Volume 14, No. 20 December 22, 2009
The Liberator Online
for everyone who loves liberty
published by the Advocates for Self-Government
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"The World's Smallest Political Quiz is responsible for many Americans' first contact with libertarian ideas. While traveling around the country, I have often heard people say, 'I never knew I was a libertarian until I took the Quiz!'"
Ron Paul, Congressional Record, November 19, 2008
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WELCOME to the Liberator Online!
In This Issue
PRESIDENT'S CORNER
* Judge James P. Gray: Take the World's Smallest Political Quiz
* Yikes! Our annual Christmas poem!
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS, UNBELIEVABLE NEWS
* Federal Government: Do As We Say, Not As We Do
* Poll: Solid Majority in U.S. Favors Legal Marijuana
* USA TODAY: Gov't Salaries Skyrocketing During Recession
* Ron Paul: End the Government Money Monopoly
QUICK SHOTS: Medical marijuana goes mainstream.... Ron Paul's sign.... Trillions down the war rathole.... Congress vs. the next generation....
PERSUASION POWER POINT
* How You Can Cool Down Heated Attacks on Libertarianism
by Michael Cloud
Short Answers to Tough Questions
* What's the solution to the problem of impoverished mothers having children they can't afford?
by Dr. Mary Ruwart
ONE-MINUTE LIBERTY TIP
* The First Rule of Libertarian Communication?
by Sharon Harris
WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE ADVOCATES
* FREE OPH KITS for libertarian student groups!
* Liberator Online quoted in newspaper
* Join the Advocates on Twitter.
* Join the Advocates Facebook Fan Club.
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 President's
Corner
by
Sharon Harris
Judge James P. Gray: "Take the World's Smallest Political Quiz."
James P. Gray is a retired judge of the Orange County (California) Superior Court. He's one of America's most prominent opponents of the War on Drugs, and is author of the outstanding 2001 book Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It.
He's also a libertarian.
And he became a libertarian in part because of the Advocates and our World's Smallest Political Quiz.
As he wrote in Liberty magazine, May 2003:
"I had taken the 'World's Smallest Political Quiz,' and discovered that I was already a libertarian. I was frustrated and concerned about our country's lack of principled leadership, the direction of our economy, and the continued subversion of the protections of our Bill of Rights."
Having discovered libertarianism, Judge Gray began to work hard to advance the cause. He joined the Libertarian Party and ran a highly publicized race for U.S. Senate in 2004. He has discussed issues of drug policy on more than two hundred television and radio shows and public forums across America. And he spreads the libertarian message of freedom, abundance and peace wherever he can. (You can learn more about Judge Gray at his Web site.)
Recently, Judge Gray had more kind things to say about the Quiz and the Advocates' work, in an op-ed in the October 25 Daily Pilot, a newspaper with over 60,000 readers in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, California.
The article was entitled "The Conscience of a Libertarian."
Judge Gray starts with an excellent succinct definition of libertarianism: "Simply stated, a libertarian has a belief in liberty. Thus, all adults should own their lives and property, and have the right to make their own choices as to how they live their lives, as long as they respect the same right of other people."
A fundamental rule of effective libertarian communication is that every libertarian should have a short, clear definition of libertarianism memorized and ready to use when asked. Judge Gray's is a fine example.
He then strengthens his definition by adding humor, by quoting long-time Advocates Board of Directors member Ken Bisson:
"In other words, as Dr. Kenneth Bisson was quoted as saying: 'Libertarianism is what your mom taught you: behave yourself and don't hit your sister.' Thus, libertarians strongly support individual civil liberties, social tolerance, private property, and the positive powers of a free market, which in turn means that libertarians bring to life the philosophy of 'live and let live.'"
Judge Gray goes on to recommend a site where readers can learn much more about libertarianism and their own political views:
"To delve into this matter more personally, visit the Web site of the Advocates for Self-Government at www.TheAdvocates.org, and take the offered World's Smallest Political Quiz. This will help you to see where your political philosophy fits by giving you 10 questions to answer. ... I think you will find the results to be informative and thought-provoking."
The Advocates seeks to advance liberty by helping large numbers of liberty-minded folks to discover and embrace libertarianism, and then helping them bring new people to the same discovery in the most effective ways possible.
I'm proud that we played a role in Judge Gray's decision to embrace libertarianism -- a decision that has brought so many others, in turn, to the liberty movement.
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ADVOCATES HOLIDAY POEM: Love it or hate it, it's been an Advocates tradition since the very first year of the Liberator Online! You can read this year's version of "A Liberty Christmas" -- complete with the traditional awkward meter and terrible rhymes -- here.
Merry Christmas!
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DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR WANTED: The Advocates currently has an opening for an experienced Development Director. If you're the right person, please apply today, or spread the word to your libertarian friends. Thanks!
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Welcome to 168 new Liberator Online subscribers this issue!
The purpose of the Liberator Online is to build a stronger movement for liberty. We do this by providing information about the libertarian movement, news analysis from a libertarian perspective, and, most importantly, information and resources on 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: sharon@TheAdvocates.org |
Good News,
Bad News,
Unbelievable News
by James W. Harris
Federal Government: Do As We Say, Not As We Do
The federal government is planning to spend millions of dollars to teach Americans how to handle their personal finances more responsibly, according to Politico.com.
Yes, that's the same federal government whose own mega-debt is just about to surpass the national statutory limit of $12.104 trillion.
Poll: Solid Majority in U.S. Favor Legal Marijuana
As we've reported recently, public support for re-legalizing marijuana is growing at lightning speed.
A new poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion, conducted December 3 and 4, finds that fully 53% of Americans now favor re-legalization. Only 43 per cent are opposed. Four percent were not sure.
 Marijuana was outlawed by the federal government in 1937, after a lurid campaign of outright lies and unscientific nonsense. Ironically, this was just a few years after the repeal of the disastrous experiment of alcohol Prohibition. (Government never seems to learn.)
Why is legalizing marijuana so important to the cause of liberty? Few people realize that marijuana is today the major focus of the War on Drugs. A 2005 study by the Sentencing Project, a liberal Washington-based think tank, found that almost half of Drug War arrests were for marijuana, and most of those arrested were just casual users. A huge percentage of Drug War activity and spending goes towards marijuana prohibition.
The War on Drugs, in turn, has been responsible for a massive erosion of fundamental Bill of Rights liberties. As retired judge and Drug War critic James P. Gray has said: "Drug Prohibition has resulted in a greater loss of civil liberties than anything else in the history of our country."
Legalizing marijuana will end much of the Drug War. And that is good news for liberty.
USA TODAY: Gov't Salaries Skyrocketing During Recession
What recession?
If you work for the federal government, you might be excused for asking that question, according to USA TODAY.
Federal workers are enjoying a boom time -- in pay and hiring -- during a recession that has destroyed 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.
The number of federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14 percent to 19 percent during the first 18 months of the recession.
And that's not even counting overtime pay and bonuses.
Further:
* The number of Defense Department civilian employees earning $150,000 or more has jumped dramatically -- from 1,868 in December 2007 to 10,100 in June 2009.
* The number of Transportation Department employees earning $170,000 or above jumped in 18 months from just *one* to... 1,690.
The trend to six-figure salaries is occurring throughout the federal government, according to USA TODAY -- in agencies big and small, high-tech and low-tech.
Ron Paul: End the Gov't Money Monopoly
Leave it to Ron Paul! He shocked the Establishment when his bill to audit the Federal Reserve System won majority support in the U.S. House. (Now it's winning substantial Senate support as well.)
He further made abolishing the Fed a major political issue with a bestselling book on the topic and legislation to accomplish that goal.
Now Paul is once again pushing the envelope on monetary policy -- by introducing the boldest and most libertarian monetary reform possible.
On December 9, Paul introduced HR 4248,  the Free Competition in Currency Act. This bill would end the government's monopoly on the creation of money. It would allow the private sector to create alternative currencies to compete head-on with the government dollar.
Says Paul: "Allowing for competing currencies will allow market participants to choose a currency that suits their needs, rather than the needs of the government. The prospect of people turning away from the dollar towards alternate currencies should provide incentive for Congress to regain control of the dollar and halt its downward spiral.
"Restoring soundness to the dollar will remove the government's ability and incentive to inflate the currency and keep us from launching unconstitutional wars that burden our economy to excess. With a sound currency, everyone is better off, not just those who control the monetary system."
The idea may sound radical, but many economists have endorsed it, including Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek.
And the idea has a respectable, if little-known, history in America. According to the National Center for Policy Analysis, before the Civil War many banks in America issued their own paper money, with a guarantee to pay the bearer on demand in gold or silver coin. After the Civil War, however, the government taxed private currencies out of existence, to allow the federal government a currency monopoly and all the benefits (to government) of an inflatable currency.
Will we see Wal-Mart Wampum -- backed by gold? Google Greenbacks? Starbucks Star Bucks?
The debate on this one is going to be fun, and if the idea gathers a fraction of the support that Paul's Audit the Fed bill has, the Establishment is going to be howling. Go, Ron!
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Quick Shots...
RON PAUL'S SIGN: "On the desk in my office  I have a sign that says: 'Don't steal -- the government hates competition.'"
-- U.S. Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), introducing his "Free Competition in Currency Act" (HR 4248) in Congress, December 9, 2009.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA GOES MAINSTREAM: "I think you're having a lot of baby boomers who, all of us, are feeling  a lot of aches and pains [and] are going to decide to try medical marijuana. I personally haven't tried it yet, but I'm not saying someday before I'm done I won't."
-- Colorado state Senator Chris Romer (D), quoted in a December 14, 2009 CNN article on that state's booming medical marijuana business.
TRILLIONS DOWN THE WAR RATHOLE: "Iraq has surpassed Vietnam as the second costliest war in U.S. history, behind the Second World War. That war cost $4 trillion (in inflation-adjusted dollars), while the Vietnam War cost $686 billion, according to a Congressional Research Service study. Afghanistan currently ranks sixth, behind Korea and the First World War, but is on target to surpass both those wars by 2011. With the 30,000 troop surge recently announced by President Barack Obama, the annual cost of the Afghan War is set to top Iraq."
-- CBC News, December 13, 2009.
CONGRESS VS. THE NEXT GENERATION: "Congress feels entitled to spend with a blank check a nd little regard for the future of our economic stability. We are swimming in a sea of red ink that will drown any chance our children have for prosperity or even a decent standard of living."
-- U.S. Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), December 9, 2009.
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"Good News, Bad News, Unbelievable News" is written by Liberator Online editor James W. Harris. His articles have appeard 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."
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 Persuasion
Power Point
By Michael Cloud
How You Can Cool Down Heated Attacks on Libertarianism
Politics inflames the passions. Yours, mine, and those of others.
Political conversations can move from calm and thoughtful to enraged and irrational in just moments.
Once they get hot and hostile, we stop listening to and reasoning with each other.
I've been in these kinds of conversations. Many times. I'll bet you have, too.
Would you like a simple way to cool down these heated exchanges? A way to bring them back to calm and reasoned discussions?
Suppose you're making a case for ending drug prohibition and the War on Drugs. Your listener responds, "Are you out of your $#@!%&! mind?! You want millions of children to start using heroin or crystal meth? You don't care if airline pilots or car drivers smoke dope and endanger us all!!"
You probably know facts and arguments that would rebut or refute his remarks. But would they open his mind -- and perhaps win him to your side?
Here's one approach that can and does: "You've raised 3 really important questions. 1) Will ending drug prohibition lead to millions of children using heroin, crystal meth, and other hard drugs? 2) Which policy leads to more children using hard and dangerous drugs: ending drug prohibition? Or today's drug prohibition? 3) If we end drug prohibition, will we allow pilots or drivers to fly or drive under-the-influence of marijuana? Would you say that those are fair summaries of your questions? (Get confirmation.) Great! let's go back to your first question..." [Lay out your facts and arguments in favor of your answer to the first question. Then ask for his thoughts about it. Do the same thing with question 2 and 3.]
In just 40 seconds, this approach can dial down the emotional intensity. We can move from hostility to hospitality.
Here are the 4 simple steps.
1. Listen for the meanings and concerns behind his passionate words.
2. Translate them into emotionally-neutral and accurate statements or questions. Do NOT refer to them as objections, attacks, arguments, or criticisms. Those words make you adversaries. DO call them points, concerns, or questions. These words offer cooperation. Then convert the remarks into emotionally-neutral, accurate, and fair statements and questions.
3. Ask him if he agrees that your re-phrasings are fair and accurate.
4. Answer each point.
You can use this approach with conversations about minimum wage, fair trade vs. free trade, universal health care, single-payer health care, Fair Tax vs. Flat Tax, blue laws, right to keep and bear arms, foreign aid vs. private trade, the gold standard, or any other political/economic issues.
You can use it with political or economic or social issues. With business or family matters. With public or private concerns.
This 4-step approach slows down the conversation for a moment. It lets the other person pause and reflect on the issues.
It takes the emotionally-charged words out of the conversation. It replaces them with fair and reasonable words.
It allows us to think and talk over important things.
And that's all liberty ever needs.
Because the facts are friendly to freedom.
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Michael Cloud is author of the acclaimed book Secrets of Libertarian Persuasion, available exclusively from the Advocates.
In 2000, Michael was honored with the Thomas Paine Award as the Most Persuasive Libertarian Communicator in America.
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 Short Answers
to Tough Questions
by Dr. Mary J. Ruwart
What's the solution to the problem of impoverished mothers having children they can't afford?
QUESTION: What is the libertarian position on unrestricted pregnancies by those that can't afford them? A whole host of social problems are caused by parents who can't afford to support their children, including overcrowded classrooms; jails filled with criminals of all levels; reductions in benefits to others; and more. And these children in turn repeat the cycle when they become of age.
MY SHORT ANSWER: Years ago, when I rented housing to low income tenants, young unwed teens would frankly tell me that their pregnancy helped them to establish their own household. One mother of three even advised me to quit my day job so that I could get welfare and enjoy life!
When you subsidize anything, you get more of it. Paying teens even a pittance to have more children encourages them to do so. By the time they are old enough to vote, they finally realize that they will always be poor unless they can get into the work force. By then, however, it is almost too late. Unless a relative helps out, child care costs are prohibitive for someone starting in an entry level job. They find themselves forever stuck in the "Poverty Trap."
In contrast, when welfare programs stop paying women to have children, pregnancies plummet.
A libertarian society wouldn't have taxpayer-guaranteed programs to reward those who had children that they couldn't afford, so fewer would. Unlike government, liberty rewards, and thus encourages, responsible behavior. Parents, children and society as a whole would benefit enormously.
LEARN MORE: The Cato Institute Handbook for Congress notes: "There is strong evidence that directly links the availability of welfare with the increase in out-of-wedlock births. ...Children raised in families on welfare are seven times more likely to become dependent on welfare than are other children... Welfare contributes to crime by destroying family structure and breaking down the bonds of community." Cato proposes fixing the situation by ending welfare and tearing down government-created barriers to job growth and entrepreneurship.
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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 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 books Healing Our World and Short Answers to the Tough Questions are available from the Advocates.
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One-Minute
Liberty Tip
The First Rule of Libertarian Communication?
by Sharon Harris
This may be The First Rule of Libertarian Communication: Don't turn people off to libertarianism. Don't ruin a potential recruit. Don't leave him or her with a distaste for libertarians and libertarianism.
It usually takes people several exposures to a new idea before they are willing to seriously consider it and embrace it. (In fact, if they adopt it too quickly, without reflection, they may abandon it just as quickly when the next new idea comes along.)
So when you meet people new to libertarianism, it's not your job to convert them in one session. Though it could happen, it probably won't. Resist the temptation to browbeat them, to argue, to grab them by the lapels and convince them of every detail of your views. (I know, it's hard to resist sometimes! But try.)
Your goal as a libertarian communicator in most of these situations is simply to make a good impression and provide some useful and intriguing information. Smile. Listen to their concerns. Offer some good ideas. Find what issues are important to your listeners, and agree with them whenever you honestly can. Show them you're a good person who shares their concerns(remember the Ransberger Pivot). Leave them with a few of those pocket-sized copies of the World's Smallest Political Quiz that you always carry with you. (Quiz cards are designed so each is a self-contained outreach kit, and they're available online from the Advocates Liberty Store.
Then, the next time this person encounters libertarian ideas -- in a letter to the editor, on TV or radio, or in person -- he will remember his first encounter pleasantly, and will be better prepared to explore these ideas further.
 You want him to think along these lines: "That libertarian guy I met last month was pleasant and interesting, and his ideas were intriguing. I agreed with a lot of what he had to say. And now here's another good idea from a libertarian. I need to look more deeply into libertarianism."
This may sound like a simple tip. But believe me: it is crucial. When you identify yourself to someone as a libertarian, you instantly become, for that person, the public face of the whole libertarian movement.
Many, many people have been permanently turned off to libertarian ideas simply because the first libertarian they encountered acted in a way they found offensive, or presented the ideas in ways they found objectionable or obnoxious. And that's a tragedy.
First, Do No Harm. That's great advice for doctors -- and libertarian communicators, too.
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Sharon Harris is president of the Advocates for Self-Government. See more One Minute Liberty tips.
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Joining the conversation is easy. If you don't already have a Twitter account, it only takes a few moments to sign up for one.
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About Us
THE LIBERATOR ONLINE, created by James W. Harris and Paul Schmidt, is the official newsletter of the Advocates for Self-Government.
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"May it be to the world... to assume the blessings and security of self-government." -- Thomas Jefferson, June 24, 1826.
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