Reshuffling the Deck
Much like life itself, politics is a card game. You’re never dealt a royal flush, so you do your best with the cards at hand, leveraging what you can, bluffing when you can’t, and taking a chance on a draw. Sometimes with other players at the table you enter loose alliances against the casino’s dealer, with the understanding that such alliances may last no longer than one hand.
There has been blather in my state affiliate about Larry Sharpe being a bad representative of our values to the electorate. Those spouting such notions propose no realistic alternate, of course. Well there could be a better messenger for the Libertarian Party in New York, but if such a person exists, s/he has not surfaced. Mr. Sharpe surely would not absent himself from family and business and trek to all corners of this state if someone like Derek Jeter could be tapped for the job!
Going a level deeper, objections to a future Sharpe candidacy are less about the candidate and more about trepidation of another extremely difficult petitioning drive in April of 2024. Some of this minority seem to think that by mounting no effort in 2024, somehow our party will be better known to voters three years hence in 2026, which is absurd. To justify the path of least resistance, proponents of this viewpoint say that the affiliate should just perpetually live in a “state of defiance,” engaging in activities which defy government or lessen its impact in our lives, like participating in agorist exchange networks and printing ghost guns at home. All that’s commendable, but no state affiliate is needed for that. Parties exist to influence the political arena… not for tending liberty gardens.
As things now stand, it is nonsensical for the state affiliate to send a delegation to the national convention in May. Effectively that would be saying, “We made no effort to secure ballot-access for the eventual LP nominee, but nonetheless we’ll tell you who that should be.” At least that will be the case with a handful of New York’s delegates.
Against the grueling challenge of independent petitioning in Spring 2024, purity tests work no better than purity rings… they both get you screwed despite yourself. We need gamesmanship on par with our legacy rivals, which means we need someone willing and able to broker alliances whilst compromising no principles. We need someone with name recognition and a track record which petition signers can trust weeks before our party officially settles on a nominee. Mainly, from the deck we’ve been dealt, we need to sort out the jokers and keep the ace.
#DontGiveUpNY!
I really respect that you are willing to continue to push for political change even though the deck is so stacked against third parties. I hadn't heard the term "liberty garden" before but I think that has ultimately been my solution to my growing frustration; just try and tend to my small space as best I can and grow my own capacity for sovereignty.
I'm politically ignorant so maybe this isn't exactly the right question - but what is the libertarian party representation at the local level? Is winning a NYC council seat something that could be in the cards? I don't mean for Larry Sharpe I meant for the libertarian party as a whole. I'm sure the deck is stacked against it all the way but is it less nearly impossible?
Really hoping New York can pull a rabbit out of their hat when it comes to ballot access. I'm still fuming about how that thing went down. Absolutely shameful what Cuomo did, and that the NY GOP helped get third parties eliminated.