A response to the unrepentant LNC Vice Chair’s absurd video following his censure for promoting sex with children.
The reason the Libertarian Party got 3% of the vote in the last Presidential Election, on Vice Chair Vohra’s watch, is indeed bad tactics and messaging. That is one of the only things he is right about. Unfortunately the solutions he proposes are doubling down on the problem. This video is really the perfect illustration of why we have not been successful in a country that is increasingly embracing libertarian beliefs.
I will paraphrase a few of his statements, and explain why they fly in the face of facts, historical experience, and common sense. Please remember, LNC Chair Nick Sarwark and Vice-Chair Arvin Vohra are NOT a representation of the Libertarian Party or even Libertarianism.
Sarwark was a lone voice against the Arizona State LP condemnation of pedophilia at their State Convention in January. The majority of the LNC voted to condemn Arvin’s statements with a formal censure. Free trade does not include the child sex trade, so remove those who supported it with their vote in Arvin’s favor at the convention in NOLA.
ArviStatement #1-
It is an ineffective strategy that has lead us to embrace a lack of opposition. People don’t oppose you when:
1) They agree with you.
2) Do not understand what you are saying
This illustrates the depths of ignorance about political science among the Sarwark/Vorha faction. For example, Nick Sarwark has made statements in the press stating that he does not want the party to grow bigger if it means any “non-pure” libertarians join.
An LNC Regional Representative known as “Starchild” described their mentality this way in comments on an article from the the muckraking rag IPR, ironically owned by Warren Redlich, the infamous cyber squatter who became a Democrat to support Bernie Sanders. He was promoting sexualizing teenagers in some manner which led to accusations Roger Stone defamed him, his lawsuit failed in December.
“I would argue the libertarian movement as a whole – is more commonly associated with the right than with the left. If we do not make an effort to keep our message balanced to appeal at least as much to people on the left as those on the right, we risk entering a vicious downward spiral to the right in which more people from that side of the political spectrum get involved, and with their involvement tilt the character of the party and movement further in that direction, which would increase the appeal to those on the right while correspondingly decreasing the appeal to those on the left, until “Libertarian” is seen to mean something like “Tea Party” and no longer represents a genuinely independent third voice in politics.
If that were to occur, the LP would lose its chance of shifting the political paradigm from right/left on the Nolan Chart, to up/down (libertarian vs. authoritarian). The movement would be stuck with a LINO type (Libertarian-In-Name-Only) party using and tarnishing its name. It could set the entire freedom movement back by decades.”
-Starchild
-The first rule of politics is never talk to people in terms they do not understand.
-The second rule is that politics is the art of advancing your beliefs in the current world.
Dreaming of new concepts for the future belongs in the realm of philosophy, and once a viable plan to institute these new systems is ready, you move it into the world of politics..
If you want to dream up a new political spectrum and insist on viewing the world through that lens, you can be the weird guy everyone thinks is obsessed with weed and buttsex forever.
This is the reality of the world we live in, the actual map of the battlefield:
Appealing to Marxists to avoid drifting too far into Libertarianism is a really bad strategy. That’s what leftists are. They exist to corrupt and corrode to bring down the existing order and usher in Communism. There are some among the left who are what Marx called “useful idiots”, and some of them will eventually come to us when they realize the left co-opts causes like civil rights for nefarious purposes. To not declare ourselves officially right of the GOP, as the real party of personal liberty and economic freedom is to violate O’Sullivans Law.
O’Sullivan’s Law states that any organization or enterprise that is not expressly right wing will become left wing over time.
One of the reasons for this is leftist intolerance versus right-wing tolerance. Right wingers are willing to hire openly left-wing employees in the interest of fairness. Left-wingers, utterly intolerant, will not allow a non-Liberal near them, and will harass them at every opportunity.
If you have witnessed the hate campaigns by the SJW’s against myself, the Libertarian Party of Florida, and so many other party officers and members, you have seen it in action. The result over time is that conservative enterprises are infiltrated by leftists but leftist enterprises remain the same or get worse.
Also, leftism is in and of itself a form of decay. It’s what happens not just to television shows but to nations, churches and universities as the energy given off by the big bang of their inception slowly ebbs away. Rather than expend vitality in originality and creation they become obsessed with introspection, popularity and lethargy. Leftism is entropy of the spirit and intellect. It is not something you will break the 2 party system with.
This is not to say we cannot be a big tent, but the LNC Chair is justifying ANTIFA violence at Berkley and telling the press “the right is not our natural ally”. The result is clear. You have a Libertarian Socialist Caucus now yelling “Rent is Theft”, while threatening to black block your national convention. They threatened the Florida state convention and many of its leaders. Your Presidential Candidate is advocating for using the government to force cakes to be baked at gunpoint, while the VP is a proponent of gun control who essentially endorsed Hillary. If you don’t want to cut your penis off and join an agorist migrant smuggling club you are now going to be called a Nazi by an army of trolls who will call and get you fired from work and send their ANTIFA friends to club people at your campaign events. O’Sullivans Law is real, you are watching the cost of ignoring it right before your eyes.
If anyone on the LNC viewed their job as political scientist rather than being an edgy left-wing ideologue, we would be doing at least 5 times the election returns, because that is roughly how many self identifying Libertarians there are in the US.
Arvin Statement#2
He complains about advertisements near military bases the LNC paid for during the last Presidential election. He seems to think insulting service members and first responders enough will convince people to stop joining the military and police.
There was one marketing success of the Johnson campaign in 2016. It was the overwhelming support by the active duty military. You would expect the Vice Chair of the third biggest political party in the United States to read the news occasionally. He should probably catch up, so here is a few links:
http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-gary-johnson-poll-military-501268
https://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/21/troops-prefer-trump-and-even-johnson-over-clinton-new-poll.html
His idea that we will restore the foreign policy of the founding fathers by shaming the troops, and shift to a non-government school model by shaming teachers is ridiculous for two reasons.
-The first reason is that, being a political party, we exist to elect officials to abolish these legislative evils. You can get a blog or a YouTube channel and say outrageous things, but that is not what we are here for.
-The second reason is that Arvin did not put the slightest effort into researching his idea. The first thing to do is look at public opinion to chart your course. Research shows that among U.S. adults (78%) say that members of the armed services contribute “a lot” to society’s well-being. The military still tops the list of 10 occupational groups, followed closely by teachers, medical doctors, scientists and engineers. A solid majority of the public says each of those occupations contributes a lot to society.
Meanwhile, on ANTIFA, Fifty-eight percent (58%) share an unfavorable opinion of these protesters, including 40% who have a Very Unfavorable one. Armed with this knowledge, your chair supports ANTIFA and Arvin attacks the troops. Does that sound like a solid strategy to get enough people in Congress to start dismantling the military industrial complex? Elected officials break the monopoly of the government teachers unions with legislation promoting school choice and vouchers. This introduces competition into the system that will erode their power as we move to he next phase….you know..political activity. That is what we are here for – remember?
The concept is called “message crafting”. Look at what you want, what people think, and if they are wrong, find a way to convince them. Almost 2 years ago I wrote an article titled “Spit on Politicians, Not Soldiers“. I did not water down my message or principles. I took the knowledge of the high esteem veterans such as myself enjoy in public opinion, and showed how our foreign polcy disrespects the honorable choice to serve. That is something that can plant seeds. Calling 78% of the public “bootlickers” while supporting the guys pepper spraying their grandma at a political rally is not a “bold movement”, its sabotage.
Arvin Statement #3
“The LP failed to live up to its role as an ideological opposition to the status quo in Washington”.
Our role is not ideological opposition. This is not a philosophy club. Our role is effective POLITICAL opposition.
He spoke of this liberty movement as well, and I think the first thing is to remember that many stay out of party politics and do their own thing. If you want to work in the LP, recruit volunteers and candidates and find new ways to get people to like them.
Arvin Statement #4
“Our job is to discredit these toxic institutions in coming months.”
No, our job is to elect candidates, effect legislation, and increase the number of registered Libertarian voters.
Arvin Statement #5
“We can be the President if we fight to change culture.”
The culture war and the political fight are 2 different fronts of the same war. They must be fought separately though. Religion and culture are things that are poisoned by political attempts to promote or suppress. A government big enough to change the culture could not possibly be Libertarian. I am involved in civic and community organizations outside of the party for this reason. I found his choice of words a hint of his Frankfurt School mentality showing through as well.
Our culture has been purposefully corrupted by Marxists and Globalists in order to bring us into dependency and then servitude. We need to preserve and restore the great American traditions of personal liberty and economic freedom. The people trying to change the culture are the enemy. I authored an article on the subject a couple years ago titled “Preserve the Culture, Preserve Liberty“.
In Conclusion
The ultimate indictment of Arvin’s entire approach is how easily it is proven to be ineffective by solid science. As a state officer of the LPF I feel a duty to learn about how to reach voters. I think the root issue is that Arvin is derelict in his duties and incompetent. I do not have a degree in psychology, you don’t need one to understand this stuff, and he has been a couple google clicks away from proof his approach will never work – the entire time.
Psychologists have been circling around a possible reason political beliefs are so stubborn: Partisan identities get tied up in our personal identities. Which would mean that an attack on our strongly held beliefs is an attack on the self. And the brain is built to protect the self.
When we’re attacked, we evade or defend — as if we have an immune system for uncomfortable thoughts, one you can see working in real time.
“The brain’s primary responsibility is to take care of the body, to protect the body,” Jonas Kaplan, a psychologist at the University of Southern California, tells me. “The psychological self is the brain’s extension of that. When our self feels attacked, our [brain is] going to bring to bear the same defenses that it has for protecting the body.”
If the LP is going to ever grow we need to help people retain their identity. That’s why I have that Reagan quote about how Libertarianism is the heart and soul of Conservatism on my campaign site header. Those RINOs abandoned you, come over where I am defending your gun rights and the GOP is helping Democrats kill open carry.
Furthermore we have to understand that most of the electorate coalition building is essential, and most Americans do not fit into a box, not even the one they are in. Some have some opinions that are very Libertarian. But how people label themselves is one thing. Americans sometimes leave a different impression when polled about specific issues. Often, their views are reasonably heterodox and not well represented by a one-dimensional political spectrum. I saw a flyer for Gay Republicans having a meeting at a college, while the GOP was fighting gay marriage. I surmised gun rights and economic ruin may have been more important to them. We need votes not souls.
We can take the gun rights issue and the spending issue and win over large coalitions from the GOP. When the Democrats start losing power, we will get anti-war Democrats and those worried about civil liberties and other places the DNC fails. 45% of black Americans are Conservative but 93% vote Democrat. We aren’t a religion here, we don’t need to demand purity on everything. An LNC Region Rep attacked a Florida State House of Representatives candidate recently in a public email because he didn’t like something she said in a TV interview about immigration. Considering immigration is a federal issue and she was running for state office….who cares.
In Florida we used to have the same sort of mentality from leadership shown by Sarwark and Vohra. I was part of ousting them and putting the ship back on course. It is an unfortunate but necessary evil at a certain point to remove corrupt or ineffective leadership. I care more about numbers than theories.
-In 2017 the SJW infested LNC lost roughly 25% of its members.
-In 2017, the year after we ousted the SJW leftists at our convention, after ANTIFA threatened to “burn it down”, the LPF more than tripled our average annual growth, in the year after an election, and despite all the drama.
In June, at the LP Convention NOLA, you get a choice.
-You can spend 2 more years arguing about who is more statist while the LNC makes Satan memes and calls teachers rapists…before advocating knocking up 14 year olds to save welfare..
-You can elect new leadership that is chiefly concerned with political science, and spends its time working toward that end.
The Libertarian Heathen 