Twisting the Knife: Liberty’s Heart Bleeds On

If you’ve read “LNC Plunges Knife in Liberty’s Heart” and my amicus curiae brief in Roos et al. v. LNC, you know exactly where the blade first entered. The Libertarian National Committee (LNC) filed an official judicial committee response to the appeal, declaring itself unbound by the Statement of Principles (SoP), the one document every one of us swore to uphold. On September 16, 2025, LNC Region 2 Representative Jonathan McGee filed a respondent brief in the Roos appeal stating on behalf of the entire national committee: 

“The LNC maintains that it is not bound by the Statement of Principles and further asserts that the Statement of Principles is a philosophical foundation and not a self-executing disciplinary code. Treating the Statement of Principles as a self-executing disciplinary code could have dangerous future implications.”

The response was not approved by motion, not debated in open session, not authorized by any vote. It simply appeared on the JC docket as the official voice of the Libertarian Party. A motion to withdraw the brief and strike the language was later introduced by our principled Region 1 team. It failed. I warned then that if this claim stood, the SoP would become a museum piece, the membership pledge a hollow ritual, and the Party itself a corpse wearing libertarian clothing. The LNC chose deliberately and explicitly to let this denial of our core values stand. The claim that the national committee is exempt from the SoP is now the Party’s status quo, carved into the appellate record and cemented with a failed rescission vote.

The Judicial Committee has since delivered the cherry on top. In a ruling that pretends the rest of the Bylaws do not exist, it isolated Article 3, Section 1 and declared the SoP non-binding on the LNC. 

Never mind that Article 2 organizes the Party to implement and give voice to the principles embodied in the Statement of Principles. Never mind that Article 3, Section 1 declares that the Statement of Principles is the philosophy upon which the Libertarian Party is founded, by which it shall be sustained, and through which liberty shall prevail. Never mind that Article 4, Section 1 defines every sustaining member of the Party by the certification that they oppose the initiation of force to achieve political or social goals. Never mind that Article 5, Section 2 grants affiliate status only to those organizations which adopt the Statement of Principles. Never mind that Article 7, Section 1 requires the Libertarian National Committee to manage the affairs of the Party consistent with the Bylaws and to implement the purposes stated in Article 2. Never mind that Article 7, Section 4 requires every member of the LNC to be a sustaining member of the Party, thereby individually bound by the membership pledge and the Statement of Principles.

To put it simply:

• Art. 2: Party (and thus LNC) exists to implement the SoP

• Art. 3: Party is founded on, sustained by, and prevails through the SoP

• Art. 4: Every member (including every LNC member) certifies opposition to initiatory force

• Art. 5: Every affiliate must adopt the SoP

• Art. 7: LNC must act consistent with the Bylaws and implement Article 2 purposes

• Art. 7: Every LNC member is personally bound as a sustaining member

• McGee, speaking officially on behalf of the LNC, says the SoP doesn’t bind the LNC

• The LNC has never withdrawn or disavowed that claim

The Judicial Committee looked at all of that and said, in effect, that none of this applies to the people at the top. This reeks of political cowardice, not judicial prudence. Their stance is not an isolated or obscure footnote; it is the culmination of everything we have watched with growing disgust from our new leadership.

• Secret email chains deciding policy in the dark. 

• Selective bylaws enforcement (only when it silences dissent). 

• Rules rewritten mid-stream to muzzle opposition. 

• Retaliation against dissenting voices

The national committee has declared itself above the one document every member signed in good faith. This is a systematic shutdown. The SoP is not mere philosophy; it is the operating system of libertarianism. The LNC has announced, in open hearings, vote tallies, and through sustained inaction, that it no longer runs on that system.

You renewed your membership. You signed the pledge. We affiliated under bylaws that promised the SoP would bind everyone, top to bottom. The national party has now unilaterally voided its end of that covenant. It is betrayal. In Hawaii, we are still bound by our affiliate agreement, by our own bylaws, and by our conscience, but the national party has declared itself unbound. This is not sustainable for the party because it is straight up not libertarian. This is currently not the party any of us joined.

"A Principled Resolution" was unanimously approved by the Executive Committee on November 26, 2025:

A Principled Resolution.pdf

Download PDF • 124KB

The knife is still in. The heart is still bleeding. And the LNC has chosen to twist it.

Libertarians: Contact entire.lnc@lp.org to demand an answer from this simple question: “Is the LNC bound by The Libertarian Party’s Statement of Principles?”.

Affiliates: Feel free to copy our resolution in full or in part to pass it in your own state.

We call on the Libertarian National Committee to sustain the party through principles, as the bylaws demand. If they can’t uphold something so fundamental, perhaps it's time for new leadership that will. The Party of Principle deserves better than guardians who treat our ethics and principles as disposable.