Pro-War/Antiwar Divide Behind New York Libertarian Party Purge?

Dr. Tom Stevens writes about a purge within the New York Libertarian Party.

If this is your typical LP infighting, then the procedural rationales are trivial, convoluted, and fake. Usually, the ostensible reasons for any LP purge or feud are a cover for some underlying personal or ideological dispute.

Here's what I find noteworthy about Stevens's report:

"While the main culprits behind attacking the Queens LP and Dr. Tom Stevens (our unanimously elected State Representative) have been Blay Tarnoff, Gary Donoyan and M Carling (the same people behind the 2006 de-chartering of the Queens LP)...

"...In the months leading up to this action, John Clifton, LPQC Chair, proposed two bylaws amendments to change the State Bylaws, the sum and substance of which would have allowed duly chartered chapters to elect a Chair and State Representative of their own choosing..."

To divine what's really going on in any LP feud, it helps to know the personalities involved.

On one side of this dispute is M Carling, an ally of Root supporter Aaron Starr. That is, Carling belongs to the LP's pro-war faction. (Root, Starr, and Carling would probably dispute the term "pro-war.")

Curiously, Carling has been active in both the New York and California LPs, and has reportedly been active at Oregon LP conventions.

On the other side of this current LPNY feud is John Clifton, who has been an "outside the box," pro-peace thinker, at one point suggesting that the LPNY endorse Cindy Sheehan for Senate.

Are there pro-war/antiwar, Reform/Radical motives underlying this current feud?

I don't know. It's possible.

However, in 2008 Dr. Tom Stevens ran for president on the Objectivist Party line, with the very pro-war Alden Link as his running mate. And they're apparently doing so again in 2012.

Curiouser and curiouser.