Since I'm paying the bills for this site, I get to go first. My name is Less Antman. I've been a libertarian for nearly 30 years, and an activist
from 1979 to 1983. In 1982, I was publishing CALIBER, the newsletter of the California Libertarian Party, ran for State Senate in a special election, and
then had so much fun I ran for California State Treasurer in the same year, receiving 167,207 votes, the highest vote total of any Libertarian candidate in
the United States that year, and enough to qualify the California LP for permanent ballot status. I also wrote campaign literature and speeches for several
different candidates in 1982. In 1983, I got some sleep. I did manage to write a couple of campaign speeches for the David Bergland for President campaign,
and was fortunate enough to receive the Karl Bray Award for Activism for my crazy schedule of the previous year, but burnout had done its job after 4 years,
and I took a long break from activism after that, only returning this year for 3 reasons:
(1) To help restore a comprehensive platform to the Party of Principle, after 80% of it was deleted in 2006 by a bare majority vote of the smallest LP convention since 1973.
(2) To make sure we had a candidate who was willing and able to persuasively address that comprehensive platform with the public.
(3) To reach out to the Ron Paul youth, most of whom find the Republican Party extremely unappealing, that were inspired last year by Dr. Paul's courageous defense of non-intervention, civil liberties, and free markets, but are now politically homeless and eager to build a long-term movement in defense of liberty.
With respect to item (1), LP Founder David Nolan has taken on the task of Restore '04, a move to reverse the actions of 2006 and return to the concept of offering the public a complete vision of liberty in our platform. He has my full support and gratitude for this endeavor, and I would urge you all to go to http://www.restore04.com and sign the petition that he has started. I am proud to be on the first page of signers.
With respect to item (2), I was aware that a comprehensive platform COULD be a problem, when candidates were unwilling or unable to answer the tough questions it inspired. As much as I admire the hard work of the many LP presidential candidates in the race, my dream was to see the one person who has spent the last 3 decades, and especially last 15 years, becoming the leading expert on answering tough libertarian questions, be our standard bearer in 2008. I told her so, and it turns out that plenty of other libertarians also told her so. On March 21, Dr. Mary Ruwart declared her intention to seek the LP Presidential nomination, and it felt like the first day of spring to me. Okay, it actually WAS the first day of spring, but you know what I mean. If you don't, take a look at her "Ask Dr. Ruwart" column at www.askdrruwart.com and just browse through her answers to the toughest questions about libertarianism.
And then there is item (3). Dr. Ruwart is not only a principled and persuasive libertarian, but as it turns out she also has the respect of Ron Paul combined with an approach that is unusually well suited for the youthful part of the Revolution that we have the greatest opportunity to attract. Dr. Paul nominated Dr. Ruwart in 2002 to be FDA Commissioner, and also provided a rave review of her libertarian primer, Healing Our World, which appears on the back cover of that book (an older version of Healing Our World is available at http://www.ruwart.com/Healing/ but I would urge you to buy the 2003 edition, which is an impressive book filled with useful examples to show how realistic our proposals are). He may never say so publicly, but I'd say the odds are excellent that Ron Paul will be casting his vote for Mary Ruwart in November (did you really think he'd vote for John McCain?). Moreover, while Dr. Ruwart is a down-the-line pure libertarian, her writing and speaking style has often been described as one that strongly appeals to people on the left side of the traditional political spectrum. Libertarianism has consistently suffered from an image of just being a more extreme form of Republicanism, and the LP has done a miserable job in the past of building a broad movement that attracts people from both the conservative and liberal wings of society. Ron Paul noted that she has helped to "bridge the gap between conservatives and liberals, Christians and New Agers." It is also worth noting that most of the non-Republican Ron Paul supporters were supporting him in spite of disagreements on the issue of abortion and immigration, and on those issues, Dr. Ruwart also differs from Dr. Paul (yet obviously approaches those issues in a way that has retained his respect and support).
My dream is that, in May, in Denver, we will renew our commitment to our vision of Freedom in our Time with a platform that describes it and the candidate most willing and able to promote it to the people who are right now most ready and eager to hear it.
I also want to say a few words to my friends who don't want to be a part of the LP in this endeavor. Just as I can, as a market anarchist, respect and support "limited government" libertarians with whom I have disagreements, I respect and support those who share the goal but differ on the means. Fair enough. Stay away from politics if you must, but take a look at the links I provided to Ask Dr Ruwart and Healing Our World, and do what you can to put those messages in front of the people you want to persuade. Let me also add that LP candidates who are having trouble defending pure liberty will find a treasure trove in the above, as well as her forthcoming campaign book, which will be based on the Ask Dr. Ruwart column and update her Short Answers to the Tough Questions book from 1998.
Ruwarchy! is designed to be a place for us to meet and plan, and I have created forums to accommodate those who share Dr. Ruwart's goals but, at least for the time being, want to advance them in another way. After her campaign, I plan to continue the site, hopefully filled with thousands of Ruwarchists from her campaign, but in any event as a place for us to touch bases. Feel free to use my site as a way of finding some people for projects of your own that advance liberty in your own way.
Will Ruwart be running this country in 2008? Wrong question. What we want is for her, make that our, IDEAS to someday soon be running the entire world. It will only happen if we get a lot better at spreading those ideas, and there is no better model for a libertarian to follow on how to do that than by learning from Dr. Mary Ruwart.
P.S. Her Ask Dr Ruwart column is a part of an excellent monthly email newsletter put out by the Advocates For Self Government (www.theadvocates.org), which is a totally non-political organization that has nothing whatsoever to do with Dr. Ruwart's campaign for the nomination, nor with this site, which is just one guy trying to do his part for liberty.
Take over the forums. That's why they're here.
May the non-initiation of force be with you,
Less Antman
(1) To help restore a comprehensive platform to the Party of Principle, after 80% of it was deleted in 2006 by a bare majority vote of the smallest LP convention since 1973.
(2) To make sure we had a candidate who was willing and able to persuasively address that comprehensive platform with the public.
(3) To reach out to the Ron Paul youth, most of whom find the Republican Party extremely unappealing, that were inspired last year by Dr. Paul's courageous defense of non-intervention, civil liberties, and free markets, but are now politically homeless and eager to build a long-term movement in defense of liberty.
With respect to item (1), LP Founder David Nolan has taken on the task of Restore '04, a move to reverse the actions of 2006 and return to the concept of offering the public a complete vision of liberty in our platform. He has my full support and gratitude for this endeavor, and I would urge you all to go to http://www.restore04.com and sign the petition that he has started. I am proud to be on the first page of signers.
With respect to item (2), I was aware that a comprehensive platform COULD be a problem, when candidates were unwilling or unable to answer the tough questions it inspired. As much as I admire the hard work of the many LP presidential candidates in the race, my dream was to see the one person who has spent the last 3 decades, and especially last 15 years, becoming the leading expert on answering tough libertarian questions, be our standard bearer in 2008. I told her so, and it turns out that plenty of other libertarians also told her so. On March 21, Dr. Mary Ruwart declared her intention to seek the LP Presidential nomination, and it felt like the first day of spring to me. Okay, it actually WAS the first day of spring, but you know what I mean. If you don't, take a look at her "Ask Dr. Ruwart" column at www.askdrruwart.com and just browse through her answers to the toughest questions about libertarianism.
And then there is item (3). Dr. Ruwart is not only a principled and persuasive libertarian, but as it turns out she also has the respect of Ron Paul combined with an approach that is unusually well suited for the youthful part of the Revolution that we have the greatest opportunity to attract. Dr. Paul nominated Dr. Ruwart in 2002 to be FDA Commissioner, and also provided a rave review of her libertarian primer, Healing Our World, which appears on the back cover of that book (an older version of Healing Our World is available at http://www.ruwart.com/Healing/ but I would urge you to buy the 2003 edition, which is an impressive book filled with useful examples to show how realistic our proposals are). He may never say so publicly, but I'd say the odds are excellent that Ron Paul will be casting his vote for Mary Ruwart in November (did you really think he'd vote for John McCain?). Moreover, while Dr. Ruwart is a down-the-line pure libertarian, her writing and speaking style has often been described as one that strongly appeals to people on the left side of the traditional political spectrum. Libertarianism has consistently suffered from an image of just being a more extreme form of Republicanism, and the LP has done a miserable job in the past of building a broad movement that attracts people from both the conservative and liberal wings of society. Ron Paul noted that she has helped to "bridge the gap between conservatives and liberals, Christians and New Agers." It is also worth noting that most of the non-Republican Ron Paul supporters were supporting him in spite of disagreements on the issue of abortion and immigration, and on those issues, Dr. Ruwart also differs from Dr. Paul (yet obviously approaches those issues in a way that has retained his respect and support).
My dream is that, in May, in Denver, we will renew our commitment to our vision of Freedom in our Time with a platform that describes it and the candidate most willing and able to promote it to the people who are right now most ready and eager to hear it.
I also want to say a few words to my friends who don't want to be a part of the LP in this endeavor. Just as I can, as a market anarchist, respect and support "limited government" libertarians with whom I have disagreements, I respect and support those who share the goal but differ on the means. Fair enough. Stay away from politics if you must, but take a look at the links I provided to Ask Dr Ruwart and Healing Our World, and do what you can to put those messages in front of the people you want to persuade. Let me also add that LP candidates who are having trouble defending pure liberty will find a treasure trove in the above, as well as her forthcoming campaign book, which will be based on the Ask Dr. Ruwart column and update her Short Answers to the Tough Questions book from 1998.
Ruwarchy! is designed to be a place for us to meet and plan, and I have created forums to accommodate those who share Dr. Ruwart's goals but, at least for the time being, want to advance them in another way. After her campaign, I plan to continue the site, hopefully filled with thousands of Ruwarchists from her campaign, but in any event as a place for us to touch bases. Feel free to use my site as a way of finding some people for projects of your own that advance liberty in your own way.
Will Ruwart be running this country in 2008? Wrong question. What we want is for her, make that our, IDEAS to someday soon be running the entire world. It will only happen if we get a lot better at spreading those ideas, and there is no better model for a libertarian to follow on how to do that than by learning from Dr. Mary Ruwart.
P.S. Her Ask Dr Ruwart column is a part of an excellent monthly email newsletter put out by the Advocates For Self Government (www.theadvocates.org), which is a totally non-political organization that has nothing whatsoever to do with Dr. Ruwart's campaign for the nomination, nor with this site, which is just one guy trying to do his part for liberty.
Take over the forums. That's why they're here.
May the non-initiation of force be with you,
Less Antman
