How can we persuade those around us to become friends of liberty? Almost every American politician in history has claimed that he is seeking to preserve American freedoms. Barack Obama and George W. Bush both cited a desire for the increase of liberty as a justification for their policies. Bill O'Reilly claims to be a supporter of freedom; so does Bill Maher. If you walked up to ten people on the street and asked them if they believe in political freedom, it would be unusual to find someone who would respond in the negative. So why is there such a disconnect between this ideal and reality? And how can we persuade people to accept a real definition of liberty?
Robin Koerner has an excellent piece on this here. Please take a minute and read it. In case you hadn't heard of Koerner, he created bluerepublican.org, a website seeking to get progressives to vote for Ron Paul.
The logic of the non-aggression principle will work with a few people, but most people have emotional and psychological reasons for their political positions. Logic and facts are important tools, but just as crucial are politeness, respect, firmness, generosity, image, friendliness, and humor. Don't let a political conversation degenerate into ad hominems and namecalling. You might offer to buy a liberty book for someone; Bastiat's The Law is $5 from mises.org, and the Kindle version is $0.99. It's also online for free, but in my experience people are more likely to actually read it if they know you care enough to sacrifice a buck or two because you want them to learn.
Honestly, we are pretty good at getting out the word online about Ron Paul and liberty. There are tons of TV viewers who don't read blogs, Facebook, or Twitter. They might be hard to reach, especially if they love watching FOX News or MSNBC; but almost everyone will listen to a neighbor, friend, or acquaintance who treats him/her with respect.
So go forth: convince, coax, cajole, and charm. Let's take this state and this country for liberty.
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