This is the departing eulogy of Gene Trosper. When a longtime
activist such as him does this, it only underscores the point of how
jacked up this whole thing is.
I share his sentiments.
For the past few years, the LPC has not only been failing miserably as
a political organization, it has been engaged in a campaign of control
and intimidation, two ideals I do NOT consider libertarian at all.
It's pretty well known that I have been less than enamored with the
LPC as of late. This year's state convention was like an alternate
universe where the control freaks took over and relished in active
harassment of long standing members, such as myself.
I was in the process of trying to reconcile that with what seems to be
positive initiatives from the national LP. However, the last straw for
me was the ejection of Mark Selzer.
One could argue about whether or not he "initiated force" against the
LPC, but when it comes down to brass tacks, the LPC has been "initiating
force" against it's own membership and activists for a few years now.
Let's face reality: the LPC is supposed to be a political party, not a
purity-tested social club. Every two years, the LPC runs loser
candidates for office. The vast majority are candidates who have no
intention of even running an active campaign. The purpose? To educate
voters on libertarian public policy positions and philosophy. This, my
friends, is initiation of force against the taxpayers. The LPC is
violating it's so-called principles by accepting taxpayer dollars to
run candidates they KNOW will never win election! After all, it takes
money to print ballots and ballot pamphlets, among other essential
duties the local and state elections boards are called on to do. Like
the great Milton Friedman has said "There ain't no such thing as a
free lunch".
That said, it is beyond stupid to accuse one of it's members of
initiating force when the LPC originally agreed to government-imposed
regulations just to become *ballot recognized*. The phrase "hypocritical
bullshit" comes to mind when one considers the great leap of
philosophical gymnastics it took to accuse someone of using the very
government elections apparatus that they themselves have agreed to deal
with!
It has to be said: The LPC is being ran by a small cadre of wannabe
Republican control freaks and they will use anything -- including
selective interpretation of the Non Initiation of Force principle --
to get their way.
The LPC was once an exciting and vibrant organization! Now, the morale
is low and the excitement for Freedom In Our Time has nearly been
squeezed out by centralization, harassment and ridicule of it's
fantastic members.
I let my LP membership lapse a few months ago, but planned on keeping my
voter registration as a message to the government. Now, for the first
time in 16 years, I have come to the conclusion that the LPC would
rather run members out and create a GOP appreciation society with a
tight grip on all Libertarian functions in California.
Today, I changed my voter registration to "Decline To State".
I urge you to do the same until a proper political outlet to liberty
can be found...or created.
Your in liberty,
--Gene Trosper