About

Welcome to The Artful Dilettante–a sanctuary of reason and virtue, where reality is your best friend and facts always trump wishful thinking. It is the Lamp of Hope in a dark and musty corner of a crumbling civilization. It is the seedbed of the Republic of Letters and Virtue coming soon to a world near you. It is a place of free minds, free wills, and free markets–without chains, yokes, or harnesses. The Artful Dilettante is on the front lines of the Liberty Movement. It is intended for people who think rationally as a way of life. There is no place here for the false dichotomies of left and right, haves and have-nots, liberals and conservatives. History is and has always been about the struggle between liberty and power. The stale bromides and recycled political pablum advanced as solutions by our benighted leadership will find no support here. Great moral problems cannot be solved by sleights-of-hand. The true sign of a good idea is the wailing and gnashing of teeth by the ruling class. We are ever on the lookout for bold and sweeping ideas, firmly grounded in liberty, which will send the political class into fits of rage.

We always have our finger on the pulse at The Artful Dilettante. We are dispassionate, keenly perceptive, and yes, somewhat cynical observers of human events. We are at once above the din and in the fray. We have a nuanced understanding of our political system and the criminals and reprobates who run it. We never accept anything at face value, especially the pronouncements of those in power and the echoes of their dutiful, fawning bottom-dwellers in the media and university faculty lounges. We know that people often aren’t who they say they are, and that things aren’t always as they appear to be. We fully agree with the notion that there are no accidents in politics. We reflexively assume that every politician is either lying or stupid, and that the vast majority of the American people can be trusted with a deadly weapon but not the right to vote. We fully agree with the words of Jefferson: “The Tree of Liberty must be watered from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots.” Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are yours by birthright, not permission. They can be taken away, but never granted.

We promise never to be fair and balanced but to tell the unvarnished truth. Fair and balanced just means you’re telling the truth half the time. Remember, all you get when you straddle a fence is a sore ass. We promise to challenge the prevailing wisdom while honoring the universal, trancendent truths of our forebears. Lastly, we promise to aggressively promote our vision of a just and peaceful society based on the application of reason to the challenges of life on earth.

The Artful Dilettante

A Legend in His Own Mind.

This website is dedicated to my political/philosophical mentor—RJL.

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Ama-gi: first known recorded symbol of “liberty” in Sumerian cuneiform

Recent Posts

Constitutional Party has begun maintaining a National List of Candidates running with the Party in the 2026 Election Cycle.

The Constitution Party has begun maintaining a national list of candidates running with the party in the 2026 election cycle. Party leadership has previously said that recruiting candidates would be a major priority moving forward.

The party shared the current list Tuesday, stating that additional candidates will be added as filing deadlines pass in other states. As of publication, the list includes 28 candidates across four states, with the majority concentrated in Utah and Nevada.

In Utah, the party is fielding 16 candidates, most of whom are running for county-level offices. These include commission and council seats in Cache, Salt Lake, and Washington counties. Another seven candidates are seeking seats in the state legislature, though they will not formally receive the support of state delegates until the Constitution Party of Utah’s nominating convention in San Pete County on April 25.

Nevada accounts for another 10 candidates running with the Independent American Party, the Constitution Party’s affiliate in the state. That slate includes local candidates in Humboldt and Nye counties, as well as a race for the Indian Hills General Improvement District Board of Trustees, which is the only nonpartisan contest on the list.

The Nevada affiliate is also fielding candidates for higher office, including national Western States Co-chair Janine Hansen for lieutenant governor and Brad Barnhill for secretary of state, along with a small number of legislative candidates. Three candidates are running for U.S. House seats, including Lynn Chapman in the 2nd District, Jon Kamerath in the 3rd District, and Russell Best in the 4th District.

In New Hampshire, the party is fielding its state chair, Ed Laplante, for U.S. Senate. The seat is open after Democrat Jeanne Shaheen said she would not seek a fourth term. To qualify for the ballot, Laplante will need to collect at least 3,000 valid signatures, allowing him to appear on the ballot using the party label as a designation.

In both Illinois and New Hampshire, each state affiliate is fielding a single candidate this year. In Illinois, Tim Pearcy is running for Massac County clerk against incumbent Republican Haley Miles in the general election after both candidates cleared their respective primaries without opposition. No candidates filed with any other parties.

If he earns at least 4 percent of the vote in November, the Constitution Party of New Hampshire could qualify for official recognition, allowing it to hold state-run primaries, maintain a ballot line, and register voters under the party.

Since the election of Justin McGill in 2024 as chair of the Constitution Party National Committee, he has frequently said the party will prioritize recruiting new candidates and identifying local organizers to build new state affiliates and expand its candidate base. McGill previously said that the party’s objective is to have a presence in 40 states by the 2028 election cycle.

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