D-Day: Brief notes, part 1

Later this morning (8am Pacific), the Libertarian National Committee will begin its San Diego meeting. A few hours later, the agenda for that meeting, as currently publicly known, will lead into discussion of "Discipline of Angela Keaton."

Here's a link to one of a number of articles on the matter. Of specific interest is that article's linked list of other articles, and its links to the "complaint" and "evidence" documents.

Michael Seebeck will be covering the meeting by live video and Twitter -- here's the page for both.

So far I've been unable to get the "evidence" document to download correctly -- still working on that. Since I can't evaluate it myself, I have to rely on others, and Steve Newton of Delaware Libertarian is one of the most reliable guys I know when it comes to getting facts straight. Here's his take.

My own "big picture" take is largely independent of both the charges and the evidence anyway, because I don't consider either especially relevant. In my opinion, none of this is, from the point of view of Keaton's persecutors, about what Angela Keaton is accused of doing, about whether or not she did it, or about whether or not doing it is just cause for suspension. Nor is it especially ideological, unless "power for power's sake" and "big fish/small pond" are ideologies.

Rather, it is about the desire of an internal clique to have its way with the LNC and the LP; to distract attention from its piss-poor management of the party's resources and the failures of its marquee project, the 2008 LP presidential campaign; to remove an obstacle to its total control of those resources and its influence over future campaigns; and, last but not least, to make a convincing demonstration of its power in hopes of bringing other stubborn LNC members to heel and demoralizing its opposition among the membership.

Folks: Never negotiate with terrorists, and definitely don't let terrorists get away with pretending that they're anything but terrorists.

They're either going to remove Angela Keaton, or they aren't.

They've either got the stones to commit the political equivalent of murder in broad daylight or they don't.

Either way, don't make this easier for them by pretending with them that that's not what they're threatening to do. And if they do it, don't empower them versus additional victims by helping them whitewash what they did.