Much of North Carolina took a few hours early this month to watch the solar eclipse that crossed a significant portion of our state. It served as a powerful reminder that there is beauty and wonder out there, and the best lives we can lead are those where we are free to explore the world in the way best suited to each of us. 

We preach a principled philosophy. It is wide ranging in policy interpretations, but laser focused in its underlying requirement. You can do as you see fit provided you don't hurt other people or take their property without consent. 

Elements of the NAP are fun to debate philosophically, and we all know how much Libertarians love to debate endlessly over the punctilious details of what makes us different from the other parties. At our core, though, we don't need to share values to share a common principle, and we can unite around that.

When we don't, we are faced with increasing aggression and intrusion by a state that leverages people's fear to get them to vote away their rights, often without them realizing what they are doing. We have voters supporting congressional reps in our own state who voted that the federal government can spy on you without a warrant. We have reps who want to lock people in cages for using a plant in their own homes. We have reps who want to criminalize who you love, where you work, how you stay warm, and how you defend yourself. 

As always, there are so many ways to stand up and push back against this relentless onslaught of state overreach. We have national convention late next month, and we are happy to be sending a full contingent of delegates and then some. We have an extraordinary group of candidates, all of whom could use your support. We have open positions in the LPNC, and we can use your time, whether its an hour a week or a hundred.

Even seemingly small acts, in representing the party well and promoting our ideas with messaging that resonates with a people who are tired of fighting with each other and having its rights trampled all over by elected officials who care only for the demands of their donor and lobbyist backers. 

After you read this, my challenge to you is to find one thing, big or small, that you can do to advance Liberty. Then do the same the next day, and so on. Soon, it will become second nature, and you will become part of the resistance that will never back down. 

-Ryan Brown, LPNC Chair