Henderson Libertarians held their first county convention since reorganizing and the event was covered by the local media. “The Libertarian movement is growing everywhere,” said Shelby Mood, candidate for state House District 117. 

Mood is facing the usual uphill battle against the establishment parties, lack of name recognition and funding. He plans to meet this challenge by reaching out to groups on both the left and right, emphasizing their common ground with libertarians.

For example, he'll talk to to local tea party groups about Second Amendment rights and taxes, and to liberals and progressives about protecting civil liberties and legalizing marijuana.

Read more here and here.

The LPNC Bylaws & Convention Rules Committee is now soliciting ideas to consider for presentation to the 2015 LPNC State Convention. Please send your ideas to Brian Irving, committee chair. 

You can also follow deliberations by joining the Bylaws Committee Yahoo Group, or even joining the committee itself. Contact Irving you are interested in being on the committee.

Here is a partial list of some ideas the committee will be discussing:

1. Combining the roles of Membership and Recording Secretary (Article IV, Section 4 & 5)
2. Making the platform & bylaws committees standing (permanent) committees (Article VIII)
3. Redefining roles and duties of officers. (Article IV)
4. Redefining the roles and duties of the Executive Committee, including appointed directors. (Article V)
5. Reordering the Convention Order of Business.

Libertarian candidates applauded the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to strike down a Virginia law banning same-sex marriage, a law similar to a state constitutional amendment passed by North Carolina voters in 2012. 

Wesley Casteen, Libertarian candidate for the 7th Congressional District, said the court decision this week was foreseeable years ago. 

"I share the belief with our courts that government should not have a voice about who we love and marry," said Casteen, a Wilmington lawyer. "That decision is among the fundamental and basic liberties we enjoy as individuals and government should not interfere." 

Ken Penkowsi was a North Carolina delegate to the 2014 Libertarian national Convention. This was the first national political convention he's ever attended. Here are some of his observations and impressions:

“In a weekend full of highs and lows, there are three significant take-aways that I would like to convey,” said Penkowsi, of Wake County.

First, he said that the convention body showed strong a strong focus on emerging challenges to liberty, such as National Security Agency surveillance.

“The liberty movement is a global movement and the LP has an opportunity to provide global leadership,” Penkowski also noted.

Penkowski's third observation was that there are two divergent perspectives on what it means to be a successful political party and that divergence was evident in the election for national chair.