So it's "pissing on" you to note that you ended your 20-year piss on me
only six months ago? :-) By "you" I mean anybody who might feel
defensive/sentimental about the personal secession language that got
taken out. I know you personally don't consider the platform to be as
crucial to the LP as many radicals and reformers do. That you would
nevertheless react as you did should give you a tiny inkling as to how
the radical platform made principled non-radicals feel for decades.
My article made no claims about the merits of taking out personal
secession. All I said was that in May 2008 the LP adopted an approach
that it hadn't tried in its multi-decade history, and that six months
later is too early for Somin to say we know enough to call the LP a
failure. The new approach is no silver bullet, but it's a big reason
why I won't be giving up on the LP any time soon.
Private nukes is a mere implication, but personal secession was in there
plain as day: "We support the right of political entities, private
groups and individuals to renounce their affiliation with any
government, and to be exempt from the obligations imposed by those
governments". In my attempts to defend the party from outside critics,
I'm very glad that my full-disclosure honesty doesn't require me to
mention this any more.
I put a non-trivial amount of work into The Nanny State Matrix video as
a non-factional LP outreach effort aimed at the BreakTheMatrix crowd and
other wider audiences, and have gotten compliments on it (and my other
such outreach videos) from more people than just Paulie. When you (and
only you) dismiss it as "garbage", that's supposed to be an example of
our personal truce holding up? :-) Geeeesh, indeed. We can play this
however you want. I'm just following your lead. I don't mind a little
friendly hardball. I even have my own cup.
