Backyard Activism

[revolutionman]

I was watching a program that shall go unnamed, and its content mostly undescribed.

The show have me an idea. Its not new, or fancy or grandiose, and I'm sure some people are already doing this.

these people pass out literature, flyers and pamphlets outlining certain aspects of their ideology, and on the same piece of paper is an invite to a backyard BBQ or house party, with free food and drink.

Anyone who doesn't agree with the ideological aspects of the piece will simply discard the flyer, those who agree will show up, so its important, that in order to captivate a the widest audience possible, that the literature not be abrasive, or confrontational. A percentage of those parties who receive the flyers and word of mouth, will show up. The percentage is pretty low so even if you blanket the town, dont expect more than 4 or 5 people.

Once they are at the event enjoying themselves, you can engage them in ideological discussion. Ideally you would have a few friends to help you chat them up.

Do this every few months to slowly build the libertarian/conservative base in your area.

[Roxi]

excellent post! this tactic was beneficial during the RP08 campaign and created a lot of friendships as well as supporters.

:)

[kathy88]

What a GREAT idea. I want to have a barbecue :)

[revolutionman]

summer is coming!
Why not have fun and help America at the same time!?

It doesn't have to all be about marching around for publicity or whoring for media attention, its a grass roots activity, its not grass blades activity. Its meant to be away from the limelight. Its good to make your presence known, but its more important to nurture and grow the movement, than to show it off on the local news. When your hard work starts to pay off in local elections, you wont need media coverage for everyone to know that the local freedom movement is playing in the big leagues.

[revolutionman]

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/106/l_1742006b1579488bbed976e573b81ad5.jpg

this is a sample i whipped up in all of half an hour. There was no planning or forethought used in this design, The pictures were grabbed from google images, the header I made using tools at cooltext.com, and everything else was just off the top of my head.

Anyone with a few hours to brainstorm and play with design concepts could do better than me, and all i used was MS paint, the internet and copy&paste. It doesn't take any know how or expertise, unless you wanna really go crazy with original designs and all that. None of that is necessary for a flyer announcing a BBQ.

The thing that took me the most time was the written statement, which is obviously not very well thought out or written.

A total amateur should be able to produce something pretty sharp in a couple of hours.

There are no shortage of talented hands in the movement that might be willing to help though.

[ronpaulhawaii]

Great idea :D

[CaseyJones]

bump

[revolutionman]

i'll hit it up one last time.

[Roxi]

we should all plan a bunch of these in the same week!

maybe coinciding with school getting out or something?

[revolutionman]

that would be great, but its not even necessary.
This type of activity doesn't really warrant that kind of oversight or management.

the idea is that local liberty activists can act alone, or in collusion with a small group of friends or acquaintances from meetups or LP meetings, or whatever.

Think small autonomous units that function separately from a larger group that shares the same ultimate goal. If you wanna do yours in June thats awesome, if some one else can manage to organize a big party on july 4th thats awesome too, if some one wants to do it on may 19, whatever! whatever works for you on the local level and suits your target audience, thats what you should do.