Trisha Shetty (Editor)

LPRadicals

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LPRadicals is a caucus formed in 2006 within the United States Libertarian Party by Susan Hogarth and other party members who opposed removal of much of the material in the party platform during the 2006 national party convention. The caucus lists four points as "key strategic principles in furthering the work of the Libertarian Party toward, as our platform describes it, 'a world set free in our lifetime'." These are: Rights Are Utilitarian, Radical Abolitionism, Principled Populism, and No Particular Order (for removal of government policies). The caucus was active at the 2008 and 2010 Libertarian National Conventions. The radical caucus was revived and was extraordinarily active during the 2016 Libertarian National Convention.

The LPRadicals remained informally organized from 2006 through 2016 at which time it organized with Bylaws and a new website under the Libertarian Party Radical Caucus moniker--the term LPRadicals being used interchangeably. The founding Caucus members are Susan Hogarth and Marc Montoni and the organizational Board includes activists James Gholston and Caryn Ann Harlos. The key principles remain substantially the same.

The first iteration of the LP Radical Caucus was active from 1972 to 1974. The creator of the caucus, Samuel Edward Konkin III, used it in a brief attempt to steer the fledgling movement away from participating in the political process. While some members of the recent iterations of the Caucus, including left-libertarians and agorists, identify with the views of Konkin, the present membership requirements include participation in the state and National Libertarian Parties and emphasize political involvement as a purpose of the Caucus.

The second and best known Radical Caucus was founded by Justin Raimondo, Eric Garris and Bob Costello in 1979 in order "to unify the party around radical and hardcore libertarian programs." Raimondo led the caucus from inception until he abandoned the Libertarian Party in 1983. That Radical Caucus was dissolved in 1984.

References

LPRadicals Wikipedia