I've arranged a meeting with Piyali Bhattacharya, the Development Executive
of Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), at 10 AM on Wed. 11 April in the Opera
Plaza meeting room, 601 Van Ness Ave., in SF in response to her call to me
saying she'll be in SF and would like to tell me and others about YAL. I
know little about them and wish to learn more.
Would you like to join us?
Please suggest issues/questions of interest to you so I may prepare them in
advance.
Agenda items so far:
1. Why is YAL separate from SFL? (Marc)
2. YAL's foreign policy positions. (Francoise)
3. How does YAL stand on Israel and U.S. involvement with it. (Francoise)
4. What do they think of the U.S. tendency to get involved all over the
world? Should the U.S. maintain troops in innumerable foreign countries?
(Francoise)
5. What is YAL's position on separation of church and state and issues like
abortion? (Francoise)
6. What is YAL's position on American imperialism? Are they as serious
about non-intervention as Ron Paul? (Marcy)
7. What is the difference between YAL and SFL? (Michael)
8. What is YAL's strategy for promoting libertarian ideas? (Casey)
9. Is YAL more focused on working within the Republican Party than SFL?
(Casey)
10. How do they view immigration? (Aubrey)
Warm regards, Michael
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Mark
With respect to your comment about my proposed question: I understand the
origin of YAL, but I also understand that it is not an explicit Ron Paul for
President group. A campus group with that kind of narrow agenda would
operate only for a short period, and should be kept separate from more
permanent libertarian student groups that don't focus on candidates. That
leaves the question of why we should have two national organizations
supporting libertarian student groups.
As I understand it, SFL does not push chapters to promote libertarianism in
a particular way, as the old, overbearing SLS national office used to do. To
the extent that SFL pursues a decentralized model, it should be sufficient
to serve what is still a relatively small student movement. If this is the
case, it is an inefficient use of donor funds to finance operating costs for
two national organizations. The money would be better spent subsidizing
student activities on campus.
Marc
The question (or questions) I'd like to see added to the good list compiled by Michael Edelstein below are,
(11) How does Young Americans for Liberty compare with Students for Liberty in the following areas:
-Bottom-up governance -- To what extent is the organization governed in a decentralist, transparent, and democratic manner, with power primarily in the hands of grassroots activists rather than a small, centralized leadership?
-Sustainability of the group as libertarian - What safeguards are in place to guarantee the organization will continue to stand for and promote libertarian ideas no matter who may get involved or be running it in the future?
-Methodological radicalism -- How willing is the organization to boldly embrace guerilla activism, civil disobedience, and other rock-the-boat methods and tactics?
-Movement solidarity -- To what extent is the organization committed to working with and supporting other libertarian movement groups, including the Libertarian Party, and to prioritize this allegiance to our broader movement over narrow "fiduciary responsibility" to the organization or jealous/cautious safeguarding of its non-profit status?
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
A correction -- Piyali's title is "development executive"; "development director" is apparently a different position. I also meant to thank her for taking the time to talk with us about Young Americans for Liberty, and to note that there appear (from a map on the group's website) to be multiple YAL chapters in the Bay Area. I asked Piyali to put me in touch with any current contacts for these chapters so that we can hopefully give them our support and assistance and get their members more plugged into the freedom movement.
She also promised to get me the contact info for YAL state chair Adam Weinberg, whom I hope to talk with about planning the Libertarian Party of California's 2013 convention which will likely be in the Sacramento area. As a member of the LPC's state Executive Committee, I'm on a Convention Planning committee that will be working on organizing the event. If any of you have any ideas for speakers, activities, or other suggestions, please let me know. We hope to have a zero-floor-fee event (no charge for delegates to attend business sessions), which is certainly something I will fight for. I have already recommended Anthony Gregory as a potential speaker; a working list of names submitted by myself and other committee members is attached below.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Potential 2013 LPC Convention Speakers
Starchild,
Thank you for your list of recommended speakers.
I would like to modestly recommend myself. I've spoken at LP conventions and meetings, along with other libertarian organizations, including ISIL, Eris, Free Exchange, and Laissez Faire Books.
I also recommend Walter Block, a popular, unusually lucid, entertaining speaker. Since I can't spare an hour to list all his libertarian credentials, simply go to www.walterblock.com for this info.
Warm regards, Michael