The Libertarian Party started out as a decentralized hub, a grassroots organization run by activists. Our assumption was that we could do it ourselves. We believed and we worked. Then, there was no professional or want-to-be professional cadre; people from all walks of life came together. The beginning of the end of our revolution began with the election of Edward H. Crane, III as its national chairman in 1974 at the Dallas Convention.
Crane immediately asserted control in all directions. He tried but failed to control the candidacy of Roger MacBride for President; Roger was then producing 'Little House on the Prairie.” He did not miss in 1980.
Roger had made one critical mistake. He introduced Crane to Charles and David Koch, the owners of Koch Industries. Koch Industries is probably the largest privately owned oil company in the world. It was Koch money that started Cato Institute; the Kochs are intimately connected to the Bush White House.
The issue central to how the Revolution will operate is hierarchy vs. networked hub. You determine the outcome when you choose.
The decentralized hub is a network that freely shares information and resources. In the Ron Paul Revolution the decision of which projects to support is made by people either volunteering or not, donating or not. That is a direct application of the power of individual choice. Individual choices, made with clear knowledge.
Organizational tools can also be proprietary, effectively owned by its management. Those who want to participate then know the limitations they accept. We see this with most of the Ron Paul Projects, from the Toolbar to the Granny Warriors. They offer a project; others support or decline to support, their choice. That has worked well, too. The information is available going in and no one presumes to speak for others who have not authorized that on their behalf. It is transparent, consensual, and cooperative.
For freedom to work, as the universal principle enabling human action, we must all have the truth and the freedom to act. The truth allows us to make the right choices; centrists want to control information and become a priesthood who decides for you. They take from us the essential tools of autonomy. When the people have the truth they can govern themselves and that is what you have been doing in the Ron Paul Revolution. It has been glorious to experience, affirming the power to each of us.
Freedom, respect for others, and truth are therefore linked tools.
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