Voluntaryist Party Logo - Any good artists out there willing to make a quick logo?
Hi all,
I'm a voluntaryist and I'm working on creating a website for creating a loose organization of voluntaryists that are willing to work to effect change within the political systems here in the several states.
I know that this sounds completely backwards to most voluntaryists, so here is my thinking.
- Government is force
- The initiation of force goes against voluntaryism
- Our current political system consists primarily of authoritarian practices
- Most people I know are either dissatisfied with government or resentful of it
- A voluntaryist part would work to incrementally move our system towards voluntaryism
We currently have no voice (or almost none) within the political system... and while this looks to be by design I think that rather than avoid active politics within the system we could use it to promote (not enforce) voluntaryism by doing the following:
In the current political climate the only parties available are those that either seek more government OR those that seek less government but are unwilling to "compromise".
The Voluntaryist Party would be the rational freedom loving party of "compromise".
And by compromise I do not mean compromising values, but supporting bills that move towards voluntaryism and opposing those that move in the opposite direction.
The journey from here to freedom is a long road and will never be reached if we try to simply skip the journey.
Rather than refusing to support a bill because it is not, in itself, one a voluntaryist should support, we should take the longer view and support the bill if it is a move in the right direction.
Rather than harass people that aren't voluntaryists we should work with them towards moving in the right direction and explain our positions rationally so they might eventually decide to become one of us.
Rather than have a hierarchical leadership we would not even attempt to register a party and choose, of our own volition, whether to run, who to vote for (if anyone), etc.
Spread Awareness
By taking part in the political process we could more easily spread our message to those who take part in politics by clearly supporting our positions. We know that our positions are good and most of us are pretty decent at pointing out bad ideas and potential better alternatives.
This is especially true locally where the barrier is lower and we know the people we are speaking with.
Introduce Good Legislation
Bills introduced by voluntaryists should focus on being bills that are a step in the right direction (if even a small step) that the majority of people (dem/rep/etc.) could get behind.
In many cases bills might simply be proposed to strike down terrible laws or dramatically curtail them.
For example, who would oppose asset forfeiture be limited to those convicted in a jury trial and be limited only to the value of damages done by those convicted? Explained properly, do you know of anyone personally that thinks it is just fine for government agents to take property without convicting those it is taken from of a crime?
Point out bad legislation
Keep up on local legislation and actions, point out problems with them, and offer potential solutions where at all possible.
Point out alternatives
Where possible try to persuade local governments to use volunteer/donation based fund raising instead of tax monies.
Want city beautification? Why not put an article in the paper, post on the local government website, and set something up to let people who support such make donations and/or volunteer rather than allocating budget and raising taxes.
Anywise, my point is that if we can get organized, point out problems, and work towards moving in the right direction we could potentially do a lot of good.
If we can succeed at local levels (meaning much more support from average people) then we could start contesting seats at higher levels.
Of course, the first thing that will likely need to be done to make this feasible is to attempt to change the voting system from a "pick your favorite" system to a "rate each candidate" system... so that people can vote for who they like without "throwing away their vote".
Anywise, if you are willing to whip up a simple clean logo I'd love to have it... and would be happy to send some steem your way for your efforts.
Some basic preferences...
- Incorporate the letter V
- Something simple yet eye catching that could potentially be used as a stencil
(edit - added the poor quality logo I was able to mash together)
Here is what I have at the moment, which is obviously a rip off of the most common voluntaryist logo that I've seen. I'd really prefer to have something a little different, if only not to confuse people.
(end edit)
Of course, beggars cannot be choosers... and I'd love to see some ideas.
@prescottpaul has a good one. Not sure where they got it:
https://steemit.com/voluntarism/@prescottpaul/disruptive-technologies-and-the-new-decentralized-society
LOVE IT!
I think Gold/Black would be appropriate colors. While I'm very much libertarian, I'd stray away from the porcupine which might confuse you with the LIbertarian Party (who has been less than representing of what we believe).
I'm not a good designer. At all. But I can help spread the message/platform once we get the marketing materials ready. I mean, a couple voluntarists each throwing in $10-20SBD could get something that could take off.... I'd be down.
Since I've not gotten any takers on this, I went ahead and put something simple together.
Yes, it uses the most common voluntaryist logo... which I don't like only because most of us probably don't want to be associated with a political party, but I'm doing what I can.
As noted, I'm no artist.
I've got most of the site put together now but am having difficulty with "Issues" as most of the so called issues people argue over are non-issues to a voluntaryist beyond "get the government out of my bedroom, out of my wallet, and off of my land". Explaining to government raised people that haven't come across the ideas of self ownership and voluntaryism that government is neither their god nor their master (and doing so in a way that doesn't immediately turn them off) is difficult.
I do touch on the fact that many of us hold personal beliefs that differ from our political beliefs... simply because while we may be for/against something we have no right to impose our beliefs on others.
I'll post what I have up here shortly to ask for input/feedback on the issues page... but would love it (and be willing to send some SBD ) if someone could come up with a variation of the logo posted above that distinguishes it a bit.
At this point, the site is using ideas from both the libertarian party and the green party (hence The party of compromise... which is explained on the site as referring to the fact that we should consider supporting any legislation that moves us in the right direction even if it is not something we'd normally support... and opposing everything else quite publicly using simple logic that most people can wrap their head around).
It's taken 100+ years of incremental authoritarianism to get us to where we are today... and we aren't going to suddenly make everything better tomorrow.
I'd definitely love the help and note specifically that "The US Voluntaryist Party" has no formal leadership but is rather a federation of like minded people that want to see a better future.
Once I get the site live I'll be asking for feedback, re-visiting the theme, and then making both the theme and supporting plugins available to anyone that wants them.
Anywise, thanks for the kind words and support!
"The Party of Compromise" might not have the right messaging. It sounds like you're willing to compromise your values and principles. That's what the other parties do.
Yeah, I explain that on the site.
I was thinking that it might at the very least make people pause and wonder why anyone would have such a tagline... and then have it clearly explained on the site.
yes, good point
Replying so that I don't forget to participate. Just need to think of something.