We are outraged by the Libertarian Party New Hampshire's calls for violence against NH Democrats. This isn't a messaging problem, it's a blatant betrayal of the one principle our movement exists to defend.
Libertarianism rests on a single rule: no one may initiate force against another person or their property. Force is legitimate only in defense against force already underway. There's no exception for politics, elections, or frustration. A person who calls for violence over a party registration hasn't taken libertarianism too far, they've abandoned it entirely.
We spend a lot of time arguing that the State continuously uses force against peaceful people every day; through taxation, regulation, war, policing, etc. That's precisely why we cannot turn around and demand the same violence be used privately against our neighbors. If coercion is wrong when the State does it, it is not suddenly right when we do it to each other. Calling for political violence isn't a harder-edged version of our philosophy, it's hypocritical to our founding principal of non-aggression.
To our Democratic neighbors, friends, and family: your right to exist, vote, and disagree with us isn't up for negotiation, we respect your right to do so. Elections aren't war. Disagreement isn't a provocation. Persuasion is the only tool consistent with what we claim to believe, an organization that reaches for threats instead of arguments has already admitted it lost the argument.
We don't apologize for LPNH's statement, because it isn't ours to apologize for. We condemn it flatly, without qualification.
With resolve,
The Libertarian Party of Maine