Less, if you've been "often" on the losing side of platform votes, then how many positions of the 2004 platform do you disagree with on principle? I disagree with at least ten. Do you even disagree with a single one? I'll show you my "deviations" if you show me yours. :-) But I suspect that you, an anarchist from the "minority" who is allegedly "accepted at the pleasure of the minarchists", can't quote anything from the 14,000 words of the 2004 platform that you fundamentally disagree with.
To say I'm "trashing" Ruwart or trying to "purge" her is just a clumsy smear against me. I'm just quoting what she says, and asking what it means. You're the one who's been telling us that Ruwart's oeuvre is so comprehensive and so "plumbline". But when I ask you a straightforward question about whether she's one of those libertarians who she says "generally believe that parents do not have a *duty* to support their offspring", you smear me. Can you tell us how you think she should/would answer this "tough question", or not? The 2004 Platform said "Parents have no right to abandon or recklessly endanger their children. Whenever they are unable or unwilling to raise their children, they have the obligation to find other person(s) willing to assume guardianship." Do you endorse this anti-Rothbardian language?
For the record, I have never EVER advocated "purging" anybody. I have ALWAYS advocated ecumenicism in the LP. However, unlike you and Alex, I don't just say that those who disagree with me can pay their dues as long as they don't introduce "deviation" into the Platform.
Your statement that "anarchists never, but never, tried to shut minarchists up" is simply uninformed. My impression is that until the last year you had been on a 10- or 20-year break from LP activism, and it shows. Even if you've forgotten Rothbard's bitter and vicious attacks that ended up driving out the Cato minarchists (http://www.mises.org/journals/lf/1980/1980_09-12.pdf), there are more recent things you should be aware of. A member of the LPCA ExCom, who has also been a member of the LPUS Judicial Committee, privately warned me in 2004 that some of my campaign positions constitute a violation of the Pledge, and that as a candidate I'm not allowed to "proactively oppose" any platform plank, but may merely express disagreement if specifically asked. I've also had a member of the LPCA Judicial Committee publicly suggest that some of my positions are in violation of my membership Pledge. And just this year I was in the room when someone who is currently on the LNC announced at our county convention that anybody who disagrees with the 2004 platform should ask himself whether he's in the right party.
So please don't try to tell me with one breath nobody has "tried to shut minarchists up" with one breath, while claiming I'm "purging" people with the next. That dog won't hunt.
