As stated in my announcement of candidacy, I expect the first phase of my presidential campaign — probably well into 2010 — to be largely internal to the libertarian movement and to the Libertarian Party and Boston Tea Party. That internal focus is itself in two parts:

– Helping the movement to better understand and more consistently communicate the libertarian message rather than some other message. Or, from a less positively stated vantage point, internal ideological and organizational struggle for the purpose of either re-radicalizing the LP and re-merging the BTP into the LP, or establishing beyond doubt that the LP cannot be re-radicalized and helping the BTP to replace the LP as the libertarian movement’s political arm.

– Helping the movement develop institutions to better communicate its message to the public. As we learned in the 2008 cycle, we’re extremely vulnerable to having our name hijacked and our message re-written by anyone possessed of even a minor-league “celebrity profile.” We have to develop an ongoing, recognizable media presence so that there’s no message vacuum for opportunists to fill with non-libertarian talking points. On that front, I expect to announce a major initiative, involving a number of respected libertarians, in January. While that initiative will be a campaign-created project, I expect it to quickly become independent of my candidacy and to carry on long after that candidacy is forgotten.

These are things that can certainly be done outside the context of a presidential campaign, and many other libertarians are pursuing them via other avenues. I chose this avenue for the same reason that I announced early: The opponents of a radical, i.e. libertarian, LP are already using the 2012 campaign stump for their own purposes, and I don’t believe we can afford to leave that ground uncontested even this early in the race.

If this program of “internal improvements” succeeds, then I’ll be satisfied — my presidential campaign is a way of seeking those goals, not an end in itself.