[LPOC] [lpsf-discuss] Marketing Strategy

Discussion
1

Marcy wrote:

>> like to again offer my example from "real life." My my daughter and
>> her friends would not be caught dead participating in any Libertarian
>> event or cause.

And, Marcy brings up some great points, however I would say that the

reasons

my daughter doesn't attend Libertarian events is different - it is because
she doesn't like to hang out with the people she thinks of as hippies,
druggies, greenies, etc. She does have somewhat of a "question authority"
view philosophically, but a conservative lifestyle, respecting the

authority

that she questions.

My point is that there isn't "one way" to appeal to the 90 percent of the
electorate that we miss - there are dozens, or hundreds, or thousands of
ways. If we have a preferable way, we should pursue it on our own. We

should

let others know what we are doing, and try to recruit those who agree with
us. There is no central activist authority - instead, there are thousands

of

2

My point is that there isn't "one way" to appeal to the 90 percent of the
electorate that we miss - there are dozens, or hundreds, or thousands of
ways.

Well, that is the question - why are we using one way? It appears to me that the local, state and national LP all focus on conservative messages and perspectives.

For example, when we talk about taxes our message is along the lines of:
   "government is bad so taxes are bad"
instead of:
   "taxes hurts the poor and here are the figures to prove it".
which is a message liberals and people with empathy respond to.

Camejo did an excellent job of this:
http://www.cbp.org/2003/030304whopaystaxes.pdf

but his conclusion is that we need to tax the rich more. Perhaps we could the same data and offer the conclusion that we should at least begin with removing regressive taxes entirely.

-- Steve

3

Well, that is the question - why are we using one
way? It appears to me
that the local, state and national LP all focus on
conservative
messages and perspectives.

Because the rest of the country is more 'conservative'
than here - even the so called democrats. As a recent
returnee to the Bay Area I can definitely attest to
the political isolation that is found here. Aside from
a few other isolated metros (Miami, Portland, the
Village in NYC), the Bay Area IS politically
different. You have to leave it to comprehend this
because nearly every aspect of society is dripping
with neo-liberalism here- it's inescapable.

By the way, there have been quite a few good articles
in the Chronicle this week on this topic as well where
they discuss the subtleties of the Bay Area being out
of step with the rest of the country - not the other
way around. I think I've had more than five
conversations in the past week about the 'shame'
people here have for their fellow ('stupid and
misguided') Californians in regard to the recent
election. But in any other state, Schwarzenegger is
actually a classic Democrat not the neo Nazi they
portray him here.

I'm sure many of you here will disagree with me on
some of this, but if you haven't lived elsewhere in
the past year or so I highly recommend it. I'm
confident you will change your mind.

To this point I think it's worthwhile for the LPSF to
stick to the needs of SF rather than get the state LP
to accommodate local needs. After all, isn't this the
same sort of compromise beauracracy that we are
fighting against in big governement?