[Lnc-business] Email Ballot 2015-07: Oklahoma petition drive - v2

[Scott L.]

I applaud Mr. Olsen for having the guts to send the e-mail below to the
Chairs of the RNC and the DNC via the LP's web site.

 

Those LP leaders and members who care about ballot access have done an
excellent job over the past 44 years of maximizing our ballot access in
October of even-numbered years with the meager resources that we have had
available.


However, there has never been a concerted effort to maximize ballot access
in December of even-numbered years.   A possible explanation for that is
that it would likely entail running fewer candidates for unwinnable offices,
and probably having some statewide candidates campaign on issues that are
tangential to the LP Platform.  That doesn't mean campaigning as an

anti-Libertarian, but it might mean campaigning on ethics issues that are
not explicitly libertarian.

 

Mr. Olsen's comments about actually getting candidates elected to public
office are right on target.   But our members won't care about electing
Libertarians to public office until the LNC cares about it.

 

Total number of elected Libertarians = 151

 

Total number of elected offices in the USA =  circa 500,000


  Scott Lieberman

 

 

 

  _____  

From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] On Behalf Of Norm
Olsen
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2015 2:50 PM
To: lnc-business at hq.lp.org
Subject: Re: [Lnc-business] Email Ballot 2015-07: Oklahoma petition drive
-v2

 

Nay!

 

I have true sympathy for states which are afflicted with nasty ballot access
laws.  This vote is not a vote against Oklahoma or any other state so
afflicted.

 

I vote against the unofficially adopted policy of this committee that 50+
state ballot access for our presidential candidate is the primary and sole
objective of this committee.  I write this as expenditures other than ballot
access are carefully scrutinized and maximum frugality is demanded; and even
then are often rejected.   But when it comes to 50+ state ballot access,
nothing is too expensive; frugality and cost/benefit analysis goes out the
window.  Major fundraising efforts are implemented, major donations made,
and many volunteers are recruited to work the malls.  Also, ballot access
funding requests routinely get approved by huge majorities, usually  16-1.
I am unaware of any that have failed.

 

Used to be that Libertarian principles were considered to be extreme; but
now they are being adopted as law everywhere.  Libertarian registration is
increasing in many of the states in my region; 10% annually for three years
now in my home state of Colorado.  Yet at the same time, membership and
revenue of our organization is shrinking, and  this effect has been quite
dramatic in recent months.  The focus on ballot access does not appear to be
providing the success upon which volunteer organizations like ours need to
grow.

 

It is time to reconsider strategies.  While ballot access is a valid
endeavor for a political party, the BIG BIG question remains:

 

    Is this the very best use of our very limited (and currently
dramatically shrinking) resources?

 

While ballot access is a valid objective for any political party, the
unilateral focus on ballot access is causing us to ignore organizational
strength.  And it is lack of organization strength that underlies the ballot
access issue.  (Catch 22 if you will.)  Curing the ballot access problem is
best achieved by building the organization strength of the individual
affiliates.   It cannot be denied that ballot access is an important
ingredient to building a state affiliate or local affiliate.  However,
ballot access cannot guarantee that an organizationally strong affiliate
will emerge.

 

Our emphasis needs to change; the scope of our activities broadened, and our
resources put to the very best use possible.  Building organizational
strength needs to gain our primary focus; ballot access should be only a
judiciously applied part of this larger objective.

 

Norm

 

PS> One might say politics is about running candidates.  However, this
applies only if, at least occasionally, some of those candidates actually
get elected.  Running candidates when none ever get elected is not politics.
To actually elect a candidate takes three things: organization,
organization, and more organization.

 

    Norman T Olsen

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