The following letter was addressed
to Alexa Maffei (interim chair of the Lake County, Illinois chapter of the
Libertarian Party), Scott Shuey (immediate past chair of the chapter), Carter
Mitchell (chapter treasurer), and other members of the L.C.L.P. (Lake County
Libertarian Party).
This resignation was intended to be
effective immediately.
Subject:
Bad News (Please Read Carefully and
Thoroughly)
Message:
Dear Friends:
I regret to
inform you that I am resigning from my position as Secretary of the Lake County
of Illinois chapter of the Libertarian Party.
I especially
regret this because I was unable to fulfill my duties as Secretary for even a
single meeting. I admit that this was a failure on my part, and I would like to
sincerely apologize.
I want you
to know that my reason for leaving has nothing to do with ideological
differences. I am relieved that the party platform still contains language
endorsing “free markets” and does not contain the word “capitalism”. I could
point to a number of ideological differences that I have with the party and its
platform, but they are not significant enough to justify my leaving on any sort
of permanent basis. My reasons for leaving have nothing to do with the
extremely minor differences in ideology which I have with the party.
I will
always be a small-“l” libertarian at heart, so I cannot guarantee that I will
never be back. I would be glad to attend an upcoming meeting of the chapter, if
it regroups; however, my former campaign manager has advised me that I refrain
from attending more than one L.C.L.P. this year, in order to avoid violating
Illinois campaign laws which prevent candidates from attending nominating
processes of more than one political party. This year, I will be seeking the
Green Party’s nomination for Illinois State Representative, from the 60th District
(currently represented by Democrat Rita Mayfield).
Unfortunately, this is not the end of the bad news which I need to impart to
you in this letter. Please be advised that the information which follows below
is sad and may be distressing.
A number of you may remember that, several times over the last few years, I
invited a young man named Ethan Winnett to our meetings. He was the chairman of
the Lake County Green Party.
I am sad to
inform you that Ethan passed away in October.
I cannot remember whether I informed any of you about this individually. But to
those who are hearing of this for the first time now, I regret not informing
you of this earlier (for example, in the e-mail which I sent to Scott, Alexa,
and Carter on October 26th, 2023). I believe that I was in too much
shock to mention it at that time.
Ethan was a great friend to me, and a close friend, as well as a passionate and
outspoken activist. I’m glad that a number of you got to meet him before his
untimely passing.
After the Covid-19
pandemic, and ensuing lockdown, made regular meetings of the Lake County Greens
impossible, Ethan and I began holding unofficial “meetings” of the party,
solely between ourselves.
On these occasions, he
communicated to me the need to protect the environment; end the wars; and
protect the rights of veterans, homeless people, and people in need of medical
care.
I responded by stressing
the need to pursue these goals at levels of government which are appropriate
(given to the separation of powers laid out in the U.S. Constitution), in order
to secure these freedoms on a permanent basis, rather than a temporary one
(whereas the Democrats have opted to pursue temporary avenues which have proved
useless and easy to reverse).
Therefore, I am leaving the L.C.L.P. (either on a temporary or permanent basis,
I don’t know yet) in order to fulfill what I perceive as a duty, to my late
friend, to continue his legacy, and to make sure that the Green Party does not
remain permanently dissolved in this county.
While the L.C.L.P. has not met in approximately six to eight months, it has
more members who would be prepared to reinstate meetings, as compared to
the Green Party, which I am convinced will need my help in order to resume
regular meetings and regain its footing.
While I can only formally support one party at a time, I do not want either the
Green Party or the Libertarian Party to die-out in this county, so I will do
whatever I can to make sure that they remain in existence (outside of violating
laws which may disqualify me from continuing my candidacy).
As a supporter of the “Progressive-Libertarian Alliance” (which was spoken of
by Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, and the like) since 2007, it has been my dream of
uniting the two political movements which are the most steadfastly opposed to
defeating the Democrat-Republican duopoly, which is controlled by the
neoliberal-neoconservative alliance that puts on the pretense of being
“centrist”. I know, as well as you do, that this is a lie, because the true
center of American politics is not “between those parties”, but rather, lies
closer to activism and decentralization, and farther from authoritarianism,
than these parties have led us.
The
“Progressive-Libertarian” dream led to another dream; promoting the fusion of
the Green Party and the Libertarian Party. Although this is an uphill battle –
due to ideological differences, party bylaws, and election laws – I do not
believe that it should be abandoned entirely.
That is why I will be looking into state laws regarding “electoral fusion” and
“cross-ballot filing” and “cross-ballot nomination”. Nine states currently
allow a candidate to be nominated by multiple parties. During my campaign this
year, I plan to find out exactly which laws, in the other 41 states, prohibit a
candidate from being nominated by multiple parties, and recommending that minor
party and independent candidates in those states, run on platforms which
include amending or repealing those laws.
I would love to see the Green and Libertarian parties move closer together, to
make it more likely that candidates in all fifty states could be nominated by
both parties. Little would threaten the two-party duopoly’s stranglehold on the
American political process more than this, and that is why I believe that
electoral fusion should become an essential part of all minor parties’
platforms regarding electoral reform.
Although the Green Party is currently officially socialist, I will be
encouraging the party to adopt Georgism (also known as Geoism, the philosophy
of economist Henry George) as its guiding economic philosophy.
I believe that promoting
Georgist and Geo-Libertarian policies - regarding reforms to land management,
the environment, taxes, and property rights – will help bring the parties
closer together, solve the problem of double taxation by promoting a strict separation
of taxes across the various levels of government, and simplify taxation and
government in general in order to make civics easier to teach to our young
people (leading to an influx of ordinary people into the legislative process).
Also, there is a movement
to create a “Green Liberty Caucus” within the Green Party. It’s possible that
Green Party by-laws will prevent this from happening, but if it does, then that
movement will continue, as a bloc, a coalition, a Political Action Committee,
or all of the above. The movement puts medical freedom and prosecution of state
crimes as its most important goals, and I hope to help the G.L.C. attract more
supporters, regardless of their current affiliation.
That is why I believe that
the Green Party will be the most effective vehicle for the promotion of these
goals; at least for the time being.
As I explained, I would
not be opposed to attending future meetings of the L.C.L.P., but I must limit
myself to only one official meeting during the year 2024. I would be glad to
meeting any or all of you on a strictly social basis, however.
And, as I also explained, I do not want to stop helping the L.C.L.P., and I
don’t want to “go away empty-handed” (as they say on the game shows).
That is why I have attached to this e-mail, the materials which will allow the
chapter to continue its affairs, should it decide to re-group, and renew calls
for regular meetings to take place, now that the primary season is upon us.
Attached to this e-mail, you will find the set of L.C.L.P. chapter logos which
were designed by Scott Shuey and myself, which remained to be voted upon, in
our last official meetings. I would recommend that multiple logos be chosen,
for different purposes (hats, T-shirts, refrigerator magnets, bumper stickers,
and official chapter literature), due to their different shapes, and in order
to avoid wasting too many of the proposed designs. Please note that the
numbering of the individual logos do not match the numbering of the logos which
is found in the image containing the nine best logos.
I have also included the e-mail list of people who have been members of our
chapter over the last several years.
Additionally, I have included a document which contains the agenda which I
planned to discuss, during the one meeting over which I would have presided as
Secretary, but which had to be cancelled due to low attendance. Feel free to
edit the agenda (namely, the highlighted portions) as needed, to suit the
agenda of the next meeting that will be held.
As some of you may know, Scott Shuey had to resign his post as Chair of the
chapter early last year, and Alexa Maffei stepped-up as Interim Chair. Carter
Mitchell remains Treasurer.
Someone will likely need to volunteer to become Chair and/or Co-Chair – and to
replace me as Secretary – at least for the time being, until meetings can be
held on a routine monthly basis, at which time a more permanent resolution
regarding chapter positions can be made.
You now have the materials you will need to continue your operations. The ball
is now in your court. I wish you good luck, and may the best party win!
Feel free to invite me to whichever upcoming meeting, later this year, that you
think would promote our mutual interests the most.
And do not hesitate to reach out – via e-mail and/or phone – if you would like
to chat, or meet with me on a social basis, or extend your condolences
regarding Ethan Winnett’s passing. I plan to discuss, with his friends, how to
honor his legacy, and perhaps set up some sort of memorial fund or foundation
in his memory.
Thank you for your support in my most recent campaign (2020), and thank you for
being my friends. I look forward to speaking with you again in whatever
capacity you please.
Take care.
Warmest regards,
Joseph W. Kopsick
jwkopsick@gmail.com
618-751-3229
January 12th,
2024
[Chapter e-mail list not included in order to protect the
privacy of members.
Logos not included due to
formal decisions regarding logos not yet having been made.
Agenda not included due to
its not being current,
and due to its not being needed by readers of this blog.]
Written and published on
January 12th, 2024
Expanded on January 16th, 2024
