When I started Quiz2D, it was meant to be a recruiting tool to widen the base of the Libertarian Party. I also wanted to fix other aspects of the LP: inefficient strategies, unrealistic expectations, erroneous philosophies, etc. Below you will find some of the articles, experiments and slide shows I developed over the years in an attempt to turn the LP into a real political party.
I have since learned that at least half the members of the LP do not want it to become a real political party. Also, my own ideology has drifted too far from the party line, I have adopted a broader vision of liberty which is much more acceptable to the general public, but quite unacceptable to many Libertarians.
So, I am no longer in the LP, and, in fact, I am working up ideas for a new political party based on said broader freedom vision. Nonetheless, I'll leave the materials below online. Many are relevant to third parties in general. And who knows, the LP may get its act together someday...
The per unit cost of advertising media (signs, bumper stickers, etc.) goes down dramatically with larger orders. There is a significant overhead associated with each print run. Fortunately, because we are a party of principle, it is possible to share print runs among multiple campaigns, to achieve economies of scale while each campaign is by itself small. This section documents several experiments along this idea, as well as speculations for future experiments.
Selling is all well and good, but corporate America discovered long ago that the real key to success is in marketing. This section describes the extremely important topic of positioning, and how it can be used to deal with the "Lesser of Two Evils" dilemma.
R. Lee Wrights was kind enough to grant me a column on his Liberty for All web site. They were to eventually form the basis for a "success manual" for Libertarians. Instead, I am wrote a success manual for a new political party since a majority of active Libertarians aren't interested in making the adjustments necessary to succeed in our political system.
| Two Models of Growth | Some say, to increase liberty, the Libertarian Party must grow. I say, to grow, the Libertarian Party must increase liberty -- using existing resources. |
| A Realistic Vision of Victory | For too long, the Libertarian Party has focused a victory condition that requires phenomenal growth to be remotely attainable. Thus, success is always on the distant horizon. The result: not so phenomenal growth. Herein is a set of victory conditions that we can begin to achieve in the near future -- should we attempt to. | Excuses for Liberty | Wonder why the average Libertarian Candidate has the charisma of a math professor? Wonder why we need organizations like the Advocates for Self Government so badly? The roots are in the philosophical approaches many libertarians use to "prove" why liberty is "right." |
| Dirt Cheap Marketing | An essay discussing how to get the word out much more cheaply than current LPHQ efforts. See also the online store on this web site and the presentation on the Economy of Scale Project also found on this web site. |
| Victory in Indianapolis | Sanity reigns at the 2002 LP convention. (This one will not be part of the manual. LFA required convention reporting for this issue.) |
| Mass-Producing Libertarians | This essay contains a high-level strategic lens though which all growth strategies and election strategies can be viewed. This will be one of the first chapters when these are turned into a manual. |
| Less Thinking, More Drinking | So you are in an affiliate that is too small to win an election, can you do anything of value to libertarians, now? You bet! |
| The Power of Double Negative Thinking | It is not just what you do, but what you choose not to do that leads to success. Libertarians apply this principle to government all the time, but frequently fail to apply the principle to the Libertarian Party. |
| A Coherent Vision of Freedom | Why is it that the Libertarian Party get accused of being anarchistic while at the same time it fails to get the anarchist vote? The answer: the Libertarian vision is an incomplete vision of freedom! This is one of most important essays in this series. |
| Introducing: "The Milsted Chart" | This one goes with the previous one. It is the key to successful market positioning. The Nolan Chart does not adequately reflect the political map. It places blood enemies (commies and fascists) in the same place! |
| Ouch! | The 2002 election results were not good for Libertarians. A few reflections on why and what can be done. |
| Reforming LP News | With the loss of Bill Winter as LP News editor, it is a good time to consider where to go next. Do we want staff to continue to have the immense power that Winter had, or should LP News reflect a grassroots volunteer organization? |
| Incrementalating 101 | A few thoughts on why it is critical that Libertarians call for implementing the LP Platform a few steps at a time instead of one indigestible glurp. Victory is impossible otherwise. |
| Incrementalating 102 | Purists, here is how to incrementalate without losing your soul. This one is quite silly, but essential for electoral victory if you are a purist. |
| Let's Party | New places to look for votes. Fun places. |
| Mass-Producing Votes | Back to the bottleneck diagrams, this time for acquiring votes rather than party members. Contains a disturbing implication for Randroids. |
| A Political Marketing Plan | The Libertarian Party's marketing director presented a plan to the State Chairs. It was almost good. Here is how to finish the job. |
| Really Natural Rights | Perhaps the painful unsellability of libertarianism as it is now packaged is due to an error in natural rights theory! Imagine: libertarians committing a theoretical error! |
| Oh, The Negativity! | I have been accused of being negative...because I am negative -- on ideas that don't work. But my overall message is very positive. There is real hope in increasing liberty now -- if we are willing to adopt the correct strategies. |
| The Virtue of Benevolence | Does teaching Ayn Rand's philosphy lead to a free society? The answer is a resounding no! Surprised? Read on! |
| Lit Dropping 301 | My attempt at an advance course on lit dropping. These were directions for lit droppers in the Dave Goree for Asheville campaign. Given the results of that campaign, you might want to take this one with a grain of salt. |
| A Libertarian Media Conspiracy | Not getting covered in the liberal media? Create your own! That's what Kevin Rollins did when he created The Free Liberal. |
| Why I am a Warmmonger | Destroying a bloodthirsty dictatorship: is this anti-libertarian?? Or is it a giant, albeit ugly, step for more liberty? |
| It's a Rough World | To sand down the rough spots, you need coarse sandpaper, even though this temporarily can roughen up the smooth spots. Similarly, the quickest path to a libertarian society leads through stages that are not libertarian. |
| What to Tax? | Anarchy is not popular. Political victory is about popularity. Deal with it. This means that Libertarians need to advocate some type of taxes in order to be relevant. But which taxes? |
| It's the Message | The Libertarian Slate didn't do so well in 2004. It was not due to a hostile press, nor BCRA, nor crooked/incompetant LP leaders, nor bad salesmanship. The problem was simply this: we have a flawed message. |
| Let's Fix the Platform | A call to fix the LP Platform. Since it is the message that is the problem, and the platform is the basis for the message that we project, here is where we need to focus our efforts. |
| Announcing: The Libertarian Reform Caucus | All this calling for "fixing the message" and "fixing the platform" was leading up to this: the announcement of a caucus of people bent on doing just these things. |