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Which Path?
Suppose you like some or all of the ideas on this site, so what? Ideas alone are only half of the battle. The ideas are only useful after someone puts them into practice.
In the sections that follow, I will suggest ways which you, the readers can help make these ideas happen. There are many possibilities, and different readers can take different paths. We need not be united. That said, I will also list what I am doing to make these ideas happen and would greatly appreciate help with these projects.
Among the possibilities are:
- Work within the Democratic Party
- Work within the Republican Party
- Work within the Libertarian Party
- Work within the Green or other third party
- Start a new political party
- Skip the politics and just do it
- Focus on educating the people
Each of these paths has merit. Each has its own challenges and limitations. Which path you should choose depends on which ideas you most want to put into practice, your temperament, your talents, and where you live. Let me reiterate: different people should take different paths. Yes, if a new party is successfully created, or an existing third party is properly reformed, then some uniting could be useful, but calls for getting together are premature at this point.
In the following sections I will evaluate each approach, giving the positives, negatives and limitations. I leave it to you to decide which approach(es) to take. Feel free to skip to the sections that are most appealing to you. Also, I am interested in hearing from those of you who take action, what actions you are taking, and how they are working out.
That said, I'll tell you the path I am taking politically.
- I started with trying to work within the Libertarian Party. I was an LP member for a quarter of a century. But as I switched from party orthodoxy to the ideas on this site, I have felt less at home. I did launch the Libertarian Reform Caucus to see if it was interested in becoming a bigger-tent party, one that could contain those on the upper-left. The Caucus has accomplished much -- they helped engineer the elimination of most of the old radical LP platform in 2006 -- but the membership oath remains, so I no longer consider myself an LP member. I have personally come to the conclusion that starting a new party is more productive than reforming an existing third party.
- However, before working on a new party there is a transient opportunity to work within the Republican Party, in particular, with supporting Ron Paul for President. Not only would a Paul presidency be a giant step in the liberty direction of Holistic Politics, his campaign is attracting many from the Left based on his anti-war and pro-civil-liberties views. The ideas on this site might be the basis of holding together this temporary coalition between the paleo Right and the hippie Left. It's a long shot, [Update 1/10/2008: and looking longer since some ugly newsletters in Ron Paul's name surfaced] but I am was working on giving it a try for a few months.
- In the likely event that Ron Paul does not get the Republican nomination, then I intend to explore the new party option. Please contact me if you are interested.
Those are the political options. I am also working on the non-political options as well.