July 2009 Libertarian Strategy Monthly

July 2009

Page 1

Libertarian Strategy Monthly Herding Cats Since May 2009 Volume 1 | Number 3

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” Napoleon Hill In This Issue: Pages 2-3

Privacy Alert:

Issue Brief:

From The ACLU

The Concord Coalition reiterated its support for enacting statutory pay-asyou-go (PAYGO) rules, particularly in light of proposals to expand the federal government’s health care commitments. Concord warned, however, that the Obama Administration’s PAYGO proposal would exempt $3.5 trillion of specific policies from the rule and protect most spending programs from acrossthe-board cuts intended to enforce the rule.

Opinion

A Subcommittee Structure Pages 3-7 Opinion

What We Should Do With The National Party Pages 7-11 Opinion

Campaign Season Is Almost Here Pages 11-12 News & Analysis

Growing Libertarian Trend Page 12 News & Analysis

Poll Gives Insight Into American Politics Pages 12-13 News & Analysis

Young Voters Lean Libertarian Pages 13-14 News & Analysis

Liberty For Maine Forms Pages 14

The ACLU filed the complaint on behalf of a traveler who was illegally detained and harassed by TSA agents at the airport for carrying approximately $4,700 in cash. On March 29, 2009, Steven Bierfeldt was detained in a small room at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and interrogated by TSA officials for nearly half an hour after he passed a metal box containing cash through a security checkpoint X-ray machine. Bierfeldt was carrying the cash in connection with his duties as the Director of Development for the Campaign for Liberty, a political organization that grew out of Congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign.

News & Analysis

Former LP Staffer Writes Autobiography Pages 14-15 News & Analysis

Brady For LNC Secretary

To Read Full Press Release: http://www.aclu.org/safefre Opinion e/general/39926prs200906 18.html

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

“Finding a cure for the nation’s dire fiscal outlook will obviously require a lot more than a new budget rule, but enactment of statutory PAYGO would send a very positive signal that the federal government is beginning to take the problem seriously.” said Robert Bixby, executive director of The Concord Coalition. To Read Full Press Release: http://tinyurl.com/lepmrp

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

An Effective Subcommittee Structure For State and National Organizations Conversing With Jake By Jake Porter What do you get when you have approximately twenty managers, but only about five staffers to do the work of an organization? The answer is a top down bureaucratic management structure that stifles growth, decreases productivity, and wastes the resources of the organization. Don’t get me wrong, having state and national committees and staff are very much necessary for the future of our party; however, we are a small party. To build a Libertarian future will require a vast amount of work that needs to be completed. We desperately need a subcommittee structure to decrease the heavy workload of our staff and to accomplish the goals of the organization. What is a subcommittee structure? A state or a national committee sets the goals and makes the major decisions of their organization or they delegate the making of specific decisions to staff. A subcommittee is given a specific area to set goals for, carry out those goals, and report back to the entire committee on © 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

the progress they are making on those goals. A “working” subcommittee consists of members within the state or national committee and could perhaps have volunteers, Business, Non-Profit, appointed and Political Services by the committee, E-mail: who are not [email protected] necessarily members of www.jakeporter.org the state or national committee.

J.D. Porter Consulting

What are the benefits of a subcommittee structure? A subcommittee structure can be added to the state or national committee to allow more oversight and more committee member accountability for results. The following are just a few benefits of a subcommittee structure: • • • • • • •

Accountability for results Better monitoring of progress Less confusion Less work for staff Meeting goals and objectives More motivation Real work done by committee members and volunteers

What subcommittees do we need? Here are some ideas. Your list may be different. Some subcommittees could be added, modified, or removed depending on your state organization:

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July 2009 •

Affiliate Party Subcommittee o Monitor problems and progress of each state o Monitor each college and county organization

•

Ballot Access Subcommittee o Make certain candidates will be on the ballot o Monitor potential legal changes to ballot access requirements

•

Budget and Fundraising Subcommittee o Determine methods of raising revenue o Propose a budget for doing real politics o Raise money

•

•

Candidate and Volunteer Support Subcommittee o Develop guides and resources to help candidates o Keep track of appointed and elected officials o Recruit candidates Communications and Marketing Subcommittee o Developing advertising campaigns o Distribute press releases

Now that I have addressed the importance of creating a subcommittee structure I ask that you consider trying it. All we are saying is give the subcommittee structure a chance. On the other hand, we could continue to do the same thing we have done since before I was even born. Has that worked very well?

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

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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 Telegraph. Today, he is the owner of J.D. Porter Consulting, is the Alternate to Region 6 of the Libertarian National Committee, and resides in the state of Missouri.

www.rationalreview.com

What We Should Do With The National Party By Dr. George Phillies Originally Posted in the December 2003 edition of Libertarian Strategy Gazette A Program for a National Chair: What do we need in a Chair? A Libertarian National Committee (LNC) Chair needs to know how to run meetings and adhere to Rules of Order. As a professor active in faculty governance, I've done that under difficult circumstances. An LNC Chair and Party CEO must understand that the Libertarian Party is a voluntary organization, not except for a very few employees a hierarchical corporation.

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

July 2009 Corporate management techniques (not to be confused with honest accounting procedures) routinely fail catastrophically in volunteer groups. I've seen these failures at close range. The next LNC Chair needs to purge the LNC meeting practices that helped give the National Party its Decade of Stagnation. The notion that LNC members are there to write management guidelines, but not to get their hands dirty in the shop by doing real work, needs to come to an end. Party Members need to contribute to this end when they decide who to elect to the next National Committee. The notion that an agenda should sometimes leave mission critical items to late in the meeting (see the December 2001 meeting for an example) should also go. The National Committee should focus on doing politics. Finally, the LNC Chair is our Party CEO. Potential Chairs should explain what the Party should do. So, what should the LNC be doing? I offer a twelve step plan, substantially from my book Stand Up For Liberty! ( http://3mpub.com/phillies ) In short: 1) Subcommittee Structure for the LNC 2) Candidate Support material 3) National-scale projects 4) Ballot access support 5) Incite activism and volunteerism 6) Libertarian affinity groups 7) Party Newsletter for politics; legitimate libertarian news papers for outreach. 8) Make the Party a group people want to join.

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 4 9) Move the National headquarters out of Washington. 10)-12) That would be telling. You'll have to read the rest of the article. First, subcommittee structure. An eighteen (see footnote 1) member board that is any good has working subcommittees. The LNC has a very few. It should get substantially more of them. To send a message to LNC members, 'subcommittees' should be called Your Ad Here! 'working groups'. Contact: Working Groups exist jdporterconsulting@g to do work mail.com between national for advertising rates committee meetings. Obvious Working Groups for the LNC are Elections, Political Action, Outreach, Fundraising, Membership, and Operations. Operations should have internal Working Groups for Budget and Finance, Conventions, Information, and Audit (We have a few of these now.) Some working groups should mostly be people who are not National Committee members. Note that when I proposed which Working Groups we need I deliberately listed the Groups that would do real political activities first, and the Groups that will shuffle paper later. What do the proposed Working Groups do? Elections recruits candidates at the Federal level, and encourages and supports candidates running for office.

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

July 2009 Why do Democrats and Republicans reliably have strong Senate candidates? Because when conditions get tough, they can count on the President, Speaker of the House,... to get on the telephone and motivate people of their party to run for office. Our National Chair should do the same. Political Action supports all other sorts of political action, including Referenda, Web Sites, Rallies and Demonstrations, and effective Street Theater. Outreach includes Affinity Group formation, letters to the editor, speakers’ bureaus, the publication of prolibertarian legitimate newspapers,... Membership covers recruitment and retention, arranges for novel membership benefits, generates lists of volunteers for various tasks,... Second, the National Party should develop and distribute extensive candidate support materials. Actually, I’ve already done that. With material from Libertarians around the country, and the assistance of Bonnie Scott, I produced a Candidate Support CD ROM. Some of you already have one. If you were or will be a candidate, you have but to ask me for a copy. I proposed this in 2002. However, I did not just talk. I made it happen. Third, some activities are best done by the National Party. The LNC should foster cooperation with other libertarian groups, including educational and publishing organizations. The LNC is well-placed for lobbying and press relations. Libertarian lobbyists may lose, but lobbying puts ideas before the press and the public.

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

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Fourth, the LNC should support ballot access efforts in the fifty states. Many people have committed to us by voting for our candidates. To retain these people as supporters, they need the chance to Vote Libertarian! in every election. While many state parties are reasonably expected to gain ballot access by themselves, in a few states the requirements are so onerous as to be beyond the reach of the local state party. The National Party should help them. (However, the LNC should also think about its acts. In the past, the LNC has spent tens of thousands of dollars on "ballot access" projects that made ballot access worse for the recipient.)

The Libertarian Answer to Daily Kos www.thedailyliberty.com Fifth, some activities are equally important for National, State, and Local Libertarian groups. The LNC should incite activism by encouraging members to run for office, to work on Libertarian campaigns, and to volunteer to build a strong party. The National Party should consistently ask members to volunteer their time, not just their pocketbooks, should track potential volunteers, and should see that volunteer lists reach local organizers who use the information. The National Party should strive to develop a stronger voter base, for example by encouraging local campaigns and referenda. The National Party should do outreach to put our message in front of voters. The National Party should do legitimate fundraising for sound projects, and account to the members on how their gifts were spent. The National Libertarian Strategy Monthly

July 2009 Party should do good information management, so activists can find each other. Federal, State, and Local groups should all do these, with National doing its fair share. Sixth, the National Party should help develop libertarian affinity groups. An affinity group has members with common interests. Affinity groups include the National Rifle Association and the National Educational Association. With great uniformity, each affinity group supports only one political party. An affinity group may also have important non-political activities. The Libertarian Party has had past successes creating affinity groups. Our DefendYourPrivacy web site was a civil liberties protective organization focused on a single issue of banking privacy. Affinity groups that develop their own clientele, members, and officers, so that they support our candidates without needing continued National party intervention, are preferable. Seventh, the National Party newspaper should focus more on activist incitement and support. Non-Party libertarian legitimate newspapers, such as the excellent Free Liberal described by Dr. Milsted, should discuss Libertarian policies and how they will benefit America. Web printing is cheap. The National Party usefully supports good non-party newspapers by arranging for copies to go to the membership as a membership benefit. The LNC should create a support fund to pay for sending libertarian legitimate newspapers to schools and public libraries, coffee houses, and old age homes, among other places, across America.

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 6 Eighth, membership recruitment and growth will occur when we have a strong party. We cannot build a strong party by recruiting members. When the Libertarian Party does well, when our candidates are heard with respect and draw serious vote totals, Americans will flock to join us. Bulk mail recruiting letters sent to rented lists are a waste of money. For a bigger party, first create a better party. Ninth, the National Headquarters should leave Washington. I am proposing that we move far from DC, not to a suburb. We pay well over $30 per year per square foot for our current space (see footnote 2), or close to $100,000 per year. In New Hampshire, comparable space is $4-8. Moving to New Hampshire would save the National Party $75,000 per year, roughly enough over a four year cycle to pay for 50-state ballot access. Furthermore, DC has an extremely high cost of living. The pay scales that give marginal middleclass life in DC will give a far higher standard of living when paid in other parts of the country, letting us afford a superior staff. Notes: Consider Branch headquarters in major tourist locations, so that the party faithful can visit while the children are on the roller coaster. Our lease means we probably cannot move in less than several years. And if you read claims that I want to shut down the National Headquarters, well, it's not true. You'll notice that I just listed a twelve step plan with nine steps. That's not an accident. I have my nine steps, because I've listened to lots of Party members from around the country. The other three steps are waiting for all of you to create.. That's my last change in the way

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the National party is run. I think that members from all around the country have good ideas for us.

will have some reputation and network that may help to win a legislative, or city council race.

George Phillies PVLA Member http://3mpub.com/phillies

The second is to run an educational campaign. There might be a race in your district that has no opponent, or where you just have a particular passion, but not any real hope of winning. In this type of campaign, you would run a legitimate campaign, maximizing your exposure, taking every opportunity to speak to voters and to get out the Libertarian message. All the while knowing that there is not much chance of winning. These campaigns are generally run for education and information – a way to expose people to Libertarian ideas, and talk about better government.

(1) Actually, read the Bylaws: The number is _not_ fixed at exactly eighteen, but other values are less likely. (2) Or so an LNC member told me, and the rent and space match.

Campaign Season Is Almost Here! By Rachel Hawkridge Campaign season is almost here! If you’ve ever thought about running for office, it’s time to start planning. Libertarian candidates have some choices to make. There are two ways to go. The first is to run for a small, nonpartisan office. This could be anything from a water or cemetery board to a school board. These are very winnable races. Where you don’t necessarily talk about your political beliefs, but you practice them. You influence policy. Make decisions, and actually govern. School boards are a great race for this. Do not expect that people will know that you are Libertarian, do not attempt to change the world overnight. Especially on a school board – this one should be handled carefully, but can be a launching point for a politician to actually get elected to higher office. Someone who has served on a school board for 4-8 years, putting in the time, the hard work,

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

www.libertyforamerica.com No matter which strategy you decide on, never enter into a race for a job that you wouldn’t take, unless it is a strategy. For instance, one time Ruth Bennett ran for Lt. Governor on the platform that, if elected, she would abolish the office of Lt. Governor. Jack Tanner, and a couple of our Florida Libertarians, got elected to a board that accomplished nothing, and cost taxpayers a lot of money, and then they shut it down. All brilliant Libertarian strategists. Thank you, gentlepeople. What do you plan to do? Need help deciding? Go to your county auditor, or secretary of State’s website, and see what offices are up for election this fall. What sounds attractive or interesting to Libertarian Strategy Monthly

July 2009 you? What fits with your interests, skills? Once you have an office in mind, start doing the research. •

What are the issues?

•

Is this office something that has been in the news recently? Corrupt? Incompetent?

•

Spending too much money?

•

Look up Voter Guide Statements for the race in past years.

•

Pay particular attention to the statement of the winner.

•

Start to write a statement that incorporates Libertarian values. Be careful that you don’t include any information that, no matter how true or Libertarian, has no connection to the office. (In other words, in a City Council race, you do not mention federal or state issues. This is not where you talk about your 911 Truth beliefs, or your Bircher convictions, or your desire to build ZeroG space stations.)

Then start to prepare – •

Get a photo taken – preferably a professional shot. Dress for a professional job interview (it is!), and be cautious about any emblems, symbols, or backgrounds. You want a photo that makes you look relaxed, confident, and approachable. Susan Hogarth reviewed a lot of

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

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7 Principles Of Good Government Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson’s Seven Principles of Good Government:

“1. Become reality driven. Don’t kid yourself or others. Find out what’s what and base your decisions and actions on that. 2. Always be honest and tell the truth. It’s extremely difficult to do any damage to anybody when you are willing to tell the truth regardless of the consequences. 3. Always do what’s right and fair. Remember, the more you actually accomplish the louder your critics become. You’ve got to learn to ignore your critics. You’ve got to continue to do what you think is right. You’ve got to maintain your integrity. 4. Determine your goal, develop a plan to reach that goal, and then act. Don’t procrastinate. 5. Make sure everybody who ought to know what you’re doing knows what you’re doing. Communicate. 6. Don’t hesitate to deliver bad news. There is always time to salvage things. There is always time to fix things. Henry Kissinger said that anything that can be revealed eventually should be revealed immediately. 7. Last, be willing to do whatever it takes to get your job done. If you’ve got a job that you don’t love enough to do what it takes to get your job done, then quit and get one that you do love, and then make a difference.” Libertarian Strategy Monthly

July 2009 candidate photos last season – I found it helpful. •

Have you been in touch with your local LP affiliate to ask for endorsement, campaign help, volunteers? Do it now. This is also a good place to start to get help from Libertarians with your Voter Guide Statement and talking points.

•

Put together a list of friends, family, business contacts and organizations that you can ask for donations and help. Even people who don’t have money usually have something that they can help you with. Putting up signs. Sending out an eMail on your behalf. Phone numbers of people who do have money. Ideas.

•

Get online, and find a domain name. JoeSmithForCongress.org. Do not use JoeSmithForCongress.freewebs.c om, or something like that. It should be simple, understandable, easy.

Now is the time to get online, if you haven’t already. Set up eMail accounts through Google which also gives you •

•

Google Calendar (Great for scheduling candidate events! The entire team can access the calendar.), Google Docs (for leaving Voter Guide Statement, photos and position papers, literature for events, etc.)

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 9 Get a Facebook account for the campaign. Be sure that it is used for only campaign things. No pictures of you doing beer bongs at a frat party. Which means be careful who you friend. Maybe the campaign Your Ad Here! account is named Contact: Willis Campaign, jdporterconsulting@g or Willis for mail.com Congress. Or rather for advertising rates than a whole account, set up a Fan page and group for the campaign. Start a blog. I prefer Wordpress.com. You can download and host Wordpress on your own domain (best), but if not, or to start, get WillisForCongress.wordpress.com. You can move the blog later, or even just link from your website. On the blog, comment on news stories or developments that are current and germane to your race. Always offer a Libertarian solution. Here’s an example of a blog entry . . . "Pleasantville’s City Council plans to raise taxes by 30% to pay for the new park and rec center (make part of that sentence a link to the news story). Since Libertarians prefer to spend within our means, and not burden your children for recreational facilities, I would first solicit private donations (in exchange for naming), then set up a system where users of the rec center would pay fees for classes, groups would pay rental fees to Libertarian Strategy Monthly

July 2009 use the facilities, and businesses and individuals could either provide ongoing financial support or maintenance. In this way, I estimate that we would only have to raise taxes 10%. Of course, my preference would be to wait until we could raise the complete cost of the facility from private sources and community fundraising before we broke ground and then support it through user fees. " This example, while some would attack it as un-Libertarian, offers both the proposed Libertarian solution and a compromise. (Often, Libertarians in office find that they can reduce government by offering something less than the original “full meal deal”. Being the lone “No” vote may make you feel good, it really doesn’t accomplish anything. Making an amendment to a motion can begin some discussion in a meeting that just “No” doesn’t achieve. Offering people smaller government solutions helps to wean them off the habit of taxes extracted at the point of a gun. Who knows, maybe by the time a voter has read your blog and smaller government ideas for several months, they may actually be ready to face the idea of life without the all-encompassing government control!) Start to tweet. Sign up at twitter.com. Use one of the link shrinkers to make the link to your blog entry tiny, and tweet it each time you blog. For example – Willis offers small government solution to 30% tax increase – http://is.gd/cBni. #tlot #liberty Don’t forget the appropriate hashtags – those #tlot and #liberty words at the end. They’re a “filing” system for twitter.

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 10 Now that you’re blogging, and tweeting, use the tweets as your Facebook status. This is a great way to stimulate discussion among your Facebook friends, and teach more about Libertarian philosophy. Add as many Facebook friends as you can within your voting district. Search for likely suspects, and add them. Write letters to the editor that are basically your blog articles. You may have make some minor adjustments for format or clarity. Post them to local newspaper’s forums. Take a few minutes to go to DonorTownSquare.com, PayPal.com and then ChipIn.com. Set up accounts at all of them. Add the widgets to all of your sites. Since all of this can be a lot of work, and you haven’t even started the “real life” work of the campaign yet, consider having a trusted volunteer of family member function as your “online campaign manager”. All of this can be done by a ghost-writer, even remotely. Your cousin George could be sitting in Berthoud, CO, writing your blog and conducting your online campaign for City Council in Portland, OR. Now, starts the physical part. Doorbelling. One great candidate that I know started in early spring, walking his neighborhood, knocking on doors, introducing himself. "Hi, I’m Willis, and I’m running for City Council this fall. I have this piece to let you know what I’m about, and I’d appreciate you taking a few minutes to take a look at it. It has contact information for me on it, and you can

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

July 2009 call or eMail me with any questions you might have. Have a great evening, and if you think my ideas sound good, I’d appreciate your vote." He knocked on his neighbor’s doors several evenings a week and some weekends, and won the election in the fall. Always attend neighborhood events, town celebrations, etc. They are great opportunities for networking and campaigning. And do I need to say it? Always have your pocket sized campaign piece in your pocket, and a slim jim or something when appropriate. More later – the fun stuff, like public forums, interviews, candidate ratings. ____________________________ Rachel Hawkridge is the Region 7 Libertarian National Committee Representative Rachel’s website is located at: www.lncregion7.blogspot.com News and Analysis

National Polls Confirm Growing Libertarian Trend From the Libertarian Party of Missouri: Three highly-regarded national polls have confirmed a growing Libertarian trend in U.S. politics. The Pew Research Center, the Washington Post with ABC News, and Rasmussen Reports have published their findings on American political attitudes in 2009. "Across the board, these polls tell us that most Americans believe in the free

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 11 market economy, are skeptical of big government, Your Ad Here! and take a moral stand Contact: against government jdporterconsulting@g intolerance mail.com and bigotry," for advertising rates said Glenn Nielsen, chair of the Missouri Libertarian Party. "This is the essence of Libertarian thought, and we welcome the results of these national polls." The Pew Research Center published its annual report on political values and trends last week entitled Independents Take Center Stage in Obama Era. This report concludes that "the proportion of independents now equals its highest level in 70 years" and that these independents are more likely to be economically conservative and socially tolerant. The Washington Post/ABC poll released in April shows yet again that 5% of Americans identify with a party other than Republican or Democrat. Despite the personal popularity of President Obama, this same poll indicates that 87% of Americans are concerned by the growing federal deficit, and 53% were not confident in the government's ability to cut wasteful spending in the President's economic recovery package. A Rasmussen Reports poll released on May 11 asked 1,007 adults "which of the following will be the biggest threat to the country in the future -"big

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

July 2009 business, big labor or big government?" Fifty-nine percent (59%) of politically independent Americans viewed "big government" as the greatest threat, virtually unchanged from the 60 percent measured the last time the question was asked in 2006 - before the financial crisis and election of Barack Obama. "Despite the two-party and twophilosophy slant in these polls, Libertarian trendlines are emerging," notes Glenn Nielsen. "I look forward to the day when these organizations acknowledge us for who we are: a truly distinct philosophy, and not a mish-mash of the Republicans and Democrats. There has never been a better time to be a Libertarian."

New Washington Post-ABC News Poll Gives Insight Into American Politics According to a new very detailed Washington Post-ABC News telephone poll conducted between June 18 and June 21st only 36% of those surveyed view the Republican Party favorably and 56% viewed the GOP unfavorably. The Democrats fared much better with 53% favorable and only 40% unfavorable. This could potentially be great news for the Libertarian Party. The Republican Party should be gaining support with all the government spending by Democrats, but they are actually losing support. After eight years, the American people no longer trust them on economics or civil liberties. In fact, in many states the Republican Party appears to be completely falling apart. Additionally, the Democrats also appear to be losing support. For example, according to the survey the Democrats favorability has © 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 12 dropped five percent since last August when they had a favorability rating of 58% and 36% unfavorable. With more Independents the Libertarian Party could potentially benefit much like Ross Perot did in the 1992 Presidential election. Another interesting survey question found that 54% wanted a smaller government with fewer government services as opposed to 41% that would support a larger government with more government services. Just last June, 50% wanted a smaller government while 45% were in favor of a larger government. To read the entire Washington PostABC News Poll please visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/politics/polls/postpoll_062209.html

Young Voters Lean Libertarian Jim Burkee, an associate professor of American history at Concordia University Wisconsin, has written a truly excellent article titled “Liberty-loving Gen-Yers will reshape politics.” To read Jim Burkee’s full article at the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, please visit: http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/4 2998747.html Mr. Burkee’s article gives details that make me believe that the Libertarian Party must start to reach out much more vigorously to young voters than we have in the past.

Libertarian Strategy Monthly

July 2009 The Republican Party’s members tend to consist primarily of elderly voters and they do not appear to be attracting younger voters. This is obviously not sustainable for a long period of time. Young libertarian leaning voters may tend to vote Democrat, possibly as they have already seen the damage the Republican Party has done to our country, but if they are presented with a choice that is in tune with their own beliefs they may be much more likely to support that choice. Additionally, after these young voters see the damage the Democrats do with their economic policies they may very well cease support for Democrats. In my experience talking with young voters many want control over their bodies, future, guns, and money. When given the choice between the Democrats and Republicans, they cannot get what they want. With market competition, young voters have rarely experienced not having a choice when purchasing a product at the store, but this is exactly what is occurring in politics. When given the choice between Democrats and Republicans they get a product they do not like. Of course, the Libertarian Party is that new product. Let us market ourselves as that new product. Let us be the ones that present solutions to the problems that young men and women face. Let us be the ones who dominate America’s political landscape.

Liberty For Maine Is Formed On June 9th, 2009, Liberty for Maine was formed. The new organization will advance the interests of freedom and liberty in Maine in an active, creative

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

Page 13 and assertive manner, offer support to similar efforts underway in many other states and nationally, and engage in other activities as appropriate. James Oaksun, 47, a Saco businessman and a Maine delegate to the 2008 Libertarian National Convention, chairs the new group. According to Oaksun, the group has a full slate of officers, and its operating bylaws are available upon request. The group has also declared its support for the Statement of Principles of the national Your Ad Here! Libertarian Party. Contact: Mr. Oaksun said, “Many important jdporterconsulting@g efforts are in mail.com progress across Maine and across for advertising rates America right now, and there are many people here in Maine who are totally frustrated and discouraged because there has been no organization in Maine that has worked actively, publicly and consistently to chart a new course toward freedom. Until now. “Over the next 90 days,” Oaksun continued, “our new group will focus on education, outreach and marketing, principally at the major summer festivals in Maine which attract thousands of visitors from across Maine and across America. We will start with the Southern Maine Pride events in June. With the recent passage of marriage equality here in Maine and the likelihood of a referendum campaign on the matter, the Maine LGBT community and its allies are energized like never before. It’s a golden opportunity to align Maine

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July 2009 libertarians in support of a vital and immediate human rights and freedom issue.” Oaksun said Liberty for Maine would work in concert with its principal corporate sponsor, Virtual Galt Corporation, in advancement of freedom. You can learn more about Liberty for Maine by visiting their website:

Page 14 sure have a lot of interesting stories." Peter Orvetti is a journalist residing in Washington, D.C., with his wife and sons. He has published commentaries in several magazines and newspapers. This is his first book. Peter’s book is available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble:

http://liberty4maine.org

Former LP Staffer Writes Autobiography Peter Orvetti, who has formerly worked at the Libertarian National Committee and the CATO Institute, has written an autobiography.

A Catholic upbringing in a sleepy but changing New England town started Peter Orvetti on a spiritual adventure that would include a dip into the Religious Right, voyages to India and China, a trip across America and back on a bus full of hippies, and a drunken year at Harvard Divinity School that ultimately landed him in rehab. Outside the spiritual realm, he would become a winning contestant on America's most popular game show, and would have an odd encounter with a red-faced president. It's no surprise that new friends often tell him, "You

© 2009 Jake Porter--all rights reserved

http://www.amazon.com/ReconciliationHalf-Life-Peter-Orvetti/dp/1432741799/ http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books earch/isbninquiry.asp?r=1&ISBN=1432 741799

Dave Brady For LNC Secretary Dave Brady, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Illinois, has announced that he is considering a run for Libertarian National Committee Secretary. Bob Sullentrup, of Missouri, is the current Secretary of the Libertarian National Committee. The next election of the Libertarian National Committee will take place next year during the 2010 Libertarian National Convention. You can learn more about Dave Brady at his website: http://davebrady.info And those of you on Facebook can join Dave’s Facebook group of supporters:

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