tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893272060787897238.post3297098168618445486..comments2024-03-19T08:42:45.690-04:00Comments on The Delaware Libertarian: The Libertarian Party: Failing our own candidates in new and creative waysSteven H. Newtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09097470960863103473noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893272060787897238.post-8487210184800287892008-08-11T17:35:00.000-04:002008-08-11T17:35:00.000-04:00Some of the LP operatives in my area have made ove...Some of the LP operatives in my area have made overtures to the Barr Campaign to see if he would come to campaign here with our candidates. We have active candidates and organizations and have made progress over the years with the local media. <BR/><BR/>Well, the answer was that Barr would only stop here if we could promise donations of over 5 figures. It is obvious that he has no interest in helping downticked libertarians but instead wants to suck the life out of local organizations to feed his own campaign.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893272060787897238.post-66129165706403268052008-08-09T20:55:00.000-04:002008-08-09T20:55:00.000-04:00Steve Newton said...What would an LP organized fro...Steve Newton said...<BR/>What would an LP organized from the "bottom up” look like? <BR/><BR/>That can only be answered if one knows what the mission is. <BR/>Assuming for the moment that the mission is to change public policy by electing “libertarians” to office, one way would be to organize at the PRECINCT LEVEL only where there are libertarians willing to be run for, be elected to and serve in local office for a number of terms. Each such candidate would need a local support team. A local PAC if you will. It wouldn’t matter if the PAC was created first and a candidate sought, or if a potential candidate sought to form a local PAC. These PACs would cooperate as they saw fit to support a credible candidate for higher office such as borough, town or city ward level. “Conventions” at the city, state or national level would only be held by or attended by “the willing” and any determinations made at such conventions would be enforced only the voluntary cooperation of the “convinced”. It would take a number of years for a cadre of experienced local elected libertarians to select from among themselves candidates for higher office that they could support and who could be credible and competitive. <BR/><BR/>Of course there are and would be a myriad of details and problems to work through and I can’t list them all and don’t know them all. But assuming that this non-hierarchical, decentralized, matrix organization was successful at the local and county level, there might not be any need to go further. It would be time to reevaluate the strategy. Maybe the Democrat and Republican parties would have been sufficiently transformed towards free market limited government that further debate and reformation could take place within the “reformed” parties. A firm libertarian base at the county level would be an inhibiting factor against the natural tendency for government bureaucracy to grow.<BR/><BR/>This organization would not necessarily be known as the "Libertarian Party" in all states and would not purport to be the sole arbiter of what is or is not libertarian. Other ideological organizations or individuals can claim/dispute that authority.John Famularohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14735213592045609772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893272060787897238.post-60701935723656966072008-08-09T14:17:00.000-04:002008-08-09T14:17:00.000-04:00JohnFor kicks, grins, and future debate, you have ...John<BR/>For kicks, grins, and future debate, you have asked a question that has been niggling at me for some time: What would an LP organized from the "bottom up"look like?<BR/><BR/>I start with one major assumption: it would not be so fixated on presidential elections.Steven H. Newtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09097470960863103473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893272060787897238.post-19230982867381759482008-08-09T13:20:00.000-04:002008-08-09T13:20:00.000-04:00You said: “The Libertarian Party currently does no...You said: “The Libertarian Party currently does not have a national leadership organization that is either willing or able to do what needs to be done to gain electoral success.”<BR/><BR/>You are assuming that electoral success is supposed to be the mission of the LP. I agree that it should be, but it is not. The LP as an organization has never come to that conclusion. Ever since it’s founding the LP has been unable to articulate a clear mission statement. The so-called “Dallas accord” in 1974 and the adoption of the current “statement of principles” have made the LP a schizophrenic organization. Minarchists want to elect people to change public policy, Anarchists only want to run candidates but not elect them. Some only want to be candidates for narcissistic reasons. Some see the LP as a moneymaking opportunity. Various factions vie for “LP leadership” and paid staff positions. Whichever faction wins a majority or an effective plurality on the LNC tilts the LP in their direction. While the volunteer and the donor base are constantly losing and gaining members, the LP maintains a certain stable dynamic equilibrium among the factions. <BR/><BR/>Without an unambiguous mission statement you cannot do effective long range strategic planning. Without a long range strategic plan you cannot settle on a short-range plan. Without a short-range plan you cannot do day-to-day operational management. The LP will never do any of this.<BR/><BR/>The national LP operates from a series of perceived axioms laid down by Dave Nolan in his omniscience and they are never really questioned or evaluated. These perceived axioms are:<BR/>We need a top down organizational model. <BR/>We need a national platform.<BR/>We need to run a presidential candidate.<BR/>We need 50 state ballot access.<BR/>We need a national office with paid staff.John Famularohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14735213592045609772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893272060787897238.post-57088200689394476132008-08-07T16:25:00.000-04:002008-08-07T16:25:00.000-04:00Actually there is a service that provides websites...Actually there is a service that provides websites for LP candidates for free:<BR/><BR/>http://defendsliberty.com/howto<BR/><BR/>And seriously, these days you can get an account with someone like dreamhost for less than $10/mo and run WordPress which is a very easy to use CMS with lots of free designs available.<BR/><BR/>If a candidate is committed, they can spare $60-$100 for a website for the duration of the campaign.George Donnellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16984579502979682678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893272060787897238.post-82843738942643934672008-08-07T15:47:00.000-04:002008-08-07T15:47:00.000-04:00Hell, you could even have taken a little of that p...<I>Hell, you could even have taken a little of that pocket money the LNCC supposedly raised and used it to purchase server space for those candidates who couldn't get access to it any other way.</I><BR/><BR/>OK, I will pick up the slack here and donate web server space to any Libertarian candidates who can't get access to it any other way. (they will have to pay for anything that costs me actual money (eg. Domain Name registration, SSL Certificate and/or Credit Card acceptance, if desired) and they will have to convince me that they are worthy of my support, but neither of those are insurmountable hurdles). <BR/><BR/>I'll also provide a very limited amount of free technical support and content management assistance on a FCFS basis, and try to find someone to donate an attractive site template.tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06653459162258850269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893272060787897238.post-39797441242412237842008-08-07T15:41:00.000-04:002008-08-07T15:41:00.000-04:00Several of your proposals are ones I offered when ...Several of your proposals are ones I offered when I ran for National Chair. You phrased them better than I did. I am delighted to see someone else picking up the banner.<BR/><BR/>I note that this is the same Libertarian National Committee that, through its political director, demanded that the Libertarian Party of Massachusetts burn nominating papers carrying several thousand signatures for which the Phillies 2008 campaign had recently paid.<BR/><BR/>At some point, one should realize that LNC, Inc. is not capable of being fixed.<BR/><BR/>As a first step, why not invest your donations in your state party or in the campaign for any of the wonderful candidates Mr. Donnelly has listed for us.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893272060787897238.post-29921328121867381882008-08-07T11:17:00.000-04:002008-08-07T11:17:00.000-04:00But don't you remember? Back in the days leading ...But don't you remember? Back in the days leading up to Denver, Barr publically announced on talk radio that one of his main reasons for running was to help downticket <B>REPUBLICAN</B> candidates.... (see http://lastfreevoice.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/bob-barr-proves-hes-a-republican-again/<BR/><BR/>There are some issues where Barr keeps his promises, he only flip-flops on Libertarian items where principles are involved...<BR/><BR/>ART<BR/>LP Presidential Elector, NOT voting for Barr!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com