Nice bad publicity. Good job, LPKS!
I have a "Libertarian" section on my Google News homepage. "Kansas Libertarians stopped from holding event at nudist camp" is the last thing I want to see there.
Now, from the article, it appears that the Libertarian Party of Kansas was in the right - nanny-statist county officials had a court order on the property forbidding assemblies from being held there, essentially - there are battles worth fighting, and this wasn't one of them. 2006 is a great opportunity to elect Libertarians, and holding an event at a nudist colony can only push the door shut.
Update: At Hammer of Truth, Rob Hodgkinson, the LPKS chair, said the following:
Now, from the article, it appears that the Libertarian Party of Kansas was in the right - nanny-statist county officials had a court order on the property forbidding assemblies from being held there, essentially - there are battles worth fighting, and this wasn't one of them. 2006 is a great opportunity to elect Libertarians, and holding an event at a nudist colony can only push the door shut.
Update: At Hammer of Truth, Rob Hodgkinson, the LPKS chair, said the following:
Nigel, I understand your point - I gave it a lot of thought about even holding the event due to the Edun connection.If this is part of a larger campaign, then it makes perfect sense. An isolated standoff at a nudist colony, however, is more absurd than it is useful.
The reality is this area gives search warrants to dog catchers - I am not kidding.
We are going to continue this battle - the events Friday were simply the start of the positive press we will continue to get fighting a corrupt government. We taped the entire thing and every TV station in town was there.
I have been contacted by bible thumpers (Topeka is in the middle of the bible belt) who don’t agree with the naturist activity - but are scared to death about where type of action this could continue to lead. The response so far has been very good! They understand this is a property rights issue.
6 Comments:
So, the LP needs to only pick tasteful battles? Not those that some morally upright prig might find objectionable? The LPKS picked exactly the right battle. If private property rights mean less than getting elected then someone needs a refresher course in LP101.
Would it have been a different matter to you if the location had been a restaurant battling an anti-smoking ordinance or a tire store fighting an eminent domain takeover? Property rights are property rights. Period. Electoral expediency is just another form of political cowardice.
I'm not even saying the LPKS shouldn't have condemned the county's actions. But having Kansas know that the LPKS wanted to have a fundraiser at a nudist colony sends the wrong message. The right way to fight this battle would have been to get people elected in that county who promised to respect private property rights.
I am a member of the LPKS and was helping at that event. First off you should know that in this day and age any publicity is good publicity. Half of Kansas may have not even realized that the LPKS even existed. I bet they do now. Kansas is a heavy rural state, with lots of farmers who understand and hold dear property rights. To most of them it not so much the nudity thing, its the property thing.
Plus change does not happen by being middle of the road or polite. Change happens when people stand up. We stood up for our and others rights and showed that we have a pair.
Any battle for upholding United States citizens' property rights should be worth fighting, especially for principled libertarians, but also for the general citizenry.
As the first amendment to the constitution states that "Congress shall make no law respecting... the right of the people peaceably to assemble," I'm quite sure that the intent was not to use baseless court orders to facilitate the robbery of this right from the people.
Whether some people will choose to infer that the LPKS equals support for nudism (or prostitution or gambling or drug use) by reason of press spin is immaterial.
The expense of conceding tyranny by inaction far exceeds the perceived cost of others misinterpreting what is done by right.
Better to fight for your rights and lose an election than to be elected as a compromising political slave.
Fighting every battle is what groups like Bureaucrash are for. Fighting to win elections is what the LP is for.
It all comes down to tactical vs. strategic thinking. Sure, it may get some press attention to confront these fringe issues, but it does little long-term good. Strategic thinking has been the Libertarians bane for a long time. Strategic thinking would have led towards electing people who could enact legislation. Instead, somebody suggests, “hey, lets go protest at a nudist colony” without thinking through the long term impact. The public thinks libertarians are nudists and pot smokers. Come election time, they reject our candidates without even giving our positions serious consideration. Because – what could a nudist pot smoking third party candidate know about Bible Belt values? I do not blame them. We give them little reason to support us.
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