Libertarians, left, right, and center, the time has come to examine ourselves in the mirror. Who are we? Where is our movement going?
We are a beautiful and diverse movement. Some of us enjoy sipping booze, smoking, toking, and reading Ayn Rand. Some of us are small business people, executives, entrepreneurs, programmers, or unhappy cogs in the corporate world. We come from all races and represent the crossroads of American (and world) demographics. We accept each other as equals...man and woman, black and white, rich and poor. We represent the extremes and the common grounds.
Yet, we are a fractured movement in many ways. Some of us value some freedoms more than others. Some of use interpret freedoms in different ways than others. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the selection of Bob Barr as the nominee this year.
In my own position, I didn't like any of the potential nominees. Some agreed with me, while others had nothing in common with me. Some had done bad things in the past and repented, while others appealed to the fringes of the movement and had accomplished precious little, good or bad. What choice is there for me?
The greater lesson, perhaps, is that this isn't about me. Libertarianism isn't about you, either. This movement is about our ideals. We fight for freedom out of benign self interest, an ideal that has existed since at least the time of Athenian democracy. I may support your right to drug legalization, even if I choose not to partake in drugs. I may choose to do it because I think a nation should not live in perpetual terror of its government because of the whim of the few.
Too often, we lose that ideal in our own battles. We talk to our neighbors as we do to our Libertarian friends and associates. We talk about issues, sure, but we do it abstracts. Take, for instance, the silliness of pushing an anti-Drug-War platform with evangelicals in the Bible Belt. In their culture of fear, that means that your party and movement would be handing dime bags to their kids on a school playground.
You aren't a bad person for preaching all the aspects of freedom, but you need to consider your audience. In our culture of post-9/11 fear, we must be more cognizant of our audience's needs than ever before. In times past, we had the luxury of preaching to conservatives who agreed with us economically and liberals who agreed with us socially. Sadly, even when this was the case, we had only limited success.
Today, we preach to partisans who have shifted their alignments in unforeseen directions. This means that we need to change our delivery, not our ideals. Don't be afraid to sell the ideas, but consider how you do it. The next Libertarian you turn may not smoke pot, so that may not be his priority. That lady down the street may become a pro-life Libertarian, so don't push abortion dogma on her. The bigger message is the mindset, not the specifics. There will be plenty of time for that in years of exposure to libertarians and their writings.
The key is realizing that this isn't about any one of us. The fundamental law of Libertarianism is that we must all be free from the ideology and coercion of another, and that begins with your sale of the idea to another. Believe it or not, many of the "red" and "blue" people are within your reach. They are dissatisfied, and rightly so. You are the key to their political salvation, and your message is needed.
So, go forth into the world and spread the message of liberty. Do so understanding that any good sale begins with listening. Get to know what people care about. Put their concerns before yours. Reach out to them where they agree, and avoid pushing dogma on a hostile audience. You never know when the next person you convert can be a lifelong activist for liberty.
We are an endangered species as freedom activists, and it's hard to escape the bunker mentality. We have never won a presidential election. We feel that our issues should all be in the LP platform. We are the ones who need to take a moment to realize that we are part of the problem because we are abandoning our own ideology. When we are free to disagree, we are at our best and freest. Why would this not also be true when we pitch our love of liberty to our coworkers, friends, neighbors, and such?
Allow the new converts their quirks. Don't hold them at arms' length because they disagree with you. Remember when you were converted? Remember what you felt and how you had to grow? Don't be afraid of these newbies, as they're the future of the party and the movement. Fear is our greatest enemy, with infighting coming a close second. We need each other, and remember that someone will need to continue this battle against repression and big government long after you are gone.
©2008 Josh Koch, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Thursday, June 12, 2008
Last modified: Thursday, June 12, 2008
The views expressed in this article are those of Josh Koch only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Josh Koch is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: rtbohan
Date: 2008-06-12 10:21:09
Good article and a good point. There is nothing wrong with expressing differing views. But if you are trying to get comeone to accept a position or idea, you must present it in terms of their positions and beliefs and not yours. In this case , the idea of liberty is what is important, not how you intend to use yours, so long as it is not to impos your position and your opinions on others