Wild Caucus
| Wild Caucus | |
| |
| General Information | |
| Chartered: | 2022 |
| Region: | National |
| Officers | |
| Chair: | Elijah Mack |
| Vice-Chair: | Lincoln Gaffney |
| Contact | |
| Website: | Website |
| Social Media | |
| Twitter: | |
The LP Wild Caucus is a caucus of the Libertarian Party formed in 2022 in order to serve the growing environmentalist, naturalist, traditionalist, and homesteader communities within Libertarianism (as a broader ideological) movement, and to get these communities which exist outside of the LP active within the party. The organization currently acts as the 'green caucus' in the Libertarian Party. The philosophy of the Wild Caucus is based on the idea that not only is Libertarianism compatible with environmental concern, but that Liberty and the more nuanced philosophy of Naturalism go hand in hand.
The group's working name during formation was "LP Naturalist Caucus", but the name "Wild Caucus" was ultimately created and chosen by the caucus founder/chair because, "To be wild, means to be both natural and free". This phrase is one of two caucus brands, the other being, "LP Wild Caucus: Free, Naturally".
The Wild Caucus states three main objectives on their website;
- Spreading the ideas of Naturalism, individual autonomy, free exchange, and mutual aid on a grassroots level.
- Filling local and regional offices with Wild Libertarians who can make direct small-scale change to defend the environment, natural living, and Liberty.
- Bringing often overlooked ecological issues and Naturalist ideas to the forefront of discussion in the LP.
The full Wild Caucus platform can be found on the caucus' website.
Naturalism
Overall Ideology
The Wild Caucus espouses not merely concern for the environment from a Libertarian perspective, but it also represents what its founder calls a general "Naturalist variant of Libertarianism", with heavy influence from Transcendentalist thinkers like Henry David Thoreau. The LP Wild Caucus Platform, Written in 2022, and ratified on February 7th, 2023, defines the general notion of Naturalism:
"Naturalism is the recognition that our environment is a robust, decentralized, interdependent, and self-regulating collection of organisms and inorganic phenomena, governing every facet of the material world. The Naturalist then, holds two things to be true;
A. The human being's condition is crafted by the environment to suit a natural way of life, rather than an artificial one. This natural life is most healthy. Man is most psychologically satiated when he is autonomous, free, and able to provide for himself and his community directly, living a life healthy for his human body and mind, in closeness to nature.
B. Industrial progress and modern human civilization can have a significant impact on man's natural surroundings, leading to damage of our interdependent environment."
-WC Platform 1:2
Environmentalist Views
- The Wild Caucus generally espouses Ecological Preservationism, meaning that the group tends to propose preservation of current National Parks and Sanctuaries by non-government conservation groups, contractually obliged to maintain the wild state of the land. Whereas Conservationists call for maintaining wilderness in order to conserve resources, Preservations hold that maintaining wilderness for its own sake is a necessity for the health of the planet and the mental and/or spiritual health of the human.
- The Wild Caucus calls for abolishing protections on private entities who have polluted the private properties and bodies of citizens.
- The Wild Caucus supports abolition of Agricultural Subsidy.
'Traditionalism'
While not necessarily espousing 'Traditionalist' views in any Conservative sense, the caucus supports a 'natural lifestyle' based on self-reliance, community interdependence, mutual aid, and simple living. The group seeks to:
- Promote Homeschooling and other alternatives to formal institutional education.
- Remove taxes and regulations which impede a self-reliant lifestyle.
- Promote strong family units which instill values of non-aggression, respect, and charity in future generations.
- Protect one's right to use alternative and traditional medicines and practice Pharmacognosy.
On social media, the Wild Caucus has supported:
- Radically reducing dependence on the Welfare State via localized Mutual Aid Societies.
Modern Living
According to the LP Wild Caucus website, the organization, "seeks to bring to light and address mental health issues caused by present conditions (high-stress living, oversocialization, social media, unhealthy technological habits) and physiological health issues caused by present conditions (Obesity, Heart Disease, heightened risk of Cancer, etc)".
Drug Decriminalization
The Wild Caucus, like most other organizations within the Libertarian Party, advocates for the decriminalization of all substances for use by adults. It is the belief of the caucus that drug use is a cultural issue and therefore must be dealt with organically, and not by the State. Founder and Chair of the Wild Caucus, Elijah Mack, has personally expressed support on social media for the Portuguese system, holding that such a system, if implemented in the United States, would lead to decreased overdose rates, higher addiction recovery rates, and safer use of drugs in the country.
The Wild Caucus supports Psilocybin Therapy, according to their caucus platform.
Transhumanism
The Wild Caucus is the first caucus of the Libertarian Party, and possibly the first political party-affiliated organization in the United States, to take an explicit stance against Transhumanist ideology. The Caucus holds that man is unfit to plan and govern the environment or human nature just as the Government is unfit to plan or govern an economy that is exponentially simpler. The Wild Caucus, as an organization of Naturalists, holds that the environment and human nature are fundamentally good and are not to be 'escaped'.
Opposition to Caucus Wars
The Wild Caucus, via social media, has expressed concern about the increased division in the LP between culturally left wing and culturally right wing Libertarians. The Wild Caucus has promised that wherever WC members are put into power in the LP, they will display principled branding while not pandering to the left or right in particular. The primary concern of the Wild Caucus is showing a "green side" of the LP.
The 2023 preamble of the Wild Caucus Platform confronts the issue of caucus power overriding the authority of Libertarian Principle when it comes to the Platform and Branding of the Libertarian Party. Elijah Mack, the chairman of the Wild Caucus calls for an inter-caucus movement to finalize an unchanging LP platform which shall be a permanent authority over all LP activities, so that the party can ascend from the state of "Wasting utilities on trying to stop the LP from shifting one way or another [politically]".
Affiliation With Other Caucuses
Members of the Wild Caucus can freely join other Caucuses of the Libertarian Party. The 2024 Classical Liberal Caucus ticket for US President, Chase Oliver, has expressed support for the Wild Caucus on Twitter, while presently, the majority of active members of the Wild Caucus are also members of the Mises Caucus. The Wild Caucus seeks to speak uncritically of other Libertarian Party Caucuses or their general members as a principle, but on Twitter, the caucus has expressed criticism of both Joshua Reed Eakle (Classical Liberal Caucus, Project Liberal, etc.) as well as Libertarian Party leadership backed by the Mises Caucus.
Organizational Structure
The Wild Caucus Organizational Structure is quite simple. The Platform of the caucus is set in stone, so the duties of leadership within the organization are restricted to that of executives. This means that all caucus leaders merely focus on orchestrating the group's activities and not on platform or bylaws issues.
The Caucus has a Chair, Vice Chair, and six Regional Overseers. Regional Overseers can form whatever lower executive systems they so choose, in line with what's necessary for running the caucus in their respective district. Most leaders in the Caucus are first appointed formally by the Vice Chair, and thereafter they are elected by the caucus' membership.