Mises Caucus Organization – Part 4

Last updated on January 5, 2025

The Role of State Team Leaders on National Party Issues

• The authority of a State Team Leader lies within their state. Decisions about national matters are what the Executive Committee is for. State Team Leaders do not select national party officer endorsements or policy endorsements in the name of the Mises Caucus. They do not make decisions about the Mises Caucus brand.
• State Team Leaders have the discretion to pick and choose the state affiliate officers they believe are best, based on their better information and relationships in that state. The Executive Committee picks and endorses national LP party officers based on the same kind of detailed experience and relationships working with the Executive Committee members.
• Just like Executive Committee members trust that State Team Leaders have a better finger on the pulse of what is going on in their state, State Team Leaders need to have some trust in the Executive Committee that is working on the national level agenda, that it is doing its job gathering information and knowing all the angles on a particular political situation. If there is no trust and no reciprocity, there is no organization. There is a very good chance that by the time a State Team member has noticed a major national issue, the Executive Committee is already aware of it and working on it.

• Even though there is no role for State Team Leaders to select national officers or policies for endorsement, the Executive Committee does communicate its plans, thoughts processes, and intentions to the State Teams, because their feedback is obviously important and relevant. Firstly, some decisions may not be popular in particular states for particular reasons, and the Executive Committee needs to know about these tensions to make a cost-benefit analysis. Second, the big picture vision for the Mises Caucus is why everyone is here; and if it is veering off course somehow, the State Team Leads should be able to communicate their concerns to the board members. Third, the State Team Leadership can provide ideas and perspectives that the Executive Committee could be missing.

Conflicts Between State Team Leadership and National Leadership

• It is impossible to have a national party policy, election, etc. that does not anger someone somewhere for some reason. The whole reason why we are libertarians and support decentralization is that we know “one size fits all” does not work. The reality is that to some degree, the national organization has to be “one size fits all” and that the state affiliates represent the “custom tailoring” of the message and processes for achieving liberty. It’s not a matter of if there will be some kind of conscientious objection to an MC national level action, but when.
• If discussion has failed to create a consensus for State Team Leaders and there are some who still object to a specific course of action the Mises Caucus is taking regarding a bylaw, officer election, platform amendment, etc, those objecting State Team Leaders may not represent their personal opinion as the position of the Mises Caucus in any sense, either nationally as “The Mises Caucus” or in some more localized fashion (e.g. “The Mises Caucus of Waldavia”).
• The Mises Caucus works and functions as a team. If a team member does not want to facilitate a particular goal, then the executive leadership of the Mises Caucus has every right and responsibility to inform its members in that state regarding the difference of opinion. State Team Leaders have discretion to manage the affairs of their state, but they do not have the privilege to control the flow of information about national matters to the local members in that state.

• A State Team Leader who is conscientiously objecting to a particular endorsement or action is still responsible for doing the work in their state and to do so with integrity. Depending on the disagreement, a State Team Leader may have a conflict of interest and need to temporarily or permanently step down from their leadership role until the conflict of interest ends.