In Part 1 of this piece suggesting a new direction for Libertarians, I made my case based on the following chain of observations and premises:
There's not a dime's worth of difference between current Libertarian Party (LP) presidential candidate Gary Johnson and the Green—practically and essentially a 'peace' party—presidential candidate Jill Stein... when it comes to peace and civil liberties.
Virtually every American—well, okay, but it has to be more than 50%—is against war and tyranny, while virtually every elected Republican and Democrat likes war and tyranny... and votes for them continuously.
Much of the current Libertarian Party leadership and its membership seems to feel 2012 was a banner year, believing the voters are telling us to stay the course; they advocate no real change in strategy or operations.
A rudimentary, common-sense yet wildly best-case projection of LP performance will see its presidential candidate receive 2.2% of the vote in 2020 and its average vote percentage for state house of representatives at 5.5% in 2020 (without any victories).
The US political system enters 2013 with the Establishment Duopoly (Duop) in full control, exercising as official policy mass expropriation, mass incarceration, mass torture, and mass murder; thanks to Obama's recent signing of the NDAA, Americans no longer have the due process protection of the Magna Carta.
The Duop is putting the finishing touches on destroying the human economy and poisoning humanity's natural resources 'evincing a clear design' to actually kill us in vast numbers; reaching 2016 with free elections is problematic, 2020 will be a miracle.
The Libertarian Party will become irrelevant to the struggle for freedom and life if it continues business as usual. [Note: whether it's been irrelevant or counterproductive all along is a separate question certainly worth of discussion.]
As of this five minutes of geologic time, any sort of rational liberty-focused political-party activity has to achieve success—defined as winning more elections against the Duop than they win against it—in the near-time horizon. Let's say success for a liberty-based political party consists of winning 25%+ of its races in 2016, and 50%+ of its races in 2020, where the campaigns are for offices across the board—state and federal elections where party affiliation is stated.
Yes, that's ambitious, but it's also a firm requirement to help avert very real human disaster. I'm addressing this column
primarily to LP supporters and leadership because I'm most familiar with the LP—I actually was a leader at the founding convention for the LP in Michigan (1972), have been an officer several times, and I have always embraced its core principles—and the LP has had the most success within the US two-party Establishment system. Currently it is on the most state ballots (~30) for 2014 and it is the most organized of all the 'sandbox parties,'[1] having tens of thousands of hardworking, decent, bright people committed to its progress.
Because of the LP's high and strong relative standing among alternative parties, we in the LP have the responsibility to establish and lead a true majority party of peace, freedom, and the Constitution in America. A big part of that effort will be to reach out to reasonable[2] partisans of the other sandbox organizations—and to the large body of conscientious, humane citizenry in general—to show how we can unite and conquer this deadly Establishment Beast that has us all by the throat.
An Outline of Recommendations
Briefly, let me present the structure of my thoughts for creating an LP transformed toward victory... of liberty. Keep in mind that liberty is or ought to be the primary goal of any Libertarian, whether or not liberty is effected under specific auspices of the current Libertarian Party organization.
[I'll briefly describe my general ideas for each outline item for the column, then elaborate further in the book described below.]
Recognize the Death Star—or the 900# Gorilla, call it what you will. My Truth Torpedo Chapter 5: Cabalization and Chapter 6: GOTUS as a Terrorist Organization completely identify the reality of the real, imminent threat of coercive government run amok, stating its intent to enslave and destroy the people. We have very little time to score a touchdown, and we're backed up on our own side of the field.
Step up to the Truth—related to the first point, we need to face facts, recognize all the lies and deceptions of the corporate-state... and assert the truthen masse: 9/11 Truth, staged massacres for purposes of citizen disarmament, Obama's forged papers, atmospheric geoengineering and global culling, mass expropriation through the banking system, war crimes and torture, etc. Moreover, the new big tent party has to prosecute these state crimes: 'Truth and Reconciliation' or 'Truth and Remediation' are themes to promote.
Prioritize platform to majority issues—Discussed above, the many areas of government criminal activity have to be evaluated for level of urgency and importance. For example, when coming to specific policies, does the new Commonsense Party (or whatever it comes to be called) devote all its resources to repealing the minimum wage law and Social Security or to ending indefinite detention without trial and stopping Obama's slaughter of civilians with drones?
Open the tent—Actually this is the most important step in the operation, and will present many challenges. It will require a lot of collaboration and coordination, calling, asking, persuading. It is also the step that stands to be the most fun. For so long libertarians have had this circle the wagons mentality: we now have the opportunity to take part in a SUCCESSFUL activity that persons of good will be inclined to support. It is going to get LARGE. Think what it means to win, think what it means en masse to drive out and destroy the Men of the Power Sickness. Ultimately, this is going to be one big party... each of us getting to know, even love, many wonderful new people.
The New Libertarian Party—these comments directed toward those in the LP now, especially as we hear from the leaders new calls to join and become
part of the next cycle of business as usual. The following five are some of the major thrusts we must make to change things around, to transform the Libertarian Party into the Majority Party.
Gear meetings toward real activism—Always ask yourself, "Why am I sitting here in this meeting unless it's to do something or learn something to free my country and my world." There will be plenty of opps for socializing, and we'll certainly build those in. But as freedom lovers we are above all DOers.
10th Amendment—Probably at the moment the most important activity libertarians can be part of, rolling back federal tyranny one unConstitutional act at a time. Through nullification. The Tenth Amendment Center, Campaign for Liberty, and other organizations are key. Also Jury Nullification is front and center as a bulwark against the advance of arbitrary state power. Take part in these; we are already seeing major SUCCESS. Most are full of liberty 'Ron Paul' Republican types, the point is one minute of real action in such causes is worth a year of sitting in central committee meetings or listening to banquet speeches.
Issue petitions—Similar to the previous item: so many opps here, mainly in states with the Progressive Era establishment of initiative, referendum, and recall procedures... which give people direct control of the legislation of their government. Related: On a national level, for example, consider launching a new Liberty Amendment that ends the War on Drugs and releases all individuals incarcerated by that abomination from the prison system—with full expungement—immediately.
Confrontation and 'denial of consent' demonstrations—Take it to the streets, or by all means learn the law and stop providing funds to the central state. Or boycott the system until it stops and prosecutes torture, ends the drone killings of civilians overseas, stops the prison industrial complex, or what have you. As Etienne de la Boetie put it many years ago, "There are millions of us, and only a few of them; they can only perpetrate their crimes via our consent." Deny them that, systematically and with friends.
Deprivilegeand Repair —One of the unifying themes of the new majority party will be to remove copious quantities of state privilege from the several entities, especially corporate and banking, that receive it. Privilege means private law, and the grass roots are going to be taking that away from them. Then as a corollary we can look at Reparations to the productive class from the political class. A calculation can certainly be made as to the amount of wealth transferred to the political class over the decades from 1913 thanks to the Federal Reserve System. Let's help the people get their money back and make a new start.
Develop candidates—probably the key activity that the current LP stresses, and properly so, but to move to majority party status we need to refocus. The main new idea is that the Majority Party will recruit candidates from everywhere, but mainly locally at city hall. What is important is whether the candidate, regardless of party affiliation, supports and seeks to benefit real humans.
The Majority Party, for example, would generally not run a candidate against a Ron Paul Republican.
No more paper candidates—yes, that has been the LP way in virtually all states from the beginning, and I used to agree. But time tells us that paper candidacies are probably a key fact that delegitimizes LP candidates in the public's mind. Many such candidates do not even respond to League of Women Voters' questionnaires. My recommendation is that any Majority Party candidate stand in the polls at 10% minimum before even being nominated: we field serious pro-human, pro-liberty, responsible, knowledgeable candidates only... that can and will defeat the
Local freedom—I've been Webmaster of the LP of Michigan now for a few years and, at 63, am highly interested in turning this responsibility over to new blood. The 20-something who has stepped up is remarkable, not only for his knowledge of cyberworks, but his enthusiasm for libertarian ideas. He's going to run for city council! And have a good chance of winning. Michigan has had several, typically younger, libertarians and Libertarians who have served in their local government 'legislatures,' a couple going on to the state house. Your own community: ideal Majority Party candidate Source.
Change name and marketing campaign—You can see from the image at the top right what my core ideas are for the Majority Party. I believe they MUST incorporate the following ideas in very simplified but essential form: a) peace, b) civil liberties, c) the Constitution, d) justice (truth and remediation), and finally e) an end to privilege [private law, state-sanctioned corporate special interests, the '1984' notion that some are more equal than others]. Obviously, we can improve on my home-made icon. As for a name, I'm leaning toward 'Grass Roots Party.' Turn loose the creative types on the plan.
The forgoing outline will be expanded into another short publication of mine, I intend soon. Tentative title: Blueprint Liberty: Practical transformation of 'the LP' into a majority party by 2020.
Or words to that effect. But no need to wait, if you are reading these words and either part of the LP or considering joining, you can jump right in to becoming an effective agent of the New Humanitarian Order.[3]
Please take part in the Grand Transformation:
We have nothing to lose but our sandboxes!
[1] It's my humble opinion that budding libertarians in the
1960s, who might otherwise have participated and dominated the anti-state, anti-war movement —particularly prosecution of the Vietnam War (crime)—were subtly and secretly misled (to form the LP) as a project of the Intel Mob. The Mob's thinking would have been:
"Hey, this antiwar movement has become a real threat to power. Some leading libertarians are beginning to see through the nation-state haze and may throw in with the antiwar crowd. That could do us in. Let's keep them off the streets by throwing them 'a Party.' Let them spend their hours petitioning and learning Roberts Rules of Order, attending supper clubs, jumping through legal hoops of our devising, playing pretend politics in a totally fixed system. Voila! No more threat—like giving unruly children a sandbox."
[2] Doctrinaire socialists need not apply, nor zealots of any particular religious orientation... a zealot being defined as someone who is convinced his belief system gives him the right to push someone else around. The process of reaching out to the nonlibertarians, most of whom are commonsense libertarians anyway, is worth an additional column or two. [And will be addressed in the blueprint book.] That's the whole enchilada, really. We are not going to win, or live, if we don't become the real people's party.
[3] The mechanics of how the existing LP changes into the Majority Party itself or helps to effect a wholly separate political party are outside of scope of this column. If we transform the LP, then bylaws changes will be required and a modified platform, also a name change. It's possible in many states that a newly named organization will have to reestablish ballot access. I'll discuss details of how I envision the whole project—essentially a natural marketing approach —unfolding in the book. Please contact me here if you are interested in helping.
In Part 1 of this piece suggesting a new direction for Libertarians, I made my case based on the following chain of observations and premises:
