The Problem With Libertarians (and Perhaps Tea Partiers and Constitutionalist)….

Lest I start sounding like I’ve stomped through sour grapes, let me say up front that while some of the data points I’ve observed have come from my own campaign for the Nebraska Legislature, I’ve seen lots of other data points as well… (have I piqued your curiosity?), and those have inspired this little rant.

Here’s the deal.  For those Ron Paul supporters in the crowd, I’d like you to think back to the early days of this blog (if you’ve been following along that long).  2007-08.  Sign waving, money bombs, tea parties, and blimps.  Great fun, wasn’t it?  I remember (to my embarrassment, frankly) staying up all night watching one of the money bombs, and how that number just kept going up, and how exciting it was as we all added our $10, or $100, and then saw our names flash up on the computer.  Sometimes we added another $10 or $100, just to see it go higher.  We were a part of something—although we were a part of something that didn’t stand the proverbial snowball’s chance in Hell.

Sorry Ron Paul fans, but in your heart, you know that’s true.  We believed (and I have a clear memory of telling my father—who was/is a Ron Paul fan—that I thought that this would happen) that people were going to be surprised; that there was a real sea change; that Republicans were going to nominate Ron Paul….  I think I knew better, but I was so wrapped up in the dream, that I tossed more and more money into the kitty with every money bomb, even though that money didn’t stand a chance of changing the outcome of the nomination race.

All that is to say this: libertarian/Tea Partiers/Constitutionalists need to learn a couple of things.  They need to (as Barry Goldwater said to “conservatives” in 1960) “grow up” a little.  Maybe this is happening in some places—I think it’s starting to happen, at least.  But here are some things to consider.

First, they need to learn that hope and change doesn’t happen without a plan and some cash—Ron Paul’s 2008 campaign sure didn’t seem to have an electoral plan (although it certainly had a great “spread the message” plan). Or maybe there was no plan, and the beauty of the internet just allowed a totally organic growth of ideas.  He had (at times) what seemed to be a lot of cash—although in the end, it wouldn’t have been enough, and it was pretty useless without a real plan for achieving the goal of getting the nomination. 

Remember 2007-08?  Who was supposed to be the Democratic nominee?  Hillary Clinton.  But Barack Obama had the hope and change PLUS the plan and cash.  HIllary had cash, and perhaps a plan, but I think she was not adequately convincing on the hope and change side of things.  You’ve got to have at least some of all of those things, I think:  an effective message, a plan, and the money to disseminate the message and and implement the plan.

Second, the aforementioned groups need to learn that it’s exceeding rare for someone to appear out of nowhere, to bloom on the national stage.  You want liberty and constitutionalism?  Quit aiming for the Presidency and the Senate.  Look at House members like Justin Amash.  The man is brilliant, and I hope I live to see President Amash.  But he didn’t start out in Congress, did he?  He spent some time in the Michigan legislature. 

In Nebraska’s current congressional delegation: Senator Fischer served previously in the Legislature and on her local School Board before that; Senator Johanns served as Governor of Nebraska, but before that, as Mayor of Lincoln; Rep. Fortenberry served on the Lincoln City Council before running for Congress; Rep. Terry served on the Omaha City Council; and Rep. Adrian Smith served in the Nebraska Legislature, and before that, on the Gering City Council.

The point to those resumes?  In most cases, people who get elected to even the “lowest” of federal offices (arguably the House) have spent at least some time proving their credibility in other offices.  In fact, here in Nebraska, while there may be others, the only person who comes immediately to mind in my lifetime of federal officeholders who haven’t had some sort of previous experience (and going back a little ways, military service may have been the qualifying factor), is Tom Osborne, former Coach of the University of Nebraska football team, and something of a patron saint where many Nebraskans are concerned…he served a couple of terms in the House after retiring from coaching.

So, if the liberty/tea party/constitutionalist movement REALLY wants to make a difference over the long term, the question is not whether they can elect a President (although I hope they can—but it’ll take someone who can appeal to a much broader audience), or whether they can elect more Rand Paul’s, Mike Lee’s or Ted Cruz’s to the Senate (I hope they can do that, as well—although Senate races can be pretty expensive).  The question is whether they will have just a bit of patience, and elect people who think like them to a whole bunch of lower offices—building the bench, so to speak, so that they’ve got people who can be credible candidates when that next position looks vulnerable or opens up due to retirement.

I’ve had several discussions over the last few months with people who are still playing the “if only we’d elected Ron Paul” game.  In some respects, the libertarians (and I’m lumping the Tea Party and Constitutionalists in with them, although they don’t always fit together perfectly) can be just as lazy as everyone else.  They want to see things changed, but they want it to happen “easily”—with Super Ron convincing all of the wisdom of liberty.  But it’s going to take a whole lot more work, and a whole lot more time (even IF Justin Amash was old enough to run for President, and even IF we could get him elected in 2016, he’d still need a lot of help in the legislative branch of government, as well as in the state governments, where the demands for federal action (once the dollars were taken away) would be high.  Here is what the “movement” needs to do, if it’s really serious about being a movement, in my opinion:

1. Quit whining about the political parties.  The parties are made up of people.  Bring more people to the party, or help those who are there to understand that you’re not the enemy—be an evangelist for liberty!  For better or worse, we’ve got the parties, and that’s not likely to change, given state election/ballot access laws.  If you want to change that, then consider this next point….
2. Find your own candidates for some of these lesser offices—whether your City Council or the State Legislature.  And then help them get elected.  Don’t just post about them on Facebook.  Send them money.  Volunteer to canvas neighborhoods or make phone calls.  REALLY help them—don’t just talk about it.  Get enough of them elected, and then you can start changing those election laws.
3. Study and learn about effective political action.  The Leadership Institute (based in Virginia, founded by Morton Blackwell) offers some of the best training on earth, and more and more of their stuff is online.  If you learn about political effectiveness, that helps you to develop a PLAN (get where this is going?).  If you develop a PLAN, and have CASH, then you can start bringing hope and change (for liberty) to your own little corner of the world. 

If enough people start bringing hope and change (for liberty) to their own little corners of the world, it won’t take long for that to start expanding geometrically, and one day, in the not too distant future, we’ll have dozens of Justin Amash proteges in the House, and more Senators, and we’ll have some Governors, and one day (and I think that at 51, I’ll  even live to see it), we’ll have a President who really does embrace liberty—and in the process of doing this, we’ll have TRULY evangelized for liberty, and people will see that it really CAN work—because we’ve promoted it locally, and in our states, and (dare I say it?) “the roads were still built” and nothing terrible happened, because while we evangelized and moved to change the system, we also worked within it, instead of just carping from the outside.

There’s my “drop in rant” for New Year! 

LE

Comments

[Georg Thomas]

Superb post, Laura.

I have felt strongly attracted to your political aura ever since I met you first in 2007.

I am proud and thankful to have been able to accompany you since then. It has been a most enriching experience - and not only one of agreement and disagreement, but of pivotal development.

You represent and live as a person a wonderful tradition unavailable to me in Germany; by knowing you I have been able to grow from sharing in that great American tradition.

I am looking forward to more.

[Laura Ebke]

Thank you kindly, Georg. Seriously, you should think about updating your passport and trekking to Nebraska for one of our election events. I know it's a long way, but you'd LOVE the liberty folks around her.