Indeed, many libertarians question whether the net result is even a positive
number. Thus, they stay on the sidelines or work within the competing
parties (another questionable effort!).
The diagram above shows a conservative picture of what can be accomplished
by a refocusing of effort using the Hippocrates' maxim: "First, do no
harm."
Note that I assume increasing productive activity to be difficult, so the
green area is only a little bit bigger. However, it is possible to
drastically cut back down on those activies that reduce liberty if
LP members so choose.
The result is a manyfold increase in net benefit with no
increase in party activity.
Once we achieve this manyfold increase, we can expect many small-l types to
jump on the bandwagon. With the resulting efforts we can then get
occasional support from single-issue allies. At this point the LP becomes
a real force...
But back to reality. You will note that even in the refocused effort
diagram, there is still activity that result in less liberty, and much
more activity that does not result in more liberty but doesn't hurt.
Such activities are necessary. To clarify, a better definition and breakdown
of the activity types is on the next page.
Copyright 2000, Carl S. Milsted, Jr. All rights reserved.