[Lnc-business] I heart this Sheldon Richman article

[Joshua Katz]

To support Dr. Lieberman's point, the clear and concise way that Richman
put it (despite using Branden) makes me think that a board retreat might
actually be a good idea - so long as it's not mediated, or mediated by
someone who doesn't talk in cliches and do trust falls.

This is, of course, the fundamental question for a party devoted to
liberty.  Are we talking to ourselves, or to others?  Are we getting votes
from committed libertarians only, or are our candidates attracting votes
from outside our circle?  Do our actions move public policy in a freedom
oriented direction, and persuade and inspire the population to attach their
hearts to freedom, or do we simply work with an existing pool, give
speeches to each other, and make ourselves feel good?

Well, it seems to me that there are concrete metrics to answer this
question:
1.  What percentage of income comes from dues?
2.  What is the relationship, in each state, between state membership,
national membership, registration, and votes in statewide races?  If
registration and votes in statewide races do not significantly outstrip
state and national membership (union) then we're talking to an echo chamber.
3.  How widely do candidates within a state vary in their support?  If our
candidates get about the same level of support, it's suggestive of
candidates not reaching a broader audience, and the candidate, in a sense,
not mattering all that much.  Widely divergent support for candidates
suggests that the candidate is reaching (or not) a wider audience.  This
has to be done keeping in mind natural variation - if one candidate doubles
the votes of another, that is not significant if the first got one vote.
4.  Where are candidate appearances advertised, and who attends?  Does the
party leadership recognize everyone who shows up at a candidate event?
5.  Do candidates get invited to speak to non-liberty oriented groups?  Do
candidates regularly knock on doors and successfully convince people to
vote for them?  Do candidates attend non-liberty oriented events such as
community festivals and issue-oriented events - Pride, etc.?  Are they
invited to speak?  Do they ask to speak?
6.  When a person expresses an interest in freedom, are they asked to
"become a libertarian?" or to vote for our candidates?  That is, do we ask
first for their votes, their actions, or their money?

I don't have strong statistics on this, but I suspect that every measure
above will show that we're talking more to ourselves than to the outside,
in general, and that our candidates get votes largely from libertarians.
Doing that sort of thing makes us feel good - we all love speaking to a
crowd that agrees with us, and we're saved the heavy lifting of tailoring
our message to the possibility of a crowd that needs convincing.  It
doesn't move public policy, though, or win elections.  Naturally, there are
both states and candidates that are exceptions to this.

All of the measures I suggest (which I came up with quickly, so I'm not
married to them - although there's nothing wrong with getting married
quickly, I suppose) are outcome oriented; they aren't about how we or an
affiliate get there, but just what happens.  This doesn't mean I'm not
interested in the how; just that I'm suggesting first looking at the what.
To change these metrics, the how will need to change - states with no party
organization and no one to answer the phone will be very unlikely to
develop a strong media machine that can get their candidates in front of
cameras often.  But both of these - the how and the what - are out of our
direct control.  I would suggest that the LNC can best get results by
inspiring affiliates with the vision of the what, not by demanding the how.


Then there's the things we can do.  I've said it before, and I'll say it
again.  We bought a DC location, and in that location we have full-time
employees.  How are we leveraging that position?  Let's see what current
staff tasks we can cut, and substitute such things as regularly visiting
members of the RLC and DLC to build relationships, lobbying for federal
appointments for qualified LP members (if we will direct staff to do this,
I will spearhead the building of a database of interested and qualified
applicants for various types of positions), and getting our Chair and
others in front of the DC press corps, or at least talking to them.  Here's
an easy one - the RLC has luncheons (at least, I know they used to, I don't
know if they still do.)  Might they be willing to let a staff member go to
these on a semi-regular basis?  How will we know if we don't ask?
Similarly, if we can't get in to see legislators, it's not all that hard to
get in to see their staff with a name and resume, a model bill, or, after
consulting with the state affiliate, discussions about how the politicians
can help each other - the last one would need to wait until we're in a
position for it to be credible, of course.

Maybe each first-time visit can also be accompanied by a small gift - say,
Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson, or Atlas Shrugged.

Joshua A. Katz

Region 8 (Region of Badassdom) Alternate
Libertarian National Committee

Chair, Libertarian Party of Connecticut
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