Harnessing the Power of the Internet

by Stephen Bach

Posted July 3, 2005

The internet has become the most powerful communications medium in the world. However, the Libertarian Party has quickly fallen behind in using this medium not only to reach new members, but also to motivate, teach, and organize existing members. Again we have only to look at the websites of the two major parties to see what can be done with a website.

Each person who joins the Libertarian Party could be given an internet account on the website that allows them to manage contact information, organize with other members, and contact elected officials and the media. The Democratic Party allows people who sign up on their website to create teams of people, forward them news and action items, reminders about campaigns and outreach events, and assign letter writing topics. These teams are the frontline of the party, and they could be our frontline too. I encourage everyone to check out this system. (www.democrats.org)

Both parties also have a comprehensive database of every media outlet and congressional member in the country. From their online account, registered users can easily write letters on any subject and send them instantly and effortlessly to any number of media sources and/or elected leaders. What a powerful tool this is; it channels the efforts of party affiliates into something more meaningful.

Also, taking some points from the GOP website (www.gop.org), our website should provide more content for existing members. We should provide a “reading room” or booklist for political books, a photo album documenting LP people and events, and “webcasts” of video and/or audio “podcasts” (recorded mp3 files) for members to inform and motivate members.

Another possibility that should be considered is finding a way to allow users to register to vote online and as easily as possible. This will help get libertarians to the polls.

The website should and can be the most powerful communication tool we have, as well as the primary method of communicating with and organizing members. I recommend that the LNC create a team and a fund that members can voluntarily contribute to. This team should determine the best way to build a large, powerful website that can carry out the following functions:

1. Allow users to register and access user content, such as managing personalized websites, teams of users that can work together to keep members informed and write letters, and accessing databases of media outlets and elected officials. The website should allow users to send emails to these contacts easily.
2. Provide multimedia content to users, such as streaming video, booklists, and photographs.
3. Allow users to register to vote online through an online registration provider and locate nearby polling places.
4. Provide compelling explanations of Libertarian positions to prospective members.
5. Provide additional resources and outreach materials for members.

This website overhaul will certainly cost money, but this will be more than worth it. One possible option the team should explore is the ARCOS software. It is the same platform used by the Democrats and helped them to raise $185 million over the internet alone in the 2004 presidential race, as well as manage vast networks of grassroots activists. The company that designed this platform is called Plus Three LP (www.plusthree.com) I have no idea what their design fees would be, but I can assure you, it should be considered as an option, because these sites are powerful.

Some of this essay has mentioned rather specific suggestions as to how we can use the internet as a tool. Consider these as suggestions, but my point is that another important part of reforming the Libertarian Party is exploring new ways to harness the power of activists and make our party more effective. We should look at ways to develop more powerful technological tools for activism and communication.

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