Jackson Passananti

John "Jackson" Passananti V is a "Classically Liberal" Libertarian currently serving as the Veterans Liaison for the Daniel Fishman for Auditor Campaign. He is a member of the Libertarian Party of Massachusetts (LPMA) and a Minuteman Member of the National Libertarian Party. He is married to Nicole M. Passananti and resides in Boston, Massachusetts.

Campaign Positions

Libertarian Party of Massachusetts

Daniel Fishman for Auditor

• Petitioner -- January 2018 - May 2018
• Inter-party Coalition -- May 2018 - Present
• Veterans Liaison -- May 2018 - Present

Marc Mercier for Governor's Councilor

• Petitioner -- January 2018 - May 2018

Rob Martin for Congress

• Petitioner -- January 2018 - May 2018

Voter Choice Massachusetts

• Canvasser -- March 2018 - Present

Party Affiliation

Pre-Libertarian Party

Jackson Passananti first registered to vote in 2014, having grown up with a father who was a member of the Democratic Party and a mother who was a member of the Republican Party, he was unsure where exactly his allegiances lie. He conducted countless hours of research into both left- and right- ideology and participated in several online questionnaires hoping to determine which of the two parties best aligned with his beliefs. Deciding he was more concerned with socially liberal policy than he was with fiscal policy, he joined the Democratic Party.

Libertarian Party

In 2016 Jackson joined www.politicalforums.com in hopes of being able to discuss political ideology with intellectuals who would be open to debate instead of the hard-headedness that typifies political ‘debate.’ There he published a short paper titled “Why Minimum Wage Must Be Raised,” in which he laid out his belief that minimum wage should be a living wage if and only if, the wage was being used to provide the most basic essentials for the employee (this did NOT include the employee's spouse or children). He listed the most basic essentials as:

• Somewhere to live
• The ability to feed oneself
• Access to public transportation (in order to get to work)

Jackson relied heavily on the Minimum Wage Act of 1938 to frame his argument.

Later, on the same site, Jackson expressed interest in creating a new party which combined elements of both major parties; a few hours later he received a private message asking whether or not had ever heard of the Libertarian Party. The message also contained a link to www.lp.org. After a thorough review of the Libertarian Party Platform, Jackson switched his registration to “Libertarian,” and voted for Former Governor Gary Johnson in the 2016 Presidential Election.

Political Activism

2016

Jackson's attended his first political event in October of 2016, this event was a presentation by Candidate Tom Arnold in Honolulu, Hawaii. There he met fellow Libertarians for the first time. Aside from this event Jackson was not politically active (Facebook posts not withstanding) in 2016 or 2017.

2018

In January of 2018 Jackson returned to the United States following a military deployment, now having the time to participate in political activism, he searched for the local party on Facebook and attended a meeting of the "Greater Boston Area Libertarians." There he met several inspiring individuals: Daniel Fishman, Jeff Liatháns, Callum Melrose, and Derek Newhall among others. He would later work closely with these men on the Petition Drive Campaign (a movement designed to get Libertarian candidates on the ballot). Their efforts were successful, two of the three campaigns Jackson participated in gained ballot access in 2018.

One of the most notable events he attended was "Liberty Hour with Bill Weld," where the Former Governor and Vice Presidential candidate officially endorsed Daniel Fishman's campaign for Auditor of Massachusetts. At that event Jackson volunteered to work with an organization called Voter Choice Massachusetts to help spread awareness of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). Since then he has attended three events as a representative of that organization, most notably the 2018 GOP Convention in Massachusetts.