Marcy,
When does a protest become "a primary tool for change?" Do you mean that it's OK for Libertarians to protest, so long as we don't do it too loudly or too frequently?
I heartily agree that it would be useful to have more interaction outside our regular monthly meetings. However I'm not at all convinced that *talking* about the party's goals would be the most effective use of additional time spent meeting face-to-face. What do you see as the desired outcome of such meetings?
You've stated what you believe the goal of a political party to be: "To garner votes in order to influence the path the community (country, state, city) takes." But in that statement, "garnering votes" is not described as a goal, but as a *means* toward influencing the path "the community" takes. If "influencing the community" is the real goal, it seems to me that we might reasonably see other opportunities to do this from time to time which do *not* involve gathering votes.
What do you think of the goal as stated by the Libertarian Party's Preamble?