This one seems so obvious as to be ridiculous. And yet, every single election cycle people get wrapped up in this losing strategy of "We'll pull in more liberals by doing X/ we'll pull in more conservatives by doing Y." Not only does this not work - because voters don't defect - it actually serves to alienate and disenfranchise our built-in voting bloc: libertarians.
"But, Farmer!" you might say. "There aren't enough libertarians out there to mobilize as a political force in any meaningful way, so we have to co-opt different groups in order to make any headway." Well, I'd say that you're partially correct. We do need to capture other voting blocs in order to win, but neither of those voting blocs need to be - or even should be - conservatives or liberals. Let's have a look at the numbers.
How many libertarians are there in this country? The answer will surprise you. Study after study shows that there are almost as many libertarians in this country as there are liberals and conservatives.
And when we drill down into specific issue positions, we see the numbers actually drawing closer to one another:
To me it's obvious that we should cease all efforts to attract either liberal or conservative voters. We don't need them, they don't defect from their preferred parties, and the messaging necessary to get them onboard just frustrates and disenfranchises our own base. We have a large-enough, built-in base of libertarian supporters to target.
A candidate with a bold, unapologetic libertarian message would capture the bulk of libertarians. And that, alone, would be something that no libertarian candidate I can think of has ever focused on primarily. By continuing to run candidates who think we need to look like, sound like, and campaign like either of the old parties we are keeping ourselves small and ineffective. We aren't the old parties; and we shouldn't act like it. People want something different. Let's give that to them.
But, libertarians aren't the only people we'll need to target.On this blog, over the last week and continuing for another week or so, I have been/ will be identifying groups that Libertarians should go after. Feel free to have a look at the rest of these reports.