[Lnc-business] What the experts say about political parties vs. interest groups

[Scott L.]

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/polisci/campaignsandelections/ch/06/outline.
aspx

 

 

>From   CAMPAIGNS & ELECTIONS: Rules, Reality, Strategy, Choice   (this is a
book)

 

 

*  Political Parties 

The goal of electing public officials is what unites political parties and
what distinguishes them from other groups.

 

*  Interest Groups 

An interest group, or a collection of people with the shared goal of
influencing public policy, are different from political parties in that they
do not run their own candidates for office, and they typically seek more
specific policy goals than parties.

 

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

 

I apologize for sounding like a broken record, but the above is why I keep
writing over and over that this Board needs to focus on helping our
affiliates elect Libertarians to public office, and helping them get
Libertarians appointed to public office.  And for the time being, getting
Libertarians elected, or even appointed, to Federal or State level offices
is going to be a very, very, very rare event.   It is not a good idea to
craft strategy and tactics based on events with a 0.1% chance of occurring.

 

If we call ourselves a political party, but in reality we act like an
interest group, then the public will view us

as a failed political party.  If the public views you as a failed
organization, you are not going to get anything constructive done in the
real world.

 

The Chair's recent proposal for the National LP to set up initiative/cause
websites is not a bad idea per se. 

 

However, focusing on increasing membership or even just collecting e-mail
addresses is not going to help us achieve liberty in our time when these
recruits find out that yes, we do run candidates in elections, but that we
celebrate losing elections as much or more than we celebrate winning
elections.

 

 

   Scott Lieberman

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