Which Party to Choose?

I officially changed my voter registration to independent from republican as I couldn't decide between libertarian and constitution. They both have their positives and their faults. As for Ralph Nader he is a socialist, but he doesn't hide and he is honest about it so I respect him for that. Rather then party I think it needs to be about the candidate. I wish more people would have gotten to hear about Chuck Baldwin. Ron Paul in the primaries and Chuck Baldwin in the general election really opened my eyes to what is going on.

"In matters of principle, stand like a rock." Thomas Jefferson

When you compare platform, level of broad based appeal, longevity, number of candidates in office, organization, number of non political entities that exist, the fact that libertarian is one of four actual political persuasions (Liberal, Conservative, Authoritarian & Libertarian - take the world's smallest political quiz at theadvocates.org), and the fact that the Declaration and the Bill of Rights are libertarian documents (libertarian is a word that has its roots going back to the 1640's), then there really is no other choice.

But, I would suggest belonging to the Libertarian Party and then belong to any other party you like as well. This way the libertarians would have an even larger base for the media to be aware of. If we can drive the libertarians to the front, then the rest can follow. I relish a world where one party is trying to be more freedom oriented than the other! Backing the Libertarians as the primary freedom vehicle is a no loss move!

This is an ideal for those that lean toward staying with GOP for now. I would suggest that we brand ourselves Constitutional Republicans and not just Republicans. It separates us from those who are really not conservatives and gives you a talking point. Ron Paul, BJ Lawson are Constitutional Republicans because of these reasons compared to McCain etc. who are just Republicans. Now when you recruit new people, they will want to be defined as CR’s because they understand the difference. If the GOP gives us a hard time, we become The Constitutional Republican Party.

i dont trust any of them.
the libertarian party doesnt seem too libertarian anymore.
ralph nader is socialist
the constitution party puts too much emphasis on religion in government for my comfort. though i do trust chuck baldwin.

of course

THE GARDEN PARTY
THE VANGUARD PARTY
you-no

republican .. we are making great inroads and kicking some ass .. join us on the frontlines please

we are carrying the mantle of goldwater in the historical fight against papa romney from 1964 and now we will take it away from his son little romney ...

there will never be a greater time to reclaim liberty and conservatism from those hawks and wolves

I've seen a few comments questioning the merits and mechanisms of an actual party "takeover".

Let us first address our vocabulary regarding this subject. This is not a takeover, this is not an infiltration, this is not subterfuge. We are all Republicans in the truest form of the word. We believe in the Republican form of government as the prime protector of our earthly rights. Thus taking a controlling position in the party that bears our lineage is not a takeover, it is "a return to essential principals". (quote from WA State Constitution)

The GOP is a candidate electing machine. Though the machine is broken and outmoded, an infusion of real patriots and honest conservatives would surely bring our machine up to snuff.

But how do we affect such a repair? The bastions of corruption have been erected against us for so long, how are we to fight them?

Get inside:
The GOP needs to grow, alot. But it has alot less growing to do than the Constitution party or the Liberterians. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see a viable 4 or 5 party system, but we dont have that. Join your state party online and call your district chairperson. Tell them you want to be appointed a PCO. A Precinct Comittee Officer has access to most of the campaigning tools the party provides. Walking lists, voter databases, phone lists etc. Once you are inside and have access to the tools, your real work begins.

Effective Representation:
Now that you represent your neigborhood (about 300 housolds), you must meet these people and become their go-to guy/gal for all questions political. Hand out flyers, polls, campaign etc. As an official GOP office holder now you can lobby on behalf of YOUR consituents. Go to your State Capitol and speak at a hearing or meet with your legislator and let them know you represent hundreds of registered voters.

A maximally effective PCO would have a few people in the precicnt to help him identify issues important to the community and get the information out.

Make the rules:
Through your (hopefully) effective campaigning/volunteering/representing you have gained a reputation in the local political community. Ask your District Chair for additional responsibilities i.e. seargant at arms, vote watcher/counter, platform committee position or anything else. The key here is to put our people in as many of the functions of the party as possible. Once your organization has enough PCO's in your area you can control the voting for all party positions such as rules committee, state and county committeeman and woman. Here in Washington we have about 10 to 20% penetration into the party over all, with many counties as high as 60 or 70% (Spokane county sent 106 RP delegates of 114 total to the state convention)

This particular part of the action is the hardest and longest fought. It will take multple election cycles to fully implement and influence many state's GOPs. Effective and successful campaigns greatly increase your own credibility within the part and great inroads can be made through coalition building and honest friendly conversation.

In every meeting and every convention come ready to fight, know the rules and have a plan. You will win small victories at first, then you will pass a platform resolution, or perhaps a rules ammendment. These will lead to candidates and delegates.

Put their money to good use:
Here in King County we've been thrashed around a bit by the Neo-Cons in charge. In order to better equip ourselves for the 2010 election cycle (we got ZERO help and even opposition from the GOP in 2008) we are establishing Political Action Committees to raise funds for leg, district based campaigning. These PAC's allow citizens to donate to an organization that will use their money in their district. This will stem the cashflow to the central (corrupted) GOP coffers and infuse grass roots campaigns with the cash they need.

Through the intigration of our PAC's, C4L, the RP '08 campaign and coalition building with organizations such as Evergreen Freedom Foundation, respectwashington.us and many others we have affected true and meaningfull reforms in the name of Liberty here in Washington State, providing the "proof of concept". I am 100% sure our path is true, here in the Evergreen State it is just a matter of time and proper application of talent.

Viva la Revolution.

I have picked the Libertarian party...I see people praise being one of principle..yet they won't oin the party becaus ethey don't think it will win...That's not being a person of principle to me..The only reason the rep. party would even want us is for our enthusiasm and fight...It doesn't matter to me about Bob Barrs presence because I'm a Paul supporter..I'm not going to support one person just because they are with the party..they have to stand by the parties principles as well...Just because Barr didn't fare well doesn't mean I wouldn't consider myself part of the party...So..it's Libertarian for me...

This subject has been run thru the mill many times here, as you know.

The common point raised against the GOP is that it is "controlled", and "we can never take it over" and "the corruption is too entrenched", and all kinds of similar statements.

Then, the concept of 3rd Party is raised, as a "viable alternative", as if there are none of those issues going to affect a 3rd Party, which is false.
Even a brand new 3rd Party is going to be faced with trying to overcome corruption.
Here's how:
No matter how "clean" any party is, they are coming up against "the machine". Now, with a new 3rd Party,, you might escape the serious corruption during the early stages, and picking your candidate. But, when it comes to election time, you are up against the corruption machine. You don't escape it. You just encounter it at a different point in time.

So, we must face the fact that we are going to be required to face the corruption, no matter which route we take. And that's sort of the whole idea, that we want to overcome this "corruption machine", right?

Now, let's look at potential outcomes, so that we can assess the usefulness of efforts in the attempt to succeed in our goal..
If we do a 3rd Party, we're going to have a certain percentage of the electorate from which we can draw. A very small percentage, even if we get all of it. Never, ever, a winning proposition. Guaranteed loss. Because there aren't huge population segments that just "blindly vote party line", for some unknown 3rd Party. Ever.
And we're still going to see media blackouts, infiltration, sniping, dirt throwing, conniving, twisting, corruption, and everything we didn't like about last year's effort with the GOP run.
If we attempt to take over the GOP, sure we'll have all the nasty stuff right from the get-go, and all the hate and corruption that we all know is there, and we've seen. And there will be alot of opposition to us, and alot if infighting and dirty tricks, etc. No question about it.
BUT, if we can be successful, THEN there is a chance of getting the GOP voting blocks to just pull the lever for us, which is what we need to win.

So, it is not a matter of facing the "corruption machine" which is the "hinge-pin" of our decision here. That's going to be there no matter which way we turn.
The decision needs to be based on possible outcome.
And the possible outcome that is the only chance of winning the final election, is to take over the crumbled GOP and make it ours, and not theirs.If we continue to define the GOP in our minds as "what it was", and we fail to define it as "something new that we can make of it", then the issue is not with the GOP, the issue is with our inability to seize the opportunity.

Those are the cold hard facts.
Either we are up to it, or we're not.

And if the argument becomes that it's too corrupt for any election to be valid because of institutional election fraud, then political action is not the answer, and a revolution is the only answer to that. And that's a whole 'nuther level of fight, which might be best avoided, if we want to live. Play out any peaceful opportunities first, to avoid bloodshed, if we can be successful at it.

“There should not be hostility toward those who seek opportunities in any party. The goal is to spread the message in every way possible. As a matter of fact, if the ideas didn’t invade all political factions, it would not be a true revolution.” - Ron Paul

And I'm having alot of fun helping to take over the GOP :)

you have no idea what the Ron Paul Revolution is about.

Ron Paul is a REPUBLICAN.

Your "sustainable" third party has never gotten more than 2% of the vote. Third parties are guaranteed failure.

The Republican Party is now open for a take over by liberty lovers. What do you think YAL is for? What do you think most of the meetups are doing? Infiltrating and remaking the Republican Party that what.

This site is schizophrenic, its called "DailyPaul" which I presume is honor of Dr. Ron Paul the Republican Congressman from Texas. Yet several poster spend most of their time bashing his party typing about third parties that have never gotten over 2% of the vote.

Get real kiddies. If you are not actively working to take over the Republican Party you are not being very helpful.

I think the fairy tale of taking over the Republican Party is dead to me. Look at CPAC - I mean, for crying out loud, Rush Limbaugh was a primary speaker! Mitt Romney is all over the news...It's hopeless. Don't forget, the CFR controls both parties and they will not give that up.

I'm torn between a new party and just going for all of them. We already pretty much have the Libertarians. The Constitution Party will give us 50% of those that don't believe in a modern version of the Inquisition. A lot of Nader's people and the Greens might make the switch. So, the question for me is whether or not to make our way into both the Republican and Democrat parties (I've started to infiltrate the local Democrats), or start a new one.

The only way a new party (I like the "Jeffersonian" idea, or just call it "Conservative Party" - Hell, I'll even go for the "Goldwater Party" (has both gold and a conservative in the name)) would work, is if it is a massive change in the registration in states that have it. If that could happen, there is hope. If we can get Liberty-minded people in the two big parties, then that is also possible.

Just my humble opinion.

www.libertyrestorationproject.org
"We are the inheritors of the American Enlightenment, which tells us that Individual Liberty always trumps collectivism in all forms."

Libertarian/Constitution, depends on the canidate. For the right track record, I'd even vote for the dreaded R/D arrr ar potty.