[Lnc-business] updated file with Libertarian success overmajor parties

[Brett Bittner]

Team,

This leads me to offer some "out of the box" thinking:

Have we considered that, by and large, people of a libertarian persuasion
are rather individualistic and not necessarily "joiners" when defining
membership? By that, I mean, how many do of these individualistic
non-joiners we expect to become card-carrying members of a political party?

Further, the future of our organization is among our younger supporters,
who are not necessarily inclined to "join" a political party either. So,
moving forward, should we not examine how to involve those who are
generally individualistic non-joiners and the future of our party? Have we
reached out to those who are "on the fence" about membership, yet
enthusiastic about a l/Libertarian future? Have we engaged the millenials
that are interested and invested in political change in our direction
already about how they see their involvement in our party? How difficult
will it be to attract them with a membership model from before they were
born?

Having served in Wes' position at the state affiliate level, I can say that
it was a lower hurdle to persuade libertarians to give money or time than
it was to to persuade them to become card-carrying Libertarians. I often
had people who donated time and money toward the activities of candidates
and the party directly that outright refused membership.

I appreciate Dr. Lieberman's input with regard to electoral success,
however activity and small non-partisan electoral victories do lead to
interest and engagement. During my tenure as Chairman of my local affiliate
(concurrent with my re-election bid), the affiliate DOUBLED in size, in
terms of membership. There was not a single mailing, phone-banking session,
or membership drive of any kind. Our growth focused on activity, activism,
and visibility. We ATTRACTED people to join us, but we never asked that
they carry a card. We pulled them toward us.

When I ran for office (and won twice, btw), my donors, supporters, and
volunteers came from across the political spectrum, yet they came together
to rally around a Libertarian running for elected office. I didn't ask that
they carry any cards, only that they supported the efforts of the campaign
in the way they saw fit.

So, what can we do to carry out our mission AND consider our opportunities
for growth?

I realize this presents us with some difficulty when determining who has a
voice in the direction of the organization, but we weren't elected to
ignore the difficult.

Brett C. Bittner

brett at brettbittner.com
404.492.6524

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty
than those attending too small a degree of it." -- Thomas Jefferson

On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 4:56 PM, Scott L. <scott73 at earthlink.net> wrote:

>
>
> I wonder if anyone else sees the connection between the pitiful numbers in
> the “Success vs. Major Parties” spreadsheet that the Executive Director
> just sent out, and the pitiful numbers in the latest membership update.
>
>
>
> I feel quite certain that the former is the reason for the latter.  There
> are only so many “true believers” out there.  The other people will come
> along for the ride, but only if we appear to be successful.  Having
> temporary ballot status in 30 states doesn’t mean anything to the average
> libertarian.  Having State Legislators in 10 or 20 states would give those
> libertarians at least some hope that the Libertarian Party is finally
> starting to be a Real Political Party ™.
>
>
>
> It is the responsibility of this Board to do whatever we need to do to
> make sure the Party achieve the Purposes Statement in the Bylaws.
>
>
>
> I know some of you disagree with this idea, but it is not too late in this
> LNC term to have a professionally facilitated retreat during which we come
> up with a way of reversing the death spiral that the Libertarian Party
> seems to be on the brink of.
>
>
>    Scott Lieberman
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> “It's rare for a Libertarian candidate to win an election by beating a
> Democrat or Republican in a straight forward partisan election.
>
> We know of 11 Libertarian winners that have met the criteria in 43 years.
> 6 of the 11 were in Indiana. The 2 newest were in Louisiana. If you know
> of others that have met the criteria in the attached spreadsheet, please
> send them to me along with your source of the election results.
>
>  Wes Benedict, Executive Director
> Libertarian National Committee, Inc.”
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing list
> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>
>
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