To begin with, I expected the weekend to go something like this:
Both because of (quite natural, considering the crappy position that everyone's enemy, the state, has forced us into) internal tensions in the Party and because that's just the sort of thing you expect when people of different stripes within a broader ideological movement get together and discuss their differences. For those who don't get the joke, Bernard is a neo-geo-Libertarian (longhand for 'socialist' in my book) and I am a Rothbardian paleolibertarian anarcho-capitalist type (possibly shorthand for 'whacko' in Bernard's book). Well, that's part of the joke - the other part is that I have serious Hair Envy and sometimes it just bubbles to the surface around Bernard, who has spectacular hair.
But instead of the Total Warfare Scenario, everyone seemed to be determined to be nice, and things went a lot more like this:
I will leave it to the Reader to decide which outcome was better. The former may have been more exciting, but sometimes exciting isn't always fun, ifyouknowwhatImean.
On Friday I left my exciting and rewarding job early (oh, the sacrifices we comrades make for the Good of The Party!) to rush home and pack. Well, actually, that should be: to 'pack'. My packing strategy was simple: go through the shelves full of ... stuff ... that Bill and I refer to as the 'propaganda shelves' and pull out anything that might concievably be of any use for the convention, jumble it all into boxes so that it would be nearly impossible to sort out when arriving in Burlington, and drag the Big Black Box (BBB) containing the LPNC traveling dog-and-pony show (i.e. the State Fair Booth) out of Bill's shop. After looking in vain for my wallet and forgetting an auction item, Phil Jacobson and I heaved/pushed/hauled the BBB into Phil's van, fed the dogs a carrot, waved bye-bye to the chickens, and hit the road (in the glass-is-half-full department: we already have one item for our next LPNC Auction!:)
Arriving in Burlington, I suspected there was setup work I could be helping the other 2/3s of the convention committee (Barbara Howe and Bev Wilcox) with. So naturally to avoid this I headed straight for my room and a hot shower (still working on the solar-hot-water-thing, but that's another story...). Passing Barbara on the way, she pointed me to the room I was sharing with Bev and said "You'll know which bed is yours," which I thought was odd. When I walked into the room I saw on the pillows of 'my' bed four boxes of Peeps from Bev and a package of the can covers I had admired at Barbara's house ( great for those of us who like to nurse half a Diet Pepsi all evening and finish it off for breakfast). How sweet! Not only had these two done about 90% of the convention committee work between them, but they'd found time for a simple friendly gesture. Well, that set the tone for the weekend and in a fit of warm human feeling I stowed away the peashooter I'd brought along 'just in case' things got heavy on the floor.
The Friday night reception was getting up steam already as I joined in. I decided that my best contribution for the evening would be to stand behind the drink table and 'suggest' that folks make a donation for the bounty provided. I was persuaded to let it go at a sign reading "Fill your glasses and empty you wallet!" which seemed to do the trick nicely. Here's Mike Gardner doing just that (and sorry I cut your head off and gave you demon eyes, Mike. What can I say? - as a photographer I am seriously flawed):
I am sure all kinds of politicking and ear-bending and smoky-back-rooming went on Friday night, but I wasn't privy to most of it, or more accurately I wasn't sober enough to grok any of it. I drank a horrific combination of drinks which left me feeling, as they say 'very mellow', and although I imgained I was only acting intoxicated and that my mind was as sharp as always (actually, sharper), the idea that I could beleive that in all seriousness shows that in fact I really was intoxicated. I knew it was hopeless when people saying "Wow, you're really not a bitch." Building a reputation up takes time, and to lose it all at once like that was a bit of a blow. Fortnately Libertarians seem to be Happy Drunks, and even better, a slight hangover seems to mellow then out considerably the next day, too. Now I see the true value of these pre-convention socials. Some more pics from the reception, featuring Paul Elledge, me and Chris Spruyt, Jess Bailey, Bev Wilcox, Tom Bailey, and last-but-not-least, Barbara Howe and Doug Adams:
Finally to bed, and up early Saturday morning (surprisingly un-hung-over) to try to be of some help to Bev with setting up. The registration table was more than capably in the hands of the UNCG Crew (ack! I forgot to take a picture; sorry) and Jess Bailey put together the "Pledge" board for people to sign. Here's Phil Jacobson doing just that:
Then down to business. The first order item of the day was for Bev's glasses to break in half. Since she is the Recording Secretary, this was naturally a problem. An emergency delegation was sent to obtain SuperGlue. When this failed to do the trick, Douglas Adams came through in true engineering fashion to save the day and give Bev a bold new fashion look:
Sorry the picture is so small (though you can click on it for a bigger one) but the glasses are taped and braced with a good old number 2 lead pencil at the top.
The funny thing is that for five minutes afterward, Phil was looking for his pencil. The funnier thing is that Bev was helping him! By Sunday we'd grown so accustomed to it that we wondered why kids were giggling at us in the Golden Corral.
I gave the membership present-and-voting numbers, managing to mis-divide by two in the process (so much for not being hung over). Phil gave his state-of-the-Party spiel along with an introduction to a rather controversial poll to ask people about their view of the LPNC's priorities. Obligatory dim and blurry view-from-the-floor shot:
This poll included panel discussions later in the day, comment periods, lots of hall-talking, etc. The results were collected and tabulated Sunday, but to spare you the agony of waiting (I know you're all dying for this info and have only waded through this 'account' this far to get it): Paid petitioning beat out lawsuit by a margin of about three to two. Numbers (everyone had ten votes to distribute among different prorities):
158 for petitioning, 102 for lawsuit 48 for outreach and 10 for candidates, dozen for 'other'. I'm not prepared to comment on this right now from my position as a member of the Executive Committee, but there's a lot of information to digest, both in the numbers and it the comments I heard during the convention. One very strange comment from the floor came from one of the Buncumbe Boys (I beleive Carl Milsted): (and I paraphrase freely here) that we should not oppose ballot restrictions because, sure, they're hard for us, but they're harder for Greens, etc., and it's good to keep other parties off the ballot when we CAN concievably still make it on. Unbelievable. I had to step out for a second there, so I missed the general outcry, but I hope there was one!
A couple of resolutions were offered, some for the LPNC to offer the Outside World, and some really having more to do with real politics, which is to say internal Party politics. I'm not recording the minutes here, so I feel no special compulsion to put down all the parliamentary wrangling. I do wish I had made some notes, though, because some of it was mighty entertaining. I will say this: Watch Linda Ellis! She is going to be a parliamentary force to be reckoned with in the LPNC's future. She has a keen mind and once she has an idea, she will pursue it until it has fully played out. No shrinking violet there!
I should include that we DID pass a resolution calling on the General assembly to end ballot restrictions. I think it's important to come out of every convention with things we can say together directed at the legislature. Yeah for Linda Ellis, who got this resolution passed! A lot of times everyone wants a resolution to pass, but a few people are really insistent that their changes be considered. Parliamentary magic - as much as people hate it sometimes - lets just that happen: everyone (mostly) gets their say, and the result is something most people can get behind. What's sad is when we don't get to the final stage, and that DIDN'T happen this time, and so again - thanks to Linda!
Of course we had the obligatory wrangling over the phrase "cult of the omnipotent state". Eric Smith became the unlikely torchbearer of the Rothbardian standard, trumpeting his challenging to the cult at every oppurtunity, and that particular flight of flowery language survived yet one more attack from people afraid that voters will be turned off by a political party which wants to end all taxes, legalize everything that's voluntary and consensual, and let furriners overrun the country because of one bit of passionate rhetoric in our platform.
Cathy Heath and John Hopkins gave a rousing why-we-hate-Municiperialism talk; so rousing that the convention attendees wanted to vent about forced annexation more than focus on how to stop it.
I noticed Barbara Howe then and at other times during the convention tactfully bringing people back to task-at-hand by quietly asking "But what can we do to help stop this?" I want to be like Barbara Howe when I grow up!
The lunch speaker was Mike Munger, who gave a great and stirring talk that somehow managed to seem scholarly at the same time. Wonderful speaker (and great hair!). Here is a copy of the text of the talk for those who missed it. The next day Mike announced his candidacy for governor!
The afternoon speaker was Roy Cordato, Libertarian and Locke-er, and the most notable thing about that was the offering by (surprise? Not!) one of the Buncumbe folks that (again I paraphrase) Libertarians need to demonstrate their concern for the environment by getting behind a CARBON TAX! Cordato, I am happy to report, was properly horrified and wondered if he had come to the right convention. Libertarians PROPOSING taxes?! All too common, these days, I'm afraid, and maybe it's never been different. How embarrassing! Next thing you know they'll be calling for a national sales tax ... oh, wait! they have! Cordato did recommend that the LP get on the cusp of a movement to fight/resist the threat of NC's Global Warming Commission. That bears some serious consideration. Here's Cordato looking properly horrified at a floor suggestion that the LP embrace a Carbon tax:
The dinner speaker was Jim Lark. Sorry, no pics. I got speached-out and listened from the hallway. Strange, but being in an audience is tiring after a while. The awards banquet was touching - I am afraid we came perilously close to a Group Hug. But the awards were as follows:
- Most valued college affiliate: UNC-G
- Most valued County affiliate: Wake
- Most valued activist: Susan Hogarth (oddly enough, my 'speech' consisted of "thanks. thanks. thanks." Which - given my usual ... loquaciousness ... was probably a shock to some, although no doubt a welcome shock ;)
The auction was - as always with Eric Smith at the helm - awesome and very entertaining. People were totally into the spirit of the thing: a plastic penguin cup that Thomas Hill donated, for instance, was the subject of a hot bidding war between Doug Adams and Bob Ritchie, with Bob taking it finally for $400! (Note to self: seat Bob and Doug together again at the next convention). There were some sentimental objects, too; Jess Bailey cast two penguins from melted silver coins Tom had given her and they brought in a total of $850. It was just awesome! (I have one of the penguins - woo-hoo! thank you, Jess, Tom, and Richard!).
Later Saturday people drank more, talked more, campaigned for spots on the EC. I got the DVD rolling and fell asleep watching The Prisoner, then woke up long enough to put myself to bed.
I'm rushing here because I am going to be late for work. Sunday I didn't take any pictures. We elected people. Here is how it shook out:
Changes to EC:
Chair: Phil (not really a change I guess) Notable: Allison Jaynes
nominated Eric Smith and Brian Irving urged delegates to write
in Lee Wrights who had told Brian he was not in the running. When
Phil took the vote tally, Brian immediately and publicly resigned
from the EC.
Membership: Richard Norman
Political: Eric Smith
Newsletter: Barbara Howe (Max Longley did not make it to the convention)
Outreach: Susan Hogarth (this was the result of a smoky-back-room-deal
- sans smoke or back room - between Richard and I, as we both agreed
the best 'fit' was him doing database stuff and me pestering people to
do things)
Press: Tom Howe
At-large: Joy Elliott (Raleigh), Robert Sinnott (G-boro), and Stephen
Burr (Charlotte)
Eric auctioned off a few more things, we raffled off the Libertarian Lotto basket, which Lee Wrights won and promptly auctioned off for ballot access :) and eventually we finally finished up. We ended up with piles of cash, which Barbara and Alex are still counting, a lot of enthusiasm, and some very tired folks.
Other convention pictures are here.
Bob Ritchie was no shirker, though: he also dropped quite a bit on the auction!
I wish I could just post the entire auction listing here because it was fascinating (and heartening) to watch how people chose to give money. And fun!
Maybe I will post the listing - without names, of course. Let me think about that.
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