Structure In The Pursuit of Strategy

Fiona Ma, Matt Gonzales, Tony Hall, etc etc, all took up the mantle of "grass roots" and ran with it. Just look at the e-mail Starchild shared with us a couple of weeks ago from Matt Gonzales to his "troops", for an excellent example of grass roots mobilization. We do not need a lot of money to mobilize people to think and vote libertarian. The LPSF under Chris' direction has put in place some promising strategy for membership growth. Perhaps there is a way to expand this strategy to include candidate promotion. I would suggest that if the LPSF membership is interested in developing some serious political strategy, we start by building a time line. It seems to me that the first item on the time line might be to pick locations to distribute Mike Denny for Mayor flyers and show up to do so. With that exposure under our belt, go on to tackle the Supervisorial melee.

Marcy

Marcy,

  Thank you for your posts on this thread. I think the idea of regular meetings to chat about strategy, complimenting our chats about ideas, is a good one. But you are also right that we have to be willing to put in the work. I can't personally commit to every Saturday between now and Nov. 4, as Mike Denny suggests, but I am willing to commit to spending several hours a week on the streets promoting the campaign. I've already been putting up a significant amount of his campaign fliers (by the way Mike, I'm still waiting on more!) and I'm willing to do the same with yard signs. All you need for the bigger signs is a ladder and an industrial-strength stapler, which I have, and a vehicle for transporting them. Two people in a pickup with a truckload of signs can quickly blanket a neighborhood.

  I suggest a fundraising letter to our members with requests to "sponsor" people going out and doing the work by covering the costs of the signs and a truck rental. This is the kind of donation request I think people like to respond to: "If you send us $__, our street activists will put up __ signs in YOUR neighborhood within a week of us cashing your check. If you send $__, they will put up __ signs. How many signs for Libertarian mayoral candidate Mike Denny would you like to see when you leave the house each morning?"

Yours in liberty,
              <<< Starchild >>>

None. From any candidate. Those are the tackiest damned things I've ever
seen. It's one thing for supporters to put one sign in their apartment
window or in their front yard. It's yet another to plaster one's home with
them, or even worse, put them on street lamp posts, a dozen of them per
block.

Promising not to put any of those things up was one of my favorite campaign
promises, even though the environmentalist groups asking me to make that
promise never seriously considered me for endorsement.

Maybe I'm just picky about my neighborhood, but I pay a whole lot of money
to live a block from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and all the
other beautiful architecture and open spaces within walking distance of
here. And nothing ruins it faster than having to look at tacky campaign
signs on every single stationary object along the sidewalk. Of course, I
don't support the normal San Franciscan's solution to neighborhood
eyesores -- namely using the force of government to enforce a ban. Instead,
I prefer the market approach.

So, Starchild, I'll contribute an additional $100 to Mike's campaign, if
you'll promise not to put any campaign signs anywhere along Third Street
between Folsom and Market. Anyone care to get into a bidding war with me?

:slight_smile:

Rob

Rob,

  The Museum of Modern Art, which you say you welcome the opportunity to live near, features things like a string of plain, unlit light bulbs hanging on a wall. And that is considered art. I think if you broadened your view of what is aesthetically pleasing beyond what is packaged and presented to you as "art" with an admissions charge attached, you would not be bothered by a few fliers and campaign signs on the street. It's part of living in a culturally and politically vibrant city.

  But for an additional $100 to Mike, I will gladly promise not to put any of his campaign signs along Third Street between Folsom and Market. Thank you for your contribution, and I wish raising money for Libertarian causes was always this easy!

Yours in liberty,
              <<< Starchild >>>

Summary: Signs are a small price to pay for what we are buying.

I hate signs and flyers too. In fact, I've been outraged more than once at finding flyers on my doorknob, porch, driveway. That is LITTER on private property, and if I catch the person doing it, I will let them know how I feel. I'm considering putting a nice-looking plaque by my door stating "post no bills" and having a posted fine for littering/defacing my property. I don't know the legality of that. I wish I did.

And yet a have a sign for Mike Denny in my window -- of MY choice, posted on MY property.

Now, I won't try to pretend that I like the signs for "the other guy" in my neighbor's window. But I will recognize his/her right. I don't even like the sign in my window. It's ugly (I made one with paper and black felt pen). But it's worth the trade off.

Because eventually I will be able to take my share of the government land back, have the room I need to spread out, select land carefully, surrounded by people of like mind. And we will make our own personal Austria, and not let anyone post any ugly signs on our land.

But right now, there is a much more important duty. THE WORLD IS BEING TAKEN OVER! The powers that be are getting way too powerful. The US Republicans aren't focused on defense spending only to make their pals rich. Having the defense keeps them in power. Have you noticed how blatently the US goes about it's own way, and every other civilized country either joins us or cowers away? No one is stupid enough to go head-to-head with the US, and if they do, they lose. IF ANY POWER RISES TO THE TOP, we will lose the last safety of anarchy we have -- that being the difference of different countries. We are in grave danger. We are at the forefront of world domination.

Now more than ever, I am willing to sacrifice my comfortable lifestyle to protect my liberty. I'm willing to sacrifice much more than just the beauty of my neighborhood.

Wherever there is public land, and it is legal to post, I think we should put up signs. Otherwise we are just shooting ourselves in the foot. Then I think we should go back and take them all down after the election.

-Mike

Rob Power wrote:

Admittedly, even though I'm a museum member, much of what's inside SFMOMA is
over my head. And I usually don't even get it after Kai explains it to me.
But you'll notice that I wasn't talking about the contents of the museum,
but instead the building itself...

"San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and all the other beautiful
architecture"

Anyway, I had trouble making my donation to Mike's campaign online, so I'll
mail a check Monday.

Back to the topic, though, I've read in a couple of different places that
campaign money is better spent on direct mail than on yard and street signs.
Is San Francisco different in this respect? Basically, I read that, while
signs on the street may sway poll respondents (voters and nonvoters alike),
the people who actually open and read political mailings are much more
likely to be registered voters. I guess San Francisco's unique geography
and political makeup may make it unusual in this respect, but I've not yet
seen any evidence of this. I guess I'm just ignorant of Mike's campaign
strategy regarding these signs.

Would someone care to explain?

Thanks,

Rob