Libertarians

It is well known that, to the surprise of many, I took the route of joining the Australian Demcrats in 2006, and contested the 2007 State election in the seatof pping and sought preselection for the Senate.

They have of late resorted to e-mailing me again seeking support. They aren't spamming, they checked first and do provide an unsubscribe option. I find it all amusing. I actually wish them well, but my disagreement with them amounts to the fact they think their future is about campaigning without definition. They focus on who they are not (not the major parties, not bastards) rather on who they are.

I just thought I'd share with you the latest begging e-mail from them.

Dear David,

In the past weeks, we’ve made good progress in our rebuilding efforts, taking on many new members and renewals. For the first time in a long time, our party is growing.

With this growth comes new challenges: many functions of the party, from policy development to technology were run in the past by paid staff, directed by our Senators.

Volunteers have kept things functioning these last years, but there are numerous areas of need, including:

* Funding for a upgraded, more reliable website that not only allows for greater discussion, but allows for members to connect, discuss and post their own local events and news in a secure area.
* Funding for advertising and other outreach to reintroduce the Australian Democrats to the public and remind them of why we are here
* Printing and postage costs for better communication to members and prospective members.

Please help fund our efforts with a tax deductible donation. http://www.democrats.org.au/donate/

Our membership is still very diverse, with very technically savvy members and equally large groups who are not online. Getting policy and proposals approved, therefore, can be a complicated and costly endeavor. It can only happen with your support.

If you’re in a position to help, please contribute today. http://www.democrats.org.au/donate/

Three decades ago, long before email or social networking, our party was able to quickly rise to power through a strong message: Politics is about people, not special interests – and the Australian Democrats were fighting to make sure policy reflected that.

Now, our country needs a better alternative to the two dominant parties. We can reignite our support very quickly, but we need to be able to do more than talk to each other. We need to be able to efficiently push our message to a larger group of people, and have the mechanisms in place to allow them to directly engage their areas of interest.

Please make a donation today to help us in these efforts. http://www.democrats.org.au/donate/

We understand not everyone is capable of contributing. But if you’re doing ok, and believe in the Democrats, please help us get into a position to succeed. Donations up to $1500 are tax deductible.

With federal elections due just 17 months away, and talk of an early election, we must act quickly. Thank you for any assistance you can offer.

- Australian Democrats

The stand out phrase is "our party was able to quickly rise to power through a strong message: Politics is about people, not special interests". I hate to disapoint them that they did not rise to "power". I also want to acknowledge a comment to an earlier post that questioned whether the Democrats could claim to be a "libertarian" party compared to the LDP. The answer is relatively simple, that most libertarians are only libetarian in relation to the things they want to be free on. It is notable that the Australia Party was notably more libertarian than the Democrats.