The Upper Peninsula Libertarian Party has been legally and procedurally dissolved. This was done in accordance with the bylaws and rules of the UPLP political committee. The meeting minutes will be preserved and retained by two past secretaries, including myself. The following is a written speech I gave to the several active members remaining whom I kept in touch with after moving:

“I wish you all the best for yourselves in your own lives.

I tend to think of liberty as a thing an individual takes when, from their position, a NAP-keeping act is possible (as long as nobody uses force, fraud, or coercion to stop them).

So, naturally, it is a condition that is fostered by a non-interventionist government (as foreign or domestic policy) and a banking system that is beholden to law and parliament.

We live in a time when the condition is not fostered, and so naturally, we cannot bring about liberty for all in our lifetimes.

We cannot set the clock back 251+ years and live how some antifederalists (or jeffersonian if you will) idealized american life.

If we are ever to increase liberty for those within our sphere of influence, which is intermittent at best, we would need constant physical vigilance indeed, but unless we are physically opening doors and windows for [or defending] people they are, naturally, better fit to secure their own liberty than we ourselves can.

So, naturally, we should focus personal action [on] mainly ourselves in securing our own liberties. The more free time and space for living we secure for ourselves, the more able we are to help others.

So, all this is to say, we are all better off without the UPLP or the useless struggle to change a system dominated by the riches first (and then consideration trickles down from there but doesn’t go far). I hope to see you all more than I did before, because I want to be an ally of liberty and those who seek it so passionately. That is what everyone here has in common and it is a lofty goal. So remember each other too, and be well my friends.

I wish I knew the rest of you better, but it has been a real adventure, learning process, and honor to be the [UPLP] secretary (3 years), UPLP newsletter writer/editor (1 yr), [state newsletter writer/editor (1.5 yrs)], state communications director (1 yr), state judicial committee member (1 yr), and national credentials committee member (briefly) between 2021 and 2025.

I tended to side with the libertarian thin crowd (NAP, property rights, neutrality in cultural issues, minimal or no state) versus the thick crowd (extra moral positions like…from conflict theory or duty-based ethics for example).

Overall, I just appreciate the learning process and anyone who advocates for liberty and the NAP.”

Joshua Ray Jongema