Maybe I’m a little old fashioned, but I still think of November as a time to pause and take stock of what is good, and then to express gratitude. Being thankful is a dwindling American tradition, and maybe if we appreciated what we do have before we fixate on what we lack, we, as a country, would feel less polarized against our neighbors.

In the spirit of November thanksgiving, the first thing for which I am thankful is the news that our beautiful home state of North Carolina just became the second ever (after California, which has way more people) to pass 50,000 registered Libertarian voters. Our message is peace and prosperity, and we will never back down in our defense of everyone's right to disagree without violence. While politicians from the uniparty manipulate with fear and jealousy to drive votes, we advocate for "radical" ideas like you should be able to live without the government getting involved in every aspect of what you do. It's clear that people are beginning to realize the duopoly cares only about itself, and are joining us, the party of the people.

Today is election day, and I encourage all of you to vote Libertarian. In our first article, we look at why you absolutely should cast your ballot, but I want to use this space to express more thanks to all 32 of the wonderful candidates we have running for office in North Carolina, and for all the candidates that came before. Publicly, you all are the face of the LPNC, and you wear it well. Personally, I am honored to know each one of you. I am truly grateful for the sacrifice you are making in pursuing the cause of Liberty on the political stage.

Finally, I want to take a moment to say how thankful I am for the time I got with my good friend, and relentless defender of Liberty, Donald Reid Deal. Reid passed away in his home in September, and I miss him a lot. I thought about it, and I am mentioning him in the November newsletter because it felt appropriate and true to the kind of person who Reid was, grateful for the good things and never hung up on the bad. He was a lynchpin of the LPNC for many years, and we all feel his loss deeply. As we move forward together, I am determined that we do so in a way that would make Reid proud.

-Joe Garcia, LPNC Chair

Fall is a beautiful time in North Carolina, and an exciting time for the Libertarian Party here. We have seen real progress in the Liberty movement over recent months, driven by the relentless dedication of the good people in our party. We finally saw the release of the body camera footage from the Joshua Rohrer arrest in Gastonia. The city continues to refuse to have independent review of the video, and we will continue to show up until there is some real accountability for this wrongly arrested war veteran, as we have since the beginning.

We also saw our Mecklenburg County affiliate host a debate between Shannon Bray, Libertarian Party candidate for the U.S. senate, and Matthew Hoh, the Green Party candidate. Shannon is one of 32 Libertarian candidates on the ballots this year in North Carolina, and we are excited for the Liberty message that they are forcing into the conversation. They need our support, and today’s newsletter puts the spotlight on a few of them. Check out the full slate of candidates on the website, and give time or money if you can, they will certainly appreciate it.

We are currently hosting a table at the North Carolina State Fair, as mentioned below. It is an annual event that is always fun, interesting, productive, and well worth the time and energy. Last weekend, our Cape Fear affiliate hosted a strategizing and social event, capped off with a bonfire. In recent months, we’ve had LPNC members representing at Pride parades around the state, reminding people that we were calling for removing restrictions on marriages between consenting adults 40 years before it became the cool thing for the two big parties to do.

We remain tirelessly dedicated to the cause of Liberty, with every person as our inspiration. With the cooling weather and changing leaves as the backdrop, we want to thank everyone, sincerely and deeply, for giving what you can, especially our donors, who provide the financial lifeblood that keeps us in operation. For those of you who are able, we encourage you to do more, as we rely on our individual members to drive our accomplishments, and we are looking forward to achieving so much more.

-Joe Garcia, LPNC Chair