by Sean Haugh

At a time when the national Libertarian Party and several of our state parties find themselves mired in controversy and infighting, we here with the Libertarian Party of North Carolina just keep on growing and doing our thing, blissfully unaffected by it all.

How do we accomplish this? For over 20 years we have practiced a party-building philosophy we call the NC Way. Simply put, if you want any amount of greater Liberty at all, in any direction, or even just on one issue, we welcome and embrace you in the Libertarian Party. It doesn't matter where you came from politically, nor even really how far down the path to total freedom you want to go. If you want freedom, you have a place with us.

We very openly love ALL our fellow Libertarians here in NC. One great thing about us is we are neither left nor right, just Libertarian. So we can bring in people from all over the political spectrum. Once we put them all at the same table at a local meeting, we come to find out we all have a whole lot more in common with each other than we ever did with the parties we fled.

We've never cared much for caucuses here, and as far as the National Committee is concerned, as long as we don't need their support for ballot access (and we haven't since 2008), we hardly care what they do. We have our own work to do here at home, and we are putting together our own teams of people at the local level do carry it forward. A lasting political party is built from the ground up, not from the top down.

Sure, caucuses are active here, and the Mises Caucus is particularly strong in NC, as it is everywhere across the country. But the NC Way means we see people as individuals, not as representatives of some collective identity. When they started showing up, we welcomed and embraced them and put them to work, just like we always did with everybody else.

To me, these newer members aren't "the Mises Caucus." They are people, they have names. People who have brought new enthusiasm to the party. People who do the administration and outreach work that helps us grow even more rapidly. People who run for office and represent us well to the voters. People who embrace Libertarian principles and love all their fellow NC Libertarians. People who have become my friends and allies, and whom I am glad are on our side.

So I look at all this infighting going on elsewhere and am kinda puzzled. It doesn't have to be like that. No one has to show up for a fight. Besides, we have bigger fish to fry with all these authoritarian Democrats and Republicans in office.

It really doesn't matter where you came from politically or why you want more Liberty or what particular freedom issue matters to you the most. You have friends and allies here in the Libertarian Party of NC. We have been doing it this way long before there was a Mises Caucus, and we'll still be practicing the NC Way when the next flavor of the day in the Liberty movement comes along.