Open Letter to Libertarians: Why we will continue to lose until we are ashamed of being un-herdable cats.
Pregnant with the experience of working 8 months for Oregon democrats on the “Clean Water Fluoride Campaign” here in Oregon and a more recent spectacular disaster of a presentation on the “Principles of Libertarianism”, my tiny brain spawned "An Open Letter to Libertarians"….and please, critique it insufferably. I’d be grateful for any comments, especially the bad ones. All comments can be made below or if you really want to rip it to shreds, at www.principlesoflibertarianism.blogsp...
An Open Letter to Libertarians” is what I learned by my humbling failure and by working with democrats for nearly a year.
I’m confident you’ll enjoy the read. And it will give you insightful and undeniable evidence as to why we continue to lose. I also hope you will be curious enough to peruse and subscribe to my blog. It will have some rather provocative and entertaining surprises in the next few months and the starter blog is a favorite topic with many. www.principlesoflibertarianism.blogsp...
Live in the PDX metro area and want to get involved in fun stuff? Fun and creative events marketing libertarianism and the principles can be found at www.meetup.com/R3VOLution
An Open Letter to Libertarians” is what I learned by my humbling failure and by working with democrats for nearly a year.
I’m confident you’ll enjoy the read. And it will give you insightful and undeniable evidence as to why we continue to lose. I also hope you will be curious enough to peruse and subscribe to my blog. It will have some rather provocative and entertaining surprises in the next few months and the starter blog is a favorite topic with many. www.principlesoflibertarianism.blogsp...
Live in the PDX metro area and want to get involved in fun stuff? Fun and creative events marketing libertarianism and the principles can be found at www.meetup.com/R3VOLution
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You may have misunderstood why I wrote the essay. It was mainly to point out why WE are failing, because we don't do any of things I mentioned. We just hope for the best.
I've worked in dozens of liberty groups and it's always the same. They abandon all they know about what works in business the second they start working in politics.
I was hoping this essay would turn on some light bulbs about what changes and strategies we need to employ if we want to start gaining ground. Apparently, I didn't do so well in that marketing exercise.
Maybe we just don't want to win.
As for a "big tent". I've seen the results of the "big tent" and it just brought in all the dross who want to label themselves libertarian and are NOT by a long shot.
I want a VERY small tent. I only want people who live by PRINCIPLES I find value in. I have three 1. I tell the truth 2. I am honorable in my dealings with others. 3. I respect property interests.
I want a little bit more than someone's interpretation of "non-agression". In Portland, that means not saying anything that might hurt someone's feelings because we all know words hurt just like a knife or a gun does.
Oh, you think I'm kidding? Come for a visit to Portlandia. I will show you things that will make you quake in fear. We even have instructions in the sidewalk on how to think and act.
As an outsider, it seems to me that a libertarian party needs to be a big tent with the only unifying principle being less gov't cost/intrusiveness. It should also, at least in my outsider opinion, purge any hardcore extremists or bizarre behavior. If there's one person who gets naked at the convention or says he wants to move the government to 18th century levels overnight, which we know will never happen, that is the story people will hear. I think it needs to present itself like a mainstream party that accepts the “reality” (for now) of gov't spending being over a third of the economy but promise always to turn toward less government at every fork in the road.
Another huge danger is the two-party duopoly sucking libertarians into one side with wedge issues. Consider how Gary Johnson tried to walk the tightrope saying he wouldn't support new restrictions on vendors discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, but he also refused to back any measure to decrease gov't control if it was primarily to legalize discrimination. This issue of forcing bakers to bake a cake is so lame and unimportant next to shrinking gov't, but the parties are good at making it the subject. If it even smells like how I (as a Democrat) see the Republican message, i.e. “We'll convince the poor to spend gov't money on you rich and connected people by giving the poor other people to pick on to make themselves feel like they're not at the bottom of the pecking order,” it would alienate me immediately. It has to be, IMHO, “we just want to spend less and intrude less, with no wedge issues.”
An example from this article is the “George Soros express train to the dark ages.” I read his book and liked it. I support what he claims to be trying to do. Instead of making it about him, libertarians can be supportive of the things he says about expanding personal freedom without digging into whether Soros the person truly represents those values.
The thing it says about the word “choice” not resonating with people is tough because I don't see the way to have libertarianism without increased choice. I know it's a marketing issue, but I find it hard to imagine real libertarianism appealing to people who are afraid of personal choice. I really hope that's wrong. I hope people want to live free making their own choices if only it's presented well.
I loved the article's view from the inside of a political org. I've never even been to one or really talked to a serious volunteer/activist about.