In May a group called the Mises Caucus took over the Libertarian National Committee. The public pronouncements that then began emanating from that body via the @LPNational Twitter handle showed that they were going to be messaging in a non-libertarian manner, so I called the national office told them to cancel my monthly donation.
A few days later, I received an email from Angela McArdle, the current chair of the LNC, asking for a time to call and introduce herself. I agreed, and on June 20th we spoke for about half an hour. I asked her why she had reached out to me, and she said because I called in to National. She said that she is going to try to reach out to everyone that calls or emails about cancelling donations. I told her that what I saw happen in the Republican Party before I left them years ago I was seeing happening in the LP now: when your messaging is such that bigots feel welcome, that is what you get as members of the party. She said she would relay my concerns to the communications department.
The messaging that has followed shows either she did not relay my concerns, or that they were ignored. If anything, the messaging has grown even more odious. Add to that the messaging coming from individual officers, and the rot in the LNC appears to be total.
Further, they have charged my credit card again after I explicitly told them to cancel. I do not know if this is an example of incompetence or fraud, but neither explanation is a good sign.
I know many who have left the national party because of this takeover, and many more who, like me, are redirecting their support from national and instead supporting initiatives like the Libertarian Policy Institute in addition to state and local parties and candidates that are truly striving for liberty in our lifetime.
I still believe that coercion is wrong, that people prosper when they are free, and that the ideals of the Libertarian Party are worth fighting for; the current Libertarian National Committee, based upon their messaging, does not.
