Topic: Politics
A Libertarian Party Majority in a Generation If you are a card-carrying Libertarian party member, this is for you. The LP can be a majority party within a generation. This column is a brief summary of the strategy that will accomplish this goal.by John Wingspread Howell
(libertarian)
Saturday, November 1, 2008
If you are a card-carrying Libertarian party member, this is for you. The LP can be a majority party within a generation. This column is a brief summary of the strategy that will accomplish this goal.
1. If you don't believe the LP CAN be at least the second largest party in Congress within a generation, leave now. We love you, but if you don't believe we can succeed politically, we need you out of the party. One of the reasons we lose is that we don't believe we can win. We can blame the lack of ballot access and be content to be the victims. The first pre-requisite for victory, whether in sports, politics, or war, is belief in the possibilty of victory.
2. Those who are left, find more people like you. Each one bring one. We all know there are libertarians everywhere. Some know it. Some don't Our job is to enlighten those who don't know it yet, and recruit all the lower case l's who do or don't know it for the party. Assuming there are 100,000 L's out there now who believe in the possibility of victory and are willing to work to achieve it, and if each of us duplicates ourselves only once, there would be a million of us in ten years. If each of us duplicates ourselves once each year, there would be 102 million of us. Now we're passing those who consider themselves registered Republicans.
3. Everyone who can (and that is almost all of us) should at least double your contribution to the National LP, and also double whatever you give to state, county and local chapters. For most of us what would be $25 national, $25 state, $25 county. That total of $75 doubled to $150 is still possible for most of us. If the LP had twice as much money to work with overnight, think of the litigation we could afford to achieve ballot access. Think of the funds we'd have for campaigns that have a shot at victory. Now if we doubled our numbers and then doubled our contributions, our financial resources quadruple within a year. Can you smell victory yet?
4. Accept this simple affirmation. He or she who passes the world's smallest political quiz as libertarian does not need to justify his or her purity to belong in the party. We don't want the tent to be so big it's meaningless but we want it big enough to accomodate all those who agree on the major agenda. Radical and reform alike must agree to disagree on the minutia and rally around that which we can jointly affirm. "A house divided..." Well, you know the rest.
5. In this celebrity obsessed culture we can make quantum leaps forward by enlisting at least a few of the highest profile L's and l's out there. Imagine someone of the stature of Clint Eastwood, Drew Carey, John Stossel, Terry Savage, et al, using their name and face in a major media campaign to spread the word, and in many cases, funding the publicity themselves! With a sustained media campaign featuring as many libertarian influentials as we can get to take a stand and as much celebrity money as we can raise to help pay for it, there is no doubt in my mind that we will pass the Republicans or force a mergery of Republicrats within a decade. We know we would be the party of choice of a large number of Americans if they knew who we are and what we stand for. With this strategy we will accomplish this.
6. Part of believing we can win involves recruiting the best possible candidates for every race at every level. The days of accepting the lone volunteer are over. Yes, we still affirm democracy. We affirm the right of any party member to seek the nomination. We also affirm the right of the party at all levels to recruit the best libertarian candidates to seek the nomination for every office at every level. This doesn't mean get a Republicrat defector. It doesn't mean don't do that either, but it means be sure whomever you recruit was a true libertarian at heart before you approach them.
7. Finally, there should be a concerted effort to recruit true libertarians who currently serve in higher office as D's or R's. There should be a systematic and intentional campaign to recruit, beginning with those who plan to retire at the end of their term, eliminating electoral risk, and where and when possible, convincing a few popular libertarian D's and R's to run as Libertarians. Nothing would advance our quest for power in government faster than having our own caucus in statehouses and Congress, even if there are only a handful at first.
This seven step plan not only can but will succeed in leading the Libertarian Party to majority status in government within a generation. Still don't believe? Well, come drink my Kool-Aid, or don't go away mad.
Did you like this article? If you did, Thumb It! 11 thumbs so far
The views expressed in this
article are those of John Wingspread Howell only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. John Wingspread Howell is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Oh, wow, thanks for the tip, moron. This has been the LP strategy from day one, except for the hate rhetoric; and except for the next generation bit...it's all to dependent on long-term and realistic local efforts, which this article subtly undermines..
Unfortunately the LP has been, at least on the national level, in the grips of crooks and extreme conservatives who spend their time attacking actual libertarians aided by disinformation pieces like these.
I guarantee this twit can't name 10 libertarian successes, has never viewed the LP strategic plans, or spoken with movement leaders who are actually guiding the movement. But he sure wants to be a general.
Drew Cary and John Stossel are doing their part, expecially Stossel in 20/20 and his 'Give me a break' section.
Then we have the creators and producers of SouthPark for the younger crowd. Their cartoons although filled with non-sense, potty mouth talk, obsenities, and sexual degradation, are also filled with libertarian phylosophies through the eyes of 'inocent' 4th graders. They also have gore (as in horror, blood or violence) and Al Gore (as rediculizing him).
Late Aaron Ruso also did his part when he was alive.
We also have Magicians Penn and Teller with their Showtime program called BullShit! (No joke that is the real name of their program). Bullshit! series could be an excellet Libertarian Party recruiting tool. I recommend buying their DVD's with all episodes of all seasons. I lend my copies to friends and they learn that they may be more L than R or D. You can search for their copies in Ebay.
Then we have Jesse Ventura although lately has been more kooky with his 9/11 conspiracies theories. We also have Dennis Miller (althouth he is more to the right now) and Bill Mahr (although he is more to the left).
And then there is Ron Paul, that has reached some semi-celebrity status but other than to other Libertarians is not well known.
So there are some celebrities or semi-celebrities doing their part for the good of the LP.
But is not enough! We have the biggest stars in hollywood, the public school system and colleges in the left and the evangelicals and major talk show radio hosts on the right. They are way stronger than LP pulling either to the left or to the right. That's still too much power!!!!!
There is a lot of work to be done and many people in the LP feel exhasted because a lot of people out there, althought they want to be FREE, are heavily indoctrinated into either R or D philosophies and can't see beyond that.
Posted By: John Wingspread Howell
Date: 2008-11-04 11:01:40
From the author:
Terry Savage is a relatively well-known novelist with a following, who has been mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate in IL.
Whoever used the term "moron" is a classic example of the great love we have for each other, which will most certainly continue to destine us to failure.
This may be what has been the game plan since day one but it hasn't been implemented very well. Also I don't mean to diminish the importance or effectiveness of local efforts but this is a country that pays more attention to national politics, so we have to have a top down and bottom up approach, simultaneously, and equally well organized and funded.
Mr. Baker, I'd be interested in hearing what you were hoping to read on this topic that would have been a better use of your time. (Seriously.)
To trd: what you say is true but the problem is that those who are exposed to such content don't see any direct or explicit connection between this way of thinking and a political party. What I'm talking about is having the celebs stand up in a sixty minute spot on prime time TV and say "I'm a member of the Libertarian Party, here's why, and here's how you can join or get more information." Also, Clint Eastwood isn't necessarily too old. Isn't he younger than McCain?
Want to comment on this
article? Leave your comment here. Your email address is
required to track your comment. However, we will neither
publish your email address nor distribute it to other
organizations or persons. The only reason we might use
it would be if we needed to contact you regarding your
comment. All comments are subject to our
terms of use policy.
