At the Libertarian Convention—Part I

Sub Terra Vita
By Scipio Cepiacanus
April 10, 2009

At the Libertarian Convention—Part I
2:20 PM

I'm here at the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin annual convention in Oconomowoc, WI. The morning board meeting, and then the membership meeting that followed took care of business. It looks like I and my fellow committee members on the Business Committee have taken on a lot work for the next month to follow up on fixing problems or proposing action that was discussed. As a group, we recognized flaws in our management of information, dissipation of resources, lack of focused communications—both within and without the Party, and our need for leadership. Both the morning meetings were well attended.

Following the luncheon buffet here at the beautiful Olympia Resort, our convention's home base this year, we heard a speech by http://www.rootforamerica.com/, the 2008 US Vice Presidential candidate for the LPUSA, and a person of great business success, who is running for National Party chairperson. Mr. Root said his focus as chair would be on fund raising and personnel training at ever level of our organization. It is all to be directed at marketing and sales efforts. While Mr. Root is obviously a success at the level of success he has achieved in Las Vegas as an entrepreneur, I was too timid and shy to ask my question: “Politics is even more basic than local politics; IT is based on personal relationships. How do we succeed in tapping the personal message on a vote-by-vote basis in our neighborhood?”

After Mr. Root's speech, the first of six great shirts the Treasury Committee made for a limited-edition collector's auction for this sole convention sold for $40. Our attendance for the speaking events, with the admission-fees we assessed, has brought us to over fifty people at last count.

And now, seeing the good results of some great team efforts, Yuri Maltsev of the von Mises Institute is talking about micro-economy and how a true free-market (like I've told friends, a free-market is a garage sale or a lemonade stand), how more freely made contracts without government manipulation or even less manipulation, would better serve a nation of liberty. Mr. Maltsev is doing a Q&A with smart people, so I'm just listening to the smart people and typing/blogging while all this goes on around me.

There are more speakers, and I'm quite tired from a long one-two day. It is a good convention so far, so I'll try to check in later.