Strategy for Success

[d_goddard]

On another thread, the issue of volunteerism came up, and the importance of it.

This connects with a lot I've been thinking about.... specifically, I have in the following five-step Strategy for Success.
1. Volunteer
2. Protest, where applicable and effective
3. Be the Media
4. Help pro-liberty candidates
5. Run for office: local, then State Rep

I honestly believe, from what I've observed in a little over a year in New Hampshire, that 200-300 people doing the above steps are sufficient to bring this state to a "tipping point" where we'll see rapid change.

The above is in approximately chronological order. The moment your boots land in New Hampshire, you:
1. Find someplace to volunteer. It's critically important! (see below)
2. When there is a protest, if it seems like a carefully thought-out one, if it seems to you like a nonviolent, noncooperative redress of specific grievances, lend your support to it (however you feel comfortable).
3. Write LTEs, start newspapers, get on TV or radio, write blogs.
4. Help pro-liberty candidates win elections. See the LP, NHLA, RLC-NH, or the DFC. Offer to help them out. There's plenty to do; you just need to show up.
5. If you believe you have the patience and the capacity, run for office. Start local.

I realize not everyone will agree, that's why I'm starting a thread
I'll also be posting more details to my blog, one of these days.

But, I wanted to get things started here.

VOLUNTEER

volunteering is extremely important, and is possibly the best way to express the interconnectedness of all people in a positive way. i respect those methods deeply.

I agree.  Volunteering and charity is a well-used and successful way to get people to trust you enough to thrust you into government power.  Ask Hamas.

Funny you mention it.
The July 8th edition of The Economist has a survey of Pakistan.
It goes into detail about how, after the major earthquake in Kashmir earlier this year, militant Islamist charities were the first to arrive with aid, and "are doing so still, long after most foreign agencies came and went, and Kashmiris are indebted to them."
And yes, some of these same "charities" are also sponsoring terrorist attacks on infidels, jews, and crusaders elsewhere.

The lesson?
Volunteer
A few months of volunteer work means you can do something that would normally make people think you're a wacko and should be jailed -- and instead, people want to know why you think that way, want to understand your reasons, and are ready to take your side.

Among other things, the article says:

Islamists have an influence in Pakistan far greater than their vote-count Suggests. Take education. At the time of its creation, Pakistan had a couple of hundred Islamic schools, or madrassas. Now, having failed to build up a decent education system, it has accumulated between 10,000 and 40,000 madrassas -- up to 20% of which, according to a World Bank study, teach fighting skills.

Just think about what that implies. Suppose 5 or 10 private, but extremely affordable, schools opened up in NH, and they all taught that Capitalism is a good thing, that Free Trade is how humans can live together without violence or force, that the founders of the United States were opposed to a tax rate of 1%, that all sources of information must be questioned - including the government... and so on...!

About the influences for liberal thought and peaceful co-existance, the article says:

Across Pakistan [...] fiber-optic cables are being laid. Television viewers can increasingly receive foreign including Indian ones [...] Pakinstan's beleaguered liberals are hoping for a cultural return ... According to Khaled Ahmed, a Pakistani columnist: "If we lost our culture through Talibanisation in the west [of the country], we can get it back from India, where it is still alive."

Translating that to our situation is easy, it's another drum I like to pound:
Be the Media
Thanks to folks like Ian and Gardner Goldsmith, there are Free-Market voices on the radio here in NH every day.
Thanks to Kat and Russ and others, the KFP is gaining a readership.
Thanks to folks like Jason Rand, and bloggers like Seth (yes, like Seth) the "virtual" space has our message.
Thanks to folks like Jeff Kassell, the McGuires, and Steve Vallaincourt, local cable television has a libertarian perspective.
We need more people doing all of the above!

[Braddogg]

Mmm, I was completely serious about the Islamofacist approach being a good one.  The moderately informed like to play the victory of Hamas up as a triumph of terrorism, but it was really a triumph of volunteerism over corruption.  We DO need to volunteer.  These first three steps sound great.  Starting our own media, like FTL, like the KFP, and LTEs are key.  Getting libertarians in academia would be great.  Starting a school would be interesting, though the market for free-market-minded teachers is probably slim at the moment (and I'd prefer to set up a support structure for "unschooling," or "autodidactic education" than a sit-down-and-learn school).  If we want people to trust us, we have to give them reason to do so.  And if we want them to turn away from government, we have to have structures set up for them, like schools, fire departments, and voluntary public assistance programs.  We have to prove that life with limited (or no) government could work.

[Michael Fisher]

Hezbolla's volunteerism is designed to balance their reputation as terrorists, and it seems to work quite well for them. Since we are not terrorists, or even violent, our volunteerism should go much further toward our good reputation.

I must say, however, that we need to find a way to appeal to emotion for greater responsibility (and thus liberty) or those who appeal to emotion will end up crushing us with statism. Remember the liberty trees, songs, "Common Sense," and other major factors in America's founding.

[Michael Fisher]

Actually, I have a new plan... 

They'll never see this one coming!

[Kat Kanning]

What's the plan?

[FTL_Ian]

If he tells, they'll see it coming!   

Though I'd like to know as well.

[Kat Kanning]

Of what use is a plan no one knows about?

[Lloyd Danforth]

As usefull as an egg still in the chicken........Butterfly

[BaRbArIaN]

I volunteer with my local Jaycees (Junior Chamber of Commerce) chapter.   There are a few big projects they do every year, but in years past there were a lot more people and a lot more small projects for local charities etc.   It seems that all over the country there is a drop in volunteerism.   The reasons vary from  the soccer mom syndrome (where parents rigorously map out every free minute in the kids' schedules for some activity and they get sucked along to support it), people working overtime, second jobs, etc.  Its hard to get more than a small few people interested in doing anything that requires committment of time.  Sad really, we used to have things going almost every other day (tho of course people just picked what interested them but at least there were options to help out at all times).   

Somehow volunteerism needs a PR campaign of its own to encourage people and show them why it is a worthwhile thing to pencil in to their busy schedules.

[firsty]

this is a great thread.

the upcoming 9/11 anniversary is a good opportunity to get involved in publicized volunteerism as well as personal volunteerism.

http://www.mygooddeed.org/

with the fall approaching, shelters will become more valuable and in need of volunteers.

theres also the school year upon us. i have young children, so much of my work revolves around their activities, whether it be coaching soccer, cleaning playgrounds or helping at daycare, etc. and i cant stress this enough - whenever possible, get the kids involved in volunteering. it's not only productive for them and the community, but it's a good way to supplement raising them with positive values.

also, it's important to connect the items that d_g listed as much as possible. the most obvious one to me is to volunteer within already established media efforts. in other words, find blogs/indie news sources that already exist that you can volunteer to help with.

[Michael Fisher]

Of what use is a plan no one knows about?

You already know about it.