<div dir="ltr">I strongly agree with Brett's comments. Our success is measured in elections, not membership numbers. However, we should note that donations are also down, so it cannot all be explained by people wanting to give but not join. This issue came up at our first (other than Columbus) LNC meeting when goals were discussed. There were three broad categories that I could see: Membership and Fundraising, Candidates, and Winning Office. I favored, and continue to favor, goals related to the third category, and continue to want our efforts focused there, with items in the other two seen as supportive rather than as substantive goals. <div><br></div><div>But I do think Scott's point is on target: declining membership is likely a sign that we are not succeeding, and a likely reason for people to stop associating with us is a lack of success. People like to be part of successful organizations and like to have visible things they can point to for their efforts or money. If we're not succeeding, we will have less members.</div><div><br></div><div>I agree about local elections, partisan or non-partisan, and Dr. Lieberman agrees as well, I know. Electing state legislators is not opposed to electing selectmen; they are complementary goals. In fact, doing the latter is how you achieve the former, in my opinion. </div><div><br></div><div>The point remains, though, that we have not increased the number of local offices held in a long time, nor have we built off of those offices to higher levels nearly as much as one would like. As I suggested the other day, part of that is what we do with our local officials. Local officials are people who are likely grooming themselves for higher offices, we need to work with them to plan the next step and how to capitalize on the success they have already achieved, and promote them within the party. (Insert disclaimer that I am one.) Most of our elected officials do not communicate with us and do not go on to higher office. Let's work on that, while we also work on electing more local officials.</div><div><br></div><div>Please note that when I won my election, I received a mention in LP News. I think that's a good thing, but it's a sign of a bad thing - winning Planning Commission should not be an achievement for a party, it should be a given that it will happen regularly. If that's not happening, the board needs to examine what it is doing and its priorities. </div><div><br></div><div>I disagree with Dr. Lieberman that the way to do that is spending donor money paying some nut with an MBA to give us black belts in Six Sigma, make us do trust falls, or rant to us about moving cheese or driving to Abilene, but I do agree that we need to look carefully at all aspects of what we do when we see these kinds of numbers.</div><div><br></div><div>Joshua Katz</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Joshua A. Katz<div>Westbrook CT Planning Commission (L in R seat)</div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 5:39 PM, Brett Bittner <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:brett@brettbittner.com" target="_blank">brett@brettbittner.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><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"><div><div class="h5">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></div></div><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"><div><div class="h5">
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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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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="1" color="black" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial"><br>
“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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