John B.,
Great perspective--focus on agenda, not brands.
It's demonstrated in The Ron Paul Peace Institute, launched yesterday by Ron Paul, Republican, and Dennis Kucinich, Democrat. They have joined forces to advance the peace agenda. http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/135886.html
Warm regards, Michael
Warm regards, Michael
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John (Howard),
I second John Bechtol's and Michael's kudos. It sounds like you delivered a message to the GOP that many of them very much need to hear!
Despite your best efforts however, I predict that the GOP will generally continue to fail to question the existence of government schools, the income tax, etc. The Republican Party may be much bigger than the Libertarian Party, but the corollary to this is that it is much harder to overcome their built-in statism. Of course I would prefer to be wrong, and wish the Ron Paul/libertarian/pro-freedom contingent good luck in trying to get them on track. The important thing is the message, not the label.
Nevertheless I personally feel that building a political alternative the right way from the bottom up is a better long-term strategy than trying to put lipstick on a pig (or an elephant). Also, while there may be about 30 times more registered Republicans than Libertarians in San Francisco at present, I believe the Libertarian Party has a much more positive (or less negative) reputation among the other groups of voters -- the Democrats, the decline-to-state voters, and the other alternative party voters -- than the Republican Party does. By using a less tarnished vehicle to promote the freedom message, we may find less resistance to that message than we would if the message were to become associated with mainstream Republicans.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))