The attention of readers is drawn to an interesting article in the Washington Examiner
While the article is about Second Amendment Rights groups, the relevant lessons are far broader in their application, and should be of interest even to third-party activists not interested in the Second Amendment.
Comparison is made between the National Rifle Association and the Gun Owners of America, in particular their progress or lack thereof. The NRA is a century and a half old, and for many years was the dominant lobbying group on Second Amendment issues. Gun Owners of America is only a half-century old, and until recently was far smaller than the NRA.
However, in recent years there has been much litigation about the NRA, the conduct of its its chief officers and board of directors, and how it spend its money. The case was made that donor money had been used for the unreasonable benefit of senior people in the organization. Income fell. According to the article, one internal response was to reduce or eliminate some programs that were popular with the membership, causing a further drop in membership. The result was that NRA membership fell, perhaps by half.
At the same time, Gun Owners of America continued its no-compromise positions on Second Amendment Rights, pressuring legislators not to yield to pressures to compromise. The result is that in a few recent years GOA membership has surged, and is now over two million. So far as can be seen from a distance, GOA is well and honestly run.
Readers may readily make comparisons with contemporary third parties. Is your party afraid to run a vigorous Presidential candidate, because it might cause the Democrats or Republican to lose? The Party that did this after 2000 suffered as a result. Have you stopped performing basic party functions, because they now cost too much, party functions like a monthly newsletter? The party that recently started following path this is not doing too well.
Excellent insight, George.