Volume 14, Number 1 | January 16, 2009
In This Issue:
The Liberator Online
Contents
ASK DR. RUWART
PRODUCT REVIEW
Dear friend,
With the help of family, I've painted several rooms in my home. It was a daunting task, though it wasn't as hard as I feared it might be. But it didn't start out well. Hoping to save a few dollars, I bought some cheap tools. Discount brushes. Odd-looking devices that promised to make the job far easier. Off-brand painter's tape. Those cheap tools were a disaster. The brushes left bristles in the paint. The oddball devices quickly clogged up and scraped the walls. The off-brand tape peeled right off just minutes after I put it on. So I went shopping again. I bought the best brushes, the kind the pros use. I bought name-brand tape. Luckily, I had already bought high-quality paint. I ditched the weirdo gadgets. And I tried again. The difference was amazing. This time, the job got done -- faster and easier than I had imagined. Yes, there's a moral in this for libertarians. Craftsmen say that the secret to getting a job done right is to start with the right tools. The same is true for spreading the ideas of liberty. In the early years of the modern libertarian movement, earnest libertarians often drove people away from these wonderful ideas. They committed classic communication errors. They
"lapel-grabbed." They accused.
(You can see cartoon treatments of some of these
errors here: They were passionate, devoted, good people who wanted the world to be freer. But they were using the wrong tools. The wrong techniques. That's why the Advocates was founded. To supply libertarians with the right tools. Like the World's Smallest Political Quiz, which has brought millions to liberty and makes explaining libertarianism so easy. Like OPH (Operation Politically Homeless), which lets just a few libertarians discover new libertarian recruits by the dozens wherever people are gathered -- while having fun doing so. Like our many communication books and audios. Like the communication ideas presented in each issue of the Liberator Online. If you want to promote libertarian ideas, check out the proven, tested tools that the pros use. It's so much easier and effective -- and it doesn't leave a mess behind for others to clean up. * * * To learn more about the Advocates and our work for
liberty: To learn more about libertarianism: -- Sharon Harris, President | Email: sharon@TheAdvocates.org
See details at the end of this issue, or visit: Your purchase supports the great work of the Advocates. Thank you!
by James W. Harris Acclaimed Cartoonist is a Libertarian Chester Brown, one of the world's most acclaimed "alternative" comic book creators, is also an outspoken libertarian. Brown's most recent book is Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip
Biography, a biography of a
Time magazine selected the book as one of the best comics of 2003, saying it "has the thoroughness of a history book yet reads with the personalized vision of a novel." Publishers Weekly praised it as "a major achievement." Chester Brown was born in Montreal, Canada in 1960. In 1983, Brown began to self-publish his work in a photocopied mini-comic he titled Yummy Fur. His work quickly gathered attention. In 1989 his first graphic novel, the darkly humorous Ed the Happy Clown, was published to critical acclaim. More graphic novels and collections followed: The Playboy (1992), I Never Liked You (1994), and The Little Man: Short Strips, 1980-1995 (1998). Brown had long been interested in politics. His concern about abuses of political power led him to embrace a form of anti-property anarchism for several years. But while researching his Riel biography, Brown saw that the issue of property rights was a major factor in Riel's conflicts with the Canadian government. In particular, Brown was influenced by the book The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages by Tom Bethell. Brown came to realize that property rights were essential to progress and liberty, and he became a libertarian in 2000. "I realized there was a need for an agency that would protect those rights," he told Toronto's Eye Weekly magazine. He joined the Libertarian Party of Canada. "Becoming a Libertarian wasn't the easiest thing for me," Brown added, noting that his friends, fans, and admirers were generally left-leaning. "At first, I thought, 'Aren't [libertarians] just a bunch of right-wing a**holes?' But when I met other party members I discovered there was a lot for me to agree with." "I still think governments are basically bad," he told another interviewer. Brown put his political beliefs into action this past year, running for Member of Parliament on the Libertarian Party of Canada ticket. During one debate, he told the audience: "Money is power. And when the government takes money from you they also take the power from you." (Sources: Chester Brown page at Drawn and Quarterly: * * * Bailout Figures Zoom Past "Insane," Take a Right Turn at "Monstrous" "Brain-Boggling Bailout Boondoggle Numbers" was the headline story of our November 13, 2008 issue. We reported that the federal government's bail-out figures had reached staggering proportions -- topping the two trillion dollar amount.
So... how do we describe the more recent estimate by CNBC.com? The respected news source calculated on November 28 that the bailout total had reached... $7.36 trillion dollars. CNBC says that figure "is a combination of what's been committed (where it is defined) and what has actually been spent or lent (where a given program has started)." To put that in some kind of perspective, that is more than twice what was spent on World War II, adjusted for inflation. And nine times what the government has spent so far on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Or... half the U.S. annual gross national product. Or... enough to pay off half or more of the country's mortgages. Or... roughly $24,000 for every man, woman, and child in the U.S. Or... roughly $50,000 per taxpayer. "Not only is it an astronomical amount of money, it's a complicated cocktail of budgeted dollars, actual spending, guarantees, loans, swaps and other market mechanisms by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and other offices of government..." notes CNBC. CNBC has a chart showing all the gory details of where the money is supposed to go, at the URL below. And of course, the bailout is, as some say about our Constitution, a "living document." It's still going on. Special interest groups are begging, or demanding, hundreds of billions more. (A similar story by Bloomberg News puts the government's promises at $7.7 trillion.) So tune in next issue. These incomprehensibly large numbers above may be... incomprehensibly larger. (Sources: CNBC.com * * * Obama on Pot: Before and After the Election Obama is offering voters "change" on his policy regarding the insane War on Drugs. "The war on drugs has been an utter failure. [W]e need
to rethink and decriminalize our
-- Barack Obama, January 2004 "President-elect Obama is not in favor of the
legalization of marijuana." Yes we can -- say one thing before the election, and another afterwards. (Source: Paul Armentano, NORML: * * * Headline from the December 29, 2008 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch: "Many schools now require more hours of volunteering." Sorry, f To anyone inclined to argue otherwise, we suggest a careful reading of George Orwell's novel 1984 to see where this kind of language abuse can lead you. Pay special attention to the sections on "doublethink." (Source: Columbus Dispatch: * * * Best Ad of the Year? In late December, in the midst of the Illinois
Governor Rod Blagojevich corruption scandal, the Chicago Tribune ran
what gets our vote for the best political ad of the year.
It was by a Chicago-area furniture store, LeatherCreations. The quarter-page ad boldly declared: "We sell more seats than the Governor! ... and our Senate seat only costs $1,999 (Plus this sofa lasts much longer than 6 years." Their "Senate seat" is a sofa, available in leather or fabric. You can see the ad in all its glory at the URL below. (Source: Chicago Tribune / Leather Creations (Source: TIME magazine * * * * * QUICK SHOTS... * FEDERALISM: "According to Bureau of Economic
Analysis data, the average employee for the federal government now gets
paid nearly twice as much as workers in the productive sector of the
economy." -- Daniel J. Mitchell, Cato Institute.
* DC'S REVOLVING DOOR: "17 of 24 former Bush Cabinet
members have taken positions with at least 119 companies, including 65
firms that lobby the government and 40 that lobby the agencies they
headed. 9 former cabinet members hold positions with 15 companies that
began or resumed lobbying the former * * * * * * * * •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• --- ADVERTISEMENT --- GLOBAL WARMING: WAS IT EVER REALLY A CRISIS?
They will be joined by economists, legal experts, policy analysts and other specialists, calling attention to new research that contradicts claims that Earth's moderate warming during the 20th Century primarily was man-made and has reached crisis proportions. The conference expects to draw 1,000 attendees including private-sector business people, state and federal legislators and officials, media, and students. LEARN MORE about this history-making conference -- including registration information -- at: http://www.heartland.org/events/NewYork09/newyork09.html •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
by Michael Cloud Can Political Hypocrisy Save America? For years, most politicians campaigned against Big Government, got elected -- and voted to make Big Government Bigger. They campaigned against tax increases, got elected -- and voted to increase taxes. These politicians promised tax relief, got elected -- and relieved us of more taxes. Political hypocrisy got them elected. And kept them in office. Doing the opposite of what voters wanted and expected. On talk radio and cable TV, these politicians wrung their hands and anguished over why they are forced to break their promises. They hated voting for more government, against tax cuts, and for higher taxes. They wished they could do what they promised to do. It pained them to do what they did. It's our fault. We demanded smaller government and lower taxes. So they told us what we wanted to hear -- and did the opposite. We need to be understanding. We need to feel their pain. And we need to support their continued hypocrisy. Why? Because right now a lot of people are blaming today's Wall Street meltdown, the Mortgage industry collapse, and bank crisis on "free market failures." On the absence of government involvement. A lot of people are demanding more government spending, more government programs, and more government regulation -- to save us from the havoc caused by today's "free market failures." Because right now a lot of Americans believe that government is the solution, not the problem. This is why political hypocrisy can save America. It's finally safe for politicians to campaign for Bigger Government, get elected -- and vote to make government smaller. It's finally politically possible for politicians to campaign against tax relief and for tax increases, get elected -- and slash taxes. Today it's okay for them to go on cable TV and talk radio and praise Keynesian policies. To call for "public works" programs. Call for more and more, bigger and bigger government bailouts and "safety nets" for Americans. Then they can break down in tears, while telling the audiences why they are forced to do the opposite. They are suffering, they hate to do what they must, but they have to cut taxes and dismantle some government programs. I know that you want integrity. You insist on honesty. So do I. I want it. I ache for it. I really do. I feel tormented by my call for any kind of hypocrisy. But as long as columnists, opinion leaders, bloggers, cable TV pundits and other American leaders call for more government, more government involvement, more government bailouts and guarantees and spending, and more taxes -- we may be able to finally rely upon the repeat, serial, habitual hypocrisy of politicians to turn America around. Public demand for more government means that political hypocrisy can finally save America. * * * * * * * * In 2000, Michael was honored with the Thomas Paine
Award as the Most Persuasive Libertarian Communicator in America.
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. * * * What States Are the Most Free? MY SHORT ANSWER: That's a very intriguing question! Unfortunately, I can't answer it. To the best of my knowledge, no one has evaluated North American cities for overall freedom, in the way that the world's countries have been evaluated for economic freedom. For an example of such a ranking of *countries*, see the Fraser Institute's "Economic Freedom of the World" report (www.freetheworld.com), which uses 42 distinct pieces of data to measure economic freedom. Be prepared for a shock, by the way, when you see that the United States, once the bastion of free enterprise, has sunk to eighth place among nations -- just behind Canada -- in overall economic freedom. What about states and provinces? The Fraser Institute, in their "Economic Freedom of
North America 2008" report,
http://www.freetheworld.com/efna.html That same report also ranks states and provinces at the "all-government level," which they describe as measuring the impact in these states and provinces of *all* levels of government -- federal, provincial/state, and municipal/local. The freest ten, in order: Delaware; Alberta and Texas (tie); Colorado, Georgia and North Carolina (tie); and Nevada, New Hampshire, Indiana. and Tennessee (tie). The Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in California, used a different set of criteria and found these ten states to have the greatest economic freedom (listed in order of economic freedom): South Dakota; Idaho; Colorado; Utah; Wyoming; Nevada; Oklahoma; New Hampshire; Virginia; Kansas. See their "U.S. Economic Freedom Index: 2008 Report" here: http://special.pacificresearch.org/pub/sab/entrep/2008/Economic_Freedom/study.html Note that New Hampshire appears on all three lists. In recent years, the Free State Project (www.freestateproject.org), composed of liberty-loving individuals, chose New Hampshire as their home, and the organization is actively encouraging libertarians to move to that state to work and live -- and build a strong movement for liberty. One might hope, then, that at least some of its cities would make such a "top ten" list as you describe -- if not now, then in the future! * * * * * * * * 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 at: http://www.TheAdvocates.org/ruwart/categories_list.php Dr. Ruwart's outstanding books "Healing Our World" and
"Short Answers to the Tough Questions" are available from the Advocates:
http://www.TheAdvocates.org/Merchant2/merchant.mv
by Sharon Harris Word Choices: Helping Listeners Understand Property Rights Libertarians understand how important property is. Without protection of property, there can be no freedom. For many people, however, particularly potential libertarians and allies on the left, the word "property" doesn't have the same positive connotation that it has for libertarians. Some people hear "property" to mean exclusively land. For some, the mental picture the word "property" evokes is a narrow and negative one. They may visualize starving masses peering through high fences as the rich loll about on vast estates. They may associate the word "property" with greediness, possessiveness, and other negative notions. Because so many property transfers in the past have indeed been illegitimate, some people assume a defense of "property" is a defense of land acquired through conquest or other criminal means. This is wrong, of course. First, because property in
land is important for everyone, especially the poor. And
How do we correct this problem of perception and tone? It is sometimes helpful to use some additional ways to describe "property." Try using the word "belongings" in addition to "property." I first heard this used effectively by the award-winning historical romance novelist Lauren Royal, who told the Advocates a few years ago: "I am very much a libertarian. I believe we have the right to do whatever we wish with ourselves and our belongings, so long as the decisions we make don't affect other people and their property against their will. I want to see government confined to its proper role, to protect and serve us and stay out of our personal lives." This is a clear and uncompromising explanation of libertarianism. The word "belongings" amplifies and clarifies what she means. Variations on this might include "rightful belongings," "possessions," "legitimate property," "the things that rightfully belong to you" and so forth. Our goal is not to hide or obscure our meaning. It is to make what we truly mean by "property" clearer to the person who has a limited understand of property and property rights. The right word choices help our audience understand more fully what we mean. And because libertarianism is, by its nature, win-win, the better they understand our ideas, the sooner they will embrace them. See more One-Minute Liberty Tips! •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
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The past few weeks I've done something I've never done
before. 
They ranted. They name-called. They
argued over trivialities. They drove away legions of potential
supporters. 
PS: LIMITED TIME OFFER! Check out our Product Review
special. Order Michael Cloud's great book SECRETS of LIBERTARIAN
PERSUASION now and receive a wonderful $10 CD -- FREE! 
controversial 19th century Canadian
political rebel. The book has received enormous critical praise. As the
Calgary Herald has noted, it "has been hailed widely as one of the most
important graphic novels of the past 10 years if not the most important
graphic novel ever." 
That figure is almost inconceivable. 
[nation's] marijuana laws."
olks. It's not "volunteering" if it's
"required." 
* PORN INDUSTRY BAILOUT?: "Another major American
industry is asking for assistance as the global financial crisis
continues: Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe
Francis said Wednesday they will request that Congress allocate $5
billion for a bailout of the adult entertainment industry." -- CNN news.
On
March 8-10, 2009, The Heartland Institute will host the 2009
International Conference on Climate Change, a three-day conference in
New York City. More than 70 of the world's elite scientists specializing
in climate issues will confront the subject of global warming.
second,
because "property" means far more than just land. Property is anything
that is rightfully yours - your car, your guitar, your toothbrush. So
renters, for instance, have just as much at stake in seeing property
rights protected as landowners. 
Do
you sincerely want to convince others to become libertarians?
