Dear Friends, Lately, a great deal has been happening with the party Tom Knapp founded in 2006. The Boston Tea Party has seen a great resurgence in interest and membership since the Denver Libertarian Party convention. We recently topped 155 members on our national site, http://www.bostontea.us/ and 170 members on our Facebook group.
Given that David Nolan, a co-founder of the Libertarian Party, reports that membership renewals are down by as much as 50% since 2000, the Boston Tea Party is the fastest growing libertarian party in America. In addition to members, we've added 8 new state affiliates since Denver and we're working on about 20 more. Ordinarily, I don't take part in party politics. My friend Tom Knapp, however, asked me to help him keep the party going earlier this year. I agreed to take the reins until 24 October 2008, when the party holds its national convention to replace me and the other officers. In addition to nominating our own candidate, Charles Jay, for president - see www.cj08.com for details - along with Tom Knapp for VP, the Boston Tea Party has begun endorsing the candidates of other political parties. To gain our endorsement, all that is required is that the candidate agree to our platform calling for a smaller government in all areas and on all issues, a larger gov't in no areas and on no issues. We also validate this agreement by reviewing the candidate's web site and public statements. This past week we were pleased to endorse Phil Rhodes for Lt. Governor in North Carolina, a Libertarian; Morey Straus for statehouse in New Hampshire, also a Libertarian; and Jim Y. Casarjian-Perry, of the Boston Tea Party, currently an elected town council member in Billerica, Massachusetts, and running for planning board there. The press release on that activity is here: http://bostontea.us/release070908 To give you a sense of what we're doing, I wrote a lengthy and detailed essay here: http://lastfreevoice.wordpress.com/2008/07/11/party-like-its-1773/ I feel very strongly that if the Libertarian Party is going to be salvaged, as L. Neil Smith has said he wants to see happen, it is going to take a lot of work from a lot of people. Many of the key activists, like Chris Bennett and Angela Keaton, have decided to leave the party as soon as their current commitments are complete. Others, such as myself, left the party long ago - I stopped renewing my membership in 1998, although I've worked for state LP groups in Kansas, Wyoming, Texas, and North Carolina. The Boston Tea Party represents an opportunity to indicate your interest in changes to the Libertarian Party. You don't have to leave the LP to join our party - we have no party loyalty requirements. You don't have to pay anything either, we charge no membership fee. All you have to do is agree that you want a smaller government at all levels and on all issues, a bigger government not at all on any issue, at any level, and we'll accept you as a member at our national site. Notably, our vice presidential candidate, Tom Knapp, has not left the LP, and is running as a Libertarian for USA Congress in Missouri. He, like Neil, seems to think that there are things he can do to fix the party from within. Many of us, however, are thinking to work on illustrating our concerns by leaving the party and working on a new party. (Our Florida state chair, John Wayne Smith, just announced his resignation from the LP nationally and in Florida. He's also finished the work to put the Boston Tea Party on the ballot in Florida.) I think both strategies can mesh in important ways. At the Denver convention, I was very impressed with the nomination speech introducing Wayne Root as a candidate for vice president. In that speech, the point was made that Root's parents had left the Republican party in New York in the late 1960s owing to Nelson Rockefeller contaminating it. They formed the Conservative Party and were successful with some candidates. Ultimately, the GOP in New York had to change its ways to win back key members to its party. I'm quite sure that many Boston Tea Party members would be willing to reconsider the Libertarian Party if, for example, that party were more open about how decisions are made. The Boston Tea Party puts all our deliberations online - btpnc is the Yahoogroup for our national committee. Another thing that would impress me is if the members of the LP actually had power to over-rule the national committee and headquarters staff. In the Boston Tea Party, any member can organise a poll on our national site to oppose any action by the national committee. If a majority who vote in that poll disagree, the committee is over-ruled. Simple. Seeing the effectiveness of the state parties, the Boston Tea Party is organised to have all fund raising for party activities at the state level, or by the campaigns of the various candidates. So, we also don't have any money to speak of at the national level - no reason to become corrupt. This year we've raised and spent all of $76. Obviously, fixing the LP may involve doing things very differently from the way the Boston Tea Party does things. I'm okay with that. If the scandals and corruption would end, and the LP would nominate an actual libertarian for president, that would be much better. Until that day, a great many people have found a new home in the Boston Tea Party. Regards, Jim Davidson chair, Boston Tea Party
