<div dir="ltr">Team,<div><br></div><div>This leads me to offer some "out of the box" thinking:<div><br></div><div>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? </div><div><br></div><div>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?</div><div><br></div><div>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. </div><div><br></div><div>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.<br></div><div><br></div><div>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.<br></div><div><br></div><div>So, what can we do to carry out our mission AND consider our opportunities for growth? </div><div><br></div><div>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.</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div>Brett C. Bittner<div><br></div><div><a href="mailto:brett@brettbittner.com" target="_blank">brett@brettbittner.com</a></div><div><a href="tel:404.492.6524" value="+14044926524" target="_blank">404.492.6524</a></div><div><div><br></div><div>"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it." -- Thomas Jefferson</div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 4:56 PM, Scott L. <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:scott73@earthlink.net" target="_blank">scott73@earthlink.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana">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.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana">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 ™.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana">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.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana">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.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana"><br>
Scott Lieberman<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
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“It's rare for a Libertarian candidate to win an election by beating a
Democrat or Republican in a straight forward partisan election. <br><span>
<br>
We know of 11 Libertarian winners that have met the criteria in 43 years. 6 of
the 11 were in <u></u><u></u>Indiana<u></u><u></u>.
The 2 newest were in <u></u><u></u>Louisiana<u></u><u></u>.
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.<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="1" color="black" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial">Wes Benedict, Executive Director<br>
</span></font><font size="1" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial">Libertarian National Committee, Inc.”</span></font><font size="1" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial"> <u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
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