Bernard Carman

From Daily Planet Staff Reports

The Libertarian Party of Buncombe County must find an area activist with a penchant for liberty to take over its chairmanship — or the local party may disband.

At least that is the assessment of Berard Carman, chairman of the LPBC, who has decided to step down as soon as possible after two years at the helm.

In a late-night interview June 30 with the Daily Planet, Carman, who lives in Montford, noted that he is “dropping out” because he is “personally exhausted” from his efforts on behalf of the party. Before becoming chairman, he served for several years as vice chairman.

For several years, an average of between five and 15 people have attended the LPBC socials every Monday night at El Chapala restaurant on Merrimon Avenue in North Asheville, Carman said. The party has been meeting at the eatery for about a decade.
However, “nobody has been able to run for chair, although we have people” interested in running for all of the other party posts, Carman observed.

Despite his exhaustion, he said, “I’m still interested in remaining as an executive committee officer” with the LPBC.

As for the chairman’s position, Carman asserted, “So now we’re making a decision. We’re hoping someone else will take over on Aug. 4, when we meet to elect new officers” at the LPBC’s annual convention, which is being held later than usual.

Carman said the local party had seen an additional 30 people at its meetings during the height of the fervor — last December — over Ron Paul’s campaign for president.

The Ron Paul meet-up group continued to draw large turnouts until the North Carolina primary was held on May 6. “We still have a lot of Ron Paul supporters in the Libertarian Party,” Carman said.

Carman said he hopes to spend more of his time on political action and less on the mechanics of running a local political party.
To that end, even though he leads the local Libertarian party, Carman recently registered as a Republican in a failed quest to help Paul gain the GOP nomination. Now, Carman is re-registering as a Libertarian.

He also spoke enthusiastically about the national Libertarian Party’s selection of Bob Barr as its nominee for president.

Finally, Carman said, the party has adopted a more concise and politically savvy platform that “deals with practical politics” and not just abstract theories. He termed Barr’s selection as a sign that the LP “is moving into more of a big-tent” party.

He said if either Barr or Mike Munger, the Libertarian candidate for North Carolina governor, get at least two percent of the vote in the state, the state Libertarian Party will be saved from the state’s expensive and time-consuming process to achieve ballot access.

Carman said his personal political passion now is to focus on the right to petition for the redress of grievances via a plan to restore constitutional accountability.

He also noted his participation with a nonpartisan group, The Asheville Revolution, that believes “the real issue is an authoritarian government that continues to usurp our individual liberties.”