At the post, "Putting My Deep Thoughts on Display," I was surprised to see that in addition to the commenter featured in the post another commenter pointed out that he also came to libertarianism by way of the paleo diet.
Libertarian Lew Rockwell posts often at his site about health and particularly the paleo diet. So when you think about it, it does make sense that some who end up at the site for paleo diet reasons get introduced to libertarianism for the first time and swallow the red pill.
There is an important lesson to be learned here in terms of libertarian strategy and alliances.
When we form alliances with non-libertarians on a specific agenda item, it is not only to promote that item but to get our names and faces in front of those groups so that we can red pill a few. It won't be a lot, but a few.
If say, we align with lefties on legalizing marijuana or righties on guns, this has the potential to get us in front of entire new groups. It won't do much for most in the group but a "conversion rate" of a half percent from a group of 100,000 is 500 people. For a specific article that is a great addition for a group as relatively small as ours, especially if it is repeated over and over.
As far as the greatest introduction to libertarianism in one fell swoop, that medal goes to Ron Paul because of his presidential runs. He didn't when the presidency but he certainly did introduce millions to libertarianism. The size of the libertarian movement is probably somewhere between 30% to 50% larger thanks to Ron Paul "aligning" with the Republican Party.
Politics can be a great way to promote libertarianism but the danger here is that a candidate can get sucked into wanting power and then start to compromise on libertarian talking points. He becomes a power-seeking opportunist rather than an infiltrator of the system. There are very few Ron Pauls around. We need more Ron Pauls in politics and, overall, we need more operatives who understand how to properly leverage alliances to increase recruits to the cause of liberty.
Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher of EconomicPolicyJournal.com and Target Liberty. He also writes EPJ Daily Alert and is author of The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bank and most recently Foundations of Private Property Society Theory: Anarchism for the Civilized Person Follow him on twitter:@wenzeleconomics and on LinkedIn. His youtube series is here: Robert Wenzel Talks Economics. More about Wenzel here.
With respect to your last paragraph, I agree that Ron Paul is one in a million. But at this point, I'll take anyone articulate and gutsy enough to go up against the current socialist talking heads.
ReplyDeleteI know many young libertarians who site Ron Paul standing up to Rudy Guiliani in 2008 as the exact moment that shocked them into thinking differently and looking into Ron Paul/ libertarianism more seriously.
ReplyDeleteAlso I would like to note that CrossFit is a huge community that is constantly pushing people towards the Paleo Diet. CrossFitters tend to be passionate and ready to question mainstream views. So if you know a CrossFitter they may be susceptible to more truth-bombs.
True. Ron Paul showed that you didn't need to vote for liberals to support an anti-war position. When a candidate agrees with you on the most near and dear issue(s), then you're much more susceptible to their other views. Similarly, when I buy a product that brings me happiness, I want to know what else that company has to offer. When I see a great movie, I want to see what else that director and/or screenwriter has done. And so on.
DeleteI was always pretty much a libertarian, but didn't know it until I heard Ron Paul in the 2007 presidential debates. As a high schooler and college student I never paid attention to government or politics. From Ron Paul I went to reading Ayn Rand and then Mises. Too bad because I left UNLV in 2006 having never met or hearing of Hoppe. I would have certainly switched from business studies to economics.
ReplyDeletePerhaps libertarians with platforms should more vocally get behind Tulsi for her anti-war views, and try to get her invited to libertarian events, podcasts, etc. to provide an "insider's view" on the War Party (even better, convene a panel event with Rand Paul). Not only would this give her a more supportive platform than she's been getting from the mainstream media, but there is a chance that she might be persuaded that being anti-interventionist is as important domestically as it is internationally.
ReplyDelete