<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>During the last ASC meeting Dr Phillies brought up the topic of Affinity Groups and the ASC like the idea of creating a new Affinity Group Support Committee to help create some of these groups for all interests. This was outside our scope but I told the members I would bring it for them to the LNC. Please give 20 minutes on the agenda for this topic.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Here is Dr Phillies Explanation of the concept.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Rationale:</b> When Democrats and Republicans run for office, they get support from hordes of affinity groups, each pretending to speak for an issue but in reality working for a political party. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For political victory, the Libertarian movement needs its own affinity groups, groups that support Libertarian candidates and points of view.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Affinity groups assemblies of people interested in a single issue. Affinity groups include the Chamber of Commerce, the schoolteacher's union, and Washington think tanks. Most affinity groups are officially non-partisan, but bond tightly to one political party or the other. Indeed, many have been housed in their party’s headquarters. Affinity groups provide real support for their party. They mobilize people who might not be especially partisan, but who do care deeply about their one issue; affinity groups turn that enthusiasm about an issue into enthusiastic support for a political party. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">How do we advance?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>First, identify causes with a Libertarian theme.</b> Identify causes where a Libertarian point of view would stand in stark relief to the statist viewpoint of current affinity groups<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Second, find the activists</b> who will make your Libertarian affinity group fly. For example, identify all the mistletoe canners in your state. Now find someone who is attached to the affinity *and* is Libertarian *and* has the skills and dedication needed to make the affinity group work. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Third, launch an affinity group</b> linked to their cause, e.g., The Friends of the Third Amendment or the Liberty Belles. The affinity group should not be explicitly Libertarian.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Fourth, fundraising and membership recruitment</b> <b>for the affinity group</b><b>advances.</b></span></p><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div>Daniel Hayes</div><div id="AppleMailSignature">LNC At Large Member<br>Sent from my iPhone</div></div></body></html>