The ongoing controversy with LPUK has raised the question of what else we could be doing to move forward towards election victory?

There is always the option to engage with the libertarian wing of the Conservatives or Liberal Democrat parties. The number of keen libertarians I met at the recent Adam Smith Institute drinks hints at a good level of support and companionship being available there. If you can stomach supporting a brand which endorses economic or social authoritarianism in order to advance liberalism on the other axis then this is fine. I am not so tolerant of compromise, and like many I believe a consistently pro-liberty platform is a minimum requirement.

On the other hand Gavin Webb’s excellent third place, while being actively excluded from party membership, has amply demonstrated that you don’t need to engage with a party at all in order to perform well. Gavin achieved his result by treading the pavements to distribute a leaflet to every household in his constituency, and knocking on doors and speaking with hundreds of locals to ask them their opinion and to give them his. He did not have much help (I think Stuart Heal went to assist him) and beat the UKIP party machine into fourth.

There are two obvious issues with Gavin’s story which are familiar from earlier reports from LPUK candidates:

1. Not everyone has the time to tread pavements for hours – most libertarians are hard working people who, through their working life, know exactly the burden placed on the private sector. We must recognise we all already suffer a huge burden and must help each other to fight effectively for it’s reduction.
2. Not everyone has the money for campaign literature – Gavin runs his own print company but still asked for £250 of financial support for his campaign. He got £66.96 after Paypal fees. In a national election, there would have been a large deposit to pay on top of this. These sums are obviously large enough to present a barrier to participation, let alone success.

My question to Pavel, which I will repeat, is what other challenges prevent you, dear reader, from standing on your own behalf to fight a campaign? Is it the absence of a positive Party brand? The official paperwork? Publicity? Is it solely a lack of resources such as time and money?

My intention is to provide as much practical assistance as possible. The goal of this website is not to talk about LPUK or libertarian politics, but to actually help create professional libertarian politicians. That means identifying and helping to solve the challenges faced by people on that road. So tell me, what’s stopping you?