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Boston Tea Party Nominates Jay/Knapp Presidential Ticket

Douglass Gaking
IndyTruth
June 17, 2008

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The Boston Tea Party, an off-shoot of the Libertarian Party founded in 2006, has finished it's twenty-four hour long online convention to select its nominees for President and Vice President of the United States. Polling closed at 9:00 PM Eastern Time on Monday night with Charles Jay leading the presidential vote and Tom Knapp earning the vice presidential nomination.

Charles Jay has already started his general election campaign as the nominee of Utah's Personal Choice Party. He is a libertarian and expressed in the Saturday night debates his intention to stick to the BTP's short and simple platform,

The Boston Tea Party supports reducing the size, scope and power of government at all levels and on all issues, and opposes increasing the size, scope and power of government at any level, for any purpose.

The Boston Tea Party's Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates were hosted by me, Douglass Gaking on RPI Radio on Saturday night. I host the IndyTruth Show every Saturday morning at 10:00 AM Eastern Time on RPI.

During the debate, Jay's competitor Robert Milnes said that he planned to continue running as an independent if he did not receive the BTP's nomination. He also plans to attend the Green Party's national convention in Chicago to seek their support.

In a message to the party membership shortly before voting began, Jay made several pledges, including, "Remember, though my name may wind up associated with this campaign, this is YOUR party, not just mine." He also pledged that "when the dust clears, a vote for Charles Jay and the Boston Tea Party will be anything BUT a 'wasted vote.'"

Tom Knapp has won the BTP's VP nomination. He founded the party in 2006. He is also running for U.S. Congress in Missouri as a Libertarian. Knapp recently wrote on his campaign site that he supports Congressman Dennis Kucinich's 35 articles of impeachment which were introduced to the House of Representatives earlier this week.

Knapp offered three pledges to the party membership before the convention began:

I am not a wealthy man, but if at all possible I will travel to appear at campaign events in the states where we achieve ballot access, or to HELP us achieve ballot access, or to assist in the formation and promotion of new state affiliates.

I will not only accept, but actively seek, opportunities to positively represent (or book our presidential nominee to represent) the party's ticket on talk radio and in other media.

I will proactively promote the party's platform and program, and work with our presidential nominee to create a campaign approach that accords with the party's aims in both letter and spirit.

Knapp competed against Todd Andrew Barnett and Chris Bennett for the VP nomination. In his concession, Barnett said that Knapp "is the best representative and speaker for the Party ... without any doubt." He pledged to support the Jay/Knapp ticket. Chris Bennett also conceded, suggesting that he may be interested in being their campaign manager.

It will be interesting to see how this ticket affects the turnout for contraversial Libertarian Party nominees Bob Barr and Wayne Allyn Root. The Boston Tea Party has seen a significant increase in membership since that nomination, which led many purist libertarians to leave the LP or at least object to voting for the LP's ticket in the general election. These members have argued that the former Republican congressman Barr is not a true libertarian, but a libertarian-leaning conservative.

Barr authored the Defense of Marriage Act and voted for the Patriot Act while he was in Congress. He has changed his position on those issues, but is still criticized for not being libertarian enough on many parts of his platform. While Barr calls for a decrease in government spending, he does not have a clear plan for eliminating the federal income tax and the Federal Reserve, a disappointment to many libertarians and conservatives who see these as unconstitutional and supporting of corruption.

The Boston Tea Party's candidates were critical of the FairTax during the debates, and most suggested that it would be better to eliminate the federal income tax and replace it with nothing. I am personally excited about the Jay/Knapp ticket because I know that I will be able to vote for a President who is truly libertarian, constitutionalist, and has clear, strong plans for tackling the root of foreign policy and economic problems.

Boston Tea Party Nominates Jay/Knapp Presidential Ticket

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