Recently, a member of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina shared some historical issues of the Tar Heel Libertarian from 1976. In the Tar Heel I would normally give a personal message myself, but in this month’s issue I would like to republish one of the messages from the Editor of the Tar Heel Libertarian. The message really touches on what it means to be a Libertarian, what Libertarian affiliates need to do, and how the LPNC affiliates can run candidates. The Affiliates, and the candidates they run, are the lifeblood of the LPNC. If you are willing and able, please consider running for office this year. Filing is currently open until July 21st and we would love to support LPNC members in their campaigns. If you are interested, please email [email protected].

-Ryan Brown, LPNC Chair

Of Nuts And Bolts … And Ballot Boxes (Tar Heel Libertarian August 1976)

Some important changes were made in the LPNC Constitution at the recent state convention. The delegates recognized that the state party (state officers and executive committee) can effectively do little more than provide assistance and coordination to the various local organizations. It is at the grass roots level that the Libertarian Party will find success or failure. A political party is built from the bottom up—not from the top down. Without organized community support, no number of national or state candidates will make this party succeed.

The state executive committee has the task of fostering a district organization in each of North Carolina’s eleven Congressional Districts. Chairmen Pro-Tem have been appointed in seven districts pending formal requests for affiliation. Delegates placed the specific responsibility for the building of strong districtwide organizations, and the starting of affiliated parties in each county, with the respective district committees.

This was a wise decision on the part of the convention. It will be the responsibility of each district, of each county, of each individual to give substance to the label...Libertarian Party. A political party is not a group of individuals across the state calling themselves such, nor is it newsletters or discussion groups. In itself, it is not the state board of elections recognizing you and permitting a ticket to appear on the ballot.

A Libertarian political party is dozens of individual groups spread across North Carolina, each entering into the political arena, attacking government regulation of our lives and offering specific proposals for change; it is each Iccal party building its credibility in the community as THE viable alternative to collectivist “politics as usual’’; it is Libertarian candidates running regularly (and successfully) in local elections; it is politicians and bureaucrats having to take Libertarian opposition into account when formulating new schemes to ‘‘save us from ourselves.”

The Libertarian Party is going to have to stand up in the defense of liberty and individual rights, whenever and wherever politicians seek to regulate our lives and appropriate our wealth.

The American people are fed up with government by edict. They are frustrated at watching their individual Liberties eroded away, and feeling powerless to stop it. The citizen wants the leech of bureaucracy pulled off his back and out of his pocket. It is the task of the Libertarian Party to articulate these frustrations, to win the support of the voter and to produce results.

The Libertarian Party is not setting out on a picnic, The future holds long hours, hard work, and a personal investment of time and money with no guarantee of immediate returns. The right of each of us to live our lives as we choose is what is at stake. That is a right worth fighting for, and worth fighting for hard enough to win.

The Libertarian Party is not setting out on a picnic, The future holds long hours, hard work, and a personal investment of time and money with no guarantee of immediate returns. The right of each of us to live our lives as we choose is what is at stake. That is a right worth fighting for, and worth fighting for hard enough to win.

-Thomas Ball of Chapel Hill, Tar Heel Libertarian August 1976.