Parting Message

Follow this link for the full text, but here it is in sum:

Great opportunity for Libertarians in Hamilton County! To continue momentum, run candidates for Mayor in Carmel, Noblesville, and Westfield.

Time to push the envelope. I ran a moderate show, but the sands have shifted, and people are ready to hear a more radical message of smaller & less intrusive government. See: budgets & debt; TSA; War on Drugs; Wars in Iraq & Afghanistan.

I wish the next Chair great luck and tremendous success!

Kole Stepping Down As Chair

The time has come for me to step down as County Chair. Family, work, and continued education concerns make it so.

I take stock in the gains that our organization has made in the past two years:

• Libertarian candidates for offices in our county were on the ballot again in 2010 for the first time since 2006.
• Our base more than doubled! I have previously crunched the numbers via this link.
  
• We have a full roster of officers in the organization.
• Our monthly Meet-Ups are well attended.

It is crucially important that somebody steps up to replace me as Chair. In the seven years I have been involved with the Libertarian Party here in Hamilton County, our organization has been characterized by members who will vote for our candidates, attend our events, financially support the organization, but shy away from being involved in leadership, and for the actions that are the reason for this organization to exist: running for office, and campaigning door-to-door.

We have very capable people in our membership. Libertarians are almost universally self-sufficient and achievers. Please consider bringing your talent to the Libertarian Party of Hamilton County, as a leader and/or as a candidate.

We have a clear momentum we can build upon! People are talking about libertarian policy and philosophy like never before. Hamilton County voters are at last beginning to shift from the old parties towards us. It would be a tremendous shame if the chapter were to fold for lack of participation at the leadership level.

At minimum, the Chair spends about 5 hours/week. This is what is needed to recruit candidates; answer questions from media and the public; watch issues affecting us here. Ambitious Chairs of course spend more time than that.

So, we will host a County Convention for the purpose of electing a new County Chair. Here are the details:

When: Thursday, January 27, 2011; 7-8pm

Where: Claude & Annie’s, 9251 E. 141^st St, Fishers IN 46038

Who Can Vote: Those with current membership in either the national or Indiana Libertarian Party. Membership can be made current at the meeting prior to votes taking place.

I'll look forward to seeing you at Claude & Annie's on Thursday!

Sincerely Yours-
-Mike Kole
Chair, Libertarian Party of Hamilton County

More Unofficial Returns

I've done some analysis on the basic numbers for all races involving Libertarian candidates in Hamilton County. Here's the link.

In Summary: Our numbers are going up despite our candidates not having huge advertising budgets. We do a fantastic job of taking advantage of earned media. The base of the Libertarian Party in Hamilton County is growing at all levels, but most significantly at the top of ticket, where voter confidence was previously very low. The key now is to translate more votes into more candidates for future ballots, and more volunteers to walk neighborhoods and work phone banks and polling places. We may be getting near to Malcolm Gladwell's tipping point, where we start electing officials to office in Hamilton County!

Kole On WXNT, Monday

I'll be on the Abdul In The Morning Show on WXNT 1430-am at 7am, to talk all things Libertarian. State Chair Sam Goldstein and LPIN Executive Director Chris Spangle will join me live in the studio.

I'll be looking to get a few words in about the upcoming County Convention and the platform we will adopt there. Who knows what delightful curveballs Abdul will have for us besides. Tune in or listen online at www.wxnt.com

Conventions & Platforms

I've always been a little flat on the Libertarian Party's national platform. It doesn't function like a party platform should, but rather as a manifesto. That's ok for a new party, but not one that is trying to let the country know, "We're an established party, and here is what we will do as a focused effort to improve the country. Now, vote for us on the strength of this".

I believe that at each national convention of the LP, we should be adopting 3-5 planks that represent our solutions to the major issues of the day. If I could wave my magic wand, the platform going into 2010 elections would look like this:

1. No more bailouts. Nobody is 'too big to fail'. If you make bad decisions, they won't be subsidized by the rest of the country.
2. No more stimulus spending. Deficit spending is a placebo, and doesn't generate genuine wealth. It drains the country of tomorrow's wealth.
3. Fix the health care problems caused by government intervention. Eliminate the federal mandates that generate inefficiency and needlessly drive up costs.
4. End the wars. Pull out of Iraq & Afghanistan immediately. Stop trying to be the world's police officer. It doesn't work.
5. Restore civil liberties. Repeal the Patriot Act and all other laws that direct law enforcement to spy on American citizens.

For my part, as a County Chair, I will be directing the Libertarian Party of Hamilton County towards having a platform that does just this sort of thing- presents the issues and solution we will run on locally for 2010.

Doing this does not represent an abdication of the full range of policy solutions libertarians have for the myriad issues we could address. Rather, it prioritizes the response to the most pressing issues affecting the greatest number of citizens.

I'll have info on the LP of Hamilton County's convention posted shortly.

Update: A correction has been made to replace the word 'panacea' with 'placebo'. Thanks to Todd for the Websterian QC action!