We have been through two intense election cycles in 2018, neither of which produced good results for liberty in San Francisco or California. Facing the ballot results can be discouraging, to say the least. Measures that we have devoted many days of work to oppose passed with ease and candidates that we spent our free nights and weekends supporting came last in their elections. It would be easy to throw in the towel and give up on defending liberty, conceding that our efforts don’t make any difference after all.
Although... don’t they?
It’s impossible to know what would happen if the LPSF was not here to stand up for liberty. Proposition A passed by a whopping 65% margin. It had support from the local Democrat and Republican parties. Proposition E passed by a 50% margin. It too had support from the Democrats and no recommendation from the SFGOP. On both of these measures, the only opposition that voters saw came from the Libertarian Party of San Francisco. We were the official-- and only-- opponent of both of these measures. We certainly don’t deserve all the credit for those NO votes, but if we were not here, the voters would only hear one side of the story. Doesn’t the public need a voice to oppose wasteful Government spending?
We may have lost a battle, but we continue fighting for liberty, and with each stand we take, we gain more recruits. I have watched the LPSF grow substantially over the past year, with new activists showing up at almost every meeting. We have learned many lessons and picked up new skills that will help us be more effective in the future.
To put it simply, the work we do does make a difference. Maybe not in the way we want it to yet (election outcomes) but in gained momentum. With a sustained effort, we might just see San Franciscans begin to realize that liberty is worth fighting for.