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Persuasion Power Point #363
by Michael Cloud
The Simple Secret of Persuasion
Ask one person to do what you want him to do. Then ask another. Then another.
Ask one man or one woman to take the World's Smallest Political Quiz. Then ask another. And another.
Ask one new libertarian to do something that's fun and advances freedom: to help with an Operation Politically Homeless Booth for just 3 hours this Saturday. Then ask another. Then another.
Ask one new libertarian to sign up for a free subscription to the Liberator Online. Then ask another.
Ask one new libertarian to donate $20 or $50 to help the Advocates supply student libertarian groups with OPH kits to bring the ideas of liberty to tens of thousands of college students about liberty. Then ask another.
Ask one young libertarian to buy a copy of a liberty book like The Law by Frederic Bastiat, or Healing Our World by Mary Ruwart, or Unlocking More Secrets of Libertarian Persuasion by Michael Cloud. Then ask another. And another.
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Over 50% of sales presentations end WITHOUT THE SALES PERSON ASKING THE PROSPECT TO BUY.
Over 66% of fundraising appeals end WITHOUT THE FUNDRAISER ASKING THE PROSPECT TO DONATE A SPECIFIC AMOUNT.
No wonder most people aren't buying or donating or volunteering.
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Want to up your results? Up your asking.
Ask more people more often to buy or give or help — and you WILL get more yeses.
Ask for what the libertarian movement wants and needs.
Ask one person to get involved with the Advocates. Then ask another. And another. One at a time.
Ask a person to do something libertarian that's simple, easy, and fun.
Ask a person to donate a specific amount to the Advocates — to continue and expand its work.
This is the simple secret of persuasion — and growing an unstoppable libertarian movement.
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Unlocking More Secrets of Libertarian Persuasion
Transform your libertarian outreach!
Click cover to see more and order.
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Ask Dr. Ruwart
Dr. Mary Ruwart is a leading expert in libertarian communication. In this column she offers short answers to real questions about libertarianism. To submit questions to Dr. Ruwart, see end of column.
How would a libertarian society deal with chemical spills like the one in West Virginia?
QUESTION: How would a libertarian society avoid chemical spills like the one that happened in West Virginia recently?
MY SHORT ANSWER: The Wall Street Journal article you link to in your question about the West Virginia chemical spill suggests that regulations aren’t in place to cover the particular situation with Freedom Industries, Inc., and call for more. However, regulations can’t anticipate everything. That’s why restitution, rather than regulation, is better prevention.
Today, corporations enjoy limited liability. Basically, corporations are a creation of government, which decrees that owners aren’t liable past the assets of a corporation for spills, pollution, and negligence. This wasn’t always so. Without the corporate veil to protect wrong-doers, companies and their managers would be more likely to be careful and to be insured. Insurance companies would probably have higher rates for firms that didn’t have state-of-the-art safety measures in place, just as your homeowners insurance goes up when you don’t have alarm systems for fire and security.
Companies would thus have a lot of financial incentive to protect the environment to lower insurance rates and protect themselves from personal liability. It would become good business to be good neighbors.
In addition, if individuals still had property rights in rivers and other bodies of water, as they do in Britain, they’d probably be more vigilant about watching for polluting runoff. The municipal water system in the West Virginia case is being criticized for not noticing the pollution sooner. Public utilities have less incentive than property owners to be vigilant as the utilities are often protected by the government’s sovereign immunity umbrella.
LEARN MORE: Suggested further reading from Liberator Online editor James W. Harris on this topic:
The March 2003 issue of The Freeman magazine, published by the Foundation for Economic Education, examined the pros and cons of corporations.
The “pro†argument is made in this article: “The Theory of the Corporation: Corporate Capitalism Is a Great Achievement†by Norman Barry.
An opposing view is made in: “Is the Corporation a Free-Market Institution? The Success of the Corporate Form Comes with Some Drawbacks†by Frank van Dun.
Also see “Limited Liability†by economist Michael S. Rozeff, LewRockwell.com, September 27, 2005. This short article examines the question on limited liability and argues that businesses and consumers would benefit without it.
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Got questions? Dr. Ruwart has answers! If you'd like answers to YOUR tough questions on libertarian issues, email Dr. Ruwart
Due to volume, Dr. Ruwart can't personally acknowledge all emails. But we'll run the best questions and answers in upcoming issues.
Dr. Ruwart's previous Liberator Online answers are archived in searchable form.
Dr. Ruwart's latest book Short Answers to the Tough Questions, Expanded Edition is available from the Advocates, as is her acclaimed classic Healing Our World.
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Click cover to check out Dr. Ruwart's latest book!
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One-Minute Liberty Tip
by Sharon Harris
Try These Phrases Instead Of "The War on Drugs"
Economist Mark J. Perry, creator and editor of Carpe Diem — one of America's best and most popular economics blogs — recently used these substitute phrases for the War on Drugs:
"The War on Otherwise Innocent and Peaceful Americans Using Arbitrarily Proscribed Intoxicants and Weeds."
"The War on Users of Politically Disfavored Intoxicants and Weeds."
"The War on Peaceful Americans Who Voluntarily Choose To Use Intoxicants Not Currently Approved of by the Government, Who Will Put Users in Cages if Caught."
These substitutions are not just funny, they can awaken minds and make people consider the true nature of the War on Drugs.
We've discussed other useful terms in previous columns.
The constitutionalist writer William Norman Grigg once wrote that he was opposed to "the narcotics price support program (sometimes dishonestly called the 'War on Drugs')."
"Narcotics price support program" is a powerful phrase. With the right audience, at the right moment, you can have fun — and open some minds — by declaring that you "oppose the Federal Narcotics Price Support Program… sometimes misleadingly called the War on Drugs."
It's a great way to drive home the fact that the War on Drugs creates a black market that drives up drug prices enormously and enriches the worst, most violent criminals.
Another insight-inducing term: "politically incorrect drugs."
You might say something like: "Over a million people are arrested every year for doing nothing more than using politically incorrect drugs."
Or alternately: "A better term for the War on Drugs might be... the War Against Politically Incorrect Drugs."
The point, of course, is that there are some legal drugs that are approved of, and used by, many pro-Drug War political figures and opinion leaders — even though some of them are actually more dangerous than some illegal drugs. Obvious examples are alcohol and tobacco — as President Obama himself recently noted, quoted elsewhere in this issue. The fact that some intoxicants are legal, and some are not, is more a cultural or political prejudice than any kind of rational reasoning. And the "War Against Politically Incorrect Drugs" phrase gains further impact because most people — liberals and conservatives alike — hate the idea of being told to conform to some arbitrary social or political standard of "political correctness."
A favorite word choice of mine is "re-legalization" instead of the common "legalization" and "decriminalization." This word almost invariably provokes curiosity. "What do you mean: 'RE-legalization'?" And that in turn gives you the opportunity to tell the little-known, fascinating fact that drugs that are illegal today were perfectly legal in America well into the twentieth century — and that situation produced none of the horrors we associate with today's Drug War.
"Re-legalization" may be especially useful as discussion of legalizing marijuana picks up steam in the months ahead.
Have fun opening minds with these alternative words and phrases!
PS: Mark Perry's column was inspired by Laurence Vance's excellent article "The Eighteenth Amendment and the War on Drugs" at the website of our friends at the Future of Freedom Foundation. Highly recommended!
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Sharon Harris is president of the Advocates for Self-Government.
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What's Happening with the Advocates
NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS
ADVOCATES LIBERTARIAN COMMUNICATION EVENTS:
Advocates President Sharon Harris will be speaking at the following events:
March 8: Keynote speaker at the Libertarian Party of Georgia's state convention.
March 15: Speaker at the Libertarian Party of Tennessee's state convention.
March 29: Speaker at the Libertarian Party of Colorado's state convention.
March 30: Half-day Communication Workshop co-sponsored by LP-CO.
April 5: Banquet speaker at the Libertarian Party of Maryland's state convention. Liberator Online columnist and author Michael Cloud will also be speaking.
June 26-29: National Libertarian Party convention. The Advocates will have a booth, and Sharon will be speaking.
August 8-9: Featured speaker at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)'s "Communicating Liberty" conference.
Attendees will learn how to dramatically increase their effectiveness at communicating the ideas of liberty.
Email us now if you'd like us to send you further information on these events.
Email Sharon to find out how you can have a communication event near you.
ONGOING
FREE OPH KITS FOR LIBERTARIAN STUDENT GROUPS: Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we're giving our acclaimed OPH (Operation Political Homeless) outreach kits to libertarian student groups FREE — if they simply promise to use them a minimum of three times a year and send us photos documenting their OPH activity. OPH — praised as the best recruiting tool in the libertarian movement -- normally sells for $50.00.
If you're in a student libertarian group, click here for more information on getting your free OPH kit.
JOIN US ON TWITTER: Twitter is the first place to learn about breaking Advocates and liberty movement news, expert communications tips, and exclusive Advocates discounts and specials. (And don't worry — we won't bombard you with tweets. We're keeping it fun, fast, and useful.)
Go to the Advocates Twitter account and click the "follow" button below our picture. Thanks!
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2014 FREEDOM CRUISES: Advocates Board member and long-time libertarian leader Dr. Ken Bisson invites you to join him for a Freedom Cruise. Enjoy a wonderful trip on a luxury cruiser — at a bargain rate! Great food and fine company. Non-libertarians welcome! (These aren't Advocates events, but libertarians who have been on past cruises rave about them.) For photos and more details — or to sign up for free, no-pressure, no-commitment email updates — visit Freedom Cruises.
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