I've just spent over a week on the ground in New Orleans for the 2018 Libertarian Party National Convention. In this time; I was involved in helping organize for the 'March of the Dead Veterans' and served as a Texas delegate on the floor of the convention. This is my report about my experience and efforts to bring as much energy and momentum to the Libertarian Party and greater cause of human freedom as I could over the last week and a half.
A grassroots group of veterans, including me, decided to organize a march to coincide with the Libertarian Party National Convention in New Orleans the first weekend in July of 2018. Several of us arriving on the ground in New Orleans a week before the convention, we quickly got to work on a project with several goals. We wanted to bring attention to the issue of veteran suicide, the 'war on drugs,' the bureaucratic nightmare that is the VA system, highlight the costs of war, and help start off the Libertarian Party National Convention with a boost of veteran support for the LP - believing all of these issues to be relevant to us as veterans, Americans under this present war-time government, and members of the only anti-war political party in America which also understands the necessity of ending the drug war and rolling back stifling bureaucracy.
The week leading up to the convention started out with having face-to-face meetings with our contacts on the ground in New Orleans who were to lend us a hand and help us with facilities and logistics for the veterans' march. We met with the owners of the parking lots where our gathering of veterans were to form up for our demonstration, media people who were to provide equipment for and help cover the event, and buying last minute supplies and printing literature for getting the word out about our event. By Tuesday afternoon, a few of us were already on foot in the French Quarter - delivering fliers into the hands of pedestrians touring this historical and jubilant area of New Orleans. That evening, a contingency of our group attended a local meeting of the American Legion. We were fortunate to be well-received, publicly recognized from the podium by the post commander, given opportunity to meet with the membership and hand out our literature, and even graciously afforded the privilege of a free dinner with the post membership - who were having a special meeting to install their newly-elected officers that night, many of them with their proud families in attendance to see them being honored and sworn in.
We also learned to take advantage of local demonstrations already planned and organized by other groups which happened during the week leading up to our own event. I was online after a long night of fliering, and found out there was to be a demonstration downtown by the travelling Westboro Baptist Church, and counter-demonstrators were planning to be in attendance as well. Not only did WBC plan on protesting science and homosexuality at Loyola University, but they were to be holding another demonstration the same day just down the road at Herzing University as well. Pro-science, LGBTQ, civil liberties groups, and other activists from the area were set to have counter-demonstrations which ultimately were well-attended such that they completely dwarfed the small group of religious hate-spewers who came all the way to New Orleans to make a public protest against science and gay people. A few from our veterans group went out to these demonstrations distributing our literature and engaging with the protesters. We were once again well-received by the people we met - at least from the side of counter-demonstrators. The WBC people were just really wrapped up in their own fanaticism and desire to regurgitate the hateful ignorance you might expect from them. I have to confess, I have wanted the opportunity to counter the Westboro Baptist Church nuts for years now, and it was an interesting experience all its' own to meet these eccentric brainwashed hate-mongers. The ironic part was that I actually found my heart went out to a couple of very young demonstrators I saw with the WBC group, and ended up engaging with them more to try to reach out to them and attempt to help them escape the indoctrination by which they were so obviously mentally imprisoned. I think I may have even influenced one of the young men when I challenged his perspective with the ideas of self-ownership. This poor young soul had been taught that he didn't deserve his own agency and that he didn't belong to himself, but that he must rather yield his mind and defer to the religious authorities that rule over him. Being the studious avowed atheist and anarchist I am, I confronted him with a hardy dose of enlightenment about how even a former licensed fundamentalist minister such as me could break out of the fog of indoctrination to embrace the perspective of sovereign agency, self-ownership, and free-thought. I guess it remains to be seen if I might have actually made a lasting impact on the young fella. Regardless, our mission to get out more fliers was fulfilled, and our veterans group of organizers made some good connections on the ground with motivated local activists.
On Friday morning, another one of the grassroots veteran organizers and I went to the underpasses in New Orleans with fliers once again in hand, and passed out the invitations to the march while talking to veterans and others we found living in the tent cities and other homeless people we found there. We also headed to several businesses in New Orleans which allowed us to post our fliers, and pounded pavement in the neighborhood where we stayed in an air-bnb for the week - even getting to put fliers out at the neighborhood swimming pool. It's also worthy to note that we had multiple people fliering in the French Quarter for several hours Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. Counting the fliering we did on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons as well, this was a total of 5 days in a row that the French Quarter and other areas of New Orleans were canvassed for the 'March of the Dead Veterans.'
Saturday afternoon turned out to be our greatest outreach success as far as pure amount of contacts made about our event. We had found out that there was to be a rally of demonstrators on Saturday afternoon at Congo Square in New Orleans to protest the immigration policies of the current Donald J. Trump POTUS Administration, and we once again decided to take the opportunity to use the event to get out the information to local demonstrators about our own event. We showed up at what we expected to be another small event, and were absolutely taken by surprise at the massive gathering of protesters who had already gathered early for the immigration demonstration - handing out a considerable stack of fliers for our event within minutes. I had to call for resupply and reinforcements, and we were able to put fliers in the hands of several hundreds of people in a matter of a couple hours. Although this was not a Libertarian-organized demonstration, being rather an event organized by typically considered more left-leaning groups like MoveOn.org, and the ACLU among others; it was refreshing to see many in the crowd who had signs and shirts openly calling for the abolition of the federal agency ICE - as well as chanting "Abolish ICE" during their own march through the streets of New Orleans.
In the afternoon, there was a separate libertarian event taking place at another location just around the corner from where the LNC was to kick off the next morning. Libertarian activist Michael Heise and others calling themselves the 'Mises Caucus' held what they termed the 'Take Human Action Bash.' Besides their gracious permission to completely canvass their event with our fliers, their event was also a smashing success. From booths promoting alternatives to government currency and candidate booths promoting sound monetary economy, to such passionate and knowledgeable speakers as Scott Horton and Ron Paul, and even musical performances; the 'Take Human Action Bash' was certainly its' own impactful event lending momentum to the LNC.
Finally came Sunday morning, July 1st; the day of the 'March of the Dead Veterans' and the beginning of the 2018 Libertarian Party National Convention. Veterans and supporters began gathering at the VA hospital around 7am and prepared to step off to march to the LNC about a mile or so away. Unfortunately; the VA itself decided to be hostile to our event and closed off their facilities with orange cones and a heavy police presence - forbidding veterans or anyone else from parking on or otherwise utilizing the VA grounds in any way. Our group had organized to have a casket delivered by the gracious Professional Funeral Services of New Orleans to carry as part of our demonstration, and it was promptly turned away and delivery personnel made to leave by federal officers when they tried to deliver the casket at the VA facility itself. The permitting office even tried to up-charge us with unnecessary services and fees, and the rain the night before may have hurt our turnout somewhat; but being the resourceful veterans we are, we marched on anyway and held a flag-folding ceremony to honor the dead and deep costs of the perpetual war state.
https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/us-veterans-gather-for-march-of-the-dead/289-569675825
From there, we then marched into the Libertarian National Convention and surrounded the stage just as LP Chair Nicholas Sarwark was gavelling in the 2018 convention. Most of us still in the skull masks we were wearing to represent those who have needlessly died in the American government's wars abroad and immoral destructive drug war at home, Adam Kokesh then delivered our signed and folded flag to Chairman Sarwark to kick off the 2018 Libertarian Party National Convention with an exclamation point of veteran community support.
I was later able to get an opportunity and expressed personally my gratitude to Chairman Sarwark for his kind words upon receiving the meaningful flag symbolizing our wishes to support the LP in its' stated mission of peace and freedom of choice in healthcare.
Being my first Libertarian Party National Convention, I felt it mostly my place to just be quiet and observe and try the best I could to follow along and do my best to be a responsible and thoughtful delegate. While I actually found very little with which to be discouraged or disappointed, I found I rather enjoyed the business of talking liberty and how our party could advance the agenda of liberty for humanity in our lifetime.
Some of the highlights of the convention, for me, was the opportunity to meet many libertarian activists I have only previously heard on podcasts, seen on videos, or read about before. Libertarian Party rock-star, former Marine, former Vice Presidential candidate, and current Libertarian Party New York candidate for Governor - Larry Sharpe - even participated in our veterans march. From the Radical and Audacious Caucuses to the Outright Libertarians and newly-formed Secular Caucus, and even the attempt of right-leaning factions and newly-organized socialist factions trying to enter and find common ground together in the LP; the versatility of the LP was on full display at convention, and was an inspiring sight to see. While the tired old Republican & Democratic Parties try to 'out-authoritarian' each other with bigger and more powerful intrusive government that only suppresses Americans' rights and freedoms and divide us into right and left; what I saw at the Libertarian Party National Convention was libertarians with a wide array of various opinions genuinely and sincerely trying to find common ground against the leviathan state. Transgender individuals and cross-dressers sat in harmony with people open-carrying firearms and even one wearing an old Civil War Union uniform and donning a confederate flag. The LP platform was amended to express support for sex workers and their acceptance as legitimate professionals who have the right to do as they wish with their own bodies and other consenting adults with the same rights and privileges as anyone else in society. An important resolution was introduced by veteran Zach Foster and passed on the floor, which expressed the American LP's solidarity with the LP of Venezuela - which is currently suffering under the hands of a brutal government regime in South America. And a personal favorite highlight of mine was the passing of a resolution by the convention delegation calling for the immediate removal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions - for all his authoritarian and tyrannical positions and policies which promote despotic state power and infringements on human rights and civil liberties. I was so excited when the resolution was introduced, I had to walk over and take my picture with the delegate as he introduced it on the convention floor...
Although I was supporting a new candidate for Chair of the LP, I have to admit that I was not upset to see Nicholas Sarwark retained as the incumbent; as Chair Sarwark exhibited exemplary leadership and competence in conducting the business of our national convention. The race I considered most important, one which I believe most needed a change in leadership, was the Vice Chair race; and the bright young and full of positive potential candidate Alex Merced won that race in a battle that went three rounds of ballots to decide.
I also got to meet some of my favorite libertarians such as author and former LP POTUS candidate Dr. Mary J. Ruwart and former LP VP candidate Judge Jim Gray. I even had the opportunity to meet former LP VP candidate and suspected POTUS candidate for 2020, former Republican Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld.
Not to be totally silent in my first excursion as a delegate to the Libertarian Party's National Convention, I did actually end up proposing my own resolution on the floor among my fellow delegates on the last day of convention, just before the closing of business. I had considered proposing my resolution before, but had ultimately decided against it, in favor of just listening and learning this time at convention; but I was emboldened at the last minute to go through with it anyway, when another delegate stood up and got a similar resolution passed that called for the abolition of the federal agencies of ICE and the FBI. Ecstatic to see that the convention overwhelmingly favored this resolution, I decided to try to present mine as well. It read as follows:
"Whereas the Libertarian Party takes a firm stand for the sanctity of life, the inalienable right to individual liberty, and an outlook to peace and non-intervention in foreign military conflicts;
Whereas the United States Central Intelligence Agency has engaged in immoral, unconstitutional, and destructive operations overseas;
Whereas the current U.S. President ran for his current office promising to commit war crimes and has now appointed a torturous war criminal as head of the CIA;
Be it resolved that the Libertarian Party stands for the abolition of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, and demands the immediate dissolution of the CIA."
As my proposal was hurried at the end of convention business and under severe time constraints, it unfortunately didn't make it into debate on the floor for consideration of passing; but I did get to read it into the business minutes from the floor microphone and got a warm reception from my fellow delegates upon the reading of its' content. I believe it would have passed if it had not been for my bad timing in proposing it, and I fully expect it to pass when I re-introduce a new version of it on the floor of the Libertarian Party National Convention in Austin, Texas in 2020. Regardless of this year's outcome, it was still a privilege and honor to get to propose my resolution to my fellow Libertarians in convention.
Although there will always be feuding factions within any political movement of any size, I am coming away from the 2018 LNC with hope and optimism about the future of the Libertarian Party, the broader liberty movement, and the prospects of our ability to effect real change for the cause of human freedom in our lifetime. News 2 Share, Lions of Liberty, Reason, and others are the media outlets which cover the Libertarian Party now; and do a great job as best they can, thankfully - but the growth and momentum of the liberty movement and Libertarian Party will surely catch the eyes of the larger media in the near future, and I look for 2020 to be a landmark breakout year at the next Libertarian Party National Convention in Austin, TX.
I hope to see you there.
– Adam G. “Brick” House is an Afghanistan war veteran and former licensed minister (UPCI), who has become an outspoken skeptic, peace advocate, and involved himself in many other issues which he believes affect the individual freedoms of the people whose inalienable rights he took an oath to defend. He currently resides in Texas, where he is recovering from PTSD, enjoys the therapeutic hobbies of training Muay Thai, playing drums, gardening, writing, and other forms of artistic expression \m/