As an ideological party, we are asking voters to accept not just our stance on a few issues, but a philosophical viewpoint from which we derive our positions on the individual issues. Politics is slow to change. Getting large numbers of Libertarians elected to office will be one of the last signs that we have become a successful political party, not one of the first signs. Our current efforts are not wasted. This we are doing even when a Libertarian candidate only gets a small percentage of the vote.
Libertarians are the only real alternative to the political status quo.
In many cases the Libertarians are the only alternative to an incumbent candidate. We are pushing the political debates beyond the current issues and crises of the day and getting people to think more deeply about the problems of the political process and the purpose of government. Yes, there is much we can do to be more professional, polish our image, improve our presentation of our ideas and attract more resources and voters. But we should not and must not sell out the principles of freedom in the process, else we will have defeated ourselves more surely than the Democrats and Republicans could ever hope to. But never without an accompanying increase in the level of parental responsibilities.