Libertarian Youth Caucus
| The Libertarian Youth Caucus (LYC) | |
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| Officers | |
| Chair: | Theodore Gercken |
| Secretary: | Pietro Geraci |
| Treasurer: | Zach LeMaire |
| Contact | |
| Website: | Website |
| Social Media | |
| Facebook: | |
| Twitter: | |
| Instagram: | |
The Libertarian Youth Caucus (LYC) is the youth wing of the Libertarian Party and operates chapters at High Schools and Colleges across the United States.
While America has many organizations that exist to spread the ideals of Libertarianism to the next generation, because all but the LYC operate as non-partisan organizations, mostly even eschewing the Libertarian Party entirely, in favor of Republicans or Democrats, large-scale political activism is inefficient and, because of that, in many cases nonexistent. Students in these organizations may enjoy learning about Libertarianism and debating their friends, but they are not being equipped to make change in the broader world.
That is where the Libertarian Youth Caucus steps in. The LYC seeks not just to spread the message of liberty to America’s youth but to cultivate future leaders and candidates for the Libertarian Party as their youth wing. They are organized to set their members out into the world with party connections, knowledge of actual campaigns, and the toolset to start channeling their ideals into real-world action.
Organizational Structure
The heart of the LYC are Local Affiliates, that work to spread the message of liberty and get students involved in the Libertarian Party. Their ultimate goal is to serve as a funnel, recruiting students and getting them to work advancing liberty. Young Americans can join the LYC at www.lycaucus.org/join and a leader from their area will help them get involved.
Local Affiliates are supported by State Affiliates that work to create resources and partner with the corresponding State Libertarian Party to create opportunities. The National LYC functions similarly but it coordinates with LPNational and supports State Affiliates directly.
While the LYC is organized as the youth wing of the Libertarian Party and works closely with the party, it is a separate organization where young Americans can lead the way. A description of the full structure of the LYC and members of various bodies can be found at operations.lycaucus.org.
History
The LYC was founded at the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania State Convention in 2016 by Trent Somes as a collection of young Americans in the Libertarian Party. Initially the caucus focused on lobbying for and supporting candidates inside the party to draw a greater focus on issues that affect younger voters. Shortly after it's founding, the LYC started to set up chapters at High Schools and Colleges around the country, which slowly became the primary focus of the organization.
Because of a lack of institutional support and focus, the LYC grew and shrank over the years until the summer of 2022, when Theodore Gercken was elected Chair and instituted a relaunch. He partnered with the Libertarian Party to become their youth wing and changed the focus to be only on Local Affiliates that could get young Americans excited about Libertarianism and then help them work within the party. As a whole, the relaunch saw an abandonment of internal party politics and a commitment to building the future of the Libertarian Party.
Leadership
Chairs
- Trent Somes (PA) (2016—2018)
- J.P. Wilson (SC) (2018)
- Aaron Sobzak (2018)
- Theodore Gercken (2022—present)
Vice-Chairs
- Matt Geiger (MD) (2016—2018)
- Olivia Clark (CA) (2017)
- Aaron Sobzak (VA) (2018)
- Grant Deltz (2018-2021)
- Theodore Gercken (2021-2022)
Secretaries
- Pietro S. Geraci (2021—present)
Treasurers
- Zach Lemaire (2021—present)
Other
- Eli Bowman (OH) Voting Advisor (2018)
- John Harper Sharp (SC)-Campaign/Recruitment Director (2018)
- James Sweet III (SC)-Chairman-At-Large (2018)