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Carol Moore for Secretary Libertarian National Committee - 2002 LEADERSHIP, NOT COMPROMISE! ...It is the right of the people to alter or abolish (government) - Declaration of Independence

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Timely Minutes: Libertarian Party members need a Secretary who cares enough about good decision-making process to make sure the Libertarian National Committee ("LNC") gets draft minutes out well before the next LNC meeting!  That means short minutes detailing decisions and reports only, not long and controversial descriptive narratives of discussions which take months to pass by LNC members.  Members need someone who will make sure draft and final minutes are web and e-mail available ASAP, so that they do not have to wonder about what "national is up to now" and so they can share informed input on national party decision-making with their representatives.

Accountable LNC: The LNC needs an outspoken gadfly who knows how to be a team player--once she makes the team admit how much it needs good gadflies to stop those destructive controversies right in their tracks!  Why is the Libertarian Party lacking the visibility its vision, numbers and activity warrant? Are we recruiting too many quasi-libertraians determined to undermine our hardcore positions for all the wrong reasons? Why does the LNC need so many expensive in-person meetings when business can be conducted by e-mail and e-mail ballot?  Why is there no functioning Advertising/Publications Review Committee or fundraising committee on the LNC? Is LPNEWS sticking to principle?  When are we going to replace the amateurish "New Party" leaflet set and get some professional national literature that really educates members?  Will the National Director finally hire a Communications Director who knows how to get press attention--and attendance at press conferences?  Are LNC members or staff favoring cronies over other members in distributing party resources?  Is the National Staff hiding important information from the LNC?  When is the national office going to move to an affordable space?  I'll make proposals relevant to these and other issues.

Stick to Principles: The Libertarian Party must not stray from promoting its secular version of the Golden Rule.  To start with, it must remain a strong advocate of military non-intervention.  (See Libertarians4peace.net.  And sign the Petition for a Strong LP Statement on Military Non-Intervention!) The LNC needs a few members with radical visions and strategy, like my community self-governance/secession strategy.  An LNC made up of only gradualists and reformists unprepared for the radical and even catastrophic changes that may be coming is an inflexible, unresponsive and uncreative body that will drag the party and the movement down.  (See my vision page.)  Additionally, the party needs to improve its internal education--one way to do that would be by promoting local libertarian study groups.  Some libertarians think that only compromise will bring the party success -- but what it really needs is more creative, daring leadership.

High Visibility Issue Campaigns -- Issues Build Movements!: The LNC needs members who will inspire the national party to promote HIGH VISIBILITY wedge issue campaigns that will attract and keep committed members and activists, like End the War on Terrorism, Repeal the Patriot Act, U.S. Out of the Middle East, Legalize Pollution Lawsuits or a Community Self-governance/Secession Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  The Libertarian Party needs to be more controversial and more assertive to make sure its principled message gets out there!  We must propose cutting the Gordian Knot of government power--as the ancients discovered, unraveling it is impossible!

Can Carol Moore Be Elected Secretary?
You don't need to be endorsed by well-connected top activists to be elected to national party office. The Libertarian Party remains rife with rebels!  At the last national convention, about 40% of delegates supported Jacob Hornberger or Don Gorman as the year 2000 Libertarian presidential candidates. And three "non-machine" At-Large candidates who campaigned hard for the office got themselves elected!   Money, power and connections do not make libertarian revolutions--people do, in the ballot box, in the streets and online. Steve Givot only beat me by 27 votes when I ran against him for Secretary in 1998 -- maybe with a few months of work I can get the 28 plus votes needed to win in 2002!!

Principled, High Visibility, Wedge  ISSUES BUILD MOVEMENTS Leadership - NOT Compromise Carol Moore for LNC Secretary

         If elected LNC Secretary I will make sure members get draft and final meeting minutes as soon as possible so they can have input into LNC decisions. I will work to make sure the national Libertarian Party fulfills its responsibilities to state parties -- while maintaining a national presence that inspires libertarians to greater electoral and political action.  And I will oppose the kinds of LNC-related cronyism and favoritism which have caused so much controversy over the last few years.
         More importantly, I will work to build the party through issue-based campaigns, instead of relying too much on “targeted” direct mail campaigns as in the past.  During the 1990s the party brought in thousands of new members, in large part by mining libertarian Republican mailing lists with a moderate libertarian message.  However, the election of a Republican president, now fighting a great “patriotic” war, combined with the recession, have cost the party many of the 7000 plus members who have left since 1999.  Yet some LNC candidates promise only more of the same.
         The Libertarian Party isn’t like some television cable company that can attract and lose “customers” who are essentially interchangeable.  Each Libertarian Party member is a unique individual with a different degree of understanding of principles and commitment to action. The national party should increase this understanding and commitment in order to retain current members, win back old ones, and bring in new ones.  Word of mouth from committed members is one of the best recruitment tools for growing the party.
         So how do we create committed members? With principled, high visibility, wedge issues that challenge state control, get the public’s attention and provide them with alternatives that will motive them to join and get active.  Issues build movements.  Local parties may focus on local issues, state parties on state issues, but a national party should focus on national issues.   The current national campaign against the war on drugs is an example of using an issue to excite and motivate members.
         The LNC needs to coordinate volunteer and staff efforts to seize wedge issues and build coalitions opposing national policies, laws, regulations and taxes that oppress us.  I personally think the LP should focus on the wedge issues of ending the “war on terrorism” and especially U.S. intervention in the Middle East; repeal of the Patriot Act and other attacks on civil liberties; corporate control of regulatory agencies and corporate welfare (to undercut liberals’ hold on young activists); and a constitutional amendment to ensure the rights to community autonomy and/or full secession from the union–what I call the “Gordian Knot” strategy.  We can debate what are the best wedge issues.  But let’s start working the issues effectively–statist power was built on issues and it must be destroyed on issues.
        Carol Moore joined the Libertarian Party in 1979.  As year 2000-2001 Chair of the Libertarian Party of the District of Columbia, she revived the party, increased activism and doubled fund-raising. The party ran two city-wide candidates who brought the LPDC its highest vote total ever. She is also a long-time organizer with peace and non-intervention, drug legalization, Waco Justice and other groups and author of the book The Davidian Massacre, published by Gun Owners Foundation.  She is web master of Secession.net and organizes with Pro-Choice Libertarians and Libertarians for Peace.  In 1998 she ran against current Secretary Steve Givot who won by 27 votes.