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On Tuesday 16 June 2009 09:36, Ralph Smithen wrote: > 2009/6/16 James Fidell <james@xxxxxxxxxxxx>: > > Tom Potts wrote: > >> Party membership is open to all those:... > >> who are not members of any organisation whose objectives are > >> incompatible with those of the Party > > > > Not exactly very libertarian, is it? :) > > Libertarianism is founded on the rule of law and the right to > privately contract without impediment. You are free not to join if > your aims and ideology are incompatible with that of the party. Seeing > as by membership you are viewed as representing the party to some > extent, this seems fair. > > Have you read their constitution? It seems, at face, to be legalistic > and restrictive... but then so may the GPL. Rules and agreements are > necessary and good, provided they are voluntarily entered into, above > all in the political/societal sphere. > > The rules governing who may run for office are even more "draconian". > I can't find the source right now, but IIRC any such person undertakes > to not employ any family member with public funds, to keep public > records of expenses, etc.... Personally, I'd be in favour of those > that propose to govern signing contracts that assure their liability > should they be found guilty of misconduct. I've always felt party politics is inherently undemocratic - you are effectively forced to choose a party that has the best matching subset of your ideals. I believe that, if I want to, I should be allowed to be a member of as many political parties as I want - its arrogant to assume that your party and only your party has the people and the ideas to benefit society. I cant see how a party that claims to be libertarian can deny me the right to seek knowledge where I choose. Similarly, if, by some miracle, MS produced a piece of software that I thought was genuinly beneficial to humanity I might be tempted to use it and recommend others do to! Tom te tom te tom -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html