The Machinery of Freedom

Upgrade and Expand, or Wear Out and Rust

The Libertarian Party is a Freedom Factory. We produce ideas and solutions that enhance human life and expand individual liberty. We've been in business since 1972. Our best year was 1980, when the Ed Clark for President campaign mobilized thousands of activists, generated and spent $5 million, and got 930,000 votes. And two Libertarians were elected to the Alaskan legislature.

For the last seven years, our business has been steadily declining. Number of party members: Down. Number of activists: Down. Number of people who attend state conventions: Down. Fundraising: Down.

How do we deal with this? We can explain and interpret the facts away. We can rationalize and justify our actions, "proving" we've done the right thing all along. We can blame others. It's the fault of deserters or the media or the people who aren't doing as much as we are. We can feel sorry for ourselves. And be consoled.

Wrong! And less than useless.

This is a learning experience in disguise. Reality is a merciless teacher. What we've been doing with the Libertarian Party hasn't succeeded.

Business tells us: If what you do doesn't work, do something else.

Since 1978, Libertarian Party members have measured success by vote percentages and vote totals. The higher the percentage, the higher the total, the better we did.

Seems sensible, doesn't it? After all. we're trying to elect Libertarians to office and roll back government. So votes are a way of judging our effectiveness.

John Anderson's Unity Party got a lot of votes in 1980. What's left? Footnotes in some forgotten text.

George Wallace and John Schmitz snagged a lot of votes for the American Independent Party in the late '60s and early '70s. What's left? Just memories.

The Peace and Freedom Party? Gene McCarthy's work? Gone.

Nothing remains of the organizations that got the votes. They were fly-by-night businesses and evaporated after one big score. Without productive factories, they couldn't keep their markets.

The Libertarian Party's Freedom Factory is wearing out. We haven't replaced. upgraded, modernized, or expanded our equipment. Yet we're trying to expand our market. It can't be done.

We are the Machinery of Freedom. We Libertarians. Members. Volunteers. Contributors. Candidates. Without us, the factory shuts down. The Market for Liberty goes unsatisfied. The investment is lost.

We need to recruit 50,000 new Libertarian Party members in 1987 and 1988. To expand the Freedom Factory.

To take the load off overworked and underappreciated activists. As Francisco said to Rearden in Atlas Shrugged: "Every one of those girders has a limit to the load it can carry. What's yours?"

Remember how the factories progressively deteriorated and collapsed in Atlas Shrugged as they were unable to replace worn-out equipment, unable to get supplies, and finally trying to get by just one more winter with what they had? This is happening to us.

With the exception of the five or six LP candidates who stand a good chance of getting elected, every campaign should be primarily a recruiting drive.

The Libertarian Party presidential campaign should devote 90%-plus of its efforts to recruiting new Libertarians into the party.

• Suppose the LP Presidential candidate spends four million dollars, gets two million votes, and a handful of new members. After the election, what do we have in the way of a return on our investment? Yellowing newspaper clippings, empty wallets, and worn out, burnt-out activists.
• Suppose the LP Presidential candidate spends four million dollars, gets 40,000 new members, and a handful of votes. What's the return on our investment? One new activist per 6,250 people in each state. In California, that would be 4,000 new activists. Arizona: 400 new activists. Nevada: 160 new activists. Plus the new activists recruited by state and local LP candidates.

Which will it be: Dried up newspapers or living, breathing Libertarian activists?

Whatever you pay attention to gets done. Are we going to pay attention to recruiting or votes?

Whatever gets measured gets done. Are we going to measure votes or recruiting?

Do we want to expand and upgrade the Freedom Factory to capture an ever-expanding share of the market? Or will we go the political route of Twentieth Century Motors?

Compare Japan's car factories and steel factories to America's. Japanese business keeps putting money into capital goods, into the machinery and technology. And they keep expanding their size of the market share. American businesses are more concerned with paying stock dividends than in making their factories more productive and competitive. Look at the results.

Individual liberty is the finest product in the political marketplace. The Libertarian Party provides it. But we must market it and deliver the goods. That takes a productive. competitive organization. That is why we need to recruit Libertarian activists . . . thousands of them.

We have a unique opportunity to rebuild the Freedom Factory in 1987 and 1988. Perhaps one of the last. For individual freedom in our lifetime.

Since this article was published in 1986, the National LP membership has grown an average of 5.4 % per year. If that's not enough growth for you, how many new libertarians will you personally recruit this year?

[By Michael Cloud ©1986, LP News)