The Foundation for Economic Education was founded in 1946 by Leonard Reed. Mises and Hazlitt were associated with that organization, and FEE exists today (they have a website). Now, why did FEE go no where in terms of influencing public policy in the past 60+ years?
Ron Paul has been in Congress (with a brief absence) since the late 1970’s. His message is EXACTLY the same. Why aren’t there a dozen RP’s by now? End the Fed? Why would an elected Congress want to do that? What’s in it for them? They would be forced to balance the budget, generate a surplus by cutting spending to pay down debt, end undeclared wars, reign in the empire, and so on.
Use the party system? Waste of time. The One Party System is designed specifically to grow the government, it will not allow dissention. All I can suggest politically is to register Independent, cast a blank ballot, or don’t vote at all. Rob the people in power of legitimacy. Sure, tell family, friends, and co-workers about Liberty (but if your boss finds out, you’re probably history, and good luck finding a job during the Depression).
The government-media-academia complex simply does not want liberty. No use trying to convince them and the masses who watch / listen to them. The Mises Institute and LRC have taken the right approach (IMO); establish and preserve the knowledge base of sound economics, promote scholarship, make careful in-roads in the media (i.e., Freedom Watch), and avoid the main stream.
Things sell because people want them, marketing helps people know that a certain product is available for their consideration, and attempts to show people why the seller of the product believes that a persons want would be better satisfied by the product than by an alternative(including no product). people aren’t slaves to marketing.
The Austrians have been doing the “heavy lifting” for the past 139 years. Ultimately, it is ideas which make or break a civilization, and it is the proliferation of good ideas which will foment a new golden age of man. Concurrent to the desecration of the science of economics by the Marxists, the positivists, the Keynesians, and interventionists of all sorts, the Austrian school has been formulating, systematizing, and perfecting it. They have preserved and defended it, brought it from the brink, and expanded it further than previously could have been fathomed. The Austrian school have been the custodians of economic science in its most dire days. One day the world will once again be primed to accept the teachings of economics, and the Austrians will have served their role as the stewards of civilization.
Well things like the Mises circle lectures, some professors are getting involved in other movements to spread the message [ Dr. Thomas Woods comes to mind ]. The Mises institute is always trying to be at the head of cutting edge of information dissemination. This is going to be a great year for information distribution, great books are coming out and big events are planned.
I am not suggesting people are slaves to marketing. I am suggesting psychology has techniques that have been refined and are applied on massive scales. I am suggesting people react to marketing.