This is the first of several letters discussing how the LNC should spend its money. In this letter, I discuss sources of income and the concepts of direct and indirect costs. Direct and indirect costs are fundamental for understanding what you are doing when you spend money. If you already know about indirect costs, you may find this topic to…
Posts published by “George Phillies”
I wrote this for Libertarians, but the analysis is equally true for every other third party. The purpose of a political party is The only way we can forward our cause as a political party is to run people for office. Some candidates will bring the Libertarian word to the public. Other candidates will win election and serve in office,…
I am pleased to report that the LNC, having recently appropriated $12,000 for Michigan Trademark legal action, has made a further step. It appropriated $1500 for Arkansas ballot access. In other good news, the Montana law to impose Top-Two for one election to one office is apparently going down in flames, as there was a negative committee vote, 1-17. The…
Posted by George Phillies. Written by Anon The Mises Caucus came into the Libertarian Party (LP) with promises of large amounts of revenue, new members, and big whale donors. However, almost a year later, none of their promises have borne any fruit. In fact, the LP has continued to lose money, staff, and power, coming into a critical election year.…
I return to a basic theme: The purpose of a political party is: To Advance its Agenda via Political Action. To run Candidates for Office and Win Elections. To Use Electoral Victory to Put Its Program into Effect. What sort of candidates can we run for office? I’m going to identify four levels of candidate commitment: The paper candidate. The…
These letters were originally written for libertarians, but with slight edits are equally true for any third party In previous letters, I discussed activities particularly appropriate for performance by national and state groups. I have also discussed activities that every Libertarian group should perform, most notably incitement of members to become activists and candidates. In this letter, I consider activities…
These letters were originally written specifically for the Libertarian Party, but with very slight edits would be equally useful for any other third party. Tasks for State Committees As I have previously said, I am advancing a strategy for the Libertarian Party. Part of the proposed strategy refers to what your community and state parties are doing. Persuading your local…
Local Organization — A National Party’s Role Strategic Planning is not a new idea. Successful businessmen have been doing strategic planning for millennia. 50 years ago, it was understandable that the newly-founded Libertarian Party would lack a strategy. It is now 2023, not 1972. This letter discusses a particular strategy — the Local Organization strategy. In the previous letter, I…
This 2004 volume recounts a half-century of American political history, focused entirely on the technology used to advance conservative and liberal politics. This is not a tirade attacking one side or the other, it is a recounting of how various technical means were used to move American politics in one direction or the other. To hear the authors tell it,…
Letters on Political Strategy #4 Strategic Objectives for All Party Groups Above All, Remember The Objective of a Political Party is To Elect Its Candidates to Political Office and thereby put its agenda into effect. To attain this objective, we need to Building a strong party is based on core activities such as Outreach, Incitement, Local Activism, and creation of…