Rob Power Announces He Is Candidate for Platform Committee Chair

by: Forwarder

Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 21:43:03 PM MST

I still contend that Robert's is very clear that its rules are meant to give all members an opportunity to be heard in an orderly and efficient manner, and that none of its rules should ever be construed as a way to silence a member entirely.  I believe trying to use Robert's to exclude the participation of a member who could easily be allowed to participate is an improper use of the rules, by Robert's own definition.

So, since it seems clear that if she is elected chair of this committee, Alicia will rule a motion to allow teleconference participation out of order, and even rule my appeal of that ruling out of order, we'll just have to vote on this issue by proxy.

I therefore announce that I am running for chair of this 2010 LP platform committee.  If you want to have a vote on whether to allow our members to participate by telephone, vote for me, and we will have the vote on telephone participation.  If you don't want to have that vote, then vote for Alicia (or Aaron, or anyone else who refuses to allow a vote on this issue), and they will keep such a vote from happening.

There.  That was easy.  :-)

Rob Power Announces Candidacy for LNC Secretary

by: Forwarder

Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 20:13:15 PM MST

"The time is right for us Libertarians to adopt a new strategy," Mr. Power said. "Our Party is unique in its longstanding rejection of perpetual war, central planning, and government favoring    certain classes of individuals over others.  After nearly a decade of war for which most Americans now realize there was never any national security interest, and years into a recession prolonged by federal government policies, voters have caught up to the Libertarian Party's longtime understanding about the nature of big government.  Even those who have long shared our skepticism of Washington DC's ability to solve society's problems have recently come to the realization that their former 'allies' - the religious right - cannot be trusted to oppose the growth of government, especially when their operatives are elected to office.  If our message of individual liberty and personal responsibility is to gain any traction in these key demographics who are most open to our recruitment, the Libertarian Party must have a new generation of leadership, rejecting social conservatism and reaching out in their own terms to those voters who may have lost their faith in big government only very recently."

"We've heard that several internal problems, with our Platform, our Bylaws, or certain interest groups, have been what's holding our Party back.  Thus, great internal effort has been expended to gut our platform, centralize executive power in our Bylaws, and purge certain longtime constituents from our Party.  It didn't help us at all.  Our true obstacles are a lack of ballot access, indifference or even hostility from the mainstream media, caricatures of Libertarians and our principles - often by those within our Party - and a focus on making our Party look more and more like the less successful of the two major parties.  Nothing about the obstacles we face has changed in four decades.  These are old problems, and it's long past time for new solutions. We must stop scapegoating our own Platform, Bylaws, and respected Party Founders, and instead realize that the opposition is outside, not inside, by implementing new technologies and new ideas to bypass media and ballot access roadblocks and recruit new members and activists.  We also must learn that donors like to know where their money is going, and reliance on blind generosity is an unwise strategy for fundraising.  Finally, we must 'walk the talk' and actively campaign to stop and reverse the trend of increasing obstacles to ballot access."

Liberty for America: The Draft Rob Power Campaign

by: Forwarder

Wed Nov 11, 2009 at 21:28:24 PM MST

Draft Rob Power Campaign

The Draft Rob Power for LNC National Secretary campaign now has a facebook page "Draft Rob Power for LNC Secretary".  Rob has made clear that he will run if there is an honest draft with support.  To support Rob, please join the Draft Rob facebook page.

Long-time Libertarian activist Carolyn Marbry writes of Rob Power "Rob Power,  national chair of Outright Libertarians and chair of LP San Francisco, would make a fantastic secretary for the LNC. I've never seen anyone with the kind of energy Rob has devoted to activism. He's exactly what the LNC needs."

Outright Libertarians: Repeal 8 in 2010

by: Forwarder

Sun Aug 02, 2009 at 11:41:13 AM MDT

The national executive committee of Outright Libertarians has voted to sign onto the LoveHonorCherish.org letter explaining why putting a repeal of California's Prop 8 on the 2012 ballot is a mistake. This letter is a response to a letter circulated by a small but powerful group in the LGBT activist community intending to postpone the repeal of Prop 8 until 2012.

We believe that our community's experience of having marriage equality sacrificed at the altar of a Democratic Party White House win makes it clear that if there's any chance to win a repeal of Prop 8 in 2010, then we really ought to go for it. If there's absolutely no chance of winning in 2010, then 2014 is a better choice than 2012. We simply disagree that a 2010 campaign is unwinnable, and we instead believe that there are other motives for delaying to 2012 that have more to do with advancing partisan Democratic Party interests and less to do with advancing LGBT equal rights.