We don't get a choice, there are not enough of us and we don't have enough money, unless one or both of those change we are stuck trying to influence whichever party is closest to us and/or is close enough and has a shot at winning, when the GOP implodes we may be able to hijack one of the fragments.
I do not completely agree with the OP's idea of what the ideal party would look like but we will see what options come our way.
A minority party the size of the LP (1%), but better managed, could have significant influence on elections without ever winning one.
That should be the initial goal. If the GOP implodes and opportunity beckons, great, but good work can be done regardless.
Agreed with the general sentiment by the OP. The party of Johnson, Weld, and Barr is not a lover of liberty, but an opportunistic GOP lite that desperately wants to play with the big boys and seems to sell it's soul each year with these terrible choices. When all is said and done, your average Joe still thinks the LP simply stands for legalizing marijuana and supporting gay marriage. If that is the best the marketing geniuses at the LP could do, clearly it's time to either dramatically improve or find something better.
Although it seems like we need something better than the LP and obviously the GOP/Dems, I think playing the political party game is exactly where the state, corporate lobbyists, and investors want us to channel our anti-state, small government energy. If we play their game, we lose, because we are up against billion dollar industries and institutions with centuries of established footing. As both parties implode and collapse, the playing ground is slowly becoming more even, but we have a long ways to go.
If we want to win, we have to rewrite politics and make people see that their is no choice except to love and promote and live by the tenets of liberty, and anything and everything else is an excess waste of time. How exactly this is done is beyond me, although eradication of the msm and grassroots education of youth is a great start. We always seem to find a way when it is necessary to do so. In the meantime, we get to witness the shitshow.
As I see it, a minority party like I described above can serve as a base for all kinds of non-political activism. What I'm envisioning is something of a cross between a party, a think-tank, and a PAC. It wouldn't just be about elections. Actually, even when it comes to elections, it might sometimes be better to endorse outside candidates than run our own, as do groups like the NRA, the ACLU, etc.
For all the bad things said about the LP, that do stand for an immediate 20% reduction in federal spending. IMO, this single point puts them heads and shoulder above the two major parties.
The LP's problem is their marketing and organization, not so much their platform.
That seems to be the mantra they're putting down, and that's coming from not.your.average.joe.
Well said. I think at this point 'Libertarian' has too many negative connotations with voters. It's been around long enough that the initial voter reaction is to shrug it off because a Libertarian can never win. We need a Grassroots Party, or a name that will get people excited again. The face we need to have is that of a startup breakaway movement comprised of doers fed up with the 'go with the flow' attitude of the metaphorically dead.
Yep
The crazies have always been a part of party politics. I'm not sure you can get rid of them.
The GOP and Dems manage to keep the crazies tucked away most of the time. There's no reason a libertarian party couldn't.
The LP made a conscious decision to give the crazies a platform as part of their edgy hipster-doofus marketing campaign.
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A Few Other Points
1. This party should be moderate, not in the sense that it compromises its principles, but in the sense that it proposes modest steps in the right direction, rather than demanding everything all at once. For instance, on spending, most of us here would probably like trillions in cuts overnight (I know I would), but a Classical Liberal Party should be looking at something on the order of $100 billion.
2. The Party should be structured so they it's difficult/impossible for outsiders to hijack it. Not just anyone should be able to become a voting party member for purposes of setting platform, nominating candidates, etc. I'm not sure what can be done within the bounds of federal election law though, so that's something to look into further.
But, let's be honest. There really wasn't a viable L.P. candidate and the convention was a shit show.
