Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2001 04:24:06 -0000 From: fractor@swlink.net Subject: [lpaz-discuss] Current State of the ALP To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com Reply-To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
I want to weigh in belatedly on the matter Jason Auvenshine has been pursuing:
"I think the _process_ by which ALP, as an organization, arrived at the decision to boot me off the GovCom is fundamentally flawed. It was very clear that no one else shared that concern at the convention. It is very clear that the only people on this list who share the concern live outside the state. I find that disturbing for reasons totally unrelated to whether or not Inc. is a party." - Jason Auvenshine, Wed, 06 Jun 2001
I live in Arizona, and share his concern for some sort of just process in the way the ALP is run. I find it totally disturbing to hear people like John Wilde say that facts don't matter. That's like the courts telling people that "actual innocence" is not a valid argument for appealing prison or even death sentences. ("a claim of actual innocence is not itself a constitutional claim." - Chief Justice William Rehnquist)
John Wilde is fond of proclaiming that that's the way the law and courts work, and fairness is not an issue (Jason should stop "complaining about whether the process is unfair"). I say it should be, and what better place than to start within the ALP? If not here, how can we expect better in the society we are trying to change?
I have been following the on-going debates on ALP, Inc. and LPS for six months now, and agree that a lot of bad stuff has been perpetrated by both those organizations. That fact, however, does not make the ALP's actions right or just.
Aside from the questions of fairness of the lawsuits from ALP, Inc., and the shenanigans of certain people in the national LP and the Browne campaigns, where is the proclaimed high ground of the ALP?
As reported by Jason, at the convention Ernie Hancock summed up the feelings of the delegates, "it was short, sweet, and hard to beat". And exclusive, apparently. That seems to be the current hallmark of the ALP - avoid bringing in anyone besides the in-crowd, especially if they might have a different view of how to operate.
That was why I - mistakenly, I now realize - voted for ALP, Inc. two years ago - because they were the only group that deigned to communicate with the rest of us Libertarians in Arizona. Unless one knows about the LPAZ-Discuss group, a Libertarian wouldn't even know the option of attending the ALP convention existed. And that apparently suits the "leadership" just fine.
And no, it wasn't really national that disaffilated the ALP, in spite of the current myth. It was the voice of Libertarians across the state, who, faced with a choice of who they thought best represented them, picked ALP, Inc. If the ALP had communicated with the rest of us, perhaps most others, like me, would have voted differently.
(It occurs to me that the ALP leadership actually wanted the LPUS to disaffilate them, with all the gloating over that fact I have seen.)
But, wait, I hear repeatedly stated in this forum, most of the people who voted in that referendum weren't even registered Libertarian voters, anyway. It seems to me that if the ALP really wanted to represent registered Arizona Libertarians, there would be some effort to communicate with them, and, yes, even those who are just members of national.
According to Robert Anderson, the ALP is "the ballot accessed party that represents the libertarian voters of this State." But doesn't a representative actually communicate with and LISTEN to those he purportedly represents?
In spite of the questionable tax-funded status of the precinct committeeman system, it does at least have the benefit of being more than a closed (to the rest of us) system. And to have attended and had my voice heard (and actually considered), I would have had to "pack" the convention, which Ernie and the rest clearly didn't want. I should have, anyway, and added at least my voice to Jason's concerns over the current steamroller. Mea culpa, Jason.
The ALP may be better than the ALP, Inc., but not that much better, in my opinion, not as long as fairness, justice, and openness are not among its values.
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