Dear fellow Libertarian delegate,
I'm writing to share with you some information about one of the candidates for Chair of the Libertarian National Committee: Ernest Hancock. I won't presume in this letter to suggest who to vote for or against in this race, because I have profound confidence in the judgment of our delegates. Indeed, because there is more than one good candidate in this race, I will not be endorsing any of them. I won't pretend I don't have a firm opinion about Hancock's candidacy, but I will let the following facts about him speak for themselves:
- Hancock boasts publicly that he hasn't voted since 2002, argues that voting "legitimizes" government, and even used free TV airtime as an LP candidate to say "I'm asking you to not vote".
- Hancock signed a "Declaration of Independence" from the LPUS in 2000, which said that "No principled libertarian can associate with the LPUS without compromising the libertarian principle."
- Hancock repeatedly questions whether the LPUS should exist, and said in 2009 that he is "getting very close to targeting the national Libertarian Party as an enemy of freedom".
- Hancock questioned the libertarian credentials of the 2008 LP presidential nominee, but in 2008 called the Constitution Party nominee "a good hardcore libertarian". CP nominee Chuck Baldwin ran on a platform of outlawing all abortion and assisted suicide, opposing gay marriage, "closing the borders", jailing employers of illegal immigrants, “stopping the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.”, "vigorously enforcing our laws against obscenity”, and imposing tariffs “no less than the difference between the foreign item’s cost of production” and U.S. costs.
- Hancock is a "9/11 Truth" advocate who distributes DVDs saying that the Lincoln and JFK assassinations were conspiracies of international banking interests. He says that “if we’re not out there telling the Truth on things like 9/11″ then the LP is “not relevant”.
- Hancock says that "if you're not at least a little uncomfortable with your position, it isn't radical enough". His idea of a radical-enough candidate is Vin Suprynowicz, the candidate for Vice President in 2000 nominated only by the Arizona LP, who says LP candidates should advocate the right to "personal nuclear weapons".
- In Hancock's outreach efforts he vouches for the personal character of fundamentalist preacher Steven Anderson. Anderson calls Obama a "devil" who should be "aborted on national television" and who "promotes a sodomite agenda".
- Hancock publicly predicts that bloodshed and violent revolution in America is inevitable: "There will be be some bloodshed, just how much -- are you sure you want to go this far?"
- Hancock defends the 1994 Arizona LP candidate who as a member of the Viper Militia was sent to prison in 1996 after stockpiling ammonium nitrate explosives and conducting video surveillance of federal buildings.
Documentation (and for all but #2, video) for these facts can be found at http://LibertarianMajority.net/hancock. If you have any questions for me about this, feel free to contact me at brian@holtz.org.
Brian Holtz
Life member of the LP since 1999
Father of three young Libertarians
3-time LP candidate for Congress in Silicon Valley
Elected in 2009 to Purissima Hills Water Board