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,…
Third Party Watch
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…
This letter was written for Libertarians, but it applies with minor changes to all other third parties: Strategic Planning is not a new idea. Successful businessmen have been doing strategic planning for millennia. 25 years ago, it was understandable that the newly-founded Libertarian Party would have done little in the way of strategic planning. It is now 2000, not 1972.…
These letters were originally written for Libertarians, but for the most part apply equally for every third party. What is a Strategic Plan? 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 have done little in the way of strategic planning.…
Letters on Libertarian Strategy #1 Upon Strategic Planning Fellow Libertarians! Strategic Planning is not a new idea. Businessmen have been doing it for millennia. The Hellenic philosopher Archimedes, challenged ‘if you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich’, is said to have used strategic planning: He anticipated an excellent olive harvest and used out-of-season options trading to corner the market on…
The author noticed other idiosyncrasies of one instance of Michigan’s Libertarian Executive Committee (LEC).
The following was written 20 years ago by the then-chair of Vermont, Chris Costanzo, to the then-Chair of Rhode Island, Mike Rollins. The approach is optimized for states with nomination by convention, and needs some polishing for states with low petitioning requirements. However, if the requirement is five signatures, that’s the candidate, a cohabitants, and a few neighbors. Recruiting Candidates…
Advice of Ten Years Ago History does not repeat, but sometimes it rhymes. Yikes! Yes, an “urgent” fundraising appeal went out from the LNC leadership recently. That’s another cry of wolf. But you can only cry “Wolf!” so often, even if the wolves are howling at the door. In the age of the Internet, anybody who has a clear and…
(To avoid discussion of current Libertarian politics, you are seeing numbers from the year 2010) ing in new members, they’ll be more inclined to give. Now the process will build on itself. Prudent Financial Reserves Every financial adviser you can name recommends to their clients that they build a prudent reserve fund, held in cash or equivalents, for a “rainy…
The Liberty movement needs a new philosophical push in the direction of freedom and liberation as opposed to its current direction towards materialism and revolution.