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View Full Version : Can we bring back the LPRadicals Caucus after Rothbard\Raimondo?




Agorism
12-20-2010, 02:13 AM
From wiki on the Libertarian Radicals Caucus


LPRadicals is a caucus formed in 2006 within the United States Libertarian Party by Susan Hogarth and other party members who opposed removal of much of the material in the party platform during the 2006 national party convention.[1] The caucus lists four points as "key strategic principles in furthering the work of the Libertarian Party toward, as our platform describes it, 'a world set free in our lifetime'." These are: Rights Are Utilitarian, Radical Abolitionism, Principled Populism, No Particular Order (for removal of government policies).[2] The caucus was active at the 2008 and 2010 Libertarian National Conventions.[3][4][5][6]
The first iteration of the LP Radical Caucus was active from 1972 to 1974. The creator of the caucus, Samuel Edward Konkin III, used it in a brief attempt to steer the fledgling movement away from participating in the political process.[citation needed]
The second and best known Radical Caucus was founded by Justin Raimondo, Eric Garris and Bob Costello in 1979 in order "to unify the party around radical and hardcore libertarian programs."[7][8] Raimondo led the caucus from inception until he abandoned the Libertarian Party in 1983. That Radical Caucus was dissolved in 1984.[9]

and


While a teenager, Raimondo took a brief interest in Objectivism before joining Young Americans for Freedom. In the 1970s, he became active in the Libertarian Party. With Eric Garris, he organized a "Radical Caucus", which brought them to the attention of the libertarian theorist Murray Rothbard. In 1983, after a schism in the Libertarian Party, Raimondo left and attempted to organize a libertarian faction in the Republican Party known as the Libertarian Republican Organizing Committee. After 1989, Raimondo again began working with Rothbard in the anti-war John Randolph Club.
Though raised a Roman Catholic, Raimondo describes himself as "not a believer."[4]



I've always been a fan of the post-modernism artistic movement, and I like the idea of applying it to U.S. politics. Breaking down institutions, authority, traditional culture etc.

What about the idea of a Post-Modernism version of the LPRadicals Caucus? Essentially the same beliefs but also adding in post-modernism to the movement with the view of U.S. politics as kind of like an art project.

I just haven't thought of a name for the idea yet.

kkassam
12-20-2010, 02:41 AM
I like this essay of Rothbard's "Strategy for a Libertarian Victory" (http://www.lprc.org/strategies.html) hosted on the LP Rothbard Caucus website:

Churchill2004
12-20-2010, 11:40 AM
The main problem with the LP is not radicals vs. gradualists, it's the LP vs. libertarians. The party has become an insular backwater of the movement, a slowly dying echo chamber that holds nothing but long-time party activists and the occasional publicity-seeking interloper. People can fight about the Paul/Rockwell wing of the movement vs. the Koch/Cato/Reason orbit, but at least both of these represent vibrant, growing organizations that successfully attract new blood and affect the public discourse.

There are a number of different strategies the LP could take in terms of electoral politics, but these will all be worthless until we once again reach the day where major libertarian figures can show up at the LP convention. If I was on the LNC, I would be doing everything I can to invite representatives from other, more successful libertarian organizations to show up at the national conventions. There should be a Cato booth, a Reason booth, a LvMI booth, and IHS booth, a Campaign for Liberty booth, etc., as well as inviting speeches from the likes of Judge Napolitano, David Boaz, Brian Doherty, and even the good Dr. himself if it can finally be made clear that working within the GOP (or Dems. for that matter) and working with the LP are not mutually exclusive.


Or they can keep fighting over D-list fools like Wayne Allyn Root and people whose only claim to fame is collecting ballot access signatures for the past two decades. Their choice.

kkassam
12-20-2010, 02:45 PM
+1

One obstacle seems that hobbles the Party is a disagreement about what the LP is for. IMHO it should be for promoting libertarianism.

BuddyRey
12-20-2010, 06:53 PM
I think the Radical Caucus is still around, but as The Rothbard Caucus.