Governance is often boring, but it is vital that ordinary people pay attention to it unless they want to end up being increasingly governed by a small number of insiders who are less and less accountable to the people they represent (since leaders are, as we know, susceptible to the maxim that power corrupts).
That being said, if there are ways to keep the Libertarian Party of California at least as bottom-up, transparent, and accountable in its governance as it is now, while changing our conventions to make them more interesting and attract more people, this seems worth looking into. Here are a few ideas:
(1) Empower delegates to make more changes to the Bylaws and Platform directly from the floor by alternating consideration of recommendations from the Bylaws and Platform committees with consideration of changes proposed by delegates at the convention. Currently, the committee recommendations must all be heard and debated before delegates have the opportunity to put forward their own proposals, with the result that we frequently run out of time for debate before the delegates themselves get to propose any Bylaws or Platform changes and have them voted on by the body. The more empowered people are, the more reason and incentive they have to show up.
(2) Keep better track of how our Bylaws and Platform are evolving (publish online in an easy-to-read format which changes have been made at each convention, and which delegates authored those changes). Allowing delegates to see and track the results of the work that they and others have done on the party's Bylaws and Platform will make that work more meaningful to them and motivate more people to get involved in being "citizen legislators" within the party (good practice for holding legislative office, writing ballot measures, running for office or anything that involves public speaking and debate, etc.).
(3) Replace our current system of governance with one similar to that used by the Green Party, which I discussed in a message to the Libertarian National Committee earlier this year (see below). In other words, having less decision-making made by delegates in convention, and less policy-making done by the Executive Committee, and instead creating a new California Libertarian Committee which would consist of a large number of members (perhaps the size of the California legislature) who would be empowered to debate Bylaws and Platform changes and enact policy positions online. This would allow conventions to focus more on speakers and other enjoyable activities and less on party governance. [NOTE: This would be a major change which if we were to adopt it should be thoroughly discussed and debated prior to being implemented.]
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
At-Large Representative, Libertarian Party of California