1/05/97

Note: This letter was sent in response to an invitation from Mr. Dasbach to join the Libertarian Party, i.e; ‘‘Your recent contribution to the party - which will get you a year’s subscription to our monthly newspaper, LP news - was also enough to qualify you as a full member of the Libertarian Party. Fortunately, it’s easy to upgrade from subscriber to member. Just sign the ‘‘statement of principle’’ we ask from all our members, and mail it back to us in the enclosed envelope.’’ The ‘‘statement of principle’’ that all potential members are asked to sign says:

‘‘I do not advocate the initiation of force as a means of achieving political or social goals.’’

I would love to join the Libertarian Party because I agree with 98% of the Libertarian platform, as is obvious if you visit my web site. Unfortunately, your ‘‘statement of principle’’ is not part of the 98% that I agree with. In fact, I think the requirement to sign the ‘‘statement of principle’’ is very hypocritical on the party's part. Your attempted justification of it on the ‘‘Common Questions’’ sheet are just weasel words. No reasonable person could think that the following words from the Declaration of Independence portray a defensive position:

‘‘...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it’’

According to my dictionary, "abolish means 1." To do away with; annul. 2. To destroy completely. I hardly think destroying something completely can be construed as a defensive maneuver.

At the same time, I do understand the need for the party to establish itself as a credible political organization rather than some party of ‘‘kooks’’ who are out to overthrow the government. In fact, that attitude was held by my parents (and myself) until I was old enough to go out into the world and start paying taxes. I remember my parents and their relatives as thinking of my Aunt Vernie, who was the only one of them who was a Libertarian, as a radical ‘‘kook’’. I’m glad that she is still alive to see me come around to her viewpoint!

If the ‘‘statement of principle’’ were to be worded as: ‘‘I do not advocate the initiation of force as a means of achieving political or social goals at the present time’’, I would be happy to sign the statement. Unfortunately, if Thomas Jefferson was right when he said ‘‘The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground’’ then alas, I am afraid that there may come a time when it may be necessary to overthrow the government just as our forefathers did in this country more than 200 years ago. After all, Thomas Jefferson also said:

‘‘And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms... The tree of liberty must be watered periodically with the blood of tyrants and patriots alike. It is its natural manure.’’

-- Thomas Jefferson (letter to William S. Smith, 1787, in Jefferson, On Democracy 20, S. Padover, ed., 1939)

Therefore, I urge the Libertarian Party to reconsider its requirement to sign a statement such as its ‘‘statement of principle’’, or at the very least to revise the statement according to the principles held by our founding fathers. After all, none of the other political parties require such a statement. At the present time, the membership of the Libertarian party is miniscule compared with either the Democrats or Republicans, and if it hopes to gain members as I hope it does, then it should not so readily reject out-of-hand people like myself who do not wish to make hypocrites of themselves. I am sure that even the present members of the Libertarian Party could easily envision a political situation, albeit unlikely, in which even they themselves would wish to initiate force in order to preserve their liberties (e.g., imagine a totalitarian regime being voted into power and enacting laws that require everyone to become literal servants to their appointed masters).

Incidentally, what exactly is this thing you call the ‘‘Libertarian Party’’? If memory serves correctly, a voter becomes a member of the Libertarian Party by simply checking off ‘‘Libertarian’’ as the party of choice on the voters registration form.

In any case, I wish you and the ‘‘Libertarian Party’’ well, and even though you reject me as a member because I refuse to sign your pledge, I still plan to support the Libertarian platform 98%.