For reasons that are hard to explain, I was up late last night thinking about the FSP liaison stuff, and before I blow my top elsewhere, I figured I should post some of what I was thinking where liaisons might read it.
Once, I thought that FSP leadership should just be more effective; then I thought that local groups were the key to success. Now, after several days of debating how and if to change fundamental elements of the project itself, I've hit upon a new emphasis that I'd like to try before abandoning our basic premises.
The thing about the FSP that makes its success possible is that it's a big tent. For once, small government types need not be split into their discrete issue groups--we can actually have homeschoolers standing side by side with gun nuts and property rights advocates. Fragmented and spread out, we are too small to succeed. United and concentrated in New Hampshire, we are a formidable force.
So, that leads me to the liaisons. Frankly, without insulting anyone's particular niche, I can only think of about six or seven liaison slots that make sense: gun rights, homeschooling, property rights, anti-tax, drug legalization, pro-business/anti-regulation, and perhaps something on getting government out of private social relations/contracts. It seems to me that we could make progress by having, for example, a property rights liaison whose sole employ for the FSP was to find, build relationships with, and get publicity through property rights groups. Individual issues and actions (say, New London) would spring from that, but the liaison would chiefly (and first) build the network through which individual campaigns would flow more easily.
New London is a good example of a case that would have benefitted from having a dedicated property rights liaison already in place. Of all people who have enough to do already, Jason ended up being the one who placed an ad in the New London paper. It's just ridiculous that the chairman of the board has to spend his time on that. Ideally, the property rights liaison would hear about the case (maybe even through a friendly organization), contact the FSP advertising department, and place the ad--then do follow-up with letters, press releases, etc. It pays to have a person who concentrates on the broad issue.
Now, I don't know too much about the liaisons as they are; just that there are a lot of them and I don't hear a whole lot about what they do. That could just as easily be because I'm not listening, but perhaps it has something to do with overfragmenting and focusing on individuals rather than on pre-existing organizations. Having six major liaisons with big issue focus and small issue components seems more efficient. Thoughts?
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Topic: Suggestions for Liaison program (Read 10360 times)