Libertarian Party Needs to Change Its Ways

What role does the Libertarian Party actual play in today’s politics? They resemble moderate Republicans than the revolutionaries they should. The Libertarian Party seems to enjoy being the little guy but never does what is needed to actually win. Why can’t the Party adopt a winning strategy to show that they are viable, that they can get people elected to office and that they are a real choice between the Democrats and the Republicans? I believe far too much money is wasted with presidential campaigns. I advocate abandoning them altogether for the time being. There might be some ballot access repercussions in some states but overall the millions of dollars wasted on running a Libertarian presidential candidate could be better spent where it counts the most. If nothing else run a paper presidential campaign and quit wasting on something you’re not going to win right now. I believe that a fundamental change in the way the LP does business will help them get more people elected to office. You only need a few elected officials to really get the ball rolling. Here is my plan:

1. Stop spending money on presidential campaigns. They aren’t worth it, we can’t win them so stop spending those much needed resources.
2. Focus on winning only the races that can be won and pool the entire party resources to get it done. We can run a bunch of candidates for office in each state but lets spend the bulk of the money Libertarians are going to donate on a handful of congressional seats. If we can win a few seats in Congress it will have two results: First, it will demonstrate that the LP can get people elected to high office which will encourage others who normally wouldn’t have voted LP to vote in our direction. Second, it will introduce some sane voices into that madhouse where the freedom message can be further promoted. At the state level pick a few candidates that have a real shot at winning a state level seat and pour money into their campaigns. A few LP members in the state legislatures will do the party good.
3. More money and time must be spent advertising the freedom message. The only way to win the support of the electorate is to educate them about the choices. I know a lot of state parties have a hard time just paying the bills but if we can encourage our members to really get active and talk to other people about freedom we will see our numbers grow. There are a hundred different low cost ways of doing this and each state party should take care to look at the various options and encourage their members to participate.
4. Become radical. Offer an ideology that is more than just “low taxes and more liberty.” That’s the same BS the Republicans spout all the time. Let’s really promote plans to abolish the income tax, eliminate the Department of Education, scale back the size of the state, eradicate property taxes, etc. Let’s have a real message with substance and tell the people why we want those things.

I think if we did those things we could have better results, we could get more people in office and the party would grow more than ever.