The other day I got a dollar bill with the message “END THE FED” written on it. I’ve followed suit and written on every bill I’ve come into contact with front and back.
How about we put up some ads? I hope it will work.
Brilliant idea about writing on bills!
Also, another thought:
Instead of trying to convert any random guy to libertarianism, why not start with open-minded Republicans? Create majority-Republican events so you start with a large base that may be willing to listen. From there, slowly wean them off of the state and provide reading material. One is more likely to read something if it agrees with his views.
I also recommend filling out your regional library’s online request form for popular books by Mises, Rand, et al if they are not found within your libraries system on a search. Often they will just add the book with the money they have already taken from you. I think this works best for books by popular authors. Economics in One Lesson would be a good one. Your library might have Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, but might not have Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal or The Virtue of Selfishness. It is good to request or donate a wide variety of books, from literature to history to philosophy to economics.
My friend teaches teenagers in Korea with high level English and she was able to obtain free books from the Ayn Rand Institute to study Ayn Rand’s works. Pass on the news or free pamphlets of the “Books for Teachers” project at the Ayn Rand Institute to high school teachers you know. The Fountainhead is a great way to foster independence and entrepreneurial spirit, and Anthem is a realistic critique of socialism, especially compared to 1984 which high school students are forced to read, because it contains the knowledge that material prosperity and technology cannot exist under dictatorship. Many young people learn best through stories.
This is their books for teachers project. http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=support_free_books You might be able to just request to have them sent to a local school library if you talk to the librarian, or get the high school librarian to submit the request himself. I did that when I was in high school.
English and English literature classes are where a lot of people learn their ideas about politics, economics, history and society. Remember that.
One thing I guess which could be of value is to have a 5-10 minute ‘presentation’ planned for when you are talking to someone 1 on 1 and want to briefly give them a summation of libertarian principles. Could be even down to verbatim. This will give a very slick / professional / confidant impression to the person listening and can help maximize the impact you have in a very short time.
unfortunately the propaganda thing at school wont work. people simply don’t care about economics nor do they care about politics or philosophy.
but i guess i have 1 friend that is interested.
it is a first step…
If we want to get Austrian economics and anarcho-capitalism into the mainstream, marketing skills will be essential. Before we can change people’s political opinions, we must first understand people and their whimsical preferences.
Marketing is “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”
The value we seek from other people: their time and energy used to become well-informed about Austrian economic principles and anarcho-capitalist possibilities.
What is the value they are willing to receive in return? Until we can fully answer this question, we won’t get very far.
It will depend on the tastes of different groups in society. Most people want to maximize prosperity, but most people believe their own political positions are the best way to achieve that. Something else needs to hook people in, and allow them to let go of their political baggage. Examples: the Zeitgeist movement offers a lot of so-called insight; whereas “The American Dream” offers a lot of entertainment.
There are many useful posts in this thread, but it is now too large to be able to sift through all of them. People don’t know if something they posted has already been discussed and to what extent. It would be useful to compile all these ideas into a single online pamphlet, and periodically produce new updated versions to reflect the viability of the different ideas.
You could talley the best results here.
Has anyone mentioned charity yet? Food drives, free clinics, free schools, etc. Dish up a sermon with that soup.
Here is some stuff we can do
How about transcriptions? The Mises literature library has a great list of items to choose from, most of which are not in copyright. One book in particular that I’m reading is titled “Fabian Freeway”. http://mises.org/document/4621 Large portions of this are readable to the human eye, but are not searchable because the file has problems. What I mean by ‘problems’, is that whoever owned the original book which was copied and put into PDF wrote in it; they underlined large portions of it for unknown reasons. PDF viewing software does not know how to discern between human written pen marks and the actual text of the book.
The transcription is done, the whole book should be searchable now. I have the text file uploaded within my profile so that people can access it.
Also, every transcription needs readers of all stripes, from people who will simply download the file, verify that it loads correctly and paragraphs flow correctly across various platforms - this might only take a minute of anybody’s time; to people who devote large amounts of their time comparing texts to make sure that a transcript is correct.
It will be easier to outwardly educate people if information is not just available, but available with greater ease and accessibility.
I am editing Taxation as theft on Wikipedia. Input welcome (and probably needed). It was a scant 2 lines before I restored some old content and edited out controversial bits that would be taken down. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_as_theft
Near the end of this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9Kclr98hhf8 (33 mins in) Stefan Molyneux speaks of political solutions being futile, that the answer is making it personal, pointing out the gun in the room they are pointing at you when someone advocates statism.
I think this could make a powerful facebook campaign, that could reach a lot of people, pointing out that you recognise and resent it when people support government using force against anyone they disagree with, and that those supporters are themselves responsible. I figured I’d post the idea here since I haven’t yet come up with ideas for the text or image(s).
Basically the goal of the idea is making statism a publically recognised immorality in basically the same way as racism is recognised as such.
Anyone have any ideas on this or any images that you’ve seen spring to mind?
Haha, Love it JJ, so simple and so true
Here’s what I have so far, but I’d like to make it more pithy. I still have no idea what Image I want behind the text.
Advocacy of government action is advocacy of the taxation (robbery), kidnapping (imprisonment) and ultimately killing (murder) of those who oppose it. I resent those who wish to rob, kidnap, or murderer me and their supporters. The path to a peaceful, and prosperous society is voluntary, not coercive.
Take over the Republican Party.
Take over the Republican Party.
Take over the Republican Party.
Take over the Republican Party.