WELCOME to the Liberator Online!
In This Issue
PRESIDENT'S CORNER
* Russell Means: The Inspiration for OPH
INTELLECTUAL AMMUNITION
* Mises Institute: Free Downloadable Libertarian Library
* Bruce Fein: Murder by Drones Is Unconstitutional, Immoral and Tyrannical
* Libertarian Gary Johnson in the Presidential Debates
* U.S. Senator Rand Paul: Cut Military Spending, End Entangling Alliances
THEY SAID IT
* Stephen Colbert on faith-based money... Jay Leno: there ain't a dime's worth of difference on foreign policy between Robama and Obamney... Thomas Sowell wonders why some people think they have a right to other people's money... Glenn Greenwald exposes the real media bias... Heritage Foundation welfare shocker....
PERSUASION POWER POINT #333
* WARNING: You Are Now Entering The Desperate Hours
ASK DR. RUWART
* What is the libertarian “non-aggression principle?”
ONE-MINUTE LIBERTY TIP
* The Government Is Not Us
WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE ADVOCATES
* Students for Liberty Regional Conferences
* 2013 Freedom Cruises
* FREE OPH KITS for libertarian student groups!
* Join the Advocates on Twitter
* Join the Advocates on Facebook
President's Corner
by Sharon Harris
Russell Means: The Inspiration for OPH
Dear friend,
Russell Means passed away on October 22. He was 72.
You may know that the charismatic Means was a libertarian activist, internationally renowned Indian rights champion, movie star, writer and more. (If not, check out
this concise statement by Lew Rockwell and
this longer piece by Reason magazine's Brian Doherty.)
But you probably don't know this: Russell Means was also a major inspiration for the Advocates' OPH booths, used today to discover and recruit thousands of people to the liberty movement every year.
Indeed, OPH might not even exist today, if it wasn't for Russell Means.
Here's the little-known story.
In December 1987, Advocates president and founder Marshall Fritz conceived something called "Operation New Map."
The 1988 Democratic national convention was to be held in Atlanta, Georgia. For those few days, the city would be swarming with journalists, politicians, educators and other highly influential opinion leaders.
Marshall thought that would be a great opportunity to raise public awareness of libertarianism. He had just created the World's Smallest Political Quiz a few months earlier. It was already proving to be one of the greatest libertarian outreach tools ever.
So why not saturate Atlanta with Quizzes? Why not try to get the mind-opening new Quiz into the hands of as many of these influential people as possible?
It could be a major breakthrough for libertarian ideas, and for the idea of a more inclusive political map like the Nolan Chart featured on the new Quiz.
So that summer Marshall and a squad of devoted Advocates activists, armed with 100,000 Quizzes, hit the streets of Atlanta around the convention. (I well remember this -- Marshall and Advocates volunteers Dave Dawson, George Schwappach, Steve Smith and Marshall's son Gene stayed at my house, and I watched them leave early each day and conk out at night on my living room floor, exhausted after a hard day's work.)
They handed out Quizzes to everyone they encountered -- media, delegates, politicians, and citizens who just happened to be in the area. In order to catch the eyes of passers-by, Larry Rocks had painted two handsome Nolan Charts on large canvases. Dave Dawson devised and built PVC frames for these canvases, so they could be set up as a visual backdrop while the Advocates volunteers approached people and handed out Quizzes.
Someone suggested putting red dots up on the big canvas Nolan Charts, so Quiz takers could see how their scores compared with others.
As you can see, the nucleus for Operation Politically Homeless was forming. People were attracted by the bright eye-catching canvas charts. They were eager to see how they scored. They were fascinated and wanted to learn more. They had fun, and so did the libertarians.
But Marshall and his hard-working Advocates crew still didn't realize the value of what they had created. They still viewed it as just a temporary tool for the Atlanta expedition.
And who knows, the makeshift booths might have just been tossed away after the convention and forgotten.
Except for Russell Means.
Means was in Atlanta to take part in a political demonstration. He passed by one of the booths -- and he immediately recognized the power and potential of what Marshall's merry band had created.
"Russell saw what we were doing, and he said, 'You guys ought to package this and do it on [college] campuses,'" Marshall Fritz recalled in a 1995 interview.
But Marshall didn't think much of Russell Means's suggestion at first.
"I thought he was crazy," Marshall laughed. "For a half hour, I tried to figure out how to tell Russell he was wrong, without offending him.
"But luckily, I kept my mouth shut.
"And a half hour later, it dawned on me: 'He's right!'"
And thus was born Operation Politically Homeless! Advocates writer Steve Smith came up with the name, Marshall refined the concept, and in a few months, the first few dozen OPH kits were shipped out to eager libertarian activists across America.
The rest is history. Since then, thousands of OPH booths have introduced millions of people to the ideas of liberty. In the past two years alone, the Advocates has supplied over 600 campus libertarian groups with OPH kits at their request.
Russell Means made many contributions to the libertarian movement. And he remained a friend and supporter of the Advocates, as the quote at the beginning of this issue indicates.
And by recognizing the potential of what became OPH, he helped transform libertarian outreach in a way that still reaches countless people every year.
Thank you, Russell Means. You will be missed.
* * * * * * * *
The purpose of the Liberator Online is to build a stronger movement for liberty. We do this by providing information about the libertarian movement and how to best communicate the ideas of liberty. Thank you for being a part of this!
Learn more about the Advocates and our work for liberty.
Learn more about libertarianism -- the philosophy of liberty.
-- Sharon Harris, President |
Email
Intellectual Ammunition
by James W. Harris
Mises Institute: Free Downloadable Libertarian Library
The Ludwig von Mises Institute has created one of the
great online libertarian treasures. It has made hundreds of classic libertarian books available -- for free, online.
If you have an e-reader, or don’t mind reading on your computer, then an intellectual feast awaits you. In just minutes an incredible library of vital libertarian writing, worth thousands of dollars in cover value and of inestimable intellectual value, can be yours.
Many of the most important and essential works by the greatest libertarian authors are here. There are established classics and exciting new works. There’s so much great reading, in fact, that it’s difficult to know where to begin.
The newcomer to the writings of liberty can pick and choose from essential classics like these:
* For A New Liberty, Murray Rothbard’s acclaimed 1973 libertarian primer.
* What Has Government Done to our Money?, Rothbard’s short, easy-to-read mind-opening guide to the fundamentals of market-based money.
* Defending the Undefendable: Walter Block’s superb assault on victimless crime laws (with a provocative new introduction by Block).
* Great Wars and Great Leaders by Ralph Raico: Hard-hitting essays that will forever change the way you view modern history.
Those wanting to dig deeper into these ideas can explore all the works of Murray Rothbard, arguably the greatest libertarian thinker and writer of the past century. And all the works of Ludwig von Mises, arguably the greatest economist of the past century. And peruse books and other writings by a legion of legendary liberty writers: Friedrich A. Hayek, Albert Jay Nock, Robert LeFevre, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, and so many more.
There’s even classic libertarian-themed fiction. Henry Hazlitt’s clever and enlightening
Time Will Run Back. Eugene Richter’s 1893 anti-socialist novel
Pictures of the Socialistic Future. Garet Garrett’s long out-of-print turn of the century business novels.
Even for the well-read libertarian reader, surprises abound. Think you’ve read all by Rothbard? Check out the collections of his short book reviews and memos for the William Volcker fund. Or his mesmerizing intellectual autobiography,
The Betrayal of the American Right.
And still more. In addition to books, there are periodicals that were essential to the development of the modern liberty movement, including Rothbard’s
Left and Right and
Libertarian Forum, Mencken’s
American Mercury, and the modern
Liberty magazine. Some of the publications you’ll find had a circulation in the mere hundreds and have been virtually unavailable for years. Now they are yours, free.
And then there are the articles, the scholarly papers…
We’ve barely skimmed the surface. We could go on and on, listing titles and making recommendations. But by now you should be eager to start looking yourself.
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of this. Years ago, in the pre-web days, anyone seeking to learn about liberty quickly discovered that some of the greatest and most essential books and periodicals were unavailable except from rare book dealers or at large libraries. Some of the treasures the Mises Institute is offering for free were hard to come by even from those sources.
Now they are available to the entire world.
This is a magnificent gift to the liberty movement and to the world. Take advantage of it!
PS: While you’re there, you have a chance to fill out an optional box that asks: “Ha the Mises.org Literature section changed your life? We want to hear from you!” You don’t have to answer it, but if you are blown away by this selection and their generosity, and if it has importance to you, it only takes a moment to say thanks. (And you can tell them the Advocates sent you!)
Bruce Fein: Murder by Drones is Unconstitutional, Immoral and Tyrannical
“Endowing the president with the authority to play prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner of any person on the planet (including U.S. citizens) that he secretly and unilaterally decrees to be dangerous to the United States epitomizes the executive tyranny that provoked the American Revolution.
“Neither in the text nor subtext of the Constitution is there a syllable hinting at such harrowing power. The U.S. government has crossed into lawlessness, inviting every man to become a law unto himself.
“To borrow from words by Thomas Jefferson about slavery, ‘I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that his justice cannot sleep forever.’”
-- from “
The U.S. kill lists: Death of the rule of law" a letter published October 25 in the Washington Post by constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein, who was an associate deputy attorney general in the Reagan administration and who Ron Paul has called "one of the most important legal minds of our time.” Fein wrote this letter in response to the Post’s shocking Oct. 24 front-page article “
U.S. set to keep kill lists for years” which details the Obama administration’s plans to continue and expand its international drone killing program.
U.S. Senator Rand Paul: Cut Military Spending, End Entangling Alliances
“I am not an isolationist or a pacifist. I heartily reject both labels. I believe in engagement in the world, with trade, commerce, diplomacy and a foreign policy that projects the greatness of America and her people. I would not hesitate to vote to send American troops to war to protect our country and our vital national security interests.
“But we are in too many places, too often, and we don't seem to even know the reason -- or where we will end up when we're done. This foreign policy has created more enemies than it has vanquished. It has siphoned trillions of America's dollars. It has cost tens of thousands of casualties in the loss of the lives and limbs of our soldiers.
“We owe it to ourselves, our soldiers and our children to take a more careful look at our foreign policy, to not rush into war, and to not attempt to score political points with wrongheaded policy ideas.”
-- U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), from his widely-discussed CNN
commentary “Romney's wrong on Middle East, defense spending,” October 10, 2012
Libertarian Gary Johnson in the Presidential Debates
To their shame, the Republicrat-Demopublican-controlled Commission on Presidential Debates unfairly excluded Gary Johnson from their televised debates, thus protecting Obama and Romney from having to
answer inconvenient questions about today's most pressing issues, and depriving millions of Americans of basic information about all of the political choices on their 2012 presidential ballots.
Cheers, then to the
Free and Equal Elections Foundation, for sponsering an alternative televised debate between four third party presidential candidates, moderated by TV legend Larry King.
Topics discussed include the War on Drugs, legalization of marijuana, foreign policy, civil liberties, economy, education reform, & domestic policy.
In other words, all the important stuff that Obama and Romney didn't want to talk about.
Here is a clip from that debate, edited to show only Gary Johnson's responses.
And
here is the entire hour and a half 2012 Third Party Presidential Debate, complete with participants including Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode, and Justice Party candidate Rocky Anderson.
SECOND DEBATE RESCHEDULED: A second televised debate, between Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, has been rescheduled due to Hurricane Sandy. It will be held Monday, November 5. Learn more about it at the
Free and Equal Elections Foundation.
* * * * * * * *
Intellectual Ammunition is written by Liberator Online editor James W. Harris. His articles have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, and he has been a Finalist for the Mencken Awards, given by the Free Press Association for "Outstanding Journalism in Support of Liberty."
They Said It...
THE REAL MEDIA BIAS: "Ample ink is spilled over debating whether the US media is biased in favor of Republicans or Democrats. It is neither. The overwhelming, driving bias of the US media is
subservience to power, whoever happens to be wielding it." -- liberal civil liberties columnist
Glenn Greenwald, "Journalism in the Obama age shows the real media bias," UK Guardian, October 26, 2012.
WELFARE AND WASTE: "Welfare spending amounts to $9,040 per year for each lower-income American. If converted to cash and simply given to the recipients, this spending would be more than sufficient to bring the income of every lower-income American household to 200 percent of the federal poverty level (roughly $44,000 per year for a family of four)." --
Robert Rector of the conservative Heritage Foundation, "Undermining True Welfare Reform," July 21, 2012.
ENTITLED: "Not since the days of slavery have there been so many people who feel entitled to what other people have produced as there are in the modern welfare state, whether in Western Europe or on this side of the Atlantic." -- economist and syndicated columnist
Thomas Sowell, "Random Thoughts," October 16, 2011.
FAITH-BASED FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES: "Yes, President Romney will not take God off our coins. And that is so important because right now, just like God, the value of our currency really has to be taken on faith." -- Stephen Colbert, September 19, 2012.
JAY LENO ON THE OBAMICAN FOREIGN POLICY: "Paul Ryan now says that President Obama's foreign policy has 'blown up in his face' and it's time to go back to the Republican foreign policy. Well, let's see, Obama kept Guantanamo Bay open, the troops are still overseas, and the Middle East hates us. Isn't that the Republican foreign policy?" -- Jay Leno, September 27, 2012.
* * * * * * * * * *
"They Said It..." is compiled by Liberator Online editor James W. Harris.
Persuasion
Power Point
#333
by Michael Cloud
WARNING: You Are Now Entering The Desperate Hours
"This is the most important presidential election in our lifetime," say pundits and partisans.
"This may be our last chance to save America," claim political activists.
"You can't afford to vote for an unelectable third-party candidate when the stakes are this high," say others.
They've stopped trying to convince you that their Big Government candidate agrees with you on a number of key issues. Or that he's really on your side.
Now they're simply trying to scare you into voting for their Big Government candidate. Or staying home.
During the last 14 days before Election Day, we enter the Desperate Hours.
This is the time that a noisy, fanatical, hysterical faction of these partisans will say and do anything to get you to vote for their Big Government candidate for president, senate or congress.
Some will write or forward Big Lies against your libertarian candidate. Others will write or post unfounded accusations against your candidate or his supporters. Or send you and your friends to a website that claims to have proof that your candidate has festering skeletons in his closet -- that will soon be exposed.
Ignore any slime, any mudslinging, any last minute sneak attacks against your candidate. They are almost always lies. And usually launched by those who will say and do anything to get you to desert your libertarian candidate. To get you to vote for their Big Government candidate -- the one who actively opposes everything you believe in.
During the desperate hours, desperate men and women will do desperate things. Dishonest, despicable things.
Turn a blind eye to what they write. Turn a deaf ear to what they say. Look and listen only to reason and evidence and your love of liberty.
Then you will do the right thing on Election Day -- November 6th.
* * * * * * * *
Michael Cloud's brand-new book Unlocking More Secrets of Libertarian Persuasion is available exclusively from the Advocates, along with his acclaimed earlier book Secrets of Libertarian Persuasion.
In 2000, Michael was honored with the Thomas Paine Award as the Most Persuasive Libertarian Communicator in America.
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.
QUESTION: What is the libertarian “non-aggression principle?”
MY SHORT ANSWER: Libertarianism is based on a single ideal, the non-aggression principle, so libertarian rhetoric tends to be remarkably consistent.
Libertarians oppose the initiation of force to achieve social or political goals. They reject “first-strike” force, fraud or theft against others; they only use force in self-defense. Those who violate this “non-aggression principle” are expected to make their victims whole as much as possible.
This “Good Neighbor Policy” is what most of us were taught as children. We were told not to lie, cheat, steal, or strike our playmates, except if they hit us first. If we broke a friend’s toy, we were expected to replace it.
Most of us still practice what we learned as children with other individuals, but we have grown accustomed to letting government aggress against others when we think we benefit. Consequently, our world is full of poverty and strife, instead of the harmony and abundance that freedom (i.e., freedom from aggression) brings.
Simply put, libertarians take the non-aggression principle that most people implicitly follow in their interactions with other individuals, and apply it to group actions, including government actions, as well.
You might have heard the Libertarian Party (LP) referred to as the “Party of Principle.” This is because the LP bases its programs and policy positions on the non-aggression principle.
* * * * * * * * * *
Got questions? Dr. Ruwart has answers! If you'd like answers to YOUR "tough questions" on libertarian issues, email Dr. Ruwart at:
ruwart@theAdvocates.org
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 outstanding book
Healing Our World is available from the Advocates.
One-Minute Liberty Tip
By Sharon Harris
The Government is Not Us
One of the biggest political myths is the idea that the government is “us.”
Many people believe this. It has been drilled into us since childhood. It is widely used in the media and by politicians and their supporters.
Yet it is plainly absurd. It is a major obstacle to clear thinking about politics. And it is very dangerous.
The absurdity becomes obvious if you think about it:
* Are the million or so people who are arrested each year for victimless crimes like smoking marijuana actually arresting themselves? If they are convicted and imprisoned, did they imprison themselves?
* If you are drafted into the military to fight in a war against your will, are you somehow forcing yourself to be in the military?
* If your home is taken from you against your will by the government through eminent domain, did you actually give your home away voluntarily?
* If you are unable to practice your desired trade because the government demands you get a difficult and expensive license, are you voluntarily stopping yourself from working?
Such questions answer themselves. They peel away this pernicious falsehood to reveal the truth: The government is not “us.” The enforcement arm of the government is people with guns. Often the laws they enforce were not voted on, violate fundamental rights, and are unjust and unfair.
Even if we played some part in the election process, like voting, that doesn’t mean we consented to every law or agreed to abide by those laws.
In fact, most Americans haven’t personally given their consent to much, if anything, that the government does.
The government, then, is hardly “us.”
To imply that we all have a personal identification with the entity that is violating rights is not only absurd and insulting, it is dangerous.
The widespread belief in this fallacy allows those who support anti-liberty positions to say “we” favor it. “We” favor a war. “We” favor locking up people who have not harmed others. “We” favor imposing personal morality by gunpoint. “We” favor higher taxes for “our” infrastructure and “our” public schools.
It implies that we have consented to, and approved of, actions that are tyrannical and offensive. It tricks people, on a subconscious level, into believing that such actions are somehow voluntary.
And it hides the fact that there are some people using force against peaceful people. It keeps us from identifying them and objecting to their actions -- because, after all, it is really just “us” doing it to ourselves.
Many people fall for this insidious deception. When you hear it, gently but firmly correct it. A good way is to simply ask questions like the ones at the beginning of this article.
* * * * * *
Sharon Harris is president of the Advocates for Self-Government.
What's Happening with the Advocates
NOVEMBER 13-16: Advocates president Sharon Harris will be speaking on effective communication at the sold-out
Annual Meeting of the State Policy Network (SPN) in Amelia Island, FL.
FALL 2012: The Advocates will have a booth at many of the Students for Liberty Regional Conferences. Come and see us!
2013 FREEDOM CRUISES: Advocates Board Secretary and longtime libertarian leader Dr. Ken Bisson invites you to join him for Freedom Cruises in January and May 2013. Enjoy a wonderful trip on a luxury cruiser – at a bargain rate! January 2013 itinerary: an Eastern Caribbean cruise to Grand Turk, St. Maarten, and San Juan. May 2013 itinerary: The 7 day "Castles Along the Rhine,” cruising between Basel, Switzerland and Amsterdam, with a great opportunity to enjoy a few extra days in Europe on either end of your cruise. Non-libertarians welcome! Great food and fine company. (This isn't an Advocates event, 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.
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.)
Joining the conversation is easy. If you don't already have a Twitter account, it only takes a few moments to
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Then go to
the Advocates Twitter account and click the "follow" button below our picture.
That's all it takes! You'll then get our tweets -- and we can get yours.
* * * *
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About Us
THE LIBERATOR ONLINE, created by James W. Harris and Paul Schmidt, is the official newsletter of the
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"May it be to the world... to assume the blessings and security of self-government." -- Thomas Jefferson, June 24, 1826.
