PARTY AND NATIONAL NEWS!

Why the death penalty is against all libertarian values and against non-libertarian values, too. Look into Robert Roberson's case today.

William McBride, Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate and sponsor of the Libertarian Party of Colorado (LPCO) Mises faction's counter-convention—one organized by the leadership who were ousted during last August's Allied-friendly Colorado convention—has issued a donation to LPCO in excess of the legal limit for donations to state political parties, according to reports. McBride, who is slated to speak at the October 18 convention coordinated by erstwhile Colorado Chair Hannah Goodman and Secretary Jim Wiley, donated $5,000 to LPCO on September 30, 2025, based on Tracer data. By law, individual donations to state parties cannot exceed $3,875. This latest convention is the fourth that LPCO will have orchestrated this year. Forced to cancel their first state gathering due to a site vendor's refusal to host the Party after Goodman's public use of homophobic slurs, Colorado Libertarians were notified in late June that their second planned convention would be declared "out of order" due to an eleventh hour notice-related technicality spotted by Mises Caucus Parliamentarian Johnathan Jacobs. (Goodman was later overheard expressing relief that Jacobs had figured out a loophole to delay the convention, given that LPAlliance and co-organizers looked to have successfully managed to recruit more attendees than Goodman and Wiley had done.)

This is the question that a lot of people seem to be asking a lot over the past several weeks. Unfortunately, the answer is very, very complex. There is not one single thing that we can point to, nor one single event that can be isolated as the trigger that set us on the path that brought us to where we are today. Fixing our problems, if they even can be fixed, is as complex—or more so—than the causes of those problems themselves. That is a task for those much smarter and younger than I. However, I think that I can help identify some of our ills so that maybe we can begin to fix society. No, I do not think that I am any better than anyone else when I write this. In fact, I have been guilty of a non-zero number of the offenses listed below. I am just a semi-educated observer who has been steeped in politics for far too long. Because of that, I think that I have been on the receiving end—or at least the observing end—of a bit more of these faults than the average person. My life experience has also allowed me to see some things first hand that maybe the average person does not know. I am not perfect. I am far from perfect. I also do not know everything. However, what I do know is important enough to pass along that I am taking the time to pen this essay.

In the first quarter of 2024, while being Secretary of ULMA, helping with Lars Mapstead’s campaign, and helping conduct town halls for presidential candidates for the benefit of Libertarians (and anyone else who wanted to participate), it was quite clear that I had PLENTY of time. /Sarcasm.off So what does one do? Enroll in an intensive ten-week leadership training program! This program, called the Deacon’s Academy, is offered by the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts for junior officers in lodge, and those brethren who might not hold an office, but are otherwise active, such as by serving on various committees or working as what are called Lodge Ambassadors, whose job is to represent a particular lodge in their community. This program is well-designed enough that I have seriously considered working on adapting it, with appropriate modifications, for the Libertarian Party.  And boy, am I glad I did it. It provided a needed break, and a lot of clarity during a time that didn’t afford much in the way of breaks, and with a lot of waters being muddied, very little in clarity. The exercises in this program were designed to make you stop and think. What is leadership? What is effective? How do you handle complicated situations? And, perhaps most importantly, how can one thing be viewed by others in completely different ways?

Watch the LNC meeting, with commentary!

Hello Libertarians. This is the eighth of a series of opinion articles I’ll be privileged to write for you once per month on an “inside baseball” topic for the Libertarian Party. I encourage everyone who has an opinion on whatever we’re talking about this month to write in to The Torch, and maybe have your opinion on it published too. Grossly oversimplified, here is the history of the Libertarian Party: The 1970s were very good for the LP. The 1980s were very bad for the LP. The 1990s were pretty good for the LP. The 2000s were pretty bad for the LP. The 2010s were very good for the LP. The 2020s have been very bad for the LP… so far.

Firstly, I want to preface this by saying that I hold Hans Hermann Hoppe in the highest esteem for his significant contributions to anarcho-capitalist theory. His insights into the nature of the state, and the importance of private property have provided valuable intellectual foundations for those advocating for individual liberty. However, in "Democracy: The God That Failed," Hoppe posits views on social conservatism and multiculturalism that I feel warrant critique. Hoppe's stance on social conservatism might, in some instances, suggest an inherent conflict between anarcho-capitalism and multiculturalism. However, I contend that a truly voluntary society is one where diverse cultures can flourish through voluntary association without the imposition of cultural norms. I value the freedom of association while also valuing the enrichment multiculturalism potentially brings to the lives of individuals. As a simple example, consider the culinary arts. In a multicultural society, individuals of diverse backgrounds bring forth a multitude of flavors, techniques, and culinary experiences. Embracing this diversity allows for individuals to explore the world from the dinner table, and embrace a multitude of new flavor profiles. Such diversity enhances our lives, expanding our horizons and promoting cultural understanding.

A couple of weeks back, the National Archives, in celebration of Constitution Day, had the entire original copy of the United States Constitution was on display, a first. All eight pages of it. On this day, history changed, and for the better. While watching The Big Money Show on Fox Business during lunch, co-host Brian Brenberg noted that what made the Constitution so special is that we were the first government designed to be by the people and for the people:A claim backed by our own founding documents, and much of this country’s history. Not a government designed for the benefit of a king, cabal, or some other ruling class. We were the first in the world. And that is absolutely something to celebrate during this semi-quincentennial. But… are we still?

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Special LNC Meeting on a potential censure of LPHI chair and Region 1 alternate Austin Martin

After a contentious National censure motion levied against his state chapter passed last week, Ben Weir has disclosed that he has (at some point) resigned his post as Chair of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire (LPNH). Though Weir never publicly announced the resignation, he has confirmed it through other sources while claiming that he "resigned weeks ago... for good and positive reasons", according to the Liberty Sentries. Weir remains a member of the Libertarian National Committee, on which he serves as a Region 6 Alternate. Weir's legacy as Chair, to which he has attributed several policy wins, was nevertheless marred by a damaging social media presence engineered by his Communications team, whose sophomoric, reactionary, and often racially collectivistic messaging Weir repeatedly either refused or failed to reconcile with libertarian principles and the Party platform. While Weir often preferred to defend his team's communication strategy by pointing to its high online engagement rates and protesting that he enjoyed friendly relationships with its members, he and others frequently demurred when asked to distinguish LPNH's visibility from its overall favorability.

PARTY AND NATIONAL NEWS!

What follows is a proposal slated for hearing at the Sunday, September 21, 2025 Bylaws Committee meeting. As its author, I anticipate it is too radical to pass in Committee, due to the Committee's putative anxiety over its failure to pass on the floor—though I also believe it is, indeed, finally radical enough for the floor. The Party's membership are hungrier for powerful change than its appointed policymakers admit; and too often is member tepidity cited as an excuse for Party elites' reluctance to take bold action, when in reality such action would distribute greater power among the members themselves. I am sharing this proposal today, in the first place, because it needs work, and it needs work from the members themselves. Not all agree with the solutions below—not even in LPAlliance—but a majority of those with whom I have spoken are friendly to the theory of a more distributed, member-driven National Committee, their main misgivings concerning the logistics of balloting and debate within a larger body. In conversations with others, we have already arrived at several innovations able to streamline both processes absent disenfranchisement or overly cumbersome implementation. —Toward a 55-Member Libertarian National Committee— Challenge: Our present At-Large and Regional Representative systems are vulnerable to factional co-optation, subject to exploitation via gerrymandering (in the case of the latter), and, perhaps most vitally, impose an unnecessary and fatally cumbersome barrier between the National Committee, state Parties, and the general membership that impedes communication, cooperation, and resource-sharing on matters of mutual import.

Below is a strategy brief, authored by Tim Krenz of the Cepia Club LLC and former Chair of the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin, outlining a radical new proposal—at once national and decentralized—for libertarian visibility and victory. We will be discussing and publishing further details of the Amendments Project in forthcoming issues of The Torch and on LPAlliance Livestreams. To learn more about Tim's plan for a Libertarian-led Constitutional revolution, watch him introduce the Amendments Project on our Solidarity Stream here. —Executive Summary— Proposed Mission of the Libertarian Party in the United States: To set the world free by, first, implementing the Libertarian Party platform and its principles into the public and non-public affairs of the United States. Amendments Project Objective: To unite the Libertarian Party, and all of its affiliates and allies, with a focused, multi-year effort aiming to significantly amend, change, and/or significantly revise the Federal document known as the Constitution of the United States, in order to achieve the proposed mission (see above). —Reasoning for the Amendments Project— Among the reasons giving plausible success to the project, we have the following:

If there is one issue that divides libertarians, and even some anarchists, it is the issue of abortion. It is, after all, a very serious topic for individuals, and people on both sides are incredibly passionate about their position. Pro-life individuals correctly declare that the unborn child is a human life, and is therefore entitled to their natural right to life. They view abortion as a violation of the unborn’s right to life, and is therefore a violation of the non-aggression principle (NAP). Pro-choice individuals, conversely, correctly declare that the pregnant individual’s body is their own property, and therefore has full authority and dominion over it. They view abortion as an individual exercising property right over their own body. Objectively, the question must be answered as to who is correct, and this must be done logically, without emotion, and based solely on natural law and ethics. We first must establish what constitutes a human life. Logic dictates that if human death is defined as the cessation of vital signs (e.g. heartbeat and brain function), then the commencement of life must be its opposite. An unborn child’s vitals start at around 6 weeks of gestational age, meaning at this point, logically speaking, life has begun. Those on the pro-life side will agree with this, and will therefore conclude that as it is a human life at 6 weeks gestational age, it is entitled to its natural right to life. This is not the entire story, however.

Last week, on my way out of the Quarterly Communication for the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, located in Boston’s historic downtown, I became aware of the horrific shooting of Turning Point USA founder and primary public face, Charlie Kirk. Ironically, a short time earlier, the Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts had spoken on the need for us as a fraternal order, and as private citizens generally, to sow less discord and disagreement in society, and to work actively to promote the ideas of good citizenship and basic humanity, regardless of differences in opinion. And many of us recall this past August’s equally barbaric attack against two Democratic members of the Minnesota Legislature, in which four people were shot: One Senator and her husband died; the other and his wife, at least the last I heard, survived. Most of us will also recall that last year, President Trump survived two attempts on his life.

This time, we play a game! Bring your favorite adult beverage and play along for a great evening!

PARTY AND NATIONAL NEWS!

Learn about how a movement in Poland led to the fall of the spread of state communism.

Join the panel to discuss Charlie Kirk, his life, his death, and the responses to the event.

PARTY AND NATIONAL NEWS!

Join us to hear how the LP can fix the Constitution without having to take Congress or the Presidency!

Listen and watch the coverage of the Sunday LNC meeting