gnuschler
09-01-2013, 08:38 AM
I preface these comments by conceding that I am not a political junkie, and that there are folks on this board who know much more about these subjects than I.
Political parties should be built from the ground up, supported at its base by grassroots supporters. However, rather than build our own political party, we have (wisely) chosen to reclaim the Republican Party. To help build our party, I would ordinarily contribute to the national party or the related state parties … but since we are taking over someone else’s party, this is not an option. That leaves us with PACs, and there are several high profile PACs that do an exceptional job of supporting libertarian or Tea Party candidates … for federal office, especially high profile Senate races. The commitment to those liberty candidates seeking lower office seems to be lacking. That becomes painfully obvious when we decide to challenge entrenched incumbents backed by the GOP Establishment, and find ourselves evaluating a weak bench.
If we are to lay out a long-term strategy for restoring the republic, it must include identifying, vetting, and financing liberty candidates for state office and state legislature as well. My comments from here focus on fundraising, as that is where I am likely to add the most value. My wife and I are preparing to contribute $5,000 to liberty candidates next year, and while I could write checks to my five favorite Senate candidates and call it a day, I know some of those dollars could be better spent building our bench for the long-term. That, however, is where things get tricky.
It seems to me that we need something (in lieu of a political party) that vets candidates and allocates resources. PACs have the advantage of bundling small contributions and distributing them to a broad array of candidates; unfortunately, what I am proposing (vetting potentially thousands of candidates in all 50 states) requires manpower that most PACs do not have. There are Super PACs that may have this ability, but they are prohibited from contributing directly to individual campaigns. Liberty’s answer to ActBlue would seem to be at least part of the solution.
My questions are: 1) does something like this already exist of which I am simply unaware; and 2) if not, who is the best organization to sponsor something like this. Campaign For Liberty is one possibility … it would likely select candidates on which we could all agree. Another possibility could be FreedomWorks … among all the major Tea Party organizations, FreedomWorks seems to be most aligned with Ron Paul’s liberty ideals. It also has deep ties to grassroots activists around the country, and has already created a Super PAC.
As a final addendum, I would note that jurgs01 has put together a website (http://www.candidates4liberty.com (http://www.candidates4liberty.com/)) that has compiled a list of many candidates – both Liberty Candidates and “Fellow Travelers” (allies in our new political party) – with links to their websites. This site has been extraordinarily helpful and I commend him for the obvious time and effort that went into creating it. However, I still think we need something that will help bring contributions under one roof and allocate those contributions in support of a longer-term strategy.
To achieve long-term success in restoring the republic, we will also need to consider liberty outreach programs to Millennials, union members, racial minorities … and business Republicans. However, I will leave that discussion for a later date.
I am open to any comments, complaints, suggestions or … considering the length of this post … other choice words you would like to share.
Political parties should be built from the ground up, supported at its base by grassroots supporters. However, rather than build our own political party, we have (wisely) chosen to reclaim the Republican Party. To help build our party, I would ordinarily contribute to the national party or the related state parties … but since we are taking over someone else’s party, this is not an option. That leaves us with PACs, and there are several high profile PACs that do an exceptional job of supporting libertarian or Tea Party candidates … for federal office, especially high profile Senate races. The commitment to those liberty candidates seeking lower office seems to be lacking. That becomes painfully obvious when we decide to challenge entrenched incumbents backed by the GOP Establishment, and find ourselves evaluating a weak bench.
If we are to lay out a long-term strategy for restoring the republic, it must include identifying, vetting, and financing liberty candidates for state office and state legislature as well. My comments from here focus on fundraising, as that is where I am likely to add the most value. My wife and I are preparing to contribute $5,000 to liberty candidates next year, and while I could write checks to my five favorite Senate candidates and call it a day, I know some of those dollars could be better spent building our bench for the long-term. That, however, is where things get tricky.
It seems to me that we need something (in lieu of a political party) that vets candidates and allocates resources. PACs have the advantage of bundling small contributions and distributing them to a broad array of candidates; unfortunately, what I am proposing (vetting potentially thousands of candidates in all 50 states) requires manpower that most PACs do not have. There are Super PACs that may have this ability, but they are prohibited from contributing directly to individual campaigns. Liberty’s answer to ActBlue would seem to be at least part of the solution.
My questions are: 1) does something like this already exist of which I am simply unaware; and 2) if not, who is the best organization to sponsor something like this. Campaign For Liberty is one possibility … it would likely select candidates on which we could all agree. Another possibility could be FreedomWorks … among all the major Tea Party organizations, FreedomWorks seems to be most aligned with Ron Paul’s liberty ideals. It also has deep ties to grassroots activists around the country, and has already created a Super PAC.
As a final addendum, I would note that jurgs01 has put together a website (http://www.candidates4liberty.com (http://www.candidates4liberty.com/)) that has compiled a list of many candidates – both Liberty Candidates and “Fellow Travelers” (allies in our new political party) – with links to their websites. This site has been extraordinarily helpful and I commend him for the obvious time and effort that went into creating it. However, I still think we need something that will help bring contributions under one roof and allocate those contributions in support of a longer-term strategy.
To achieve long-term success in restoring the republic, we will also need to consider liberty outreach programs to Millennials, union members, racial minorities … and business Republicans. However, I will leave that discussion for a later date.
I am open to any comments, complaints, suggestions or … considering the length of this post … other choice words you would like to share.