From: jbn@photon.com (Joe Naiman)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.libertarian
Subject: Is registration really important for Libertarians?
Date: 17 Nov 92 21:10:00 GMT
Organization: Photon Research Associates, Inc.
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]


     I'd like to address a few issues at once:  the John Perry incident,
the lament that many small-l libertarians who got elected to office did
so on major party tickets, and the dismal showing of Andre Marrou in the
election.

     What is important is votes in November, and not registrations in
October - and what is even more important than election votes in November
is floor votes the next year.  Any party which cares more about its
principles than about power (it is generally assumed that this applies to
the Libertarian Party) should be more concerned about getting its ideas
enacted than about putting bodies in the legislature or names on the voter
rolls.

     I have been active in both the Libertarian and the Republican parties
in San Diego County.  In June 1985 the Republicans had seven of nine
seats on the San Diego City Council (including the Mayor), and four of five
seats on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

     The California Republican Party was embarked on a drive called
"Operation Bounty", paying registration gatherers for Republican names.
This drive was in full force in late 1985 and in 1986.  In early 1986
the Republicans overtook the Democrats in registration in the targeted
78th Assembly District, and in mid-June the GOP overtook the Democrats
in registrations in the City of San Diego for the first time since the
1930's.

     Yet in June 1986 San Diego elected a Democrat mayor for the first time
in 19 years.  Maureen O'Connor got 55% in the runoff to Bill Cleator's 45%.
Judging from registration figures and normal respective party crossover and
turnout, Cleator should have gotten 58%.  In November, the Republican
running for the 78th district failed to get 45% of the votes.

     The Republican Party of San Diego County made a mistake.  By their
registration efforts, they attracted to the party those who were less likely
to vote and those who were more likely to cross over - severely damaging
their chances of overcoming registration disadvantages.  The local GOP has
never recovered the dominance they had in the early 1980's.

     In previous John Perry debate, someone accused Perry of being part of
a "religious right" takeover of the Libertarian Party.  If so, the LP brought
it on themselves with their registration pitches.  THe "97 percenters" who
are content to vote Libertarian differ with the party on key issues, and
concentrating on registration rather than votes will give the Libertarian
party not only school-choice advocates who oppose abortion or even the
Libertarians for Life who believe that abortion is aggression, but it
will also bring gun control opponents who differ with the party on legalizing
drugs, tax-cutting businesspeople who support subsidies, and the like.
The Libertarian Party is risking its own purity by proselytizing those
who do not agree fully with the party.

     Andre Marrou was not the first "fourth-party" Libertarian candidate.
In 1980 Ed Clark drew over 1% of the vote and actually outperformed John
Anderson in Alaska.  (Clark finished fourth everywhere else except in
DC, where he finished fifth behind Barry Commoner and the Citizens' Party.)
Marrou's poor showing relative to Clark's, relative to Libertarian
registration figures (which have gone up since 1980), indicate that many
large-L Libertarians are in the party because of some overeager registration
effort rather than because of true philosophy.

     There are many Republicans (and Democrats, too, probably), who are
willing to support the Libertarian candidate in specific races because of
common positions on specific issues and dissatisfaction with both major
party candidates.  Appeals to gun control opponents, motorcyclists, tax
cut advocates, etc., is one of the party's best strategies.  But trying
to get those people to join the Libertarian party will hurt both its
performance in the elections and the party's purity.

Joe Naiman
(97 percenter)