The Libertarian Party of Tennessee

Wow.

Perhaps an understated response to the LPTN's 2004 Convention, but I don't know what else can be said -- so I'll just say it again: wow!

Those of you who made it know what I'm talking about. For those of you who missed out, well I guess I'll just have to rub it in a little. Convention chair Bill Bolen set out to make this the best LPTN convention yet, and whoo-boy did he succeed, and then some.

We began with registration and a little socializing Friday evening, followed by the formal welcoming reception. Nashville singer-songwriter Shawn Galloway kicked things off with a heartfelt song about choosing love over fear in the post-9/11 world. After Shawn came presidential candidate Gary Nolan, who laid out his strategy for the coming election: attack from the right, bring in those disaffected Republicans that big-spender Bush has betrayed.

A few of us then went on a relaxing horse carriage tour of Chattanooga, with tour guides Bill Bolen, Mike Croteau, and Trevor Southerland giving us the skinny on the city. The night was capped in the hospitality suite with some lively conversation & drink backed up with an extended performance by Shawn Galloway.

We jostled the schedule a bit on Saturday, so I may not have all the following the correct order, but basically --

The day kicked off with breakfast in the hospitality suite, then down to the convention room for a formal welcome from Ray. Ray introduced us to Hamilton area state rep Chris Clem who updated us on the happenings on Capitol Hill. He brought us some bad news and some good: things don't look good for the ballot access bill, but TABOR is alive and kicking. I think Clem convinced most of us he was a worthy ally on the right-hand side of the spectrum: he's no libertarian, but at least this R seems to walk the walk on the fiscal issues.

Next up, our own Wilson County Commissioner Heather Scott brought us up to date on her work on the commission, including her efforts to implement TABOR. Trevor Southerland stepped up to the mic on behalf of the Michael Badnarik presidential campaign, showing us a clip of Badnarik at the March debates in Chattanooga. By the way, watch for these debates to be available soon on this website, thanks to Hamilton activist Brent Benedict.

VP candidate Tamara Millay told us why she was the right choice for our national ticket. Rational Review editor Thomas Knapp made the case for Aaron Russo for the presidential nod. Russo had been scheduled to appear in person, but unfortunately could not make it due to a last-minute family emergency. North Carolina's Mike Dixon pitched his candidacy for national chair. We also got to meet Daniel Lewis and the aforementioned Brent Benedict, two Libertarian candidates for Tennessee State Rep., districts 26 and 29.

Then it was battle of the breakouts. The first breakout session featured Daniel Lewis in the Dogwood Room and Steve Trinward in the Magnolia room. Lewis gave us the "Constitutional History of Tennessee", while Trinward asked us to consider "Why Are We Here" -- what is the purpose of the LP? The second breakout session featured a team in the Magnolia room working out our "Legislative Priorities for 2005", while Thomas Knapp led a lively session in the Dogwood room on "Reaching out to Progressives".

After lunch, Sharon Harris of the Advocates for Self-Government gave us some solid advice on communication skills, and then we began the business session. We'll leave the nitty-gritty of the business session for the formal minutes, but essentially: we voted to endorse Lewis and Benedict as official LPTN candidates, we elected our delegates to the national convention, and voted to bestow our "Richard E. Pearl, Sr. Keeper of Liberty Awards" on LPTN members Heather Scott and Vernie Kuglin, and on two of our allies on the hill, State Rep. Donna Rowland (R-Murfreesboro), and State Sen. Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville).

Also, Steve Trinward put on his LNC Rep hat to talk about the proposed national region re-alignment, and Ray Ledford initiated a brainstorming session on providing state support for county-level projects. Finally our treasurer Alicia Matson went over our 2003-04 expenses, and presented the 2004-05 budget for our approval. I tell ya, if government took care of the finances the way Alicia takes care of ours, half our battle would be over!

After a short break, Sharon Harris came back to wrap up the serious part of the day with her keynote address "Reasons for Optimism". I've got to say, her passion, optimism, and all-around positive attitude were absolutely inspiring. She brought more than one tear of hope to the eye of this hard-boiled cynical pessimist... Next it was out to dinner at the Big River Brewery. The restaurant did lose the reservation, but when they saw the size of our group, the free-market prevailed : )

We capped the night back at the hospitality suite with more great conversation among great people. Some proceeded on to the "Party Barge 2004", and were treated to improv comedy courtesy of "Runs With Scissors", a Chattanooga troupe featuring our own Bill Bolen. I hear tell they leveled a few good-natured zingers towards the folks who missed it... meanwhile those of us in the latter group spent the evening in an excellent "jam session" of political strategy and discourse with our esteemed guests, including Dixon, Knapp, Millay, and Russo's campaign manager Stephen Gordon.

Sunday we continued with Heather Scott and Joe Dumas leading a discussion on campaigning for local office, with cameras from the local news looking on. Finally Ray and Helen Ledford headed up a panel on balancing activism with relationships; LPTN uber-couples John & Aubrey Sebastian and Joe & Cheree Dumas chimed in, and we'll have to chastise Tony & Kelly Wall for missing it. And the terminally single among us got to feel superior for a change, not having that particular problem : )

All in all the LPTN 2004 Convention was a smashing success and a notable milestone in the growth of our party. Deepest thanks go to convention chair Bill Bolen and the entire Hamilton County organization for their outstanding work, and to everyone who attended and helped to make this convention indeed the best one yet.

See also LPTN 2004 Convention Minutes