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What does Libertarian Party need to happen for them to move forward...

What does Libertarian Party need to happen for them to move forward..

  • Develop a base? (i.e.: local, state, Congress, etc.)

    Votes: 12 48.0%
  • Elect a President without a base?

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Be included in Presidential debates?

    Votes: 10 40.0%
  • Carry 10%+ of the Presidental popular vote?

    Votes: 4 16.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 14 56.0%

  • Total voters
    25
  • Poll closed .

radcen

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What does Libertarian Party (party, not individuals) need to happen for them to move forward in their agenda and helping the country?

There are some who are so anti-libertarian that they will never give the notion an objective chance, but they will post here anyway. *sigh*. Personally, while I used to be libertarian, I no longer consider myself to be so, yet I still hold many of the ideals. Where they lose me is the utter lack of understanding of human nature, but be that as it may, there's a great deal of the philosophy that I still like. Anyway...

If libertarian philosophy and the Libertarian Party is to move forward and actually effect change, what has to happen? I'm speaking primarily for this year and in this year's November elections.

1. Develop a base? I.e.: local, state, Congress, etc. offices first?
2. Elect a President without a base?
3. Be included in Presidential debates?
4. Carry 10%+ of the popular vote in the Presidential election?
5. Other?

To me, the Libertarian Party's biggest roadblock is itself. It doesn't organize locally. It doesn't build from the ground up. It would have to become what it loathes... a political organization that plays the game... in order to expand beyond the fringes. This is really the catch-22, isn't it? Compromise to gain access and change, or remain loyal to ideals and remain irrelevant.

Note: This link is just meant as a reference for the thread... Gary Johnson 2.0: the Libertarians
 
In the thread linked above, it says...
With his name already slated to be on every state ballot in the country in November, the next step is to be included in more national polls so he can work toward achieving the 15 percent needed for eligibility in the Presidential Commission debates with Obama and Romney, a goal even he admits is far-fetched.
15% to me is unreasonably high. I know both the Reps AND Dems skew participation for their own benefit, but really it should be no more than 5% required.
 
from Radcen

To me, the Libertarian Party's biggest roadblock is itself. It doesn't organize locally. It doesn't build from the ground up. It would have to become what it loathes... a political organization that plays the game... in order to expand beyond the fringes.

You said it extremely well and have hit at least one of the two important nails firmly and squarely upon its head. I agree with every word there.

The second nail is perhaps more uncomfortable - and that is that the very core of libertarian beliefs are simply not in agreement with the vast majority of the American people. As such, nothing is going to make people accept libertarianism as it is akin to the skull and crossbones on a medicine bottle. Notice that even the most famous of American libertarians - the poster boy Ron Paul - has to run as a Republican to get elected. Even he cannot run as what he pretends he is and have a snowballs chance of getting elected to public office.
 
Libertarians need a few things to happen. First, a lot of Libertarians are embedded in the Republican party.

They need a base to start from the ground up. Ron Paul has done a fantastic job at doing this. His Libertarian leaning philosophies have grabbed people into a movement. They are essentially taking over the GOP at the local level in many states. For the party on its own, it would need money..a lot of money which happens to be in the big two. I believe that is why a lot of Libertarians are in fact members of the GOP.

A Libertarian candidate would have to be in a nationally televised debate. This is without question a crucial step to move forward. However, this would prove very costly and difficult because the big two would fight against it.

Also, Libertarian party would need to find a way to promote itself. Whether it be by social media or otherwise; they got to get the news out that the party exists because in mainstream America...no other party exists. For example, another poll around the forum asks if you would vote for Romney or Obama without giving a choice of someone else...people either think they don't exist or stand no chance. Both of those statements are truthful in this day and age.
 
I don't see how the Libertarian party can possibly expect to win elections without a significant base. When a Libertarian candidate gets less than 1% of the vote, that should be huge clue that the great majority of voters don't share in their vision.
 
Greater frontal lobe development of the majority of the population.

AHA!!! Its not Johnny's fault that nobody else in the parade is leading with that foot. Its everybody else who is out of step but Johnny.

Spoken like a true doting and forgiving mother blinded to reality by love.
 
Greater frontal lobe development of the majority of the population.

This type of recruiting effort helps explain why Libertarian candidates get less than 1% of the vote.
 
AHA!!! Its not Johnny's fault that nobody else in the parade is leading with that foot. Its everybody else who is out of step but Johnny.

Spoken like a true doting and forgiving mother blinded to reality by love.

Well you're pretty much the other side of that coin, so I'm not sure how much room you have to talk there NP...I mean haymarket.
 
What does Libertarian Party (party, not individuals) need to happen for them to move forward in their agenda and helping the country?

Realistically? Probably a total collapse of the system as we know it. ;)
 
Well you're pretty much the other side of that coin, so I'm not sure how much room you have to talk there NP...I mean haymarket.

I really do not get that one Ikari. Care to explain it?
 
Realistically? Probably a total collapse of the system as we know it. ;)

I agree. The only way you folks win is if everybody else loses.
 
AHA!!! Its not Johnny's fault that nobody else in the parade is leading with that foot. Its everybody else who is out of step but Johnny.

Spoken like a true doting and forgiving mother blinded to reality by love.

Explaining anything to you, is a fruitless en devour.
Any and every time, a thread on libertarians or libertarianism comes up, you trot your way in to insult all said members.

Why should I waste my time on someone with an ax to grind?
 
What does Libertarian Party (party, not individuals) need to happen for them to move forward in their agenda and helping the country?

There are some who are so anti-libertarian that they will never give the notion an objective chance, but they will post here anyway. *sigh*. Personally, while I used to be libertarian, I no longer consider myself to be so, yet I still hold many of the ideals. Where they lose me is the utter lack of understanding of human nature, but be that as it may, there's a great deal of the philosophy that I still like. Anyway...

If libertarian philosophy and the Libertarian Party is to move forward and actually effect change, what has to happen? I'm speaking primarily for this year and in this year's November elections.

1. Develop a base? I.e.: local, state, Congress, etc. offices first?
2. Elect a President without a base?
3. Be included in Presidential debates?
4. Carry 10%+ of the popular vote in the Presidential election?
5. Other?

To me, the Libertarian Party's biggest roadblock is itself. It doesn't organize locally. It doesn't build from the ground up. It would have to become what it loathes... a political organization that plays the game... in order to expand beyond the fringes. This is really the catch-22, isn't it? Compromise to gain access and change, or remain loyal to ideals and remain irrelevant.

Note: This link is just meant as a reference for the thread... Gary Johnson 2.0: the Libertarians

A few things need to happen I think. One is certainly to focus the platform and to try to address some of the perception issues with the cause. I think a lot of folk can easily get caught in the "they just want to legalize drugs" mentality because some sect of libertarians push it a lot and other people are too lazy to actually accumulate the data necessary to make an educated opinion. Being included in the presidential debates would be HUGE. In fact, it's tied into a lot of campaign finance reform as the system is currently set to only allow the R and D through and if you want to run not of that sect, you're gonna have to be independently wealthy. So there's a lot of problems with participation and political competition built into the system currently. I think that if we can clear our message and get it out to people honestly, that there would be a lot more interest involved. Perhaps enough to threaten on of the main parties power. That's not to say that they would replace the party, but if they can garner enough votes primarily from one party such that the party has a hard time winning elections, that party will have to change its philosophy and candidates to recapture the lost votes to compete against the other.

In the end, third party ideology is very very tough to get off the ground and all rules and regulations are created to ensure they don't.
 
I really do not get that one Ikari. Care to explain it?

When it comes to your critique of the libertarian party, you emulate Navy Pride's argument style. Clear enough?
 
To me, the biggest obstacle that the Libertarian Party faces is recognition. If people don't know who they are, they won't vote for them. Ultimately, I think the only way this is going to happen is to get someone who is wealthy and/or famous to run as the Libertarian Party presidential candidate. Ron Paul is, right now, the closest the Libertarian Party has come to recruiting someone who is famous, but Paul just doesn't quite cut it.

If I were to advice the LP on what they needed to do to win in 2012, I'd give the following advice:

1. Petition possible big-name donors, like Penn Jillette, Drew Carey, Kurt Russell, Clint Eastwood, or Peter Schiff.
2. Repeat number 1.
3. Repeat number 2 until you have enough money to bring quality advertisements to most major media markets.
4. Recruit a big-name candidate. Preferably, pick someone who has political experience already, but is also considered normal (a more well-known Gary Johnson, if you will).
5. Pick a date for a "Media Blackout." Basically, you're using hyperbolic language, but this would be the day when all media markets get your advertisements (maybe a 5 min infomercial to start). Start promoting the idea on social media. Young people like one-day events they can participate in, so tell them that you want to raise X dollars by the Media Blackout date, and you want X number of likes. You need to make the number reasonable, because those targets must be hit. If they aren't then it seems lame.
6. Launch the "Media Blackout" event. Encourage your supporters' friends and family watch the ads.
7. Explain how successful the event is to your followers (even if not true). Repeat from step 5.
 
A few things need to happen I think. One is certainly to focus the platform and to try to address some of the perception issues with the cause. I think a lot of folk can easily get caught in the "they just want to legalize drugs" mentality because some sect of libertarians push it a lot and other people are too lazy to actually accumulate the data necessary to make an educated opinion. Being included in the presidential debates would be HUGE. In fact, it's tied into a lot of campaign finance reform as the system is currently set to only allow the R and D through and if you want to run not of that sect, you're gonna have to be independently wealthy. So there's a lot of problems with participation and political competition built into the system currently. I think that if we can clear our message and get it out to people honestly, that there would be a lot more interest involved. Perhaps enough to threaten on of the main parties power. That's not to say that they would replace the party, but if they can garner enough votes primarily from one party such that the party has a hard time winning elections, that party will have to change its philosophy and candidates to recapture the lost votes to compete against the other.

In the end, third party ideology is very very tough to get off the ground and all rules and regulations are created to ensure they don't.

Even if it were more in the spotlight, the tenants of libertarianism wouldn't be that well received, in my opinion.
Many libertarians don't offer simplistic, single solution cure alls.

It's just not gonna be as popular, until people become better problem solvers.
 
Even if it were more in the spotlight, the tenants of libertarianism wouldn't be that well received, in my opinion.
Many libertarians don't offer simplistic, single solution cure alls.

It's just not gonna be as popular, until people become better problem solvers.

I actually disagree. I think it could resonate very well with people if the information can get out well enough. It is true, there is no simplistic solution when it comes to libertarianism. We look at the system as a whole and ways in which it can be made to adhere better to the rights and liberties of the individual. But that base of our philosophy I think is something that could be well understood by people once we get past the stump speech, please don't think mentality of our current political setup.

Then again, telling people if they want to better things then they're gonna have to get up and make it better could perchance not be too popular.
 
Even if it were more in the spotlight, the tenants of libertarianism wouldn't be that well received, in my opinion.
Many libertarians don't offer simplistic, single solution cure alls.

It's just not gonna be as popular, until people become better problem solvers.

Actually, we do offer simplistic, single solution cure alls. The problem is that people can't understand how our cure alls will actually cure things.
 
Even if it were more in the spotlight, the tenants of libertarianism wouldn't be that well received, in my opinion.
Many libertarians don't offer simplistic, single solution cure alls.

It's just not gonna be as popular, until people become better problem solvers.

The bolded isn't gonna happen until people are forced to do so, because there is no government solution.
 
Explaining anything to you, is a fruitless en devour.
Any and every time, a thread on libertarians or libertarianism comes up, you trot your way in to insult all said members.

Why should I waste my time on someone with an ax to grind?

You could look at it as missionary work just like most libertarians posting on internet message boards.

btw - where did I insult anybody?
 
When it comes to your critique of the libertarian party, you emulate Navy Pride's argument style. Clear enough?

I really do not pay much attention to him or his posts. Nor do I care to study him or his posts.

So NO, its not clear at all.
 
What does Libertarian Party (party, not individuals) need to happen for them to move forward in their agenda and helping the country?

There are some who are so anti-libertarian that they will never give the notion an objective chance, but they will post here anyway. *sigh*. Personally, while I used to be libertarian, I no longer consider myself to be so, yet I still hold many of the ideals. Where they lose me is the utter lack of understanding of human nature, but be that as it may, there's a great deal of the philosophy that I still like. Anyway...

If libertarian philosophy and the Libertarian Party is to move forward and actually effect change, what has to happen? I'm speaking primarily for this year and in this year's November elections.

1. Develop a base? I.e.: local, state, Congress, etc. offices first?
2. Elect a President without a base?
3. Be included in Presidential debates?
4. Carry 10%+ of the popular vote in the Presidential election?
5. Other?

To me, the Libertarian Party's biggest roadblock is itself. It doesn't organize locally. It doesn't build from the ground up. It would have to become what it loathes... a political organization that plays the game... in order to expand beyond the fringes. This is really the catch-22, isn't it? Compromise to gain access and change, or remain loyal to ideals and remain irrelevant.

Note: This link is just meant as a reference for the thread... Gary Johnson 2.0: the Libertarians
First it needs to work on it's PR. Very few people in America even know what libertarianism is about. This is largely due to the fact that the media gives them zero attention, and the media gives them zero attention because they don't have a base. It's a vicious cycle.

The problem plaguing us Libertarians can be summed up with Ron Paul:
- Not enough pandering and lying to the American people, because that's all the majority of the idiots in this country understand
- Not enough slick backed hair and cheese-dick smiles for the audience.

Two of the very big reasons I support the Libertarian party are two big reasons why they can't get their name out. I find it very infuriating to talk to people like my dad who share very similar political beliefs, and who believes the republicans are screwing us, but will continue to vote for Romney because of the "Anyone but Obama" attitude.

We'll never move past a two party system until people abandon this notion that third parties will never win and that they must choose between a lying bastard and a terrible POS.
 
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