Is the LP Serious About Politics?

by Lois Kaneshiki

Posted August 06, 2006

Should the LP focus on getting Libertarians in public office, or should it focus on educating the public and trying to get voters to support our views? Many Libertarians say we should do both. Some even say that we should make education the higher priority because Libertarians will not win elections until our views are widely accepted. I propose instead that the LP should focus entirely on electing Libertarians to office! There are three main reasons for this.

1. We must understand our unique role within the broader libertarian movement, and not make the error of equating the Libertarian Party with the libertarian movement.
2. The voters do not want to be educated—they want what they want.
3. We must build a political grassroots organization that is competitive and successful at the local level before we can be competitive and successful at higher levels of office.

The movement vs. the party: Can we make the distinction?

A phenomenon that has hampered the Party's efforts is the mistake of equating the Party with the entire libertarian movement. The movement includes all individuals and organizations that work to move society in a libertarian direction. Within the movement, there are many types of organizations. Some focus on education, for example, the Institute for Humane Studies. Some work on influencing public policy makers through scholarly research, for example, The Cato Institute. Some work through the legal system, such as the Institute for Justice. Some focus on a single issue, such as NORML, GOA, or FIJA. Unfortunately, many of these organizations rarely endorse Libertarian Party candidates. Of course, some are 501c(3) organizations that must remain above electoral politics, but others are not. One reason that our candidates receive few endorsements is that our candidates are not competitive in their races, and these other organizations know it.

“Our mission, should we choose to accept it...”

The Libertarian Party's mission statement says we seek to “move public policy in a libertarian direction by building a political party which elects Libertarians to public office.” Yet we still engage in many activities that are not related to this end. I believe there are two main reasons for this:

1. Libertarians do not like politics, and
2. Libertarians do not understand how to build an effective political organization, as opposed to building a better membership club.

A place for every libertarian, and a libertarian in every place

One of the great advantages about recognizing the distinction between the Party and the movement is that you discover there is a place for everyone in this movement. You don't have to be interested in direct political involvement to be active and effective in the movement. There is no shortage of work to be done on all fronts! In fact, we do need more libertarian organizations working with the Party to help move society in a libertarian direction.

It is important to recognize which activities are appropriate for political parties, and which should be done by different kinds of organizations. Let me give an example.

Suppose your pet issue is the Drug War. Suppose that you happen to live in a conservative, perhaps even Christian-fundamentalist-dominated district, where the majority believes the War on Drugs is necessary. If you are a candidate, what do you do? If you make the mistake of equating the Party with the movement, you might run a campaign for office with the Drug War as your main issue, doing your best to educate the voters. Many movement 'educational' candidates don't seem to care that the vast majority of voters will be turned off by your message. As long as a few voters have been reached, a movement member can feel it has all been “worthwhile.”

What is the opportunity cost of such a campaign? You will not have made any headway in connecting with the mainstream voting public, and you will have not been taken seriously by the people who “move and shake” the community. The people attracted to an educational campaign may not be the sort that can give you any political leverage in the future.

The libertarian division of labor & how it might work

Let me propose an alternative distribution of labor. How can movement supporters promote their agenda, while at the same time help the party politically? If you live in an area where the positions are especially unpopular, your role in the movement is perhaps more appropriately filled outside the party. What would this scenario look like?

As a movement member, you can effectively organize and participate in political education activities by affiliating with issue-advocacy organizations such as NORML. Issue-advocacy activities are done under the banner of the issue advocates. Meanwhile, the local party runs candidates on libertarian issues that resonate with local voters. Remember, the objective of the party is to elect people to office. The objective of issue-advocacy groups is to educate people so that someday they will support libertarian stands on your issues. By working through issue advocates, you can engage in, for example, anti drug war education in your community without short-term damaging effects on your candidates.

This division of labor is a win-win situation for you, the candidates, and the community. And it furthers the mission of the party and the movement at the same time!

Make the movement-party distinction & everyone wins

The advantages of this approach are several fold. Organized as an anti-drug war educational organization, you have greater opportunities and/or flexibility in engaging in true educational outreach than a political campaign does. For example, many civic organizations have policies against having political candidates as speakers at their meetings. As an educational organization, you would not have that obstacle. I have found that even high school classes are hesitant to allow you to speak as a candidate or as a representative of a political party. If you are organized as a section 501(c)(3) or other type of organization, classroom teachers will not have to fear appearing “partisan” in considering whether you be allowed to speak in front of their classrooms. As a 501(c)(3), you can also accept tax-deductible donations. As a political campaign, you lose this advantage.

What should a local party candidate do?

At this point some might worry that there is nothing left for a candidate to do. Nothing could be farther from the truth! There are so many opportunities for a local party organization, they have to be addressed in the next chapter of “Is the LP serious about politics?”

Thank you,

Lois Kaneshiki

[Ex-]Chair, Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania

[Ex-]At-Large member, Libertarian National Committee

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