By Alex Snitker

Before Sir Roger Bannister in 1954, most people thought that a human could not run one mile in less than four minutes. But once Bannister broke through the ceiling, people followed him immediately. The reason is simple: The four-minute mile was more of a mental hurdle than a physical one.

You may be asking yourself, “What in the hell does this have to do with the Libertarian Party?”

The Libertarian Party has a mental challenge that must be overcome if we are to challenge the Republicans and Democrats in Washington. We have a ceiling to break through, and that ceiling is the United States House of Representatives.

Rodger Bannister was an accomplished runner, but he did not accomplish his historic feat until he focused specifically on that goal. The Libertarian Party has won seats on city councils and other positions across the country, which is commendable. But, a Congressional seat has eluded us. In order to unseat the two-party stranglehold on this country, this has to change.

Runners who followed Roger breaking the four-minute mile were able to do it because they knew it could be done. The mental block was broken. The Libertarian Party can learn something from this achievement. Until we can prove that we can win a Congressional seat in Washington we will not convince the American people that Libertarians can win.

When I was running for the US Senate in 2010, I talked to the LNC about a similar plan. This plan entailed focusing the resources of the entire Libertarian Party on three federal seats. At that time I included Senate seats as well (I was running for the Senate). But now I see that may have been asking too much. It was not really a detailed plan and more of a request. It was not something supported by most of the members of the LNC. Hell, if I was on the board and some upstart tried to tell me how to run the party, I probably would have said no.
It is now 2011, and the 2012 elections are around the corner. It is time to bring this plan up again.

But instead of bringing to the LNC, I am bringing it to you – the LP member and voter.

This plan encompasses all that is good about the Libertarian philosophy and will help far more than just the three candidates that we will eventually support. We should hold a national contest. Every Libertarian who is running for a seat in the House of Representatives will submit their entry into the Libertarian national Congressional contest.

The entire Libertarian Party will select the best three campaigns and fully support these candidates with all the resources, financial support and volunteers that we can muster. These candidates will be our Sir Roger Bannisters. These Libertarians will break through the ceiling that we have and enable more Libertarian victories in future elections.

Candidates will have to compete to be included. The Candidate’s website, campaign staff, structure, district demographics, marketing plan, incumbent strength, electability, and personal platform will be graded.

The Libertarians that want to be able to vote will pay $25 and the three candidates with the most votes will win. If we were able to get 100,000 Libertarians involved in this vote we will have generated over $2.5 million dollars in order to help these three races.

This will bring the LP candidates to a more equal footing with the Republicans and Democrats, and provide these campaigns with all the tools to win. This will also enable these campaigns to purchase the software needed to draw support from across the country with call centers and allow us to concentrate our resources much more effectively. We will be able to afford the proper media exposure and marketing expertise needed to win. The national party will host money bombs during the campaign to get these candidates even more resources. People will see that we are serious and give even more money to the candidates.

In addition, this new activity by the LP will inspire support for other local, state and Congressional candidates nationwide. Rising tides will raise all ships.

When I presented a similar plan to the LNC one of the first comments was that if we showed favoritism to some candidates others might get offended. While I do not want to offend anyone I do think with an open entry and the ability for well organized campaigns to compete that will be at a minimum. We advocate for free market’s and capitalism, what could be a better expression of that than open competition. This was also the reason I choose to pick three candidates. I completely understand that there are factions in the LP and this will enable those factions to bring forth the best and brightest of each of them.
Making this a competition will also improve all the campaigns — not just the winners. All campaigns in the competition will have to step up their game, and win or lose, their campaign will be better for the effort. This will also give those winning candidates a victory under their belt. That mental victory will make them even better.
And, the media will not be able to ignore this. Showing the country that we are ready and able to generate the money needed to win these seats will garner us more support, which translates into more funds. The LP will be able to run commercials telling the country about the great story of these three candidates.

I believe that this will be the best way to have a victory and send out first candidates to the House of Representatives in the history of the Libertarian Party. Future elections will be much easier when we finally break that mental ceiling and we can finally look toward the day that the two party machine is gone.

Contact Mark Hinkle (chair@lp.org) and Wes Benedict (wes.benedict@lp.org) or call (202) 333-0008 and tell them that you support the “Four Minute Mile” plan.