[Lnc-business] Developing and approving new and revised literature

[Elizabeth Van Horn]

More excellent ideas.  (added to my '2018 LNC Ideas' folder. : )

---
Elizabeth Van Horn


On 2018-07-09 18:47, James Lark via Lnc-business wrote:
> Dear colleagues:
>        I hope all is well with you.  In a previous message I suggested 
> the
>    consideration of various goals for the LNC during the 2018-2020 
> term.
>    In particular, I suggested that we consider adopting the following
>    goal:
>    G4: The LNC will develop and approve new and revised outreach
>    literature, to be available no later than Dec. 31, 2018.  Some of 
> the
>    literature (e.g., issue pamphlets) should be available in the form 
> of
>    PDFs that can be downloaded from LP.org.
>        I believe the LNC should pursue this goal as part of a more 
> general
>    process of literature development and evaluation.  Specifically, I
>    believe we should institute an ongoing process that will accomplish 
> the
>    following tasks:
>    1)  Evaluate our current literature needs
>        As part of this evaluation, we should address various questions,
>    including the following:
>    *  Do we need new literature?  If so, what type of literature?  
> Types
>    of literature include:
>    (a)  Material focused upon a very narrow issue, such as the problems
>    with the National Defense Authorization Act.
>    (b)  Material dealing with several issues bundled under a general 
> topic
>    heading, such as national defense, civil liberties, economic 
> liberties,
>    etc.  (A special case of this type involves literature that targets
>    specific demographic groups.)
>    (c)  A general description of the Libertarian Party and a brief
>    overview of our positions on several topics.
>    (d)  Material that can be readily adapted by our candidates (i.e.,
>    literature templates which our candidates can tailor to their 
> specific
>    needs).
>    (e)  "Inreach literature," which is designed to assist LP members in
>    learning about the libertarian perspective, and to help our members
>    become better advocates of liberty.
>    (f)  Material that is written in languages other than English
>    (especially Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, and Mandarin/Cantonese)
>    *  Is it sufficient for the LP to produce a PDF of the literature 
> that
>    can be downloaded?  Should the LP arrange to have the literature
>    printed in bulk in addition to making a PDF available for download?  
> (I
>    suspect this will depend upon the particular piece of literature.)
>    Note:  As part of our consideration, we may wish to discuss the
>    preparation of signs that can be used at rallies, protests, 
> information
>    tables, etc.  Such signs could be available for download (in the
>    appropriate format) from LP.org.
>    2)  Develop our literature
>        After ascertaining our literature needs, we must do the 
> following:
>    *  Determine whether what we need is already available (perhaps in 
> the
>    form of something that can be readily adapted to our needs).  To 
> assist
>    in this determination (an ongoing process), I suggest that we build 
> a
>    repository of LP and "LP-friendly" literature.  We should request 
> that
>    all LP-affiliated organizations (as well as some "friend of the 
> family
>    organizations") send electronic copies of their literature (or 
> perhaps
>    links to such electronic copies) to LPHQ.
>    *  If what we need is not already available, determine who will 
> design
>    the literature and authorize those chosen to prepare and submit 
> their
>    designs.  Note:  I believe we should establish a process in which we
>    routinely solicit literature designs from our members and "friends 
> of
>    the family."  In some cases, we may wish to establish competitions 
> and
>    prizes to encourage participation and reward excellence.
>    *  Determine and implement the means by which material under
>    consideration will be "test-marketed" prior to selecting the 
> literature
>    to produce.
>    *  Determine the best designs and submit them for review to the
>    Advertising and Publication Review Committee (APRC).
>    *  Produce the literature and make it available.  (As part of this
>    process, we should consider the pricing of our literature.)
>    3)  Evaluate the effectiveness of our literature
>        To the extent possible, we should seek to evaluate whether our
>    literature is serving the purpose for which it was developed.  Thus, 
> we
>    should design mechanisms to do the following:
>    (a)  Solicit and receive feedback about our literature from those 
> who
>    are distributing our literature and those who are reading our
>    literature.
>    (b)  Solicit and receive feedback about our literature from selected
>    target populations.
>    (c)  Evaluate the feedback and develop recommendations concerning 
> our
>    literature.
>    4)  Evaluate our future literature needs
>       Perhaps it would be appropriate for the LNC to reconstitute the
>    Outreach Committee for the purpose of overseeing the literature
>    development and evaluation process, with the understanding that the 
> LNC
>    will make the final choices concerning what literature to produce.
>    Presumably the literature development and evaluation process will be
>    guided by the goals and strategies the LNC adopts.
>        In considering the more narrow issue of what new and revised
>    literature we should produce prior to Dec. 31, 2018, allow me to 
> offer
>    the following comments and suggestions:
>        As we proceed, we should determine what we really need in terms 
> of
>    a pamphlet.  That is, perhaps what we really need is to develop an
>    extensive series of issue papers for LP.org.  We would also develop
>    associated pamphlets/flyers that provide basic info about a given 
> issue
>    and direct the reader to LP.org for more detailed information.
>        By "issue paper" I do not mean a long, scholarly treatise along 
> the
>    lines of an academic journal article or a Cato Policy Analysis. 
> Rather,
>    I mean a reasonably short article that lays out the LP position and 
> (if
>    appropriate) contains relevant graphics and photographs to 
> illustrate
>    the main points of the article.  If possible, the issue paper would 
> be
>    linked to an assortment of scholarly articles to assist those
>    interested in pursuing the matter in depth.
>        If we choose to develop pamphlets that are more detailed than 
> the
>    "basic info + point the reader to LP.org" model mentioned above, it 
> may
>    be best to proceed by developing an extensive issue paper about a 
> topic
>    and designing a pamphlet based upon that issue paper. I suggest this
>    because the marginal cost of designing a pamphlet based upon an
>    extensive issue paper may be relatively small.
>        Based upon my seat-of-the-pants empirical analysis, I believe we
>    should consider producing pamphlets on the following topics (listed 
> in
>    no particular order):
>    *  Government involvement in health care and insurance markets
>    *  American foreign policy (in particular, the various conflicts in
>    which we are currently (or were recently) engaged)
>    *  Immigration/emigration issues
>    *  Government efforts to eviscerate Fourth Amendment rights
>    *  Police and prosecutorial misconduct (perhaps in the context of a
>    discussion of the doctrine of qualified immunity for government
>    officials)
>    *  The massive amount of federal government spending
>    *  Efforts by governments to prevent people from monitoring the
>    behavior of government officials (especially efforts to criminalize
>    videotaping the conduct of police officers)
>    *  The extraordinary costs of Drug Prohibition, along with the
>    increasing militarization of police
>    *  "Crony Capitalism"
>    *  Eminent domain abuses
>    *  "Food freedom" issues
>        Some additional topics we should consider include the war on 
> gaming
>    (especially online gambling), government involvement with marriage,
>    increasing efforts to regulate the Internet and tax Internet 
> commerce,
>    and government destruction of jobs via licensing laws.  
> Unfortunately,
>    there is a depressingly long list of topics about which we can 
> prepare
>    literature.
>        As always, thanks for your work for liberty, and for your
>    consideration of my comments and suggestions.  I hope these comments
>    and suggestions are helpful to you.
>        Take care,
>        Jim
>        James W. Lark, III
>        Professor, Dept. of Systems and Information Engineering
>        Professor, Applied Mathematics Program, Dept. of Engineering and
>    Society
>        Affiliated Faculty, Dept. of Statistics
>        University of Virginia
>        Advisor, The Liberty Coalition
>        University of Virginia
>        Region 5 Representative, Libertarian National Committee