My Georgia LP Debate
I had my first chair race debate yesterday in Georgia, which - not surprisingly - went very well. The only other person to announce their candidacy for LNC Chair (so far) is Tony D'Orazio, so he was my only debate opponent. Georgia libertarians have issues that are unique to their state so I made sure to tailor my talk around those issues. For example, they were just hit with a very bad ballot access ruling, they have Shane Hazel (who "spoiled" the Georgia Senate race), and Angela Pence, who's running against Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Ballot access is not something that the LPMC spends a lot of time discussing. My perspective on this issue is that we have to demonstrate our value to potential voters and inspire them to want to vote for us before we can successfully tackle ballot access laws. It's not an exciting topic, but again, fixing the messaging that comes from the national party is going to help alleviate this pain point.

I was prepared with responses for tough questions, controversies, and antagonism by haters. None of that happened. The delegation was very kind and welcoming.

For the debate, I used a short power point (just visual aids), a voter guide for my strategic plan, and a link to download a more comprehensive strategic plan sample. When people campaign for internal party elections, they usually just talk about themselves and give a few "when I'm elected..." highlights. That's not really my style. My debates for internal race are more technical in nature. It's my job to convey how serious this operation is (I'm running to chair the 3rd largest political organization in the most powerful country in the world), what I have to change, what I intend to accomplish, and how I intend to do it.

Here's a rough transcript of my talk.

INTRO
I have a beautiful vision for the LP and you’re all a part of it.

I believe we can be a party that people value.

A party that resonates with people’s values, and reflects our innate desire for freedom

A party that inspires people to cast off their ideological shackles, that demonstrates the value of our beautiful organization.

A party that inspires people to work for a freer world, and to vote libertarian.

We challenge the cult of the omnipotent state, like David throwing a stone at Goliath.

I’m ready to lead that battle for you.

THE INTERNAL STRUGGLE
For decades, people have argued over what the purpose of the party is: is it to win elections, or to spread the message of liberty? Why not both?

We are not like other political parties. We are much larger and more organized than other third parties, but we are nowhere near the size of the Democrats & Republicans. We are a very distant third place.

We are values-based (or principled), not power-based, and the values we cherish are not shared by other political parties. We value peace, and personal freedom - we reject authoritarian power grabs.

We can't compromise our principles in order to get ahead.

We get a little bit of media attention, but not a lot.

We want to see a freer world, but not everyone in the party agrees on how we should reach our goal. So how do we work with our given situation to achieve the broader goals of most of the people in the party?

We have to create a valuable organization, and then we have to demonstrate our value.

Take for example, Shane Hazel. Shane’s campaign for governor created a national controversy, which enabled him to get our message in front of a LOT of people.

This is the kind of campaign that the national party should get behind. Shane has a very bold message that’s tempered by an emotionally charged, personal story of libertarianism that ties into a global issue: WAR. His campaign is highly controversial because Georgia is a swing state. And Georgia is struggling with awful ballot access laws. Shane’s campaign touches on all of the major points. It gets national attention.

Everything we do. Every statement we make, should be calculated to move us forward - in the direction of liberty.

STRATEGIC PLAN INTRODUCTION
Here’s what we do: we amplify the voices of candidates who use bold messaging, running in winnable elections - or high profile elections like Shane Hazel’s - and we throw everything we have behind them. The national party’s social media, it’s email campaigns, direct mail, etc.

Why do we do this, besides the fact that Shane is awesome?

Because the party is split on what it wants right now.

Stand up if you think the party should be a vehicle for spreading the message of liberty, and for changing hearts and minds. Stand up if you think the party should focus on getting candidates elected.

With this plan, you get both.

Would you like to see Shane Hazel’s campaign platformed at the national level? Getting the national attention it deserves? Would you like the national party to assist you with ballot access by spreading awareness at the national level? This is how we do it.

STRATEGIC PLAN
One of the first things we’re going to do when I’m elected national chair is Adopt a Two Year Strategic Plan that builds our long-term future.

It will be easily implemented again at the next two year cycle, and easily modified for the next LNC or the next chair who comes after me if they need to pivot or make some adjustments.

This strategic plan will treat our goals like bowling pins. As you knock the first pin over, it knocks the next pin over, and the next.

In order for any of this to work, we have to have a functional LNC, which we have not had during the last year. So let me break down how that will work and what it will look like.

It’s important for the chair to be able to work with the members of the committee. And the committee members have to be able to work with each other.

There are several components to that: Part of my job as national chair begins NOW: to suss out the people that I think are collaborative, responsible candidates who will work well together.

A BIG part of it is having committee members who are ideologically aligned and trust each other.

When we don’t have that second element - TRUST - it’s my job to fill in the gaps, help our board members build trust, and move forward together.

It’s my job to help us achieve our goals, and to get there as quickly as possible.

THE NUTS & BOLTS:
If you know me, you know that I work very, very hard and that I expect the people around me to work hard.

We’re going to work a little bit harder in the beginning, but ultimately we’re going to work smarter.

THE LNC WORK ENVIRONMENT
When I took over LA County in 2018, it was in really bad shape. It had been ripped apart by a factional war. It had no meaningful activism. Candidates got absolutely nothing - no help from the county affiliate at all. It took one year to get rid of the fighting. It took another year to change the culture, and it took another year to truly understand what our role was in LA and to get active in a politically meaningful way. We have about 253 dues paying members in LA County. It is the 9th largest affiliate in the country, larger than most state parties.

I know the infighting at the national level is bad, but when I took over LA County, we were getting kicked out of meeting venues, the fighting was so bad. Now, it’s like a well oiled machine. There’s not a single person on that committee that I don’t absolutely adore and love working with. Everyone has a role and contributes something.

If I can handle LA, I can handle the LNC.

Ideally, everyone on the LNC has been vetted to have a good work ethic, ability to work well with others, a useful skill set, and good follow through. Ideally

The LNC should operate smoothly as an orchestra, with me as a conductor. Different players will shine during different parts of our song. There is no cult of personality; there are only good solos that pop up during a masterpiece.

In order to make changes, we need All Hands On Deck. We need people who can work together collaboratively, who communicate with each other, and who are willing to put in the time.

And here’s why:

Membership, Development, and Messaging are all interconnected. (remember the bowling pins)

So is Affiliate Support, and the Budget.

One of the things we need to shift on the LNC is how committees operate.

Committees, task forces, and staff need to work together.

We need the people who populate these different committees to work together periodically, so that we’re all working to achieve the same goals. That means every committee needs to buy into a strategic plan and coordinate with other committees IN THE VERY BEGINNING so that their work is complimentary and synergistic, so that they’re all helping each other out, so that they’re finding new opportunities to fill in any gaps that may appear as we work towards our goal.

For example, the ballot access committee: They need to work with marketing & communications so that the needs of state affiliates who are having ballot access battles are being met. All three of those areas are related.

Communications should work with Membership and Development by taking feedback on messaging: What works and what doesn't. What helps us grow. What drives donations, and what drives AWAY donations. What gets NEW donors.

These committees and staff positions are like different parts of the same body and they all have to work together so we can jump over the hurdles set before us.

If any of this sounds overwhelming to you, I promise it’s not. You start with a goal, you build a strategic plan around that goal, and you break down the steps you're going to take to reach that goal through process flow charts.

It’s doable and most large, successful organizations already do this.

We’re going to do all of this with as little organizational disruption as possible. That means I'm not going to scrap all the staff and the org chart. We’re going to shift a few things around so that we can be more strategic, and we’re going to work together to accomplish our goals.

BALLOT ACCESS
I was disappointed at the last LNC meeting when ballot access was brought up for the budget and no one had anything else to offer. No plan to help the state parties that are struggling.

I know money’s tight, but it’s not the only resource we have.

We need to start thinking differently. We can squeeze a lot more out of this organization than dollars. And we can squeeze out a lot more dollars if we start working smarter.

MESSAGING
Why Messaging Matters

Messaging is the face of the party. It’s the first thing you see.

Our messaging at the national level has a very self-conscious tone.

We need to move away from “low self esteem” messaging. Many of the messages that come from LP National communicate that we are embarrassed to be libertarians, we’re apologizing for what we believe in, and we’re not really trying to convince anyone to be libertarian.

It’s like we’re wincing in pain and bracing for a blow as we tell people we’re libertarian.

We need to be confident in our principles and our messaging. We need to market ourselves better. No one wants to buy something if the person selling it doesn’t sound confident in the product.

What does bold messaging look like?

Bold messaging isn’t shitposting. It’s bold, unapologetic libertarianism. It’s truth telling. It’s unwavering. It’s not arrogant, but it’s high self esteem. Ron Paul said truth is treason is an empire of lies. Let’s be that truth. Let’s be that powerful, dissident voice that rallies the people who are lost in a political wilderness.

MARKETING
We don’t spend nearly enough time and attention on our marketing.

Who is our target demographic? How, and why did we come to that conclusion?

Have we ever done any major demographics studies? No.

Are we working within the framework of reality, or working within an idea of who we wish our target demographic is?

This is really important to understand why our messaging is or isn't working - what potential voters want, what we need to do to establish or regain trust from people who identify as libertarians - people like entrepreneurs, restaurant owners, nurses, crypto investors, people in the medical freedom community, people in startups, space transportation technology.

We need to project a message and an image that resonates with liberty-minded people - the people who agree with us AND are going to amplify our message through donations, through platforming us, and through helping us grow.

AND ALL OF THIS INFORMATION CAN BE SHARED WITH OUR CANDIDATES AND AFFILIATES. No being stingy at the national level.

I have the connections and resources to do some serious marketing for the party.

It is essential that we do market research and do a better job of marketing ourselves.

MEMBERSHIP
Membership Matters

In the past, we’ve had leaders who don't value membership.

Members are:

Donors

Candidates

Party Administrators

Activists

Membership is good because it means that people buy-in. It’s a commitment. It strengthens the organization when people feel invested in it.

We need to grow so that we can have more county affiliates established, so that we can get more people to gather signatures and help with ballot access drives, so that we can recruit people to run at the local level, and spread our message.

There are a lot of easy ways to grow membership. We need to work smarter, not harder.

In the past, we’ve had leaders complain that it costs too much to work to retain members through affiliate programming. This is why the different committees and departments need to work closer together. Membership needs to work with IT, budget, and marketing/communications so that it develops a low cost membership retention plan throughout the different phases of the presidential election cycle.

It’s not expensive at all to have an affiliate link membership program. You just need to market it properly so that you don’t blow through a bunch of direct mail resources when you could easily capture them with online or social media renewals.

DEVELOPMENT
I have a good relationship with some of our donors and I have a good relationship with a lot of potential new donors. I will bring more large donors to the party. I have personal backers, people who want to see me succeed in this endeavor to revamp the party and they will absolutely donate once I’m elected.

I love our donors.. I will call them and take good care of them - but we also need new donors. You can’t squeeze blood from a stone.

Once we shift our messaging and present potential donors with a vision for the future and our plan to achieve it, we’re going to see more donations.