The Libertarian Party of Washington posted the agenda for its annual convention (3/28/26 in Tacoma, WA) with a “Motion to Dissolve the Libertarian Party of Washington at the end of Convention.”
Miguel Duque, former Libertarian National Committee member and former LPWA State Executive Committee member, and Anna (Johnson) Duque, former Chair of LPWA, are sponsors of the motion.
Estimated support for the motion is unknown. It is the first item up for consideration following the call to order, credentialing, and officer reports and will require a simple majority vote to succeed.
Arguments in favor pertain to the inefficacy of the Libertarian Party in its 50+ year existence at the national and local levels, the cost in time and resources for volunteers and donors, and an urgency for proponents of liberty to employ more practical solutions beyond electoral and legislative politics.
Opponents of the motion contend that the LP, while limited in reach and impact, should continue to encourage political and civic engagement.
This motion comes at a time of sharp decline in membership and volunteer activity within LPWA. The state party enjoyed rapid growth in 2020 and 2021 at the height of the Mises Caucus takeover with over 400 dues-paying members. Subsequent years saw sustained decreases in renewals, with the current membership now totaling less than 100.
The Duques both ceased involvement in 2024 in the national and local LP and the Mises Caucus, citing widespread malfeasance among LNC members, staff, and organizers, and personal priorities for “higher level things” such as childrearing and homesteading. The Region 1 state chairs ousted Mr. Duque in 2023 after leaking a confidential document and chats with fellow LNC members revealing an organizational culture mired in distrust and lack of accountability.
Mr. Duque offered these additional comments regarding the motion to dissolve LPWA:
“This is not an effort to disaffiliate from the LP. The entire party is plainly unfit to exist. While the national party could also be dissolved by a simple majority vote of the delegates (according to a parliamentarian and former LNC secretary who shall not be named), being that that is unlikely, state and local members should take a stand and break the cycle of waste, fraud, abuse, and disappointment by dissolving their affiliate and diverting its resources toward voluntaryist direct action and mutual aid. For decades, the LP has churned and burned countless excited liberty activists into alienation and apathy. Most recently, a huge wave of new energy and a so-called ‘takeover’ was reduced to little more than a few people promoting podcasts, selling boner pills and comedy tickets, and endorsing Trump and then apologizing for it, after hundreds of their fans devoted countless time and money toward campaigns and conventions. Am I the only one who feels like a total sucker? How much longer will this go on while not one shred of omnipotent statism is repealed or prevented by LP candidates and reps who seem to just love hearing themselves talk? The world is facing ever more serious problems that will not be solved by more committees, bylaws, Zoom meetings, or Discord arguments. I would be perfectly content with quitting the party and being left alone, but I cannot abide by seeing well-meaning activists keep falling for the same trap in perpetuity. Please, if you can’t abolish big government, abolish something!!!”
“The state party enjoyed rapid growth in 2020 and 2021 at the height of the Mises Caucus takeover with over 400 dues-paying members. Subsequent years saw sustained decreases in renewals, with the current membership now totaling less than 100.” That speaks volumes. Recall that the Buffalo Party and Rock Concert at Evansville was the first and closest thing to a libertarian party before 1971. A national entrenched “bipartite” movement quickly passed laws everywhere to ban rock concerts. I am not at all surprised that the Trump/Mises infiltrators absolutely alienated 75% of genuine members everywhere they gained a foothold.
Dissolution vote failed. Only Miguel and Anna voted for it. Bylaws changes ruled out of order.
Did they walk out after the vote, or was there followup action taken to eject them from the state party?
I don’t know if they walked out. There were no other actions.
There was a whole new board elected. C Michael Pickens is Chair again.
Have Mises-pushed platform changes been reversed? How many or their Mises infiltrators have gone back to the GOP, Tea or American Party?
No platform changes considered.
Whatever the terms on which the measure MIGHT pass, the impact would likely be minimal.
Those interested in continuing to have a Libertarian Party would just form a new organization under that name, and probably (although not necessarily) affiliate that organization with the Libertarian National Committee.
If the current organization is down to fewer than 100 members, it’s not like getting a new organization back to higher numbers would be THAT much more difficult than doing so with the current organization. It might even be easier.
BTW The LPWA had almost 1000 members at one point.
A lot of people left when the cannabis marketplace was opened to some degree. When I was the news letter editor there were about 500 or a bit more. That was from 2008 to 2013 or so.
Lots of factor have caused the party to decline. Changes in the voting process are a major one. The top two election is a major issue.
Libertarians seldom make the cut, so the candidate does not get heard during the major election.
The war in the Middle East is, or was another problem. Lots of people left during that period.
I left when the state committee was fired at the 2014 convention.
The news letter, that was printed, mailed, and brought in some money was discontinued after that.
The lack of a properly designed website that dealt with issues is in my opinion a primary failure. I had hoped to make some changes in that prior to be fired in 2014 but I could not even get a conversation going.
That’s gonna do it for now.
I am looking at some old membership #’s now and the high point was 1999 with 1213
then it fell from there to 409 in April 2011.
The Libertarian Party of Washington bylaws require a 7/8ths vote of membership to dissolve or disaffiliate the state party.
“We, the sustaining members of the Party, desire to clearly state that we want the
Libertarian Party of Washington to remain affiliated with and supportive of the national
Libertarian Party by default. Any move to disaffiliate the state party from national – or to disband the state party entirely – must have support of a seven-eighths (7/8) majority
vote of all delegates at an annual convention in which notice has been included that this
topic will be voted on.
“
The vote is 7/8 of all the delegates at convention, which is likely less than 7/8 of all members.
If you have 100 members, and 40 attend, you would need 35 yes votes (though some interpret it as 7/8 of the votes cast).
At the very least, RONR would treat a dissolution as a repeal of the bylaws (55:6), if unincorporated; in that case it will take the same vote and notice requirements needed to amend the bylaws. If incorporated, the WALP would need to consult with an attorney.
Best idea yet. Every state L.P should do this, as well as national. Unfortunately, I don’t think the current LPWA can do anything to prevent the LNC from approving another LPWA to reorganize even if they do dissolve.
I have peaked at LPWA bylaws re: vote threshold and other issues. I’m going to do a show on this tonight.
=== (according to a parliamentarian and former LNC secretary who shall not be named)===
If he is referring to me he is mistaken. I never said that and would never say that. At a minimum, it takes repeal of the bylaws which is 2/3 but there are other legal (and possibly parliamentary) considerations.
So, I absolutely repudiate what he is implying I said.
I have no opinion on what vote threshold would be required for LPWA but I suspected it is similar- and in no case, a “simple majority” (a phrase I never use)