I strongly object to this action, which was taken without any consultation with the Libertarian Party membership, at least as far as I know; I am a member of the NYLP, and I was not consulted. This incident is a very bad sign for the NY Libertarian Party. I will explain exactly why in this email. I will also explain why I might have to withdraw my own candidacy for State Senate, if in fact the NYLP goes through with this outrageous decision and prevents Sam from getting on the ballot.
First of all, I believe Sam Sloan is an outstanding L/libertarian candidate for Congress, for the following reasons:
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--Taking advantage of his excellent fluency in Spanish, Sam plans to go on Spanish radio stations in a direct appeal to Hispanic voters, who constitute a majority in this district.
--Sam's pro-freedom platform will have a great appeal with this conservative immigrant population.
--Sam will be able to mobilize the other large segment of this district, the Taxi Driver's union membership. This district has many residents who work in the taxi industry and drive cabs. Sam has a proven record of standing up to the government when it comes to supporting the rights of taxi drivers, including winning published cases in New York Supreme Court against the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission. Sam will be able to publish campaign notices in all the taxi driver's newsletters, he will get considerable financial support from these groups for his campaign, and he has a ready-made constituency among all the taxi drivers who will vote for him. --Sam has a vast audience with the thousands of hits he receives daily on his websites. It will be very easy to translate this into publicity.
2) Sam Sloan is a true libertarian.
--Sam believes in libertarian principles, but he doesn't just talk the talk-he walks the walk. I have personally witnessed Sam in NY Supreme Court argue his taxi license case with the lawyers from the NYC TLC on several occasions. He has given the city an enormous amount of trouble and embarrassment with his litigation, and has won support from many taxi drivers and civil libertarians with his principled stand against the unjust city bureaucracy.
--Sam has spent time in jail overseas and in this country because of his unpopular positions and his insistence on standing up for his principles. He has actually paid for his libertarianism with his freedom, something not many other libertarians can say.
--You may not agree with his lifestyle or mannerisms, however Sam truly lives his life following the libertarian credo. In my view, he is true libertarian hero, a man who is representative of Freedom.
3) Sam actually gets things done.
--Sam doesn't just talk about doing things. He actually does them. He is not afraid of taking action, whether it is suing New York City, working an 18-hour shift driving his limo, or forming the Sexual Freedom League as he did in the 1960's. If Sam says he is running for office, unlike many others in the LP, you can be pretty sure he will run a good campaign. When Sam Sloan says he will do something, he actually does it.
For the reasons I have just given, I think Sam would be an excellent candidate for the LP.
In addition, Sam has had an extraordinary life, and he also deserves our support. He is trying to raise a new baby and support his wife and family. One of his daughters, Shamema, is in the U.S. Marine Corps loading munitions onto fighter jets at the Arizona Marine air training bases. One of his sons is an accomplished chess expert. Sam himself is almost a certifiable genius, an expert mathematician, chess player, prolific writer, Japanese chess (Go) master, entrepreneur and world traveler. Sam is also the only person in the 20th Century to have argued and won his case successfully pro se (representing himself) before the United States Supreme Court, in an historic landmark decision, defeating the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.
It would be a monumental mistake for the NYLP to now undermine Sam's candidacy.
I am very familiar with this type of situation. It is all too common for an organization or group to proclaim their allegiance to freedom and justice, and then violate those very same principles when they are faced with someone in their group who is unpopular or different. The Libertarian Party claims it is "The Party of Principle". However, they are interfering with Sam's attempt to get on the ballot and have filed an objection to his application. The NYLP is clearly violating its own principles and philosophy, and even its very own interests. First of all, it has taken this action unilaterally, without consulting its membership, as I have stated. Secondly, it doesn't even make sense; if Sam runs for Congress, he is likely to attract new people to our Party, and likely to win more votes for our other candidates. Although Sam has complained accurately that Scott Jeffrey has a weak record on libertarian philosophy, Sam nevertheless supports Scott's candidacy, and will end up helping Scott get more votes, not hurting him. Sam's only non-libertarian position is his opposition to private gun ownership; however, I don't think anyone has ever attempted to explain to Sam why he is wrong about this issue, nor presented all the evidence to prove it. Since Sam is a logical and rational-thinking person, I believe if and when he is presented with the evidence that gun ownership is a good thing, he will change his position on this issue. The only instance where anyone has accused Sam of ever `initiating force' against someone else, had to do with an accusation of "fraud" (if you could call it that) involving a comment Sam made in one of his articles on his website, detailing a private relationship. Sam may have been in the wrong on this issue, although I found the accusation a bit dubious. However, how many of us can honestly claim we have a perfect record when it comes to our personal conduct over the course of our entire life history? I seriously doubt that anyone in the NYLP can claim any form of superiority on this point. Certainly no one that I know of in our organization has as good a track record as Sam in standing up for Freedom and Liberty.
I have heard several comments from people outside of the LP indicating they don't trust our leadership. It would be very depressing if I were to learn of any hypocrisy inside our own party. I left the Democratic Party because I realized I had gone through the 1990's in a sort of dream world. I did not critically analyze the flaws in the Democratic Party's philosophy, and failed to realize the extreme cynicism and deception which lay beneath their agenda. But after the 2000 election, and especially after 9/11, I did a lot of soul-searching. At first, I decided to support the Republicans, but I quickly realized they were almost as intent as the Democrats on depriving us of our rights, and they themselves had a poor record on economic freedom and capitalism. When I looked up the Libertarian Party, it immediately clicked. The LP supported individual freedom, self-ownership, free trade, limited government, and Constitutional rights, without any sort of qualification (--or so they claimed). It's the same things I've always believed in, but was never able to specifically articulate.
Now the NYLP is behaving in a devious way, in trying to sabotage Sam Sloan's candidacy. I believe it is a type of "initiation of force", because the NYLP is taking advantage of the unjust NY State Election Laws to ambush Sam's candidacy; when we all know, as libertarians, that anyone should be able to get on the ballot if they wish, with minimal interference.
If Sam is able to prove to me that his candidacy was directly prevented by the objection filed by the NYLP and Albert Dedicke, and he is unable to secure a place on the ballot as an Independent, then I will have to withdraw my candidacy for NY State Senate. I will also try to nullify or detach the signatures I have collected and personally endorsed, and will also have to consider withdrawing from Libertarian Party membership altogether.
You see, if I make a compromise on this issue this time, then next time something like this happens it will be much easier to make a similar compromise. Pretty soon, I would be making compromises, and compromising my principles left and right. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how we have lost our country. It is much easier to put my foot down right now, and insist on doing the right thing immediately, rather than slowly allowing myself to be corrupted. If the Libertarian Party is truly "The Party of Principle", they will quickly reconsider this outlandish decision.
I expect this "objection" against Sam Sloan to be withdrawn by Tuesday morning. If not, and if Sam cannot get on the ballot as a result, I will begin steps to withdraw from this election myself. I have no wish to be a member of yet another sanctimonious organization which does not even live up to it own stated principles.
Nic Leobold
LP Candidate,
NY State Senate 29
Bravo Nick for your excellent and well articulated e-mail. I too support Sam Sloan. And if Albert Dedicke filed an objection to Sam's candidacy on behalf of the NYLP with out an approval or a consciences from the NYLP membership... Well, that really stinks and I call for MR. Dedicke impeachment and immediate removal from his position as NYLP Chairman.
If Sam's attempt to get on the ballot is denied because of this objection, I too will have to withdraw my membership from the NYLP. I agree with Nic who has so clearly stated.
"I have no wish to be a member of yet another sanctimonious organization which does not even live up to it own stated principles."
As I am no longer on the LPNY state mail list, I would appreciate it if someone who is, would send this e-mail on to that list.
Thank You,
Kenny Kramer
NYC LP Candidate for Mayor 2001