FLAT ROCK — “Maybe it’s time for the Republican Party to go,” Libertarian author and speaker Michael Cloud said in his June 9 keynote address at the three-day North Carolina Libertarian Party Convention here. 

As the 60-or-so attendees dined on the catered buffet in the Sandburg Room at the Mountain Lodge, Cloud spoke to the audience in passionate tones about the arc of Libertarian electoral disappointment.

“What seems to be the problem?” Cloud asked. “We have the right ideas. Still, at best, we are only getting about 23 percent of the vote in state legislature campaigns.”

Cloud then outlined what he saw as the causes and the cures of party woes in an engaging walking-and-talking style, pacing the front of the room and calling on people by name to answer pointed questions. Cloud has distilled his observations down to a few cogent points and laid out a strategy for moving forward.

First, Libertarians are being virtually brainwashed into believing the critics who reflexively claim that Libertarian candidates simply can’t win, Cloud noted.

 “It’s a disease” that perpetuates a self-fulfilling prophecy that defeats candidates and their supporters before they get started, he said. It’s a psychological problem, not a problem of ideas. The ideas are winning, Cloud said.

“It’s only our candidates that are struggling.” In his hypothesis, The “impossibility trap,” as Cloud coins it, is often expressed in defeatist terms when supporters are called on to take action: “I like your candidate but I don’t want to waste my vote.” “Your candidate will be a spoiler.” “The courts will just strike down any real changes.” “And the voting machines are rigged anyway.” 

Cloud’s retort? “Don’t you buy into it!” These perennial bromides only serve to do one thing: to convince sympathetic voters to take a pass, to turn their attention elsewhere, or to simply do nothing, he said.

“We are quitting on the five-yard line after a long drive to the goal zone,” Cloud asserted. “We are believing that it’s impossible. It’s a case of ‘learned helplessness,’ as some psychologists put it. It’s a debilitating condition that can be taught to people and animals alike.

“If we believe that it’s impossible, we’re not going to make that extra phone call, we’re not going to walk that extra block to knock on doors. We become conditioned to aim lower. And it’s a weakness that we must overcome if we are to ever make any advances in the political arena.”

Second, Cloud discussed the right ways to think about their underdog political party, about how to go from being a spoiler to being a dark horse to being a contender. 

“One, don’t faint when someone says, ‘Hey, that makes sense.’ Also, recognize that when we get a fair hearing, we win. It’s our job to get a fair hearing. Next, start modelling possibility behaviors,” he said. 

Cloud then offered an inspirational analogy to the movie “Rocky” where the themes of humiliation, courage and hard work are played out in dramatic form.

When boxer Rocky Balboa quietly agonizes over his poor chances in the ring against his betters, his clear-eyed wife advises him to pick another goal and win that one.

His goal of winning is replaced with the goal of “going the distance.’ As Rocky pursues his new reachable goal, his supporters are taken with enthusiasm and excitement and eventually cheer him on to his own right-sized victory in the ring. It’s a tale worth emulating, Cloud said.

Third, Cloud implored his audience to recognize actual incremental success. Election to political office is not necessarily the measure of success. “When we move the ball forward, we are succeeding.”

“Instead of asking people if Gary Johnson can win, ask them, ‘if he could win, would he make a good president? Would he be good for the country?’ If their answer is ‘Yes,’ then ask them, ‘Why?’ You’ll be pleasantly surprised. Ask them, ‘if you and you alone could push a button and elect a candidate, would you push it for Gary Johnson?’”

Further, he said, “Here’s a little secret I learned from Mary Kay Ashe. She said, ‘You don’t have to win to win. I failed my way to success, but I kept failing forward.’ If we fail at 4 percent, then next time we’ll fail at 6 percent. Recognize that we can make progress and progress is victory.”

In concluding his vigorous pep talk, Cloud made one final impassioned and definitive plea to his audience: 

“Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you: step aside from your impossibility beliefs. Drop your impossibility behavior. Be willing to move forward. Be willing to open new minds. And we will open ourselves to the possibility of liberty in our lifetimes,” Cloud said.

Cloud is president and co-founder of the Center For Small Government. He also co-founded the Massachusetts End the Income Tax ballot initiatives, with Carla Howell, serving as spokesperson, primary fund-raiser and communications director.

In 2002, Cloud ran for U.S. Senate against 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, winning 19 percent of the vote — the highest-ever vote for a Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate.

Cloud was chief executive officer of the 2000 Carla Howell for U.S. Senate campaign. In 1996 he organized the Harry Browne for President campaign, and was fund-raiser and key adviser to Browne for both his 1996 and 2000 campaigns.

Cloud has been politically active since 1976 and reportedly has raised more than $8 million for small government candidates, projects, and initiatives.

Cloud is a speechwriter and billed as “the master of Libertarian communication.” He writes the Persuasion Power Points column for more than 70,000 readers of the Advocates for Self-Government Liberator Online and is author of the book “Secrets of Libertarian Persuasion.”

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A comprehensive story on the annual state convention of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina, which was held in Flat Rock, will appear in next month’s edition.