It's indeed fun to fantasize that the decisions of the LP have the same
impact on the electoral market as the decisions of the industry-leading
Coca Cola Company have on the soft drink market. The reality is that
the LP market footprint is more like Jolt than like Coke, and voters
have heard no more about the LP's different offerings than you have
heard about Jolt's formula changes. Yes, there have been Jolt formula
changes, but if you think they explain Jolt's market share, then you
simply don't understand the soft drink market.
Our challenge is two-fold -- 1) market the 6-month-old reformed
ecumenical LP to opinion leaders who've known for decades about the old
quasi-anarchist personal-secession LP, and 2) market the idea of
dramatically more personal and economic freedom to the 13% - 20% of
Americans who want more such freedom -- most of whom have no idea what
"L/libertarian" refers to. Both jobs will take years of work. There
are no silver bullets. We can either work together promoting our shared
direction of drastically smaller government, or we can waste another
quarter century arguing about whether our goal should be minimal
government vs. no government. Meanwhile, the Nanny State has just
swallowed much of the financial services industry and has its sights set
on the automobile industry, the energy industry, and the remains of the
healthcare industry.
