My First Libertarian Meeting
July 17
Today I attended my first meeting of Libertarians with the local party here in North Florida.
After all of the research I have been doing and extensive discussion on various high-traffic message boards my conclusion has been that the Libertarian Party best stands for the principles of Classical Liberalism as idealized by Hayek, Friedman, and the rest. But as with so many others, not having actually met and discussed the Party with an actual active member, I labored under the assumption that most were likely extremists advocating that policy of "Anarchy and Isolationism" they they are so often associated with.
The actuality was a very pleasant surprise. Not only is the local party led by the state chairman (which is a bit of luck, not being in one of the more cosmopolitan parts of the state), he is a good leader, well educated, and, best of all, down to earth and very rational.
While there may have been one or two out of around 20 attending that were slightly out of the mainstream, all of the rest seemed like reasonable people with rational and concrete achievable goals.
Best of all, I was able to converse and learn much from a libertarian economics Phd. Based on that, I'm adding even more to my studious agenda: the economic and political history and principles of Switzerland and Hong Kong, the two best real world functioning examples of libertarian theory (why I overlooked them before is frustrating - there is far too much to learn in too short a life).
I enjoin my old and new friends to continue the discussion of the philosophical ideals and best implementation methods in my discussion group and I will update you periodically on my participation with the Libertarian Party in the real world.
I encourage everyone to locate their local party and attend a meeting, with an open mind, and give us their feedback.