FW: LASCIATE OGNE SPERANZA, VOI CH'INTRATE.
lnc-public_forward
From: Adrian Malagon <adrian....@lp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2025 12:07:03 AM (UTC+00:00) Monrovia, Reykjavik
To: lnc-public_forward <lnc-publi...@lp.org>
Cc: LNC Board <lncb...@lp.org>
Subject: LASCIATE OGNE SPERANZA, VOI CH'INTRATE.
Greetings All,
The email below was sent to the LNC on Saturday, July 12, 2025. I am sharing it publicly with the author’s permission:
Subject: Look In the Mirror Before You Smash it
To the LNC,
Your problem isn't Adrian Malagon.
It’s why the Libertarian Party needs him — whether you want to admit it or not.
Let’s not pretend otherwise: the Mises Caucus takeover hollowed out this organization. Longtime donors fled. Fundraising collapsed. And it quickly became clear that Angela McArdle had no viable plan to help the Party recover. What she left behind was a shell — an organization incapable of performing even its most vital functions. Most of our experienced staff were gone. In many cases, they were never replaced. There simply wasn’t the money — or the will — to do so.
Now we've learned that Angela alienated competent staff and volunteers while quietly funneling money to her partner.
You’re still suffering the consequences of her appointment of Michael Heise as fundraising lead — another textbook case of factionalism over function. He was tasked with raising money for the Party from the same pool he had already drained for the caucus. That’s
not leadership. That’s cannibalism. No new acquisition strategy. No expansion plan. Just recycled poor-mouthing to a shrinking list of donors already strained under spiraling inflation. A recipe for collapse.
Long before Angela’s departure, I stepped down from the board. But I didn’t resign to disengage. I left to focus on mission-critical repair work — and to stop wasting energy on other people’s ego theater. I was still putting in 10+ hour days trying to patch the holes left after the Mises Caucus purged the Party’s institutional memory. And I kept at it until Angela finally froze me out.
When Adrian stepped into my seat, it wasn’t because I believed his style was ideal. It was because the Party was paralyzed — and someone had to break through the layers of dysfunction that were actively blocking progress. I knew that someone wouldn’t be me. I don’t operate like Adrian. But I can admit that his tactics were necessary. And many of you know that, too. I’ve watched you lean on him as the blunt instrument — the one person willing to say the things no one else would.
For a time, Adrian became Angela’s survival mechanism. She needed someone to cut through the entropy and shove the machinery back into motion. Say what you want about his tone — he got things moving. He’s done the calling out. The line-holding. The uncomfortable truth-telling. The dirty work no one else wanted to do. He may not enjoy it, but he’s one of the few left who will actually do what it takes to stop the bleeding. Why? Because he still gives a damn.
So yes — Adrian is sharp-tongued.
But if that bothers you, ask the harder question:
What kind of environment made that tone necessary?
This isn’t just a personality clash.
It’s the natural result of a broken system.
At the board level, you are facing a serious capacity gap — especially when it comes to fundraising and strategic growth. Many LNC members are elected based on their activism and state-level organizing, which absolutely has value. But effectiveness at the national level requires a different toolkit — one that includes donor development, growth strategy, and the ability to scale operations.
Right now, there’s no coordinated large donor pipeline, no deep external networks to tap, and few board members in a position to help change that. Without a steady stream of financial support, we cannot hire and retain the qualified full-time staff needed to stabilize and professionalize this organization. That’s not a criticism of anyone’s intentions. It’s simply a reality we have to reckon with. Activism and organizational growth are both essential — but they are not the same skill sets. Until we stop conflating them, we’ll continue to hit the same walls.
And sorry to add insult to injury, but the biggest loss here isn’t even the money. It’s talent. You are bleeding out the kind of people who could actually build something lasting. Smart, capable, principled liberty-lovers avoid the LP not because they’ve lost faith in freedom — but because they don’t want to waste their lives in a clown show. And frankly, to borrow a common phrase from Adrian himself: They’re not wrong.
And all of this is happening at the worst possible time. Americans are more disillusioned than ever — with both major parties. We are surrounded by independents, walkaways, and politically homeless people actively searching for somewhere to land. But instead of rising to meet the moment, we’re handing the spotlight — and the donor dollars — to Elon Musk and “anti-establishment” grifters who fill the void we’ve failed to occupy.
This is our moment, and we’re blowing it. Because while others are building platforms, we’re still bickering over tone.
This isn’t just about Adrian. It’s about a political culture that mistakes bluster for backbone. That rewards factional loyalty over results. That burns out the capable and sidelines the honest. So no — you don’t have to like Adrian’s tone. But you should damn well ask why the Party created conditions that made someone like him essential. And then ask yourself what you are doing to fix it. Because the real danger isn’t Adrian. It’s the slow, quiet death of a Party that could’ve mattered.
We don’t need another scapegoat. We need a reckoning — and the courage to rebuild.
——————
There is not much more I can add to such a brilliant and damning indictment of the current state of the Libertarian Party, but as I have always done, I will continue with the uncomfortable truth-telling.
The National Libertarian Party's sustaining membership is at an all-time low and (rightfully) declining with each passing month.
The National Convention is yet again primed to be an unmitigated disaster in ways that executive sessions, despite Mr. Ford’s best efforts, will no longer be able to mask.
The Libertarian National Committee’s financial situation is abysmal and only going to get worse. The organization is currently facing a net loss of approximately $15,000 per month, which is anticipated to double in the near future. This figure does not include the additional expenses of $120,000 to $150,000 that will likely need to be paid before the end of the year.
The National Convention is yet again primed to be an unmitigated disaster in ways that executive sessions, despite Mr. Ford’s best efforts, will not be able to mask much longer.
Regions are not sending their best representatives (or maybe they are, which is even more troubling).
I was one of five factionless Board members, tirelessly working to plug up leaks on a sinking ship. Now, Ms. Yeniscavich, the most important one of those members, has had enough and taken her leave. The rest of the Board insists on finding obstacles to crash the ship into so long as it helps “their side,” depending on the issue or day, making the attempt to find land before the ship goes under completely a clearly futile effort—one not worthy of my 30+ volunteer hours a week.
The demands of a normal and fruitful life require me to redirect my energy toward something far more productive with individuals worthy of my talents. This seems to me far more appealing than wasting any more of my time, effort, energy, or money within a deeply unserious organization made up primarily of equally deeply unserious people.
As Dante survived the depths of the Inferno by climbing Lucifer’s body to see the dawn of a new day in Purgatorio, I shall tender my resignation as an At-Large Representative of the Libertarian National Committee, Chair of the Financial Standards Committee, and member of the Employment and Policy Compensation Committee with immediate effect.
I thank Chair Nekhaila and a few former colleagues of mine for putting the Party and the liberty movement before any one person or faction. I wish you all the best. You truly deserve better. Those of you who forced the “Last Chair Bender” of Michigan and the insufferable “Cryin’ Hawaiian” from Region One upon the LNC have seemingly proven the French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre right: “Hell is other people.” The rest of you deserve each other and the consequences you'll reap in the coming weeks and months as a result of your fecklessness, incompetence, and noxious mediocrity.
Magna est Veritas et Prævalet,
Adrian F Malagon
At-Large Rep, Libertarian National Committee
Chair, Libertarian Party of California
lnc-public_forward
From: Austin Martin <austin...@lp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2025 12:13:52 AM (UTC+00:00) Monrovia, Reykjavik
To: Adrian Malagon <adrian....@lp.org>; lnc-public_forward <lnc-publi...@lp.org>
Cc: LNC Board <lncb...@lp.org>
Subject: Re: LASCIATE OGNE SPERANZA, VOI CH'INTRATE.
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2025 2:07:03 PM
lnc-public_forward
From: Meredith Hays <meredi...@lp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2025 12:52:04 AM (UTC+00:00) Monrovia, Reykjavik
To: Adrian Malagon <adrian....@lp.org>; lnc-public_forward <lnc-publi...@lp.org>
Cc: LNC Board <lncb...@lp.org>
Subject: Re: LASCIATE OGNE SPERANZA, VOI CH'INTRATE.
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2025 5:07:03 PM