In late May of 2008, the Libertarian Party will hold its biennial national convention. In presidential election years, the highlight of that convention is the nomination of the party's presidential slate. However, the convention will deal with many other matters as well -- among them, the periodic process of considering amendments to its bylaws and platform.

In 2006, the LP's platform changed dramatically. A number of its planks were deleted; others were modified. Much of this took place against a background of conflict between two factions upon which the labels "reformer" and "radical" (or, less accurately, "pragmatist" and "purist") have settled.

The resulting platform seems to have left most of those concerned with it unhappy: The "radicals," because many measures they considered important were deleted and others modified in a "reformer" direction; the "reformers" because the job they set out to do remains unfinished.