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Document:LP News 1974 May-June Issue 20: Difference between revisions
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Document:LP News 1974 May-June Issue 20 (view source)
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NOTE: Addresses of candidates not given here were published in previous issues. | NOTE: Addresses of candidates not given here were published in previous issues. | ||
=EDITORIAL= | |||
==On defining the “lunatic fringe”== | |||
In our last issue, we had an editorial entitled 110n falling off the edge," in which we discussed the bizarre behavior of the American and People's Parties, and pointed out that there is a lesson to be learned from their experiences. | |||
That lesson, we said, was that 11any third-party movement must always be on guard against becoming too narrow in its appeal...and must al1ways be wary of its own lunatic fringes." | |||
And, apparently, most of our readers understood what we meant. A few, however, wrote in to ask if this was meant as an "attack on anarchists." | |||
The answer is "No." It was not meant as an "attack" on any philosophical group. In fact, if you re-read the editorial, you will note that the word "anarchist" never appears. | |||
Rather, the editorial was aimed at those so-called 11libertarians11--of whatever stripe- who see their viewpoint as the only valid one, and would gladly destroy any organization which does not promote their own views exclusively. And this includes the extreme ortho-Objectivists, the monomaniacs who want to turn the LP into a single-issue party, and the rabid atheists who call for a "removal from party office" of all religious libertarians. as well as some (but not most) anarchists. | |||
If the LP is to succeed, we must seek to broaden our appeal, and not to narrow it. We should work to recruit all who are in fundamental agreement with our [[Statement of Principles]] ...whether they now consider themselves ACLU Liberals, Birchers, Miseans, Objectivists, Jeffersonians, or, yes, Anarchists. The only proviso we should attach is that they be willing to work with one another to promote the ideals we all share (as defined by the [[Statement of Principles]]), rather than seeking to "rule or ruin." | |||
The troubles of the American and People1s Parties, we believe, amply demonstrate the folly of any other policy. -/- DFN | |||