The other day, I asked: “What if some sort of larger formal organization of education- and outreach-oriented LP members was created?”

While my reason for asking the question primarily dealt with trying to provide a solution to longstanding debate within the Libertarian Party, it was also partially prompted by Brad Spangler’s call to dissolve the LP.

Social Memory Complex has now added a similar viewpoint(emphasis added):

Perhaps Brad Spangler’s call for the dissolution of the Libertarian Party would indeed be the best way to ensure that libertarians maintain their radical credentials and don’t get swallowed up in the institutional identity of statist politics. Personally, I haven’t quite decided whether dissolving the LP would, in fact, assist the cause of liberty. Too many, including yours truly, u-turned on the road to serfdom as a result of that organization, however status quo they may in fact be. Perhaps the answer is for us radical libertarians to work harder to build an alternative institution to the LP that can expedite getting people out of the suffocating political process.

I agree that the LP often does serve the valuable purpose of u-turning (pardon the neologism) people “on the road to serfdom,” but there are two other factors which I sometimes don’t think are understood by certain radicals:

To most Americans I know, simply being involved with the Libertarian Party is considered an act of extreme radicalism already.

Many of us (including some self-described radicals) actually have a goal of substantial electoral victory—in our lifetime. This doesn’t mean “watering down” libertarianism, but recruiting decent candidates and running effective campaigns.

For the meantime, I’ll continue to stand by my earlier quote:

My friend Brad forgot one key group of people: There are those of us who would prefer to pursue electoral strategies but don’t have the stomach to work within the major parties, at least for any prolonged period of time. Many of us find neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party reformable. To use some of Spangler’s logic, the Ron Paul presidential campaign has underscored this point.

Props.