We get many emails from people asking how they can help or how they can get involved in the party. Hopefully this article can be used as a guide on how to get involved.
Make no mistake, just because we may drop the ball and either not give you specific tasks, take too long to get back to you, or forget to get back to you at all - does not mean that your activism is not needed. Actually quite the opposite is true. The freedom movement needs more activists who are willing to help out in any way they can.
The following is a list of various ways you can get involved.
NJLP Committees and Other Positions
We run several ongoing committees and several ad-hoc committees. Examples include our Open Government Advocacy Project, our Police Accountability Project, our By-Laws Committee, and our Platform Committee.
We have separate mailing lists for each of these committees and could use your help for each of them. The Open Government Advocacy Project and the Police Accountability Project require some research and contacting of public officials and then reporting on your activities on our website. The By-Laws Committee and Platform Committee are ad-hoc committees that meet mostly via email and conference call for the purpose of reviewing our By-laws or Platform and coming up with a set of proposals to be voted on by our general membership.
Other places where you could volunteer is helping with our newsletter and website. We are always looking for fresh content. You can either create original content or find content from other sites that we can publish (with permission).
Another job where we lack support is in regards legislative action support. I'd like to see the NJLP become more active in recommending legislation and urging grass roots campaigning for or against various legislative bills.
Campaigning for Office
As a political party our main purpose is to run candidates and challenge the major political parties. There are plenty of offices throughout the state we should be seeking. Consider running for office. We should try to run more candidates for local office.
Another way to contribute is to serve on the campaign staff of an existing candidate. Serving as a Campaign Manager, Press Secretary, Treasurer, volunteering for a campaign, and/or helping to develop positions and a platform will be a great help to our candidates.
Communication and Staying informed
We run several communication mediums. These include our activists list, our candidates list, our by-laws list, our platform list, regional lists, a prospects list, and a members list. Our most active list is our activist list. This is a private list. Preference is given to party members. We do NOT allow just anyone to subscribe. If I don't know you well I won't subscribe you. A full list of our mailing lists is here.
We also have our facebook page and our twitter feed.
Have you joined the party? A healthy membership provides us with a known cash flow. For a minimum of only $20 per year you can get our newsletter and be a voting member at our General meetings.
Regional Organizations
The best activism occurs on a local level. Having healthy regional organizations is essential to the success of the New Jersey Libertarian Party. It provides a place for libertarians to meet without having to drive across the state, it provides local resources that can be used by candidates and activists. In addition it increases the number of Libertarian outreach programs we can run.
Get active in your regional organization. If they do not have a regular meeting schedule contact the chair to help plan a meeting.
We currently have three regional organizations, the South Jersey Libertarians, the Central NJ Libertarians, and the Northern NJ Libertarians.
Find a Project and Pursue It
Is there some aspect of the freedom movement that excites you? Perhaps with our support you could start up a committee or special project. Possible examples include school choice, a radio show, a Open Access/internet based television show, or any other liberty project you can think of.
Summary
As a small political party we need you to help us compete with the corrupt old parties. I hope that I see you at one of our events and that you find some way to get involved.