Comments on: Agorist Education versus Partyarchist Education

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:54:13 +0000

Just to clarify on Admin’s post…it’s the ‘Healing Our World In an Age of Aggression’ book that he’s talking about. I mention this because Mary also has a book called ‘Healing our World: The Other Piece of the Puzzle.’

I did a search inside the 1st book on Amazon…It seems to check out that there is talk of zero-government. I found mentions of private police and private courts.

By: Administrator

Administrator — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:17:57 +0000

JT: Is it? I don’t have a copy of it right now. But I’ve read it before, and I don’t recall it explicitly saying that the entire State should be abolished. Even if it did, I doubt that most delegates to the Libertarian convention had ever read her book (except perhaps the child porn item after that became an issue). Two different books; the anarchism is in Healing Our World (her major book, now in its 3rd edition), the child porn issue is in Short Answers to the Tough Questions (really a pamphlet).

By: Less Antman

Less Antman — Sat, 31 May 2008 21:54:28 +0000

I wasn’t trying to suggest 45% were anarchists. I’ve regularly estimated the percentage as 10% to 15%. I do think it is meaningful that this wasn’t a dealbreaker (and there are other reasons she didn’t win, such as her poor performance in the debate the night before when she started and ended by saying the fact that she was a woman was a good reason to nominate her, which might have been true, but offended many).

Okay, I didn’t mean all. I did mean all the discussion about who to nominate. Ask others who were there: feel free to ask others who voted for Barr. Check out the google search and read some of the 6,000+ hits you get from “Ruwart anarchist” to see some of the coverage of that topic pre-nomination.

Actually, I’m pretty sure they WOULDN’T have given her 45% if she’d been a constitutionalist, as her plumbline libertarian was the foundation of her support. In fact, I probably wouldn’t have voted for her had she been a constitutionalist libertarian, and definitely wouldn’t have provided the money and time I did to her campaign.

But I don’t know for sure, and I think I understand your point.

By: JT

JT — Sat, 31 May 2008 21:38:37 +0000

Antman: “[Ruwart's anarchism] was the hottest topic in the campaign, and was central to all the discussions in Denver outside the convention hall. Believe me, folks, every single person who voted in Denver knew Mary Ruwart was an anarchist.”

I honestly don’t see how you could know what “all the discussions in Denver outside the convention hall” centered on. But I’ll grant your premise here that every delegate knew that Mary Ruwart was an anarchist. That only proves that Ruwart’s anarchism wasn’t a dealbreaker for 45% of the delegates. Those Libertarians may have voted for her as the strongest candidate to defeat Bob Barr. They might have done so even if she had been a constitutionalist Libertarian candidate like Michael Badnarik. It doesn’t prove that anything like 45% of the delegates were anarchists, nor that anarchists are anything near 45% of the LP.

By: Brainpolice

Brainpolice — Sat, 31 May 2008 18:27:53 +0000

*tsk tsk*
Your agorist demerit count is getting high.

By: Third Party Watch » Blog Archive » Roundup of Calls For LP Unity (and Divorce)

Sat, 31 May 2008 14:13:12 +0000

[...] Brad Spangler wants the LP to switch its branding from “libertarian” to Cato-style “market liberal”. Roderick Long explains that it’s good for radicals to leave the LP, but it’s also good to have radicals to remain in the LP and fight for it. This was prompted by a long but interesting discussion from which some Less Antman comments are required reading. He says perceptively that “radical minarchists” (like David Nolan?) are “just anarchists unable to admit that a government that doesn’t aggress, doesn’t tax,and allows secession isn’t a government as most market anarchists define it”. He also says: “I don’t hate the state any more than I hate unicorns. There are only people: government is a word people use to legitimize aggression, and if we remove the legitimacy from acts of aggression, our job is basically done. The rest is crime control.” [...]

By: Less Antman

Less Antman — Sat, 31 May 2008 08:14:36 +0000

Yes, it was hysterical: the national office didn’t issue a press release opposing the Iraq War for several years, and now they’re complaining about a 12 hour delay.

Fortunately, nobody bought that baloney, and her motion passed 9-2.

By: Jim Davidson

Jim Davidson — Sat, 31 May 2008 07:48:13 +0000

Yes, Less, I was there, and I saw Mary elected to the national committee for the LP. Her first act was to move to re-establish the publications review committee so that no more tawdry press releases calling for more government action on anything would be issued. Which, of course, was immediately criticised for slowing down the process.

“Why, we need to be able to issue press releases spot on the moment, Mary, none of your backseat driving, we’re the headquarters staff, damn you, and we work in the Watergate complex for a reason! We’re corrupt as sin! Nixon was a ruddy amateur.”

By: Jim Davidson

Jim Davidson — Sat, 31 May 2008 07:37:41 +0000

Just to add vigor to the controversy and fun to the whole process, the Boston Tea Party, founded in 2006 in response to the evisceration of the LP platform by Tom Knapp, is holding its own nominations convention on 14 June – Flag Day! see http://www.bostontea.us for details

By: Less Antman

Less Antman — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:30:36 +0000

Those who say she didn’t explicitly campaign using the word anarchist are correct, but Ruwart’s anarchism was repeatedly brought up during the campaign by her opponents: a prominent attack by Wayne Allen Root was entitled:

Anarchism, Age of Consent, and the Dallas Accord

http://crazyforliberty.com/2008/05/07/anarchism-age-of-consent-laws-and-the-dallas-accord-wayne-allyn-root.aspx

and there was an explosion within the LP, including a press release by the executive director to try to distance the LP from Ruwart’s views.

Subsequently, George Phillies, Steve Kubby, and Christine Smith all issued press releases to emphasize that they believed free market capitalism was best protected by a centrally-planned socialist monopoly.

Well, okay, they just said they were minarchists.

This was the hottest topic in the campaign, and was central to all the discussions in Denver outside the convention hall. Believe me, folks, every single person who voted in Denver knew Mary Ruwart was an anarchist. Just try a google search on “Ruwart anarchist” and enjoy.

And then 45% of the delegates voted to make her the LP Presidential Nominee. Subsequently, she was leading vote-getter to be put onto the Libertarian National Committee that sets policy.