This one seems so obvious as to be ridiculous. And yet, every single election cycle people get wrapped up in this losing strategy of "We'll pull in more liberals by doing X/ we'll pull in more conservatives by doing Y." Not only does this not work - because voters don't defect - it actually serves to alienate and disenfranchise our built-in voting bloc: libertarians.
"But, Farmer!" you might say. "There aren't enough libertarians out there to mobilize as a political force in any meaningful way, so we have to co-opt different groups in order to make any headway." Well, I'd say that you're partially correct. We do need to capture other voting blocs in order to win, but neither of those voting blocs need to be - or even should be - conservatives or liberals. Let's have a look at the numbers.
How many libertarians are there in this country? The answer will surprise you. Study after study shows that there are almost as many libertarians in this country as there are liberals and conservatives.
And when we drill down into specific issue positions, we see the numbers actually drawing closer to one another:
To me it's obvious that we should cease all efforts to attract either liberal or conservative voters. We don't need them, they don't defect from their preferred parties, and the messaging necessary to get them onboard just frustrates and disenfranchises our own base. We have a large-enough, built-in base of libertarian supporters to target.
A candidate with a bold, unapologetic libertarian message would capture the bulk of libertarians. And that, alone, would be something that no libertarian candidate I can think of has ever focused on primarily. By continuing to run candidates who think we need to look like, sound like, and campaign like either of the old parties we are keeping ourselves small and ineffective. We aren't the old parties; and we shouldn't act like it. People want something different. Let's give that to them.
But, libertarians aren't the only people we'll need to target.On this blog, over the last week and continuing for another week or so, I have been/ will be identifying groups that Libertarians should go after. Feel free to have a look at the rest of these reports.
dog eat dog, so the human greed.
Exactly. The fable of the bundle of sticks. There are at this point enough sticks.
You also need libertarians who're in technology. They produce all the platforms. Platforms are communication amplifiers.
This is where I take exception with Mr. Farmer's view, in a sense. Not that we should pander to attract, but attract by making them ALL aware of Adam's "Freedom!" book. I hope the campaign decides to copy the effort in New Orleans on every college campus in this land. FLOOD THOSE DORMS and APARTMENTS.
I'd say most people who are heavily into blockchain are already libertarian. Even Steve Jobs and the Wikipedia guy seemed pretty libertarian to me. Personally I don't like politics. It's like bureaucracy. Less of it is always better. Technology and innovation can only be held back by politics. So I guess frontier tech would be the best place to find libertarians.
If Libertarians are going to make a move, there really is no better time than now.
Now is the critical time.
agreed. We are inching closer to the "Hunger Games"... and that movie didn't even depict drone attacks, nor GeoEngineered "weather", nor D.E.W. charring. I do not see any evidence of the LP understanding the urgency of the matter. Do you?
And then there are those of us that didn’t know we were Libertarians until DJT/HRC sent us looking for alternatives in 2016.
Never really thought libertarians were left leaning socially, always thought they were centralists or indifferent. Good to know.
I am definitely fiscally conservative and believe the best tax is a unit tax on land, capital and consuption. Not sure about the fairness of a progressive income tax, especially with the complicated tax codes, taxing labour isnt efficient. What's your take on taxes?
That's a good point, and I agree.
Taxing income is a travesty... In the 10-20% it might still be agreeable, but in the 40-50% range? They're taking half of our income, and then taxing the rest through VAT/Consumption tax...
In antiquity, even slaves were allowed to keep more than half of what they made for themselves... Taking half or more would have surely lead to slave revolts... It's simply unconscionable to dominate another man to such an extent...
That's what made the slavery of Africans so abominable... They were seen as property... But that's we all are today... State property...
Need to fight this injustice with our minds