August 2009 Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009

Page 1

Libertarian Strategy Monthly Herding Cats Since May 2009 Volume 1 | Number 4

Saturday, August 1, 2009

“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Thomas A. Edison In This Issue: Pages 2-3

Privacy Alert:

Issue Brief:

Excerpted From An ACLU Press Release

Excerpted From An LP Press Release

In a letter to key lawmakers, the American Civil Liberties Union today joined 17 other civil liberties groups to oppose the Pass ID Act, a bill that intends but failed to fix the flawed Real ID Act of 2005 designed to turn the state driver’s license into a national identity card. The coalition letter was sent in preparation for a July 15 hearing on the Pass ID Act and includes principles that should guide Congress in repealing, not fixing, the Real ID Act of 2005 so that effective driver’s license policy can be developed. While Pass ID eliminates many of the more costly Real ID requirements for the states, it leaves intact the same fundamental structure created by Real ID.

Dr. Richard S. Kerr, M.D., a West Virginia Libertarian Party member and a retired doctor with 36 years experience, asked President Barack Obama Thursday to apologize for comments made in press conference accusing doctors of conspiring to make children sicker for profits.

Opinion

Positive Political Campaigning

Pages 3-5 Opinion

Plan For Growth

Pages 5-6 Opinion

Upon Strategic Planning

Pages 6-9 Opinion

Detailed and Unstructured Strategic Planning

Page 9 News & Analysis

LNC Meets In St. Louis

Pages 10-11 News & Analysis

2010 LNC Race

Pages 11-14 News & Analysis

LP Staff Changes

Page 14 News & Analysis

Ferguson Quits LP

Page 14 News & Analysis

Pessimism Grows

Pages 14-15 Guest Article

Tax Revolt Returns

“We are united in opposing the Pass ID Act because we don’t want ‘National ID light,’” said Chris Calabrese.

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

In his press conference, Obama claimed, “…you come in and you've got a bad sore throat, or your child has a bad sore throat or has repeated sore throats, the doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, you know what, I make a lot more money if I take this kid's tonsils out.” “For President Obama’s information, pediatricians do not perform tonsillectomies. If he doesn’t know that, then he has no business centrally planning your family’s health care,” said Dr. Kerr. Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009

Opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Jake Porter or J.D. Porter Consulting.

Positive Political Campaigning Conversing With Jake By Jake Porter

“Y

esterday, I won the lottery.

Now, I have to pay taxes on my winnings. Oprah gave me a brand new car. Damn her! Now I have to buy expensive car insurance.” We have all heard this sort of negative talk, maybe to a less extreme level, by people at work, family, and friends. Does talking negative win many friends and make others want to be around you or vote for you as a political candidate? With the exception of a few rare exceptions of people that somehow manage to thrive on negative emotions like ticks on dogs the answer is a resounding no. As we learned in the last Presidential election people want to have hope for something that will benefit them. It is no different than when selling a product at a store. Just attacking a competitor’s product does nothing to convince someone to purchase your product. Sure, the consumer might not buy from the competition, but they will also not be likely to buy from you.

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 2 As Libertarians, we have the answers that will benefit America. Instead of just complaining how the Democrats and Republicans have failed, we must show how our ideas will actually be of benefit to Americans.

J.D. Porter Consulting

Business, Non-Profit, To clarify, and Political Services the average American is E-mail: already able [email protected] to clearly visualize www.jakeporter.org how the Democrats and Republicans have failed us though large budget deficits, attacks on civil liberties, high taxes, and unnecessary small business regulations. Most Americans no longer need to be convinced the Democrats and Republicans don’t have the solutions necessary to improve the country. What they want is a solution from us that will help them. After stopping the negative political talk, the next step is to stop selling issues and start selling benefits to the voters. In sales, a good salesperson will not sell product features. The reason is that most buyers do not care about product features. Instead, they care about how the feature benefits them. For example, you probably wouldn’t buy a car because it had an air conditioner. You would buy a car because their air conditioner meant you would have a more comfortable ride to and from work. You wouldn’t buy a car because it received better gas millage. You would buy the car because better gas millage saves you money that you can save or spend on

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009 other things. Similarly, few are going to vote for Libertarians because we favor a free market approach to retirement. On the other hand, they might be convinced to vote for a Libertarian who allowed them to keep more of their own money and make the personal decision of where they wanted to invest their own money for their own retirement. See, personal responsibility doesn’t sound quite as scary as the horrific sci-fi image people create in their mind when you tell them about the invisible hand of the free market. To sum up, the message of this article is simple. The American people already know how out of touch the Democrats and Republicans are with the country so you can quit talking dirty to the voters and start explaining how your plans will actually benefit them. (Photo of Jake Taken By Julie Stone)

J.D. (Jake) Porter, a 2008 Business Administration graduate, previously served as Chief of Staff to the George Phillies Presidential campaign, Iowa Coordinator for the 2008 Bob Barr Presidential campaign, and worked as Business Manager for the Saint Joseph

Page 3 Telegraph. Today, he is the owner of J.D. Porter Consulting, is the Alternate to Region 6 of the Libertarian National Committee.

Libertarian Party of Tennessee-Plan For Growth By Charles Wilhoit

T

he primary

objective of any political party is to build a voter base sufficient to elect the party candidates to public office, the most important of which are candidates for the U. S. Congress and the Tennessee legislature. A basic LPTN county organization will require a minimum of three Libertarian Party members for each voting precinct in each county. The County Chair, then, is the kingpin in party growth. The Chair makes things happen!

Gold America Group Discuss Ways To Build The Libertarian Party

August Calendar

www.goldamericagroup.com

August 1 Michael Badnarik, 1954 August 17 Davy Crockett, 1786 August 20 Congressman Ron Paul, 1935 August 29 John Locke, 1632

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009 Although we are just beginning, we are making good progress. We are few in numbers. We can't expect to raise large sums of money. Good! Now we can afford to be different. We are going to build from the bottom up. We are going to depend on Libertarian volunteers for most, perhaps all, of the work. The ultimate payoff is that our party will then be controlled from the bottom up instead of the top down as in the major parties. Your starting point is the Libertarian Party National (LPN) database for your county, which lists your dues-paying members. It also lists those prospects who have requested and received information from the LPN Headquarters. First, contact your members by phone or in person. Tell them that you seek their help in getting the County Party organized. Do not write them a letter. It is a waste of time and money. There is absolutely no substitute for personal contact. Next, begin to contact the prospects just as you have done with the members, using as many members to help you as possible. Obviously, the reason for contacting the prospects is to persuade them to join the LP and become active members of the County Party. What you have started will become an ongoing situation because you will be receiving regular updates to the database. Get the system set up and stay with it. When you feel that you have a sufficient number of members to warrant meetings, start having them. Obviously, the sooner the members get acquainted with each other the better.

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 4 Your next step is to start your local recruiting. Right away you are going to be tempted to dream up all sorts of media events to tell your public about the Libertarian Party. Stop! There is a better, more direct way and the expense will be almost negligible compared to media events. Winning the next election will get you all the media attention you could want. Sixty-four percent of the registered voters did NOT vote in the last congressional election. This indicates to me that they are probably so disenchanted with the two major parties that they don't want either of them. If even half of them turn out to be Libertarians and we can convince them to vote for Libertarian candidates, we can win. Go to your county Registrar of Voters and obtain a list of the registered voters who failed to vote in the last election. These are your most logical prospects. Arrange your list into precincts. Assign your members to his/her own precinct, give them brochures and get them started calling on these registered voters. Before they start, though, be sure they have listened to the three-tape set The Essence of Political Persuasion by Michael Cloud. A large number of people will join the Party if they are asked to do so in a direct manner. Now remember, I didn't tell you it was going to be easy. It surely won't! Your members are going to be basically lazy and reluctant to get involved. Keep talking until most of them are convinced that there is no other way to get their Libertarian candidates elected. If they finally realize there is no way they can divert you from the path you have elected to take, they will be forced to join you or forced to step aside!

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009 These are my suggestions and they are based on my experience. I feel very strongly about what I have written, simply because I have "been through the mill" and know what works and what doesn't work. Of course, you are under no obligation to follow these suggestions. It's entirely up to you. Don't hesitate to challenge me or ask questions. _________________________________ Charles Wilhoit, Captain USN (Ret.) is a former Chair of the Libertarian Party of Tennessee and in 2002 was a candidate for Governor.

Upon Strategic Planning By Dr. George Phillies

S

trategic

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 olive presses, thereby becoming wealthy. We are not a newborn, fledgling political party. We are more than 30 years old. 28 years after their births, America's other great political parties---Federalist, Democratic, Whig, and Republican--had all elected Congressmen, Senators, and Presidents.

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 5 Why should we not have a long record of strategic planning, strategic thought, and strategic analysis? We are the party of capitalism. How can we affect to be ignorant of a process known to every serious merchant, from the automobile magnate balancing between profit and business share --- to the donut magnate contemplating a cappuccino machine next to the percolator? There are many tasks we can ask or expect or demand of our Party's elected leadership. Some are more fundamental than others. Some are more attainable than others. None is more basic than the ability of leaders to set forth a coherent strategic vision for our party, to identify a path for realizing that vision, to implement that path, and to improve that path based on practical experience. Our Party's history includes some very different strategic visions. To see them, we need go no further than statements emanating from past candidates for National Chair. Your Ad Here! Consider the strategic Contact: images presented by jdporterconsulting@g Kent Guida mail.com (National Chair for advertising rates candidate, 1981) and David Bergland (National Chair candidate, 1998) in their campaign literature. I'm not going to argue whose vision was better. I'm only going to contrast the strategic visions. I'll show

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009 that our Libertarian Party has long had a sense of strategy and tactics. I'll show that historically we have had very different strategies proposed to us. What did these two candidates propose?

Page 6 •

• •

In his 1981 document, Kent Guida identified "...the key element in the success of the Libertarian Party is the individual activist who (will) help the party grow and succeed..." Guida demonstrated the sort of activities he would perform as National Chair. He compiled a "Blueprint for Libertarian Activists" sharing experiences of Libertarians from coast to coast. Core issues were: • • • • • •

establishing successful local groups sustaining extant groups via activism internal communication candidate recruitment and electioneering Libertarian education -- the Speakers' Bureau fundraising by local groups for local projects

In his 1998 letter, David Bergland proposed a series of actions that he would perform, actions targeted at 'making us a Party too big to ignore', including: • • •

appoint Steve Dasbach as fulltime, paid CEO keep the Dasbach Headquarters team increase the number of activists and donors "...by 'rolling out' Perry Willis's 'Project Archimedes'..." with the intent of doubling or quadrupling our membership by specified dates

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

fundraise for the national party and Project Archimedes from wealthy Libertarians expand activist training and Libertarian education programs be the party's spokesman to the press and the public

Note the dramatic difference in strategic visions. One candidate focused on individual activists and helping them to build a solid national base for the Party. The other focused on the Washington headquarters, Washington staff, and the national party's membership and operation. There can be no doubt: historically, we have been presented with a range of alternative strategic visions. A third strategic vision is enunciated in the Clean Slate Action Program's "Stand Up for Liberty!", available on the web at http://www.cmlc.org, and as an eBook and trade paperback at http://3mpub.com/phillies

Detailed and Unstructured Strategic Planning By Dr. George Phillies

W

hat is a Strategic Plan?

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. In 2000, a quartercentury later, the elected National Committee should routinely treat

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009 strategic planning as a primary task. Failure to treat strategic planning as a primary task -- as marked, for example, by the lack of a long-since-approved strategic plan based on analysis and outcome assessment -- would represent a gross failure of the national party leadership. What do we mean by planning? In some cases, we can be quite detailed. In other cases, we must be far less specific. In every case, we must remember that we are a party of individuals, many of whom are strong individualists. Libertarian Leadership usefully consists of proposing projects, mobilizing support for activists who are actually doing real work, and leading from the front by doing real work yourself. Efforts to lead by telling other people what they should do are relatively less effective. Suppose that we adopted "every voter should be able to Vote Libertarian! at least once in every major election" as a major party objective. That objective ensures that the party name -- whether printed on the ballot or spoken by candidate and surrogates -- is kept at least slightly before the voting public. That objective demonstrates that we are not a Here Today, Gone Tomorrow Party like the "parties" of Henry Wallace, George Wallace, John Anderson, and Ross Perot. A partial path to that objective would be to insure 50-state ballot access for our Presidential candidate, as was done in 1980, 1992, and 1996.* To travel that path via strategic planning, one would identify well in advance what had to be done in each state. Strategic planning

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 7 would ensure that any needed fundraising took place in early 1999 -leaving plenty of time for unexpected contingencies. Any needed commercial petitioners would be hired in 1999, as needed state by state, getting low 1999 petitioner prices without disrupting other Party operations. In contrast, without effective strategic planning, fundraising might be a late 1999 emergency, disrupting normal Party operations and leaving it uncertain if petitioners could be hired before their rates rose to election-year levels. Detailed strategic planning for 50 state ballot access can be done state by state, by local and state organizations with national support. We cannot always predict every step; the DemocraticRepublic duopoly party can always change the rules on us. However, most of the time we can anticipate most of the needed steps, and that is usually good enough. For other strategic paths, planning is necessarily far less precise. Consider Federal politics. One of our party's objectives is a working majority in Congress and a series of elected Libertarian Presidents.** What is the path to that objective? Will we first elect a President, and rise into Congress on her coat-tails? Or will the Chief Executive be the last position to fall to our Party, captured after town councils and state legislatures are solidly Libertarian from sea to shining sea? That's close to unpredictable. Perhaps we build from the foundation up. Perhaps some future Dwight David Eisenhower experiences the Libertarian apotheosis, writes a good Libertarian

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009 book, spends several years investing his talents in our party, and then asks for our Presidential nomination. No matter the path, this objective will not be reached in the near future. We have never elected even one Libertarian to the United States Congress, nor to the Senate. Despite the heroic efforts of Neil Randall and Don Gorman, we don't even have an enduring presence in a single state legislature. In the next few election cycles, it is unlikely that we will be more than a small Congressional minority. When the objective is very removed from the present, detailed planning is impossible. The best one can do is to create the circumstances that appear necessary for Libertarian Political victory. We may not know exactly how we will take a majority, but we can identify foundation stones that we must emplace before we succeed. At first, our efforts will lead to skeletons that are shadows of the structures created by the other major parties. As time goes on, these skeletons will gain the solidity and effectiveness of the corresponding structures maintained by the Democratic-Republicans. In the next letter "The Iron Pentagon" I will identify some of those foundation stones. I'll do some strategic analysis. My analysis suggests things that we need to do for the future. My analysis also shows things that our national leadership should have been doing to assist us in achieving the Libertarian future. ----------------------------------------------*Observe the difference between "50state ballot access" as described here and as described by some other authors. To

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 8

4 People That Can Benefit Your Campaign Campaign ManagerA good campaign manager will assist you in setting goals, implementing strategy, communicate with staff, and keep you informed on campaign progress. Communications DirectorA communications director will be working with the media, sending press releases, and defending your reputation from negative attacks. TreasurerIt is critical that you have someone competent to report your campaign finances and expenditures. Volunteer CoordinatorA volunteer coordinator will make sure you have volunteers and that those volunteers have something productive to do. Volunteer coordinators must be able to motivate, delegate, monitor, and organize a large group of people.

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009 some authors, 50-state ballot access is a deed of self-validation proving to us how good we are, an end in itself, no matter whether or not there is any evidence that having 50-state rather than (say) 46-state ballot access directly improves our party's position. Here 50-state ballot access is identified as a method to achieve a quantifiable objective, namely improving public recognition for our Party by ensuring that in alternate Federal elections every voter sees a Libertarian on the ballot. **Having attained a political majority, that majority must also be defended. If we do not defend our majorities, the libertarian tax cuts of a Libertarian President and her Congress will simply be reversed by Democratic-Republican successors.

Page 9 they eliminated the need for a plan as previously required in the policy manual which basically eliminates any strategic plan. While I would say the LNC needed a different strategic plan, eliminating it and replacing it with nothing does not seem wise. Unfortunately, there was not any actual discussion of goals or strategy. Libertarian Strategy Monthly requests that when Libertarians elect the next Libertarian National Committee they make sure their representatives not only understand the importance of goal setting and planning, but also follow through and set goals, implement strategic plans, monitor the progress, and make necessary changes.

LNC Meets In St. Louis

“A

fter all is said and done, a lot

more is usually said than done.” (Unknown) On July 18 and 19th, the Libertarian National Committee held a meeting in St. Louis, Missouri at what will be the site of the 2010 national convention. Some good did occur at the meeting and many important issues were discussed; however, much time was also spent on parliamentary procedure and factional party fighting. Photos By Julie Stone When the strategic plan came up for discussion, the LNC did find a creative method to eliminate the 2001 strategic plan without actually removing the plan itself. Instead of eliminating the plan,

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009

Page 10

2010 LNC Race Updates

I

t has been a very busy month with

candidate announcements for the next Libertarian National Committee officer positions. Position

Declared

Secretary: Former Libertarian Party of Illinois Chair, Dave Brady, has ended his exploratory campaign for LNC Secretary and resigned as the Illinois party Chair because of a job opportunity which would not allow him to remain as a party officer.

Potential Treasurer:

Chair

Mark Hinkle

Bill Redpath* Ernest Hancock Jake Porter Wayne Root

Treasurer Roger Gary Aaron Starr* Note: * Indicates Incumbent Chair: Mark Hinkle, the Region 2 Libertarian National Committee Representative, has officially announced he is running For LNC Chair.

Roger Gary had announced that he is running for LNC Treasurer. According to an e-mail forwarded to Libertarian Strategy Monthly, Mr. Gary has the following experience: Relevant Professional Experience: BBA - Accounting - University of Texas at Austin 5 years Internal Revenue Service - Tax Examiner Austin, Texas Comptroller - RailTex, Inc. San Antonio, Texas General Manager Shortline Development - San Antonio, Texas Chief Operating Office, Corporate Secretary, Board of Directors - Texas Southern Railroad - San Antonio, Texas

Wayne Root

2008 Libertarian Vice-Presidential nominee Wayne Root who was once reported to be running for Chair if Bill Redpath did not seek reelection is not at this time a candidate for Chair.

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Chief Financial Officer Amazon Forms One, Inc. - San Antonio, Texas Board of Directors, Audit Committee - San Antonio

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009 River Authority (a State Agency) Battalion Executive Officer, Adjutant, Intelligence Officer – Texas State Guard Libertarian Experience Life Member of National and Texas parties since 1977. Numerous party offices including Texas State Chairman 1984-1988 Tied for Vice Chair, LNC first ballot - 1987 One term as alt regional rep LNC early 1980s Currently on Texas State Libertarian Executive Committee Elected to San Antonio River Authority (a state agency) 6 years. 15 years on Local Selective Service Board Listed in Who's Who in American Politics and Who's Who in America.

Libertarian Party Staff Changes Austin Petersen leaves, Benedict new Executive Director

A

ustin Petersen, Director of

Outreach and Affiliate Relations, will be leaving the Libertarian Party staff on August 19th to take a new position at another organization. Libertarian

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 11 Strategy Monthly has received many positive comments about Austin’s work and wishes him well in his future endeavors. Wes Benedict has become the new Executive Director of Libertarian Party. Mr. Benedict was the former Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of Texas Mr. Benedict has sent the following message to Libertarians: From the desk of Wes Benedict: Dear Friend of Liberty, I am excited and honored to have been hired as the new Executive Director of the Libertarian Party at our headquarters in Washington, DC. I've been on the job for one week now, and I've found that we have a fine group of talented and enthusiastic staff and volunteers whom I'm pleased to be working with. Unfortunately, our national headquarters has faced some setbacks in recent years. In particular, our party is hurting financially. Our budgeted revenue is $1.2 million for 2009, but we're currently running about $75,000 short. My job is to turn this situation around. I need your help. While we are struggling at the national level, I hope that after reading about my background Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009 and our record-breaking accomplishments in Texas, where I served as Executive Director for over four years, you'll give us a chance and show your support by making a large contribution of $5,000, $1,000, $100, or whatever you're willing to donate. We need your show of support now. Call us at 202-333-0008 to make a donation by phone. Ask for me, Wes Benedict (extension 222) if you'd like to discuss the Libertarian Party with me directly. I will ask you to sign up for a monthly contribution, which gives us a predictable and reliable source of funds. A little bit about my background: I first joined the Libertarian Party in 1996 after coming across a Libertarian booth at the University of Michigan. At U of M, I earned my master's degrees in business and engineering. I also hold a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas. After graduating from Michigan, I moved to Georgia. I became active with the Libertarians there, started an e-newsletter, and served as the Cobb County LP Chair. In 2000, I moved back to Austin, Texas, bought one-third of an old kitchen and bath countertop manufacturing business with about 20 employees, and served

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 12 as the CEO. After fixing a lot of problems and Your Ad Here! restoring it to health and Contact: profitability, I sold it in jdporterconsulting@g 2003. mail.com That's when I got really active with the Libertarian Party.

for advertising rates

In 2004, the Libertarian Party of Texas had to collect 45,540 valid signatures to get back on the ballot. Since I had time on my hands and some money in the bank, I volunteered for six months full-time without pay to help organize our petition drive. I traveled at my own expense across Texas training and working with volunteers and paid petitioners, paying for my own gas and motel rooms. We were successful, and Texas Libertarians have been on the ballot ever since. After the petition drive, I was hired to serve as the Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of Texas. The Texas LP had been in a chaotic state for a while, with outdated information on its website, an unmaintained database, and a lot of infighting and discord. Nevertheless, with lots of hard work targeted in the right areas, Texas Libertarians came roaring

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009 back and broke many records in 2006 and again in 2008. A few highlights: * A record 173 LP candidates were nominated for office in Texas for the November 2008 elections, which was 29% of the nationwide LP total. * While Texas has only 8% of the total U.S. population, Texas Libertarian candidates in 2008 received 28% of the U.S. House and 44% of the State Representative votes received by Libertarians nationwide. * Libertarians known elected to nonpartisan offices in Texas increased from 2 to 8. * Texas LP donor base increased from under 300 in 2005 to over 900 in 2008. * $244,000 was raised for the Texas LP in the 2007-2008 election cycle, which was far more than any other state Libertarian party. I can't guarantee results like that nationwide, but I will do my best. I think we've got a great shot at it. A few of the approaches I used in Texas: 1) I encouraged people to run for any office they were willing to run for, and to run whether they had a realistic chance of winning, or were just likely to get a few percent at the polls to help build the Libertarian Party. I've run for office five times, so I knew what other candidates go through and could coach them. 2) I didn't nitpick the candidates'

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 13 platforms. I supported candidates with radical, moderate, left-leaning, and rightleaning libertarian platforms. 3) I tried to make sure the messages coming directly from the party were balanced between attacking Republicans and Democrats. 4) I tried to give Texas Libertarians realistic goals they could achieve, and by and large they achieved them. My experience in Texas tells me that with a staff to support our affiliates and get our candidates on the ballot, we can make strong progress. Libertarians will step up to the plate to run for office, volunteers and donors will lend a hand, and more voters will vote Libertarian. I appreciate the generosity of past donors to the Libertarian Party. However, I'm asking for more support now so we can get our national party into healthy financial shape. Please visit our website (LP.org) and make a $5,000, $1,000, or $100 donation, or whatever amount you can. Or call us at 202-333-0008 to make a contribution by phone. Ask for me at extension 222 to discuss the party and make a monthly contribution. Sincerely, Wes Benedict Executive Director Libertarian Party

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009

Page 14

[email protected] 202-333-0008 x222

Pessimism Grows

Publishers Note: To show my support for Wes Benedict, I have pledged to donate an additional $50 to the national party.

“I

Ferguson Quits Libertarian Party Joins The GOP

According to a new Rasmussen poll 49% of Americans now believe the best days of America are in the past while only 38% view things more positively and believe that America’s best days are yet to come. The number of pessimistic Americans appears to be increasing as just a month ago 44% believed America’s best days were in the past.

L

ibertarian Strategy Monthly has

some very disappointing news to report. Mike Ferguson, who has been a Libertarian Party activist for 14 years, has left the Libertarian Party and has joined the Republican Party.

s the best of the free life behind us

now and are the good times really over for good?” Merle Haggard

Source:

Ferguson is an elected Alderman, former candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, and was Congressman Barr’s National Field Director during last year’s Presidential campaign. Additionally, Mr. Ferguson is a frequent guest radio show host in Columbia, Missouri.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_conten t/politics/mood_of_america/mood_of_america_a rchive/benchmarks/44_say_america_s_best_days _in_the_past_38_say_best_is_yet_to_come

What is most surprising about this story is that Mike has endorsed Republican Congressman Roy Blunt for United States Senate.

T

Donate To Keep Libertarian Strategy Monthly Free Online! www.jakeporter.org/donate

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

The Tax Revolt Returns! By Donald Meinshausen

ax revolts have been with us for

thousands of years. According to David Burg’s encyclopedic work there have been hundreds of tax revolts in world history. These have happened on every continent, among every people as a national, provincial or local affair. Sometimes they have been labeled as being peasant, anti-war or antiimperialist revolts. But all of them had the main issue of anger against burdensome and unfair taxation. Let me put it this way: What labor organizing is to the left taxpayer organizing is to us. It is organizing on the basis of a palpable, onerous, cancerous oppression. Libertarian Strategy Monthly

August 2009 In all my years of libertarian political activism I have never seen such a potentially revolutionary groundswell as what is going to happen this April. As a result of the insane socialist stimulus package there were Tea Bag Tax Day Protest Rallies were held in over 800 cities in America and attracted over 800,000 people like us. The rally in Chicago got over 30,000 people. The greatest victory that the modern day libertarian movement has ever won before was the passage of Prop13, an anti tax initiative in California. This is bigger, because the stakes are higher. The next round of protests is on the July 4th weekend protesting Cap and Trade as well the bailouts. The war that ended up with British getting the Magna Carta started as a tax revolt. So did the American Revolution. Research has shown that every revolt was caused by taxes, slavery or war (basically they are all the same). One lesson learned is that any new tax must be immediately challenged or people will grudgingly accept it as normal. One sign held up at a demonstration says it all: “Big Government is the Last Stage a Nation Goes Through Before It Dies.” Yes, many of these events are being funded and run by GOPers and conservative talk show hosts. So what? Good libertarian organizations have tabled at CPAC for years and we recruit more libertarians than ever from them. I’m glad that the GOP and the radio stations are doing the hard work and taking the responsibility of organizing this event. This will be a tremendous opportunity to show our fellow outraged citizens of how the GOP organized the first bailout, supported socialist lending policies, earmarks, pork barrel spending

Page 15 just a few months ago. Anti-war and anti-drug war activists can use this opportunity to expose the wastefulness and horror of these depredations of our liberty. What a tremendous opportunity to recruit and inform concerned people left or right of what we are all about. Be diplomatic and remember we are building a broad based anti-tax coalition here. Leave the anarchist stuff at home until we do more education. Now is the time for ALL libertarians to reach out to this movement and offer support to this worthy struggle to push back statism. That means all think tanks, media and activist groups from C4L to voluntaryist. Whether you are in or out of politics be there. We'll remember your good works here when you ask us for support. Contact your conservative friends as well as your counter culture ones. Watch the video called "We the People”. This video shows Ron Paul and all these wonderful signs being held at previous rallies. Signs that read: “Ayn Rand was right”, “Free Markets Not Free Loaders”, “Nationalization is Theft”; “Keep your socialism we want Capitalism”. All this with John Lennon's "Power to the People" playing! And he ends it all with a phrase from John Galt's speech! These are our people coming there. To see it watch” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzP mzfv5rJQ 20 Congressman Paul, 1935 Free Online Ron Libertarian Strategy Monthly Subscription! Subscribe To The Libertarian Strategy Monthly Online For Free: Visit: http://jakeporter.org/lsm

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Libertarian Strategy Monthly