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Volume 20, Issue 37                          October 1, 2015
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Robert Ringer
WELCOME to the Liberator Online!

In This Issue

FROM ME TO YOU 
What's Your Solution?

NEWS YOU CAN USE 
House Leadership Analysis
Would You Fire this Cop?
Lawsuit Challenging the Exclusion of Qualified Candidates from Presidential Debates is Filed in Washington, DC
#BigGovernmentStrikesAgain
#FreedomPrevails

QUOTABLE
See what Mike Reitz, Jen Harris, Jeff Hullinger and Vladimir Putin have to say about super powers, execution, the TSA, and intent and action.

ONE-MINUTE LIBERTY TIP
Ammunition Against a Powerful Anti-Gun Rights Meme

WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE ADVOCATES
Find out how to get a FREE OPH KIT for your libertarian student group
See what SPECIAL THANK-YOU GIFTS we've reserved for supporters just like you. Ready to have a libertarian communication event near you? Find out how.
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Executive Director Brett Bittner
From Me To You

by Brett Bittner
 

What's Your Solution?


As libertarians, it’s pretty easy to point out the flaws and holes in solutions pitched to address the issues we face. It’s also very easy to just say no to everything, because the answer doesn’t pass muster with a libertarian worldview.

The hard part, yet the one that helps you be taken seriously as a part of the conversation, is to have your solution, a libertarian solution, ready to share when you oppose the option(s) presented.

solutionIn my experience, we are quick to oppose a politician’s proposal because it increases spending and/or taxes. Or we see that it isn’t authorized by the Constitution. Or we have examined the likely outcomes, and find fault with those outcomes.

Even in cases of strict opposition, like a new tax, build a case to present about why the proposal is bad and offer a libertarian solution to reduce or eliminate the perceived need for increased spending.

When I worked against the continuation of a sales tax, our “Ax the Tax!” campaign focused on the wasteful spending that accompanied the tax.

We pointed out:

  • that additional spending on new capital projects increased the liability for future budgets for operations and maintenance of those projects, likely leading to future tax increases.
  • the projects were wasteful and unnecessary, designed to get the support of small constituencies to support the “whole pie” in order to get their “piece.”
  • several projects duplicated and directly competed with existing private sector businesses or replaced something that failed in the eyes of the market.
  • the regular budgeting process planned for the tax’s continuation to make the spending appear necessary. In this case, road “improvements” (paving and intersection changes) were 98% dependent on the continuation of the sales tax.


We were also involved early in the process, showing up to events and meetings to discuss why the ideas proposed were not acceptable. By being involved early, we won a small victory by reducing the size (and cost) of the proposed project list by a third before it was even presented to voters for the referendum. By showing these faults and offering that there were ways to address them all without the tax, we nearly defeated it, despite being outspent 100:1.

We built a coalition of like-minded and some unlikely allies, and our unified messaging that addressed our solutions received MULTIPLE positive news stories about our opposition to spending $600 million in taxpayer money.

Regardless of why you oppose a proposal, no ready solution negates your inclusion in the conversation, which limits your exposure outside your immediate allies. Those allies already have your support, so you end up “preaching to the choir” rather than getting more people on your side.

Libertarians cannot always be a force of opposition. Inclusion in the discussion gives us a way to share a libertarian solution and offer some common sense guidance to the outcome.

Walk the walk,
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News You Can Use

Written & Compiled by Advocates Staff

Click here to check out our House Leadership analysis in the absence of John Boehner.

Would You Fire this Cop?

Lawsuit Challenging the Exclusion of Qualified Candidates from Presidential Debates is Filed in Washington, DC


2012 presidential candidates Gov. Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, along with the Libertarian and Green parties and their vice-presidential candidates, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, DC, today charging that the exclusion of qualified candidates from the general election presidential debates by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) violates federal anti-trust laws.

The lawsuit is funded by the Our America Initiative, a not-for-profit advocacy organization, through their Fair Debates project. It was filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by the Our America Initiative’s attorney Bruce Fein, who served as Associate Deputy Attorney General and General Counsel to the Federal Communications Commission under the Reagan Administration.

Read more about the lawsuit here..

#BigGovernmentStrikesAgain 

#FreedomPrevails

Uber shows how the free market can serve us better than government - Rare
Harvesting the Sun - Reason
Could Garbage be Beautiful? - FEE

News You Can Use is written and compiled by staff at the Advocates for Self-Government. 

Quotable
Bits and Bytes From Across the Spectrum

 
 
WITNESS TO AN EXECUTION: "An image I will never forget--The face of K. Gissendaner from bright red to gray in the span of minutes--Sobbing to silence. @11AliveNews"— Jeff Hullinger, Atlanta News Anchor, September 30, 2015

TSA NIGHTMARE: "No, I'm legally female and that I request female screeners.' You know, I almost missed my flight, too. It's an inconvenience, it's mortifying and it's extraordinarily common." — Jen Harris, Transgender Activist, September 25, 2015

INTENT AND ACTION: â€œThis addresses statutes that fail to specify that there needs to be proof of a culpable mental state...For a crime to occur there has to be a combination of intent and action."  — Mike Reitz, Executive Vice President of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, September 21, 2015

"Quotable" is compiled by members of the Advocates staff.
Students Get Free Shipping From Amazon

Sharon Harris
One-Minute Liberty Tip

By Sharon Harris

Ammunition Against a Powerful Anti-Gun Rights Meme


You see and hear this phrase over and over again in the media: “the gun lobby.”

Frequently it is prefaced by the word “powerful” as in “the powerful gun lobby.”

gun controlIndeed, Google “powerful gun lobby” and you’ll find thousands of matches. Here are some examples from recent news stories:

“The powerful gun lobby has thwarted repeated attempts at firearm reforms, even after a host of horrific shootings…”

“However, the powerful gun lobby and its supporters in Congress have blocked the proposed measures…”

Read more about the gun lobby here...


Super Communicator Sharon Harris was president of the Advocates from May of 1995 until May of 2015. She continues to write about and teach excellence in libertarian communication. She is co-author of the Amazon #1 best-selling book, How to Be a Super Communicator for Liberty, about which Ron Paul said: “I recommend this book to everyone serious about winning the battle for liberty. These essays will help libertarians improve their ability to answer the tough questions, make our philosophy relevant to people’s everyday concerns, and most importantly win converts and grow our movement.” You can purchase the print version from the Advocates or the ebook version from Amazon. 

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