[Lnc-business] report on Oklahoma visit

[Wes Benedict]

Attention Dr. Lieberman, Mr. Katz, and other strong proponents of 
getting Libertarians elected:

What I think would be very helpful is a 20-page guide that has some of 
the kind of factual information that a rational non-interested observer, 
might provide, that shows what kinds of elections Libertarians have won 
in the past, and are likely to win in the near future.

And I'm not just talking about rants from the Leadership Institute about 
how your principles don't matter if you don't get elected. I understand 
the point the man from Baton Rouge is making about putting importance on 
the election mechanics required to get votes.

I'm also not talking about the kinds of messaging issues the crush-proof 
tubing salesman suggests about focusing on local, moderate, economic 
issues.

Beyond the issues, and moderate versus radical, I'm talking about giving 
information to Libertarians about how the information given to 
Republicans winning partisan races where they are running in districts 
that have a baseline of support of 30 to 60% already, is different than 
the information that Libertarians need to start from a baseline of 2% or 
5%, to get to 51%.

New York has fusion. That's different than Texas. Mr. Katz was elected 
in a Republican seat in CT. That's different than getting elected as a 
Libertairan in a Libertarian seat in Indiana.

More info:
1. Here's a history of the size of the jurisdictions where Libertarians 
won partisan offices, and the types of elections they were in:

2. Types of elections:

  * P - normal partisan (one winner)
  * PMx - partisan with multiple winners ("vote for x")
  * PF - partisan with fusion
  * PO - partisan with open filing (multiple candidates can appear with
    the same party label)
  * PT - partisan "top-two" primary
  * PTR - partisan "top-two" runoff
  * N - nonpartisan (one winner)
  * NMx - nonpartisan with multiple winners ("vote for x")


People get real mad at me personally if I say they aren't likely to win 
a race for governor, so I don't say it much anymore. Instead, I say they 
are running to win (if that's what they want to hear from me), but if 
they don't win, they will help promote libertarian principles on public 
policy.

An LNC Elected Libertarians Committee could get away with stating the 
cold hard facts about what elections Libertarians are likely to win. And 
if done so in a certain way, such a committee could also recognize the 
value of running for President or Governor or Congress to advocate 
ending the war on drugs and changing public policy regardless of winning 
those races.



Wes Benedict, Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
*New address: 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314*
(202) 333-0008 ext. 232, wes.benedict at lp.org
facebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership

On 12/11/2015 1:26 PM, Joshua Katz wrote:
> Sidenote:  This is why I have suggested, in the past, that training 
> sessions held by a political party might usefully include one or two 
> elected officials, who can presumably speak on two topics:  1.  how to 
> win office as a Libertarian (something outside professionals can't 
> usually teach us, although they can teach us much), and 2.  how to 
> govern as a Libertarian - how to effectively advance an agenda while 
> in office and move other office-holders (if serving in a non-executive 
> capacity) to vote with you, build a coalition, and get a freer society 
> as a benefit.

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