Wednesday, June 01, 2016

Libertarian National Convention: A Proposal for 2020

The Libertarian Party's next national convention is in New Orleans in 2018. That one's already pretty much set in stone. However, the 2020 convention hasn't been projected/planned yet, and I think we have an opportunity here.

First, we should have the convention in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Secondly, we should have the convention in late 2019, not in 2020 (the bylaws allow for it to take place any time after Labor Day of 2019).

My reasoning:

New Hampshire is one of the major centers of American political activity late in the year before an election year. Republican and Democratic presidential primary candidates will be thick on the ground, hectoring citizens for their votes.

Why not bring a thousand or more Libertarians into that mix, let them pick their nominee, then hit the streets of Manchester for rallies and vote-soliciting at a time when both personal and media attention is FOCUSED on presidential politics in that place?

Manchester is accessible (Southwest flies directly into town).

Manchester has convention facilities big enough to handle our needs (yes, I checked).

New Hampshire has a strong libertarian movement with organizations who know how to host events (e.g. the Free State Project). That would likely make organizing this thing easier.

The Libertarian Party hasn't had a convention in the northeast since 1989 (in Philadelphia). Conventions should be spread around geographically so that every so often each part of the country gets some Libertarian love.

Having the convention early would give our presidential ticket more time to campaign as the nominees. That's how we used to do it, and it makes sense.

Let's do this.

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