Meet Mark Stewart

Discussion
1

Hello all,

Sam Sloan had told us that he plans to run for President as a Democrat and enter its January 19 debates. (Did he get on?)

Mark Stewart also wants to run for President as a Democrat, but I'm unsure if he will be in New Hampshire on January 9.

I met Mark Stewart when I attended the Queens County Libertarian Party's monthly meeting on Saturday, January 9, 2016 and Mark Stewart was the featured speaker, and a very good one. Mark told us about his provocative, seditiously tinged, desire to insinuate himself into the Democratic Party and inoculate them, like a virus, with liberty themed ideas. In this way, he thinks he can get himself entered into the forthcoming Democratic debates, and possibly get the Democratic nomination for President. If you're as intrigued as I think you are, you can read details of his presentation from the text of the invitation below. (And do visit his website, http://weresist.us/)
http://weresist.us/

Home [www.weresist.us]

weresist.us

For ALL candidates, no office experience is necessary, just a sound-mind, energy, and fortitude (outspoken black conservatives already possess HIGH fortitude).

The text of the invitation to Mark's presentation follows:

Join us on Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 10:15 a.m. to hear Mark Stewart (a/k/a Kemler Stewart & f/k/a Mark Greenstein) speak on the topic of Resistance Candidates: Making A Real Difference. The event will take place in the Library of the Queens Pride House located at 76-11 37th Avenue, Suite 206, Jackson Heights, New York 11372.
ADMISSION FEE: $3.00 for Queens LP members; $5.00 for Non-Members.
If you are driving, arrive early to look for free street parking. There are also many 2-hour Muni-Meter spots and a nearby parking lot.

If you are coming by subway, use the IRT "7" Flushing Line and exit at 74th Street/Broadway. You can also use the IND "E", "F" or "R" Queens Blvd. Lines and exit at the Jackson Heights/Roosevelt Avenue stop.
If you get lost, call Dr. Tom Stevens on his cell phone at 718-357-7075.

2

Yes, Mark Stewart is on the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary ballot. But is it not on in any other state's presidential primary ballot.
Richard Winger 415-922-9779 PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147

3

Alton,

"...he thinks he can get himself entered into the forthcoming Democratic debates, and possibly get the Democratic nomination for President."

"The system is so stacked against the LP that it's akin to shouting under water. In 2012, you couldn't ask for a better candidate for president than Gary Johnson. But he got 1% of the vote. LP has been around for 40 years and never has won a Congressional seat, Senate seat, or Governorship."

  The juxtaposition of these statements makes me wonder whether Mark Stewart is deluding himself, or trying to delude us. While it's still a long shot, I think the Libertarian Party has a much better chance of electing someone to Congress in 2016 than someone I've never heard of has of getting into the top-tier Democratic presidential debates at this stage of the cycle, let alone winning the Democratic Party's nomination for president.

  Given Mark's evident understanding of how the system is stacked against alternative parties like the LP, his seeming unfamiliarity with the odds against libertarians successfully running for U.S. president as Republicans or Democrats raises eyebrows. He mentions Gary Johnson's experience running unsuccessfully as a Libertarian, but neglects to note that Johnson first ran even less successfully as a Republican (failing to get that party's nomination or even be included in all its debates).

  Bottom line: If the odds against you are going to be long either way, you might as well run as a Libertarian. That way even when you lose, you will by campaigning as a Libertarian at least have helped advance the cause of moving people away from the two-party cartel and building a viable alternative.

Love & Liberty,
                                 ((( starchild )))

4

Hi Starchild,

Are you saying that Mark Stewart has the same chances of winning the Democratic nomination for president as I have of winning the Power Ball lottery? If so, well, my chances are better. (Alas, I won nothing from the last drawing. Maybe I should have bought more than one ticket, such as two tickets. That would have increased my chances of winning by a factor of two.)

Still, during his presentation, Mark readily admitted that his bid is a long shot, though he is in it to win. He was, however, very convincing with his idea of insinuating himself into the Democratic party and inject liberty-themed ideas, like a virus. Or, if you like a secret spy metaphor, you could say he wants to be a mole. But he has to get in first. And I got the feeling that his is a long term goal. Indeed, he told us that if he don't get in this year, he will try again in four years. What he will do during his "hiatus," I don't recall whether he told us.

As I understood Mark, he honestly believe there are Democrats who can be "turned" when he present liberty-themed ideas to them in ways that they can readily accept, as reasonable and non-threatening to their leftie core. He gave examples which seemed reasonable and convincing. Starchild, I'm afraid that Mark is not "bullish" on LP candidates to push the "liberty envelope." But he gives a cogent argument why libertarians should run as Democrats or even as Republicans at his website: http://www.weresist.us/for-libertarians.html

To answer your question whether Mark Stewart is deluding himself, or trying to delude us, it might very well he's doing both. But at least he's doing this on his dime. If you want to offer some suggestions to him or even join him, I'm sure he will welcome you.

Check it out. And thanks for replying.

Alton

---In lpsf-discuss@yahoogroups.com, <sfdreamer@...> wrote :

Alton,

"...he thinks he can get himself entered into the forthcoming Democratic debates, and possibly get the Democratic nomination for President."
"The system is so stacked against the LP that it's akin to shouting under water. In 2012, you couldn't ask for a better candidate for president than Gary Johnson. But he got 1% of the vote. LP has been around for 40 years and never has won a Congressional seat, Senate seat, or Governorship."

The juxtaposition of these statements makes me wonder whether Mark Stewart is deluding himself, or trying to delude us. While it's still a long shot, I think the Libertarian Party has a much better chance of electing someone to Congress in 2016 than someone I've never heard of has of getting into the top-tier Democratic presidential debates at this stage of the cycle, let alone winning the Democratic Party's nomination for president.

Given Mark's evident understanding of how the system is stacked against alternative parties like the LP, his seeming unfamiliarity with the odds against libertarians successfully running for U.S. president as Republicans or Democrats raises eyebrows. He mentions Gary Johnson's experience running unsuccessfully as a Libertarian, but neglects to note that Johnson first ran even less successfully as a Republican (failing to get that party's nomination or even be included in all its debates).

Bottom line: If the odds against you are going to be long either way, you might as well run as a Libertarian. That way even when you lose, you will by campaigning as a Libertarian at least have helped advance the cause of moving people away from the two-party cartel and building a viable alternative.

Love & Liberty,
                                  ((( starchild )))

5

Alton,

  I don't know whether you have a better chance of winning the Power Ball lottery than Mark Stewart has of winning the Democratic presidential nomination, but I'd put the odds of each in roughly the same ballpark. And I certainly don't recommend anyone waste their money on government lotteries.

  I agree there are many Democrats who are open to pro-freedom ideas. However running for office as a Democrat is not the only way to expose them to these ideas. I did look at Mark's arguments to Libertarians on the link you've listed, and found them less than convincing.

  I'm not saying that a libertarian running for office as a Democrat is always a bad idea. If you're really running to win in a race where a relatively unknown person with a "D" next to their name has a much better chance of winning than an unknown person with an "L" next to their name, it may make sense as a strategy. But running to win is not realistic for an office like U.S. president or even Senate or Congress unless you have an establishment political resumé (have held other elected offices, etc.), or have tons of money, or fame, or both.

  A libertarian running as a Democrat may still make sense for a purely educational campaign (one where you have little chance of winning) IF you're planning to take full advantage of the "Democrat" label by getting a pro-freedom message to large numbers of people that you might not be able to reach as a Libertarian. But this is only true as long as you don't water down your message to pander to likely Democrat voters!

  Finally, if you have a good monkeywrenching strategy of some kind to help the LP or a Libertarian candidate by running under the label of one of the cartel parties, it might make sense to do so, although that's often a very dubious approach.

  But if none of these things are true -- i.e. if you have little chance to win, aren't delivering a strong pro-freedom message to lots of people you probably wouldn't otherwise reach, and aren't somehow helping to undermine the two-party cartel and build a Libertarian alternative, then you're not doing the freedom movement any favors by running as a Democrat or Republican rather than as a Libertarian. In my opinion, of course.

  That's not to say I don't appreciate Mark's efforts even if I think he could get better results by tweaking his approach. Running a pro-freedom campaign as a Democrat is still better than not running a pro-freedom campaign at all, all else being equal. Since most freedom lovers don't run for office (or put significant time/energy/resources into supporting the campaigns of those who do), he's quite likely still doing more for the cause than 95% of the libertarian-minded public.

Love & Liberty,
                               ((( starchild )))

6

I just got back to New Hampshire where both I and Mark Stewart participated
in the "Lesser Known Candidates Forum".

You can see it here:

Scroll to 2:01:54 in the following link to see Sam Sloan's speech on C-SPAN
tonight.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?403392-1/new-hampshire-institute-politics-lesserknown-candidates-forum&start=NaN
http://www.c-span.org/networks/?channel=c-span-2

Mark Stewart gave an excellent and strong and memorable presentation. He
said he was a Libertarian many times.

I recommend you play it over so you can see for your self.

Sam Sloan