Libertarian National Convention, Reno 2022: Photo essay

Ah, The Nugget Casino Resort. The site of the Libertarian National Convention. What a terrible hotel with unclean rooms and a bank of elevators where it seemed like only a third of the elevators actually ran. A somewhat fitting site for the two years of insanity before it.

The Libertarian Party turns 50. During that time, there have been way more wars started by the United States than Libertarians elected as federal officials. If we can flip those numbers, we'd be doing okay as a country. // photo by myself

Fireworks already went off before the convention even started, with the hate group Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch branch releasing a hit piece about the Mises Caucus takeover of the Libertarian Party. The article was never going to give a fair shot at the Mises Caucus though they threw in a few bones just to give an illusion of fairness. Still, anyone that knows anything about the people referenced therein knows the entire article was complete bullshit. They use spurious connections to try to pin bigotry on the group while ignoring all the evidence to the contrary. They hilariously tried to label the Mises Caucus antisemitic with guilty by association tactics while ignoring the Jewish roots of the Mises Caucus's namesake, then immediately went into Dave Smith, also Jewish, who is the caucus's preferred 2024 presidential nominee. The SPLC pointed out every discussion Dave Smith had with right-wing people, trying to avoid mentioning that he argued fervently against them about the racial components, then completely ignoring the segments he does with left-wing people like Ben Burgis and his segments on CNN. And of course, the SPLC gives time to a trans person not liking the Mises Caucus but completely ignores the executive committee trans person from California that is Mises Caucus friendly. This one paragraph is way more of a response than the SPLC deserves, but the piece is pretty much representative of the fracture within the Libertarian Party, with former chair Nicholas Sarwark orchestrating much of the divisiveness with the left-wing tactic of racial allegations where none are actually found. The piece was referenced several times throughout the convention and in other pieces following.

It was always going to be a particularly contentious convention with the takeover rhetoric bandied about and an interim chair replacing someone who resigned following orchestrating an actual hostile takeover of the New Hampshire Libertarian Party. 

All following photos were taken by myself, unless otherwise noted.

Dave Smith, bringing down the house at The Alpine, in a late show. He joked at the end that if a bunch of Mises Caucus members didn't show up bright and early the next morning for business, this would be the worst thing he's ever done. Not to worry, the entire morning was spent arguing about credentialing.

Robby 'The Fire' Bernstein and Dave Smith performed to sold-out crowds at The Alpine. Dave Smith jokingly lamented that the SPLC's header image in their hit piece included Jeremy Kaufman, Michael Heise, and Patrick Byrne (of all people), but not himself. The crowd was fired up and underscored the Mises energy through the convention. I was only able to attend the late show, which meant I didn't get to sleep until after 2am, with my son waking me up through the night. Thankfully, my good friend Victoria was able to stuff me with enough Ibuprofin to make it through Day 1. I set myself up for a slog, but I wasn't about to miss out on that show.

Tom Woods and Edward Snowden duke it out, apparently.

Tom Woods was the slated guest speaker to open the convention at breakfast on Friday. Due to former chair Nicholas Sarwark's immense irrational hatred of Tom Woods, he decided to double book another speaker, Edward Snowden (remotely, of course), to also speak, to "give people another option". Really? You couldn't find another time slot to do this? I would have loved to see both speak. The giving people another option excuse was just blatantly transparent in trying to undermine Tom Woods's speaking slot.

I thought Woods would give a speech about his work on the government's COVID measures, but he actually spoke about the history of libertarian thought, surprisingly starting with Aristotle who had stated that virtue must be of free will since if virtue is forced, it is not really virtue. Interestingly, he did not mention Lao Tzu who predates Aristotle by around a hundred years or so, whom I thought most considered the earliest pioneer of libertarian thought. 

Packed convention floor for the autist conference.

Excitement abounded, with everyone ready to slog through hours of business and dilatory proposals from newbies. The entire morning was spent fighting credentialing reports, shenanigans, and accusations of said shenanigans. Riveting stuff, worthy of CSPAN.

Ron Paul says VOTE YES!!

The Mises Caucus was extremely organized, orchestrating delegate nominations across the country and setting up numerous Zoom meetings for delegate training and candidate Q&As. At the convention, amusing signs were created to indicate yes votes with Ron Paul signs and no votes with Bill Weld signs. A Discord channel indicating Caucus votes made it clear to all members what the recommended votes would be.

Whitney Bilyeu and Ken Moellman hug it out after a bro-down. Er...sis-down. Er...sibling-down?

Whitney Bilyeu embraces Ken Moellman after she survives an attempt by the Mises Caucus to suspend her for the duration of the convention to be replaced by vice chair Ken Moellman, I think (but not certain) over her actions concerning the suspension of former secretary Caryn Ann Harlos. Moellman took the microphone when the motion was made to state that he does not want to see the motion move forward. I was told by a Mises Caucus organizer that Moellman agreed to take the chair position before the convention and backed out at the moment the motion went forward, surprising everyone, but I wasn't checking the Mises Caucus Discord channel at the time to see the confusion for myself. Nevertheless, Bilyeu survived the Mises recommended move.

Justin Amash, one of the best Congressmen in US history. Not a joke.

Justin Amash addressing the delegation, gave a similar speech to the one he gave in the California state convention, but trolled the Mises Caucus a bit, secretly quoting a few passages from Mises that were unfavorable to anarchism, which drew some scant boos when he asked for reactions to the quotes. His message was to highlight that if Ludwig von Mises is not good enough for the Mises Caucus, let alone anyone outside the Libertarian Party, we will die as a party. I completely agreed with the ultimate point, but the tactic drew some ire from certain Mises Caucus members. I'm not sure all the members got the point, with some, perhaps a minority, instead seeing it as an attack on the Caucus. He still drew a standing ovation following the speech.

Angela McArdle makes her case to the new Chair of the National Libertarian Party.

As expected, Angela was fiery in her speech and was able to generate massive noise from the crowd. She criticized previous leadership for dropping the ball on messaging, particularly on the COVID regime. Her diagnosis of the split came down to the battle between the focus on messaging versus the process of people getting elected and stated that the party can get both done.

Spike Cohen (at the dais) hosting a debate between Vice Chair nominees. Joshua Smith, one of the nominees, sits to the right of Cohen. Something fun was happening to the left, but I guess I missed it.

Spike Cohen moderating a debate between the Vice Chair nominees Joshua Smith, Erik Raudsep, (both Mises Caucus candidates), and a third guy whose name I can't remember, who spent the entire time impersonating a Lewis Black routine except without the humor. Joshua Smith is pictured to the left.

Michael Heise, founder of the Mises Caucus

The Take Human Action Bash was a resounding success, and how could it not, with the headliner of the night? Michael Heise, the founder of the Mises Caucus, opened the speaking event to a packed room. Even some Mises haters showed their faces at the party to see Ron Paul.

Scott Horton, destroyer of the destroyer of nations

Scott Horton showed up at Dave Smith's standup before the convention started, had a speech at the convention, and spoke at the Mises Caucus event. He may be the one high-profile Mises Caucus guy that doesn't get any hate because...how could you? The guy is a force against one of the biggest evils on the planet.

Zuby, the rapper, weight-lifter, Twitter personality, and COVID rationalist.

Zuby is a rapper who had done a great job combating the insanity of COVID out in the United Kingdom, as well as speaking out against the craziness of cross-gender trans sports by identifying as a woman and crushing the record for women's weight lifting without even bothering to train. He absolutely killed it as the Mises crowd chanted his name. He...wait a minute. I thought the Mises Caucus was full of white supremacists. What in the hell were they doing inviting him, and why were they cheering him so fervently? Weird how these questions never penetrate the skulls of those that accuse the Mises Caucus of these things.

Angela McArdle, who has a lot to smile about this year.

Angela, speaking at the Bash, gave out some awards for hard-working Mises members. At the end, she gave out "Failed grifter of the year" which went to who else but the SPLC, which Rachel Nyx, the Vice Chair of California accepted on their behalf. I hope it gets mailed to their offices.

Maj Toure. Nice shirt.

A few years ago, Maj was scheduled to speak at the Libertarian National Convention, but the leadership at the time butted heads with him and he nearly left the party. The Mises Caucus invited him to speak at the Bash. He talked about how the Mises Caucus needs to work with the old guard, reach out, and form a unified front. He thinks the Mises Caucus will ultimately fail and issued a challenge to the caucus to prove him wrong, which got some of the members fired up.

The GOAT, Ron Paul.

Ron Paul, who had set me straight on so many things at a time when there were just a few remaining things from taking the full dive into libertarianism. This man is one of my heroes and was the inspiration for my son's name. I wanted to talk to him afterward and show him a photo of my son holding his book End the Fed, but he was quickly ushered out of the room after his speech, with a flight to catch. I was told he really wanted to stay behind and talk to every last person there but just didn't have the time. But I was in the presence of greatness. I'll have to settle for that.

Spike Cohen, firing up the crowd with his speech

Spike Cohen has seen a meteoric rise to one of the key players in the Libertarian Party as well as the larger liberty movement. I still remember seeing him for the first time as Vermin Supreme's vice presidential nominee, thinking he was a joke candidate. Then, after Jorgensen was nominated, Spike kept his name in the running for vice president and the more I read about him, the more I liked him. After voting for John Monds in the early rounds, I switched my vote to Spike. I don't have information behind the scenes, but he seemed to work harder and got more visibility than Jorgensen did during the campaign, and after the campaign, he was way more active and engaged than Jorgensen was. His wife is likewise an amazing person; even though she must meet hundreds to thousands of people a year, she even remembers my dog's name when we run into each other once or twice a year. Despite having some disagreements with the Mises Caucus, the caucus members still have immense respect for Spike. 

Ken Moellman telling a joke to Caryn Ann Harlos

Ken Moellman did a fantastic job chairing the remainder of the convention with things running very smoothly after Whitney left the convention in an ambulance, with a ruptured eardrum, I think they said from an infection. Yikes! Hopefully, she is doing well now.

McArdle wins Chair. The patriarchal Mises Caucus erupts in applause as Mises haters lament that the male didn't win. Woke-scolding sure is easy lazy.

Angela McArdle wins the Chair with an overwhelming 68% in the first round of voting and the floor erupted in applause. Some chose to remain seated.

Joshua Smith celebrating as the floor was about to enter voting for him versus NOTA after Raudsep was eliminated. Sarwark was in a tough spot at that moment as he hates Smith, but also hates NOTA after losing to him in New Hampshire.

In a tight race between two Mises Caucus members, Joshua Smith and Erik Raudsep. It went several rounds until finally, it was between Smith and NOTA (none of the above), at which point Smith began celebrating. Smith defeated NOTA in the final round of voting. Smith was endorsed by Dave Smith and Raudsep was endorsed by McArdle.

These signs were seen being waved throughout the crowd, in support of Caryn Ann Harlos's bravery in speaking up against what she saw as corruption in the party.

Caryn Ann Harlos embraces John Wilford in an emotional race

Caryn Ann Harlos won the election back to her secretary spot. She became very emotional following her win, and who can blame her? She stood up against the corruption of Joe Bishop-Henchman that colluded with the old New Hampshire party to overthrow the newly elected leadership in a coup, and she was censured for it by the old leadership. John Wilford, the secretary during the convention, had been on friendly terms with Harlos and in his speech, said that he thought Harlos was the best person for the job and he was running for election just to provide an option for the people that did not want Harlos to vote for.

Todd Hagopian making his pitch for Treasurer

Todd Hagopian pushed for a vision change for Treasurer. While the treasurer had typically had the role of an accountant, he put forth his vision of the Treasurer having the role of a CFO since they have staff to handle the role of accountant.

Bill Perkins, hedge fund manager, film producer, poker player, libertarian. One of those is a bigger accomplishment than the rest. I can't figure out which one.

Bill Perkins spoke at lunch on day two. I had never heard of him before, but wow, what a resume. He emphasized that the message must be primarily "We Care," and that nobody gets elected on spreadsheets and slide rules.

The lineup of judicial committee members. The only person I recognize is Stephan Kinsella, which I can't understand. It seems like someone of that talent would be wasted on the judicial committee.

Along with the executive committee members, the judicial committee elections completed the entire sweep of the Mises Caucus. I actually thought it was a mistake to sweep the judicial committee. There probably should be some appointees that are not part of the caucus to avoid a rubber stamp bias. I'm not sure what affiliation the existing judicial committee members are or how many seats were not up for reelection.

Jo Jorgensen awaiting her chance to speak.

Jo Jorgensen prepares to be brought to the stage for a speech. It was the same speech she gave at the California convention. It came out a bit flat and unenergetic, like a lecture, which makes sense, given that she is a professor. I don't like to say it, because I really do think she is very good at libertarian philosophy and a good person. She was the vice presidential nominee with the great Harry Browne, after all. But she ran a terrible campaign at the top of the ticket (probably mostly the fault of the people around her, but that still falls on her) and she really could use some more fire in her speeches. Angela McArdle said in an interview with Michael Malice that she spoke with Jorgensen one on one about some of the things she thought Jo got wrong in the campaign and how they can help her move forward. That is fantastic that the two have talked it through and I hope she stays active within the party.

Angela McCardle and Dave Smith

Angela and Dave talking during the convention. Probably about how to kill all the Jews. That's what the SPLC told me, anyway. They're a trustworthy source, right?

Elizabeth Nolan Brown and Spike Cohen, standing uncomfortably far apart, like the other was diseased or something.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown, a writer for Reason Magazine, who focuses on sex worker rights, hosted the Saturday night gala and interviewed Spike Cohen. I saw Nick Gillespie and Zach Weismuller from Reason in the audience as well. Those two were around the conference all weekend, recording footage and documenting the proceedings.

The auctioneer at the gala, demanding people to live free or die.

I felt bad for this guy. Oh man, it was tough. Mises detractors afterward were pointing at the gala, saying how it only raised $3,000. Okay, well, this was the gala thrown by the outgoing leadership. But hot damn, that auction was pathetic. I've seen way better stuff on auction at every California convention I've been to. Hell, our county annual fundraiser sees better loot to bid on.

Donald Rainwater

Donald Rainwater, the Libertarian Party nominee for the governor race of Indiana in 2020, received a surprising 11.4% of the vote. Throughout the speech, he talked about how unprepared he and the group was, constantly fighting to figure out how to navigate the waters. The central message was that if only there were established processes in place, there could have been some real time-savings and knowledge of what pitfalls to avoid. I can attest that where I am, the processes in place for candidates are not very well kept.

There aren't many libertarians I will speak ill of, but Sarwark is one who deserves it. There was a commotion on the floor that interrupted business. Sarwark's voice rose out (of course it was him involved in an altercation). Sarwark started yelling about assault and threatened to press charges. Later, video showed that it was Sarwark who rounded the corner running, ran into the other person, and soccer flopped. For good measure, he saw the guy recording him and complained about "unauthorized recording", which I suppose roughly translates to "Oh, shit, there was someone recording my acting job." Par for the course for him.

A round of voting, I think for some plank amendment.

After two or three controversial plank amendments, the voting on the planks became very fast as the entire delegation became unified on plank amendments, with unanimous vote after unanimous vote.

One of those controversial amendments was the removal of the abortion plank, pushed by the Mises Caucus. I can understand the desire to remove the plank. While it's worded well, it has a rather heavy bias toward the pro-choice side of libertarianism and libertarians are split on abortion. Still, I would have preferred a plank that addresses abortion but explains why there is a split, and explicitly mentions evictionism. This way, someone reading the plank may go, "oh, what is evictionism?" look it up, and realize libertarians are the only group that has interesting positions that nobody else has.

Regardless, the abortion plank was deleted.

Aaron Starr, standing behind the guy at the mic. Starr is never more than four steps away from the mic.

Aaron Starr, the parliamentarian extraordinaire, understands convention rules, Robert's Rules of Order, and bylaws more than anyone I know, except maybe his partner in crime, Alicia Matson. The Mises Caucus put forth a highly contentious platform modification, to remove the sentence, "We condemn bigotry to be irrational and repugnant," because the term bigotry has become an extremely ambiguous word, like how the word "racist" has become "anybody that disagrees with me." I personally thought it was a bad move, to push that deletion at the first convention where they would have overwhelming numbers. At least make it seem like it's a bit lower priority or replace it with better wording.

Then Aaron Starr went up to the mic and suggested a change, which he credited to Spike Cohen. Although he preferred the original wording, he suggested replacing that sentence with "We uphold the rights of every person, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or any other aspect of their identity." I don't know if Spike was being modest or what, but I thought the new wording is way better. It's a positive affirmation instead of a negative statement. It's more clear as to what the sentence actually is. And while it may seem like a technicality, it is more in keeping with strict libertarian values by focusing on rights rather than trying to be the thought police. The Mises Caucus immediately sent a Discord message to vote for the amended motion.

I found myself in an elevator with Spike immediately following the close of the convention. It seemed like he didn't want the new wording to be so specifically linked to him, which I chalked up to modesty. But maybe he really did like the old wording better.

The platform voting rolled on and most were voted through without any contention. Efforts to continue beyond the hard stop by the A/V crew were valiant, but ultimately, the bullhorn in a dim room just wasn't working and the convention was called to adjourn.

Angela McCardle, the new Chair, pinning Stephan Kinsella as a lifetime member

Immediately following the convention, Angela went just outside the convention room and pinned new lifetime members of the National Libertarian Party. Apparently, I became the "official" photographer when the actual official photographer had to leave to get his bag. Damnit, I'm not good at photographing people and my equipment isn't set up for it. Fine. I'll do it. Well, I got to photograph Angela and Stephen, so that was awesome. Stephen Kinsella, the philosopher that has done a lot of work on property rights, particularly intellectual property, was pinned as a new lifetime member and was also elected as one of the judicial members. Kinsella was one of about 35 new lifetime members lined up to get pinned by either McArdle or Caryn Ann Harlos. The actual number of new lifetime members that day was somewhere around 90, but I heard that through unofficial sources.

This convention has generated more buzz than any other convention I could think of. Rags like Salon and The Nation have written predictably garbage articles full of nonsensical logic and bereft of reality. Jeet Heer, writing for The Nation wrote a bizarre article talking about how the Libertarian Party embraced bigotry (based on articles sourcing people upset that they were voted out of power within the Party) and this would help reelect Trump. Got that logic? By becoming more palatable to Trumpists, the LP would divert votes...toward the GOP. Somehow. At the end of the article, he posed the wild conspiracy theory to try to jam a scenario into his preconceived notion that the Mises Caucus would intentionally tank the Libertarian Party, which I can definitively state, seeing how Mises Caucus leadership has been acting and working, is completely false.

Enough of morons writing hit pieces. How about good, smart people writing hit pieces? Brian Doherty wrote an article that seemed like it was trying a bit too hard to criticize the Mises Caucus, including a link to the SPLC article. While I was being a bit tongue in cheek about calling this article a hit piece, he should know better than using the SPLC as any sort of legitimate source. Dave Smith was particularly irate about the article on his podcast, particularly with the subtitle that "balances" the first statement with one that states foes accuse it of racism since the foes' claims are completely without merit. Michael Malice on his show, defended Doherty, saying that the author typically does not choose the headline.

Outside that article, Reason worked around the clock, producing podcasts and video content about the Reno Reset, more than I remember in recent history, particularly a convention not in a presidential election year. Angela McArdle has also been active, on "Your Welcome" with Michael Malice and Timcast IRL with Tim Pool.

The Mises Caucus was all smiles following the convention and has real reason to be happy. I found out during dinner with some friends after adjournment that Angela was several months pregnant, which would take quite some time away from her duties, I'd imagine. But she is one of those people that seem to have some kind of time machine, where they seem to operate more than 24 hours a day. Some of the old guard are pissed off, rightly or wrongly, as Angela has reported several dozen people have "rage quit", including the former chair Joe Bishop-Henchman. There was never really any doubt that this would happen, no matter how ridiculous some of the claims of racism have been. I'm not concerned with those that have left. They made their decision and I don't know of any that were critical to the party. What I'm concerned with is the mending of the gaping wound in the party moving forward. Many people in the so-called old guard are good people. My dream is that the old guard's wisdom and experience would mesh together with the Mises Caucus's youth and energy. I hope I can see it become reality one day.