By: Jesse Fullington
Saturday night, in the Povertarian Hospitality Suite over forty members, met for the Bottom Unity Summit with the goal in mind to open dialogue between others with various styles of libertarian thoughts.
Among those attending were libertarian socialists, anarcho-capitalists, classical liberals, anarchists, and pragmatics.
Attendees went around the room offering rational discussion on methods to bring together the different economics and philosophical together in order to strengthen the party and gave their own personal stories that brought them to their views and how they are interacting and reaching out to those with differences in opinions.
The main topic of discussion was the proposed draft of the "NOLA Accord", the goal of which is to be the binding of these ideologies to achieve bottom unity.
The language of which reads as follows:
Whereas, people are only able to thrive in an environment in which their sole discretion over their own lives is respected,
"Be it resolved, that the Libertarian Party welcomes and accepts members from various voluntary economic schools of thought, as long as those members accept the fundamental principle that each individual should be free from involuntary servitude to others."
The event was lively with playful banter amongst those attending. With James Weeks, a candidate for Vice Chair stating, "Economics is a spook."
Overall, the event was very inspiring to attend to see these various factions come together in one room and engage in rational and respectful discussion. The event showed that the unity amongst the Libertarian Party's various factions is achievable when its members sit down and engage in civil discourse.
Mike Shipley, a member of the LibSoc Caucus, Povertarian Caucus, and Outright Libertarians and candidate for the LNC At-Large, who was a large part of organizing the event had the following to say, "... it's miraculous to think that a year ago for these people to come together to agree to try and pass a resolution to make everyone feel welcome would have been impossible. I'm still in shock that we able to come together in solidarity... I think it speaks volumes to the vision of a voluntary world that such a diverse group of people can find something to unify over."