The National Atheist Party: Boon or boondoggle?

I recently had the very exasperating experience of joining the National Atheist Party where I was immediately appointed to the Advisory Council as GLBT Coordinator. During the three-months I spent in that position I gleaned a great deal of information on the inner workings of a budding political organization. My chief lesson remains that political parties are inherently  misguided, ego-bound, outdated anachronisms, at best. At their worst they become completely paralyzed when those egos invariably clash. This was the outcome for me when  the Str8 Party President decided he knew better how to run the GLBT-NAP page that I created. Being a new party a few at the top began to take themselves a bit too seriously. Paper pushing and meetings via computer link-up were deemed paramount while recruiting members should have been the primary focus. These weekly confabs were always conveniently held at 8 p.m. Eastern Time while I was at work either in Phoenix or Tucson in the Mountain Time Zone. This would bode ill for my future in the organization. Who wants sacrifice their career to shuffle endless reams of nonsense for a party of (then) a few hundred people? Not I. 

  What I sought to contribute was my Facebook pages and their connections to help the party grow. This was especially my goal with the GLBT Page that I created. I also created the State Chapter groups for Arizona & New Mexico.

  My Facebook legerdemain is rather large: 30 Pages and 6 Groups. Their predominant theme involves either Gay Rights or Atheism and often an amalgam of the two, as my personal activism on Facebook has evolved along those parameters. I made this quite clear to the NAP hierarchy. In lieu of a paycheck, I would continue to devote myself toall of my Fb interests. Filing ad nauseam perfunctory reports about my activities which were just as clearly evident if one had only visited my three NAP pages, was not a good allocation of my time. I stressed a need for a secretary to follow me about spying on my every irresponsible move ( a cute young man, it goes without saying). The intended humor in that request was missed by the robotic VP and likewise considered an affront to the Party, its practices and rules of conduct in whatever amorphous form they happened to constitute depending on the prevailing mood.  Silly boys! Mr. Mike has never been at the beck and call of such rank amateurs. Just ask my six (?) ex-husbands! Kowtowing to an upstart primadonna was simply not going to happen. I found great comfort that many shared my opinion and still do. Trust me when I say, you will find nary a Dawkins, Hitchens or Harris in the lot of the NAP upper echelon.

  Alack and alas, I was removed as GLBT Coordinator and replaced by  six Str8 members. This was of course a huge compliment since I have often felt I do the work of many and with a fraction of the fuss, even at my ever advancing age. When you come out at 13 as I did, during the Stonewall era, you hardly need the approval of petty bourgeois bureaucrats? It was sad however when one realized that the NAP chose heterosexuals to lead the GLBT effort.

  That brings us to the very notion of an American atheist political party. While involved with the NAP I discovered what a huge tent would be required to cover all of the varying political ideologies involved with those who are non-believers in god(s). Not to mention the herculean  effort required to keep every one under that tent if and when you got them assembled there! Atheists may share non-belief - but they share little else. Conservative, Liberal, Xenophobic etc. - the NAP proved this, replete as it was with more than a few homophobes. Two of these cretins-in-atheist-drag posted their hatred for Gays at will. It took a major tantrum on my part to have the offensive remarks removed from, of all places, the NAP main Fb Page! In fact, I was removed as co-admin of the page for chastising homophobes!  How could I break my political bread with such people. Being Gay and a lifelong liberal naturally, I bristled at the remarks of some of the more intolerant members of this so-called Party. Other members found themselves summarily dismissed for merely questioning the reasoning and/or veracity of of the President's dictates. The only consistency was inconsistency. Much back tracking and hand wringing occurred at the expense of the hoped for unity that never quite coalesced. I have just been informed that two-thirds of the State Chapter Leaders were removed for: not submitting a photo-copy of their drivers license! Well, I would have been bumped out eventually then anyway.

  One is reminded of the axiom which equates uniting atheists as akin to herding cats. Possible? Maybe. Likely? hardly.

  Sadly I soon realized that such a grand scheme was pointless and would soon disintergrate into petty squabbling - which it has over things such as what to call the Party since "Atheist" is considered by some as non-inclusive of Secularists, Agnostics and science devotees, among others along the varied spectrum of rational thinkers. One would have presumed such details would have been worked out during the early days of party formulation. A budding cult-of-personality was, instead, the focus. 

  As I quickly moved on from the experience, thankful for the many good friends I made along the way, I began to hear of vendettas directed against me. The scarlet A I have worn for so long was replaced by an L: for leper. Many were chastised and badgered into un-friending me on Facebook. Belonging to one of my Groups was anathema to the President and VP. Chagrined at the audacity I displayed by daring to be NOT intimidated by their Heathers-esque junior-high school games, as these hapless-despots were, a target was placed upon me. Mass e-mails often are sent out demanding that this offender or that malcontent be unfriended. What is the NAP? Sounds more like a witch hunt where people are arbitrarily expunged for disobeying dimwitted despots who have no business leading a Party supposedly dedicated to freethinkers! 

  I'd made it a point to refrain where possble from discussing my departure - not wishing to harm the Party. That is evidently not good enough for a few who call themselves party leaders. I still belong and am a member of a few groups - this more to oversight on the part of my detractors I'm sure and one that will be immediately rectified, post haste, just as soon as this note gets posted around. Purge me as you undoubtedly will! If there must be a fight, the gloves (studded black leather of course!) are now off. I am rested and ready. Mr. Mike Müller