Luke Wenke: Difference between revisions

Wenke has been a member of the Libertarian Party since October 2013. He has explained that Jesse Ventura was his first political influence in high school. During the 2008 election while in his junior year at Salamanca High School, Wenke noticed Ventura (already a former Governor) giving commentary on the news and was inspired by the idea of an independent outsider breaking the two party paradigm and getting elected Governor. Wenke was registered Republican for a few years into his adulthood, having supported Carl Paladino for Governor of New York in 2010 and later on Ron Paul in the 2012 Republican primaries, before having shifted all support over to Gary Johnson’s 2012 run for President.

Wenke was first introduced to the Libertarian party from a friend from the internet in 2011. He had watched Libertarian activities for years on the outside before getting directly involved. Anonymous and Robin Hood-style politics had been an early influence on Wenke. He did not learn about the anarchism ideology in depth until early 2017 after he came across the Mr. Dapperton YouTube series by chance and he has claimed the anarchist identity for himself ever since. When debating or selling his views to one, several, or many people all at once, Wenke has used what he calls the “armchair politician perspective” to make his political decisions since the majority of people are on the outside watching everything happen. Wenke has tried to remember “the audience” in order to extend his reach and get the libertarian message across to as many people as possible without “selling out” or “watering things down."

Wenke has been subjected to constant social media censorship, but has been the founder of such Facebook groups as Olean Politics (now Olean War Zone, largely inactive compared to it’s early days) and Let’s Bitch About Cuomo (completely dissolved by Facebook). In 2012, Wenke used the Topix forum website to swirl rumors about a potential run for Mayor of Salamanca, having successfully sparked the entire Salamanca area’s awareness about the potential run. Wenke did not live in Salamanca at the time but “since everyone knew former Mayor Carmen Vecchiarella didn’t even live in town, why shouldn’t I use someone else’s address as my voting address and run anyways?” Wenke ultimately did not run for the position, but this Topix stunt was early proof of Wenke’s “internet yeller” abilities. Through the now defunct Topix website, Wenke grew fond of using fake usernames to start local discussion on any and every local resident that came to Wenke’s mind while knowing that doing this would incite that particular person and all of their peers to read Topix on a daily basis. After Wenke was sure “all or at least most” of the local area was checking Topix on a frequent basis, he began starting forums about himself for self promotion purposes.