I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Executive Committee for trusting me with such an important job. I know this position will be a huge undertaking, but with the help and support from my family, and especially my wife, and the hard work and diligence from our Executive Committee and our membership, I believe we can begin the process of making the Arkansas Libertarian Party a strong force for True Liberty in this state.
I hope to keep an open dialogue with our members, so I will begin by outlining my three main goals as your ARLP State Chair:
Ballot Access in 2012
The most important thing for me at this moment is achieving ballot access in 2012. I think that taking care of the petitioning in 2011 will give us plenty of time to secure candidates and get our message spread far and wide. I want us to have real candidates running real races. I don’t want to spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars only to “fill in the blank” with an ARLP member’s name. We want to prove to Arkansans that the ARLP is alive and means business. I think this will be the shot in the arm that the party needs. It will energize people. It will get people talking. It will be a push to get inactive members to volunteer.
In talking with state chairs around the country at the National Convention, it is clear that once you have ballot access, things start moving fast. Most states saw membership and fund raising skyrocket after achieving ballot access. Also, many states were like Arkansas before ballot access and had no candidates to speak of. I’m not going to just sit around and wait for these things to take care of themselves. We are going to give ballot access EVERYTHING we’ve got!
Membership Growth
Without membership, we are not a party. Without membership, we can’t go anywhere. Without membership, we are dead. Our membership MUST grow.
As Tip O’Neill once said, “All politics is local.” Growing the ARLP must start from the bottom-up. Our four congressional districts are large and difficult for just one representative to manage. For example, driving from one end of the third district to the other is a three hour drive one way. In the coming months, I’d like to see the ARLP kick off a grassroots-type effort to find a County Chair in each and every one of Arkansas’ 75 Counties. Is this a hefty goal? Of course it is. Is it achievable? Absolutely. Will it take time and effort? Definitely.
Fund Raising
As with membership, without money, we can’t do anything. We can’t achieve ballot access. We can’t support candidates. We can’t make a difference. We are not here to be a debate club. We are here to bring True Liberty to the People of Arkansas, and as chair, it is my duty to do that.
We are in dire need of new materials (ARLP Banners, Operation Politically Homeless booth materials for each district, Arkansas-specific literature, business cards, etc.). Unless someone would like to write us a $1,000 check to cover these costs, we are going to have to hit the ground running and find donors.
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I would also like to add that Gerhard Langguth has served the Arkansas LP for many years as chair and other positions, and I thank him for this long service. His leadership has allowed for others to take the candle from him and continue bringing the light of freedom to people. I am very pleased to have Mr. Langguth in the position of Previous Past Chair and Parliamentarian.
In parting, I would like to thank each and every one of you for your continued support of the ARLP. I hope that we can all work together in the coming months and years to spread liberty and freedom across the great state of Arkansas.
