Today at the annual convention of the New Hampshire Liberty Party, the co-chairs resolved to endorse, with cautious optimism, the current direction of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire (LPNH).

Our original reason for forming the NH Liberty Party was to provide the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire with some much-needed competition. The national party had strayed from its principle of non-aggression and the state party was basically dead in the water for many years. Plus, we wanted a party that would focus on secession in addition to liberty, therefore in 2012 the NH Liberty Party was born.

In late 2016 a major change took place in the LPNH. NH Liberty Party co-founder Darryl W Perry and member Rodger Paxton were elected unanimously to chair and vice-chair of the LPNH. After they got in, their executive committee voted in support of peaceful secession. The party also achieved a major political success by regaining full ballot access statewide for the first time in twenty years.

Things are definitely back on track at the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire. Given their recent refocusing and success, we the co-chairs of the NH Liberty Party agreed today to endorse the LPNH’s current direction and recommend our members to join the LPNH and help them stay on track and stay true to the principle of nonaggression as well as openly support secession for New Hampshire.

This endorsement comes with some caveats:

1. We are cautiously optimistic and will be closely monitoring the LPNH to ensure they do not lose sight of their principles or are taken over by hostile, anti-liberty forces. One problem the LPNH has that the NH Liberty Party does not is that our platform is unchangeable, while theirs is. This can lead to infighting and changes in platform that are unprincipled.
2. This endorsement of the LPNH is in no way an endorsement of the national Libertarian Party. That group has been unprincipled for many years and its presidential candidates have been an embarrassment since 2008. We hope the LPNH will continue to stay on-message where the national party has failed.
3. We’re not shutting down. The NH Liberty Party will continue to endorse pro-secession and pro-liberty candidates who seek our endorsement as well as accept applications from new members and continue to hold our annual convention. Unlike the LPNH, membership in the NH Liberty Party has been and continues to be free. We do not accept donations. We’ll continue to weigh in at the state house on behalf of freedom, and if the LPNH loses their principle or becomes ineffective, we’ll jump back into promoting the NH Liberty Party full-steam.

Congratulations to the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire for turning things around. The NH Liberty Party co-chairs will be registering to vote as libertarians (something that wasn’t possible until this year) and running under the Libertarian Party banner in state elections in 2018. Darryl tells us that more exciting news for the LPNH is coming up, so stay tuned to their website for the latest.

In liberty,
Ian & Conan
Co-Chairs, NH Liberty Party