Evicting Libertarian Party Principles: The Portland Purge, by L.K. Samuels, is well worth reading. I did receive the following email:
6:40 pm on July 8, 2006Re: your post on the Portland Purge, I […] was in Portland. I assure you that Samuels has many, many facts incorrect, for the record.
“attempted to oust the original heirs of the Libertarian Party.”
FALSE. NO ONE TRIED TO OUST ANYONE.
”through a parliamentary procedure, the Reform Caucus successfully gutted the LP national platform from over 60 planks to about a dozen.”
FALSE. THERE WAS NEVER ANY PLAN TO GUT THE PLATFORM, ALTHOUGH THERE WAS VAGUE DISCUSSION ABOUT TONING DOWN SOME PLANKS. THE PROCEDURE TO STRIKE ANY OR ALL PLANKS HAS ALWAYS BEEN THERE, AND APPARENTLY MANY DELEGATES SPONTANEOUSLY CHECKED OFF “STRIKE ALL.” THE LRC NEVER ENGINEERED THIS; IT WAS NEVER DISCUSSED.
“Unable to abolish every plank in one full sweep, the reformers plan to recruit new LP members from the ranks of other political parties, specifically from the religious “Constitution Party.””
NOT TRUE. YES, WE’D LIKE MORE TO JOIN THE PARTY, BUT THIS IS HIGHLY MISREPRESENTATIVE.
