not know the crisis the party is facing.
You could encourage people who have previously been Libertarian Party officers, staff, or experienced in managing nonprofit organizations to stand for election to the Libertarian National Committee at the convention in Washington, D.C. at the end of May.
You could start getting to know Mark Rutherford, an experienced attorney and former Vice Chair of the Libertarian National Committee, who is running for Chair to put the party back on a professional course.
With the collapse of the Mises Caucus, it is important for people who care about the future of the Libertarian Party to be prepared to work together starting on June 1 with a professional and courteous board to reclaim our place as an effective 50-state political party that is growing and providing a fresh alternative to an American public that is sick of the two old parties.
Yours in liberty,
Nick
*If Mr. Hagopian had released these reports earlier in the months immediately following, as is required by both policy and custom, the membership and the LNC would not be caught flat-footed by the decline instead of being forced into an emergency.
To RTAA, ATBAFT and Paul… I have been a member of the LP since 1974. I am also a sponsor of Cato, a contributor to Reason and FEE and the Goldwater Institute and other libertarian organizations. My question about specific suggestions was to see if I was missing something obvious. Before the Free State Project and Liberland there was Minerva. That didn’t work out, either. Despite the dysfunction in the LNC at the present I guess I still believe in the party and the basic tenets of the libertarian philosophy. Given the other choices well… there really a isn’t much to choose from. Thanks for everyone’s input.
Actually Nick, your previous editorial didn’t mention me or my resignation at all. Nice to see the “girlfriend” get a mention here though!
A year ago, everyone was lamenting that the LP is forever lost, that the way forward is a new third party.
Is there now a growing optimism that simply retaking the LP at the next convention is a more realistic option? (As I suggested at the time.)
Sorry, but neither one will work. I know it’s an unpopular opinion here, and I understand the inertia / sunk costs / throwing good money and time after bad mentality involved.
MooseCucks obviously wage total political no holds barred warfare. They will rig the convention to whatever extent they have to in order to prevent libertarians taking the LP back from them. If they subsequently lose control through the courts, they will dynamite whatever party structure remains and salt the earth on their way out for maximum damage out of pure spite.
As for starting a new party, it’s incredibly difficult for it to gain traction and getting harder and harder. Consider that the LP is the most sustained successful ideologically based national party in the US in nearly a century, going back to a time before ballot access barriers, financially prohibitive national campaign and media/ad costs, nationalization of local politics, etc.
It succeeded to the extent it did due to a series of circumstances very unlikely to be replicated: 1972 faithless elector, Koch money in the first decade, being the only party in its approximate ideological direction, etc.
It’s way more difficult now. Campaign costs have ballooned. BCRA makes many things political parties used to do illegal. The trend in ballot access laws has turned negative, and that negative direction is accelerating. The increasing bipolarization of party politics means increasingly negative reaction to “spoilers.” There are many other bullet points I can bring up here, for instance a number of reasons why it’s harder to get signatures than it was decades ago, among other things.
Let’s not forget the diminishing free speech rights and ideological diversity on college campuses. Campus organization was a key success factor in the early years of the LP, as you know.
On top of all that, it would not be the only minor party in its approximate ideological space. Look at the many socialist partylets or the track record of other attempts to start libertarianish parties (BTP, Personal Choice Party, etc, for obscure trivia buffs) for how well that is likely to go. That’s not because of a lack of support for these ideologies. Bernie Sanders, a self proclaimed socialist, came reasonably close to being a major party presidential nominee. Arguably, Ron Paul could have, if not derailed by newsletters.
The good news is that political parties are way less crucial for any ideological movement’s success than they used to be. In the libertarian movement, it used to be true that the LP had a niche of bringing new people into the movement who then went on, for the most part, to put their focus on other aspects of that movement. That is no longer true. More people come into the movement in other ways now. Meanwhile, political party organizations as a class are held in increasingly low regard. Many of the things which political parties used to do are more effectively and efficiently done by various other types of organizations now.
Why post this at third party watch? Because the sooner more libertarians realize this and stop wasting time, money, and effort on taking back the l.p. or starring another libertarianesque party, the more effective the libertarian movement will become. It’s a tactic which had its time and place, but it’s time to move on. It is no longer the best use of resources to achieve any of its stated goals.
The increased polarization works against the LP when both major parties are on the ballot, but in favor of LP candidates when facing only one opponent.
It works against in a more holistic sense when you consider how all the different factors interact with each other over time. The bottom line is not any one of two of these things taken in isolation, because that’s not how things actually work. In fact, the things I mentioned were just a sampling because it would take too long to try to list all of them. The conclusion is as I said, and libertarians are wasting any time or money they devote to an outdated strategy. There are many, many better ways to put that time and money to use to make us more free.
“There are many, many better ways to put that time and money to use to make us more free.” – Paul
Do you have specific suggestions?
New Federalist, many libertarians have long suggested that we focus on “changing the culture” by creating art. By producing novels, films, music, etc. that inspire and educate people in a libertarian direction.
Others suggest that we create local voluntaryist communities, such as the free state project. Or if you really want to be ambitious, sovereign micro states (e.g., Liberland — it actually exists, google it).
Nolan thought politics would provide a platform for a third party to get libertarian ideas into the discussion. He assumed there was a market for such ideas. Is there a better way now to go to market or is the LP’s failure indicating there is no market for such ideas in today’s America?
There’s a whole multifaceted libertarian movement outside the party. Get in where you fit in. Different things are best suited to different people. Do your own research. I can’t tell you what your roles might be.
There was nothing in the January report that should have caught the membership flat footed, as the FEC report had been released and there was no “financial collapse” in the numbers whatsoever. We still had well over the cash reserve adequacy target. There was an error in the report that was being fixed. The report was published within 24 hours of it being fixed.
February was where we had a large deficit which affected our cash reserve adequacy (not our cash reserve, which still sat at almost $250K). That report was published, on time, within 24 hours of me getting it. The financial meeting was called for immediately afterwards.
I am very used to him lying about easy-to-prove facts, and will continue to correct the record.