Small Business Initiative

The Missouri Libertarian Party is becoming the "Defenders of Small Business". The Executive Committee at its May 16 meeting resolved to target small businesses as a core constituency group. "This decision will lead to a new way in which the Party presents itself to the public", proclaimed state chair Bob Sullentrup.

The Party will focus efforts courting small businesses by directing advertising and attention promoting libertarian idea through the interests of small businesses. The goal will be to attract new members, candidates and activists.

The subtle change is to couch our issues speaking on behalf of our constituency group. Mark Schreiber explained the methodology when he spoke to the MO Libertarian Party convention in Wentzville in 2003:

"Suppose we told the teacher 'Tommy is a bully'", Mark explained. The teacher would not do anything. Suppose we told the teacher, "Look at Billy, Tommy pushed him down and broke his glasses". The teacher would intervene. "We need to find our Billy".

The choice of small businesses dovetails Mark’s recommendation that he outlined for us in Wentzville. His work grew out of the Strategic Planning Team’s (SPT) work on the National Committee. The SPT’s number one initiative was, ‘Branding the Libertarian Party’.

“Some people have mistakenly equated ‘branding’ with hucksterism, claiming it is akin to selling soft drinks”, explained state chair Bob Sullentrup, “Branding as we mean it here is simply cultivating a constituency group.”

Choosing a constituency involves asking:

• Does the constituency group mirror who we are?
• Are they well liked and respected?
• Do they have a champion already?
• Do they share our philosophy of less government is more?

“What’s our brand right now?” asked Mark Schreiber at the 2003 convention. “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. Mark held up a Wall Street Journal story with the headline, “sex, drugs and rock and roll”. The story was vary favorable towards the libertarian philosophy but concluded the Libertarian Party was just too extreme to be credible. That's our image and it's not electable", Mark said.

Your brand is everything you do at the highest levels of an organization down to everything at the lowest level and everything in between”, he noted.

“Issues are fundamentally divisive; people are either for the issue or against it”, Mark observed. Even among our members not all agree on which issue is most important and we don't always agree on how it should be presented. Mark claimed we can get much more mileage out of constituency groups.

Other states, prominently Indiana, have embraced the SBI and are making great strides with it. Their state chair, Mark Rutherford, speaks on behalf of small businesses every chance he gets. Indiana activists have lobbied prospective county ordinances banning smoking in all restaurants speaking about its adverse effect on small businesses. And Indianapolis has a small business advisory council to the Libertarian Party.

Indiana far outpaces Missouri with their 71 candidates, and the LPIN has become a recognized political force in the state.

Missouri plans on doing the same.