Florida Liberty! Florida Libertarian & Party Reports

EDITORIAL by Brian Bustamante, past LP Florida Treasurer, distributed at several meetings.

After decades of struggling between zero and a high of 16 Libertarians in public office, Libertarians now occupy 68 public offices throughout Florida. That averages a little over 1 for each county. Less than 3 years ago, we had registered Libertarians in every county for the first time.

It's over 10% of the national LP total, itself at a high with the incredible push orchestrated by Political Director Ron Crickenberger and Michael "MG" Gilson-De Lemos of LIO and recently the LP Executive Committee that they formulated in 1998 (I was happy top particpate in the braionstorming of that plan).

I'm excited. The teamwork has been incredible. This averages to over 4 people in public office per million population. (The most ever attained was New Hampshire with 36.) Modest as this may seem, that's how it starts; in comparison, most  Libertarian state parties average less than 1. Most surprising (not really) is that many if not most are there as voluntarist and 'anarchist' Libertarians, effectively ending the debate that Libertarians must 'moderate' the message to conservative less-government GOP-speak blather with a little left rhetoric thrown in, or even promote anti-Libertarian positions. (Historically, advocates of 'moderation' are soon revealed as right-wing extremist cranks with very strange proposals, often as government or Christian fundamentalist 'Liberty' infiltrators, or simple opportunists looking to drain party treasuries, or worse).

Why this high?

• Revision 11 allowed Operation Full Slate, where for the first time last year we were able to run named candidates, more than the Democrats, with the attendant publicity and develop expertise
• All candidates had over 100 hour activist training from ideology, to personal and media presentation, with MG (LIO's and Florida party co-founder Michael Gilson-De Lemos, whose ideas it is our duty to spread)  in a program they helped design and including presentaions by Libertarians in office and policy experts now being imitated through the US (the national LP is talking about a skill e-College).
• Good support infrastructure from volunteers: besides the training free websites, a media package with follow up calls, a common platform, and wonder of wonders, local teams actually setting numeric goals (1 office per year) regionally and identifying offices
• We freed ourselves from the dirty secret of the LP and the LPF: That its slow growth is the result of extreme right wing infiltrators, who sometimes claim to be purists and other times pragmatists, and are actually either constitutional kooks or neo-cons, voting against anything that works, which sets up their claims that the LP needs them as we're having the problems they created. Most people are surprised to learn the LPF had to re-organize or re-start several times due to mole infiltration and GOP interference, including abandoning a party, the Libertarians generally led by co-founder Ralph Swanson. 

We'll continue the high if we repeat this. If we go down, that's your indicator that the party has been compromised. But make no mistake: we're here to stay one way or another as both a political and social movement in Florida for individual rights.

It may seem modest, and it will so be attacked, but the truth is 1 Libertarian sways public bodies and it's a serious threat. We've at last made the first step towards forming a Libertarian center. Our adversaries understand that. They say that. The state GOP has, pushed by religious and other right-wing extremists (moderate GOP are happy to work with us and accept that with 16% of the population voting Libertarians, we speak for a lot of people) according to my sources, met to figure out how to end this new high.

They're looking into every dirty trick in the book. MG has warned us before we started , and people have said they've been approached already with threats or offers of bribes, including many of the candidates. The extremist GOP elephant is hysterical over the Libertarian mouse, since they've long depended on moles (I know, I was asked to be one) to hold back the Liberarian movement with those 'conservative-Libertarian' and 'realistic' nobodies that have run the LP for so long.

In contrast, the state Dems have signaled they welcome the competition and want to work with Libertarians in coalitions, while the Greens are looking into running an explicitly anarchist-socialist candidate with libertarian trappings.

IMP PROJECT

Much of the credit goes to the goal setting IMP teams we developed with LIO to take over the EC functions with our state members. We adopted targets of getting people in appointive office, focusing on building also a non-partisan elected 'farm-team' in offices such as Soil & Water boards, and NOT supporting candidates by draining money but running them low-budget or training on how to raise money in limited cases.

The consensus is MG and the Libertarian Citizen project showed training made the difference, gave people savvy and confidence, and appointing MG (Michael Gilson-De lemos, LIO facilitator) as permanent trainer to also continue joint development of candidate standards will help us continue progress if we work with him according to each affiliate-group or region setting this simple goal and holding them accountable, including:

• 1 Libertarian in public office, appointive or elected, per year 
• Partisan elected run to advance an initiative e.g. Medical Marihuana
• Any candidate for partisan elected not so running and in addition not meeting our new standards (e.g. having been a Libertarian in appointive office) is a fraud
• All EC and 50% of local officers must by 2009 be in public office: we will only form ffiliates with Libertarians already in public office at the helm, or who have distributed 3000 pieces of literature door to door
• The sole grounds for affiliate dissolution ; not producing a Libertarian in appointive public office.

The opportunity is there: Postal Councils, Soil Boards, Home School Committees, many types of advisory boards. A Libertarian almost one for city council.

GOALS DONE...

Above all, we saw the success and impetus of Operation Full Slate, which attained all our goals of:

• Showing low-budget Libertarian candidates get massive support, trained on a voluntarist platform, did better than any similar effort on the first run--averaging 1 vote out of 6
• Worked with DOE to define the election process so we had the largest petition effort of the kind in Florida history with no rejected signatures--not one
• Developed a media group entrusted to the FLLIB, which attained record LP highs of media: 3 candidate positive media mentions per week per district and in the words of one reporter 'changed Florida politics forever.'
• Ran on a non-attack pure platform, generating good will and a coat-tail effect that has led to, along with the publicity, a blizzard of appointments and non-partisan election successes.

The job of a political party is to move policy. In Florida, thanks to Libertarians, this does not mean focus on partisan elections. With guidance from appointed and non-partisan elected Libertarians, we can effect the needed changes via the initiative. Other LP's need to have elective candidates to meet ballot requirements and have no initiative in their states, or there are few appointive offices (New Hampshire actually has more elective offices than Florida according to the US Census!). We don't have their problems, and have rejected the need for a Governor and other candiodates at thius time.

GOP STRIKEBACK...

Naturally, the GOP and 'conservative' pseudo-Libertarians will try and 'help' us by claiming...

• It was a fluke,
• Deride us for not getting a partisan elected office (these are few in Florida, thanks to our past efforts, and also were not in our goals since it takes an average of 3 runs to win anything anyway),
• Not follow our new standards: aim for 10 Libertarians in office per million and 200 statewide, until then no legislative candidates ( except to support initiatives, and continue no Federal candidates) not working on a common platform who a) Don't self-fund non-attack campaign and get in by petition sending us names and e-mails, b) have no elective or appointive background and did not take the training, and c) No Governor candidate until we have somone in the state legislature
• Out of the blue attack voluntarists and  'anarchists' and claim they are the cause of party problems (the reverse, as we've seen, is the truth) as mthey sneakily promote the idea that Libertarianism is equivalent to seeking 'small government' and not voluntary solutions or individual rights, perhaps even attempting to change the national platform to validate their re-defined 'libertarianism'
• Same for attacks on Liberals.
• That we have to ditch our platform, methods, and training  to suceed, as they promise useless 'growth' of affiliates, candidates, and members they anti-Train with anti-Libertarian 'small government' trash, and our (as has happened in the past) infrastructure minutes, websites, and manuals vanish..
• Seek to get back in control and simply lie about our record/goals/strategies claiming we've done nothing work to change the laws against us, such as forcing primaries in the name of 'competition' to cut party discipline and platform focus, and attempting to 'grow' the party with GOP, 'Libertarian mainstream' or other phonies.

We've seen it happen before. We didn't know what to do. We now have standards to repel phony candidates (this is an overview, the standards are detailed in the training as developed by our candidates with LIO).

Be sure these moles will demand money, deride training, 'anarchists' and party founders or old timers, reading Libertarian books, and promise the moon but deliver insults and demoralization if they come back. They'll prattle that we're a philosophy club and they'll run a real campaign if we give them money in violation of the new standards. They'll attack affiliates that follow the standards. They'll hijack our processes with phony members and candidates with perhaps a little legislative help. They'll likely attempt to sink the LPF for good, mired in rule violations in the name of 'Liberty' with fines and lawsuits. We may find we get hit with sudden and burdensome requirements. That's how you recognize them. My sources say they even have a script they follow. They may even start a wholesale undermining of third parties, the concept of appointive office, and the initiative itself (at least by demanding higher signature or other requirements, then chipping away)  in Florida, trying to remove Revision 11 claiming third parties are rife with petty and tax wasting problems they've created (e.g. primary elections with only a few Libertarians).

I PREDICT...

I agree with MG that in the main, public officials listen to other public officials, no matter what their status, first. In my experience that's how it is in any group or profession. Libertarians in public office, however modest, have shown they can drive both large, small, and continual change. Libertarian change comes from many angles, but public officals both drive and demonstrate what can be done.

The good news is that we've learned that 10% of a Libertarian active community can get in office, or 1% of the regulars, and have tools from LIO to help us work as independent teams. Ralph Swanson is working on an excellent editorial we'll see soon on growing by State House District so we have that pool.

I predict that if we continue the process, we'll have about 200 Libertarians in public office by 2010. If we don't, the consensus is that the LPF will have been run by frauds and all the officers and candidates should be banned for good from the party, or we must consider a new LPF. If the National Party does not have what we've done, and I realize it's a cultural change that will involve getting a lot of 'moderate' deadwood to get out of the way and leave the party, namely 4 in public office per million population, or about 1300 Libertarians in public office then, something will be also very wrong, and the non-anarchist/voluntarists who get the job done, that is the GOP moles, will once again be recognized as being in charge by their lack of deeds. At one per year starting next year it should be over 2100, in my opinion.

I also predict that when we have 300 LIO-trained, voluntarist, and self-organized Libertarians in public office in Florida (we presently have some 600 nationwide and growing)  the GOP and everyone else will grow up, quit messing around with us, and let the taxpayers benefit. People in Florida are, as the numbers show, discovering that like yeast in bread, a little Libertarianism makes quite a difference, and is a very good thing.

Mr. Bustamante is a tax-financial accounting professional who went from IRS tax law enforcer to Libertarian organizer.