Dear Friends, The Boston Tea Party has been growing rapidly since the end of the Denver convention of the Libertarian Party.
Yesterday, we nominated Charles Jay for president of these united States of America and Tom Knapp for vice president. You can learn more about the candidates on their campaign web sites. Today, we filed for ballot access in Colorado with 9 electors and at least one alternate. We're looking for additional alternates through midnight Colorado time just to be sure. A donor in Florida provided the $500 filing fee. We have formed new state affiliate groups in Michigan, Texas, Alabama, and Colorado. We are currently negotiating with the Personal Choice Party in Utah to become our affiliate there, and with the new Liberty Party in Massachusetts to affiliate with us there. A Nevada group has applied for affiliate status and most of the national committee have already voted in favor - we're waiting for a couple of votes. An Indiana group is forming. A Kansas group is forming. Our goal for this year is to have ten or twelve states with our candidates on the ballot. We are seeking to spend the next year (from today) organizing affiliates in all 50 states, in DC (we have an activist there), and in all the territories. What about the LP? I think the symbol behind the speaker's podium in Denver made it very clear. The number 2008 and a windmill - a device for pointing whichever way the strongest wind is blowing. Obviously, I have many friends in the Libertarian Party, slightly more than the number of my friends who self-identify as "anarchist." Several of my friends are now on the national committee of the LP, including Angela Keaton, Mary Ruwart, and R. Lee Wrights. I admire these women and this particular man on the national committee, even though I have little but contempt for Sullentrup, Starr, Redpath, and not much respect for the other at-large representatives. If the radical caucus is successful in salvaging the LP, great. But, I suspect that it won't be. Those who, like the scoffing, snorting, guffawing Scott Graves, want more police brutality, more beating of arrest suspects, more government power, more money for their corrupt part of the party apparatus, and more moderation of the LP's message, are winning. They are winning in spite of the dramatic drop in membership of the LP - by over half its membership in 2000. They are winning although LP founder David Nolan and others have pointed out that the corruption is wrong and must end. The LP has not earned my respect, nor my dues, since 1998 when I refused to renew my membership. The LP is not a party of principle. It is the third largest and least effective of the three parties of political harlotry. I believe the Boston Tea Party is better. It is a better choice right now. And it represents an alternative to the compromised, corrupted, LP for the long run. Tom Knapp formed the Boston Tea Party in 2006 as a result of the evisceration of the LP's platform in Portland, Oregon. Working with Tom and Todd Barnett, Elle Larkin, Kent McManigal, Chris Bennett, Mike Blessing, and Michelle Luetge, I have revitalized the party since April of this year when I was excommunicated from Ken Royce's Free State Wyoming project. My role as transition chair ends in October of this year. We are holding our convention to elect new officers, new at-large members of the national committee, a new program, and possibly new bylaws on 24 October 2008, online at http://www.bostontea.us/ for the members of the party. I won't be running for the office of chair, nor for any other office. My purpose has been to revitalize the party and set it back on its feet, mostly because my friend Tom Knapp asked me to do so. I have zero interest in any continuing role with the party. Why not? Because if it is going to be effective, it has to find its own path. The leader principle can only take it so far. Besides, I want to exploit the BTP and the LP for effective activists for other more pressing projects. But, I feel strongly that there are several other good prospects for the position of chair. Regards, Jim Davidson transition chair, Boston Tea Party www.bostontea.us
