Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys

In a very narrow technical sense, I remain a member of the Libertarian Party because I have not formally rescinded the certification which, according to the bylaws, makes me a member (read plainly, that provision would make me a member even if I never asked to be a member or notified the Libertarian National Committee of any desire to be a member). I haven't rescinded that certification because it does in fact reflect my position:

"I hereby certify that I do not believe in or advocate the initiation of force as a means of achieving political or social goals."

I am not, however, a member in any meaningful sense. My Florida voter registration, as of last year, became "No Party Affiliation," and I declined to renew my "sustaining member" status by paying dues when that deadline came around.

At the moment, I remain satisfied that those decisions were correct and needful. The latest tiff in party circles involves the LNC's sponsorship of a pro-Ukraine-war (so long as the war ends with a Russian victory) rally.

And it's even worse than I thought. Yesterday, on Facebook, I wrote:

"From the LP perspective, it may be an anti-US-intervention event, which is not the same thing as an anti-war event but which, taken as a single value, is in keeping with the LP's platform."

But then I took a closer link above and see that the event specifically calls for US intervention in the war (Demand 2: "Negotiate peace").

The anti-US-interventionist position is that the US should butt out and shut up, not that it should throw its weight around in other regimes' disputes with "diplomatic" pressure. The war in Ukraine is a turf dispute between two rival gangs, and the US is a third rival gang. Pro-interventionists want the US gang to put its fingers on the scale on behalf of one gang or the other -- this rally has simply chosen a different gang to back than the US regime has chosen.

For more information, see this Twitter threat from Tyler Harris, this statement from the party's Classical Liberal Caucus, and this three-part write-up by Craig Bowden.

Some libertarians are upset that the rally features speakers who are "bad people," that the LNC chair helped put the thing together then post-hoc asked for sponsorship ratification by the LNC, etc. Your mileage may vary on those controversies. My problem with it is that it features pro-war speakers, and announces pro-war demands. It is an anti-libertarian rally. And the only thing about the whole thing that makes me glad is that I am not associated with it.