Tuesday, July 31, 2018

What Should an 'Ordinary Libertarian' Do to Promote Rothbardian-Style Liberty?


Viresh Amin emails:
For an ordinary Libertarian, 'man on the street', what would you say is the best way to help the cause for the Rothbardian style of freedom? 
The first thing that must be understood is that the move toward a Rothbardian style of freedom is going to be a long journey. There are no quick fixes. There is no Big Bang solutions, where the 'man on the street' can help. So there is a lot of in the trenches work that can be done.

We are really at the stage where we are just attempting to get the attention of those who could be powerful second-hand dealers in ideas that can disseminate ideas to the masses. It's really all about cumulative baby steps right now---but those baby steps on a cumulative basis can be very powerful.

One of the best ways is to get introductory books in as many places as possible.

My book, The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bank, is a great introductory major league anti-Fed book.

Austrian School Business Cycle Theory by Murray Rothbard is a great introduction to ABCT.

With the growing interest in socialism amongst millennials, Tom DiLorenzo's book, The Problem with Socialism, is a very important book to get into the hands of students now.

I also like the great anti-Keynesian book, The Failure of the New Economics by Henry Hazlitt.

Libraries aren't as popular as they once were, but you will get nerdy types looking through the stacks. Donate the above books to all the libraries in your area, especially college libraries. Hell, if they are government school or university libraries or public libraries, I consider this the wild west, so just stick the books in the stacks--multiple copies under different subjects.

Stick, "The Fed Flunks" next to Ben Bernanke's memoir, another next to "Too Big To Fail".  Stick "Austrian School Business Cycle Theory" next to Milton Friedman books and MMT authors. Stick "The Failure of the New Economics" next to Paul Krugman books and "The General Theory." Stick "The Problem with Socialism" next to Thomas Piketty and Bernie Sanders books.

Leave copies in student lounges. You can even go Gideon style and leave them in hotel rooms. You get the idea, just flood your area. Remember, what we are trying to do here is trigger just a few who will eventually become important disseminators of the libertarian message.

Another thing you can do is arrange for leading libertarians in your region to speak. Do this for any organization or group you belong to and be cognizant of other groups and organizations that might be willing to schedule a libertarian speaker. Chances are if the libertarian is local, or fairly close by, he will be willing to speak fairly cheap. Name the lecture after yourself, if you want, and make it an annual event.

Leave comments at non-libertarian sites with links to libertarian posts that address the specific issue of the post. Driving traffic to libertarian sites can be very valuable.  Link strong libertarian articles at places like Free Republic and What Really Happened. Study these type sites to learn what types of posts they will allow and feature. They can sometimes drive big traffic. I always appreciate when someone links a post of mine at these sites. Link to posts on heavily trafficked Facebook pages.

These are just a few things that quickly come to mind. But I am sure there are many more things that could be done. The big thing to keep in mind is that what you are trying to do is spread information as broadly as possible.

And one important factor when doing it this way is that you can focus on exactly what you think is important to get out. You will be in control.

-RW  

7 comments:

  1. Step one: Read Rothbard's writings on right-wing populism.

    Step two: Jump aboard the Trump train.

    Simple enough, isn't it?

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  2. That step 2 is a real doozy! not sure I want to step that far down!

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  3. 1. Stop importing each year millions of non-libertarians.

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    Replies
    1. Maybe this would make sense if 90+% of the natives weren’t enthusiastic statists.

      There’s nothing to dilute.

      Delete
  4. It's a huge undertaking to try and shift a mindset. My original thoughts were aligned with Republicans before becoming the anarcho-capitalist I am today. That took years. Need more Ayn Rand and Ron Paul types. Shoot, even marginal freedom promoting people like Milton Friedman helped my journey. I just don't think the average person takes the time to investigate the world and truly think about the problems of statism.

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  5. You got that right, Evan Smiley. This country went for socialism long ago.

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  6. I also think it's important to ridicule the state (not just the current president) with friends & family, and use and promote non-state alternative services, to try to convince people that not only is the state idiotic and dangerous, it is also unnecessary.

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