Idea: Converting America to Libertarianism

[dr. hfn]

I think the movement should unite (including organizations) and fund the publication of libertarian books. Imagine 24 authors being funded by the movement. A Libertarian book is released every month for like 2 years and we promote each book.

What do you think?

[Epic]

It's tough to centrally plan liberty... everyone's got their own idea in how, if everyone just did what they want, then liberty could be spread most effectively.

Best to do yourself what you think is right, and others may just join in.

[dr. hfn]

Repetition and saturation works wonders. I think if the word "libertarian" were in the title of everyone of these 24 books in 24 months then we would grow the movement alot.

[Flash]

I think the best idea would be organizing in one area. Such as the Free State Project & New Hampshire. Then we elect politicians who change the laws to make the state as Libertarian as possible, proving to the rest of the country that Libertarianism works.

I like the book idea too but it may be too hard to try to get Liberals to read these books.

[TCE]

When I talk to people, they almost always agree with what I have to say. The problem is, we as a movement are so divided in our approaches that it is impossible to see what is working and what isn't. We need to all revolve around a few talking points that can be agreed upon and work them. Examples:

* Everything the government operates is running at a deficit, why should we let them run health care?

* The government says that medicare, medicaid, and social security will be $55 trillion in debt in the next ten years, the Dallas Federal Reserve says $99 trillion, we need to change the way entitlements work.

* Why would the Federal Government force a person at gunpoint to take a vaccine that hasn't been thoroughly tested for safety?

There are others and better ones, those are just what I thought of off the top of my head.

EDIT: I am all for the Free State Project.

[JeNNiF00F00]

Sounds great but how do you get the general public to read?

[dr. hfn]

Sounds great but how do you get the general public to read?

Alot of people read already. But we could use the grassroots to promote the books.

[Sic Semper Tyrannis]

If we can make atleast one good "hollywood" style movie, then we've done it. We need a good director and alot of money, then we could make an action packed yet educational libertarian blockbuster film.

We could make a movie like, for example, where the dollar collapses due to the Fed Reserve, and martial law is enacted, and the libertarians are the only ones that can set the country straight.

That would reach out to the masses that don't read.

[nayjevin]

If we can make atleast one good "hollywood" style movie, then we've done it. We need a good director and alot of money, then we could make an action packed yet educational libertarian blockbuster film.

We could make a movie like, for example, where the dollar collapses due to the Fed Reserve, and martial law is enacted, and the libertarians are the only ones that can set the country straight.

That would reach out to the masses that don't read.


good idea, I agree. film is more powerful to more people. readers generally have ideas that involve books, and we're readers, but the masses sponge up media. I like the idea in the OP though, the direction is good. Reminds me of how during the campaign there was an unwritten but effective practice of putting RP08 in the title of youtube videos to make them easily searchable.

[hugolp]

If we can make atleast one good "hollywood" style movie, then we've done it. We need a good director and alot of money, then we could make an action packed yet educational libertarian blockbuster film.

We could make a movie like, for example, where the dollar collapses due to the Fed Reserve, and martial law is enacted, and the libertarians are the only ones that can set the country straight.

That would reach out to the masses that don't read.

Have you seen V de Vendetta? I know its more like anarchisim, but you have to love that movie.

It had famous actors, it was hollywood style produced, yet it was mainly ignored. I think you are ignoring the fact that we live in controlled societies and the distribution channel is as important as making the movie. And the distribution channels are controlled.

[webstar]

For libertarianism to spread and become a majority belief among the American people the answer is simple. Americans must come to believe that libertarianism will help improve their lives and the society in which they live in. It is about ideas with results and not media tactics. We have books. We have movies. We have exposure on the net. What we do not have is an active political party which succeeds in taking out message to the American people and selling them on it and translating it into success at the ballot box where it counts.

Why do the candidates the Libertarian Party puts before the American people do so poorly year after year? And please have the honesty to NOT blame everyone else in the other main parties.

Why did the Libertarian Party candidate for President of the USA in the last few elections get less than one-half of one-percent of the peoples votes? And again, please, before we blame others, lets look at ourselves.

Answer those questions honestly and you will have information to answer the topic question.

[Kraig]

I do think education is by far the most important issue if we are going to change our sociey, how you go about that is debateable.

[dr. hfn]

For libertarianism to spread and become a majority belief among the American people the answer is simple. Americans must come to believe that libertarianism will help improve their lives and the society in which they live in. It is about ideas with results and not media tactics. We have books. We have movies. We have exposure on the net. What we do not have is an active political party which succeeds in taking out message to the American people and selling them on it and translating it into success at the ballot box where it counts.

Why do the candidates the Libertarian Party puts before the American people do so poorly year after year? And please have the honesty to NOT blame everyone else in the other main parties.

Why did the Libertarian Party candidate for President of the USA in the last few elections get less than one-half of one-percent of the peoples votes? And again, please, before we blame others, lets look at ourselves.

Answer those questions honestly and you will have information to answer the topic question.

Because the tyrants have shut us out of the debates, that is the single biggest reason. They cut out our legs.

[dr. hfn]

Have you seen V de Vendetta? I know its more like anarchisim, but you have to love that movie.

It had famous actors, it was hollywood style produced, yet it was mainly ignored. I think you are ignoring the fact that we live in controlled societies and the distribution channel is as important as making the movie. And the distribution channels are controlled.

V for Vendetta did well, it made 132 Million dollars on a 54 Mil budget. It has sold over 3 million dvds and got good reviews. V for Vendetta wasn't ignored at all. What we are lacking in this form of media is repetition and saturation, we need more films like this. Children of Men is another good film and the upcoming 2081 is good but won't be in theaters.

[PaulaGem]

I think the movement should unite (including organizations) and fund the publication of libertarian books. Imagine 24 authors being funded by the movement. A Libertarian book is released every month for like 2 years and we promote each book.

What do you think?

You've defined an oxymoron - you know, like "military intelligence", "government service", "reality TV", "holy war", "clean coal".

If you are trying to convert people to an "ism" of any sort you aren't very libertarian.

What you should be doing is trying to free people's mind of preconceived political and social models so we can come together as a society of patriots looking for new solutions.

[hugolp]

V for Vendetta did well, it made 132 Million dollars on a 54 Mil budget. It has sold over 3 million dvds and got good reviews. V for Vendetta wasn't ignored at all. What we are lacking in this form of media is repetition and saturation, we need more films like this. Children of Men is another good film and the upcoming 2081 is good but won't be in theaters.

It did not do very good here. I am downloading Children of Men.

[heavenlyboy34]

I think the movement should unite (including organizations) and fund the publication of libertarian books. Imagine 24 authors being funded by the movement. A Libertarian book is released every month for like 2 years and we promote each book.

What do you think?

Sounds a helluva lot smarter than using coercive force (running for gov'ment). This approach seems to be working well for LRC! :cool::D:)

[SimpleName]

If we can make atleast one good "hollywood" style movie, then we've done it. We need a good director and alot of money, then we could make an action packed yet educational libertarian blockbuster film.

We could make a movie like, for example, where the dollar collapses due to the Fed Reserve, and martial law is enacted, and the libertarians are the only ones that can set the country straight.

That would reach out to the masses that don't read.

That is probably most effective. I was writing a New World Order script for personal pleasure. So hard to organize everything. But that is a different topic. Nonetheless, we need a big studio to produce and distribute it. Since they're all owned by corrupt liberal corporations...it should be rather tough. Lion's Gate anyone?

[nayjevin]

Don't necessarily have to come up with millions of dollars. There are good movies that exist already that can be recommended.

There are some movies that send the right message IMO (V for Vendetta? almost, though it's the questions it brings up more than the violent actions of V). Unfortunately there are many more movies that seem pretty good but draw too many bad conclusions to be wise choices as #1 recommendations (Eagle Eye, I Robot examples).

A few I do like:
Minority Report
Equilibrium
The Island
Gran Torino
The Killing Fields
Apocalypse Now

and then maybe,
Star Wars
Brave New World? 1984? (I haven't even seen them)
American Gangster
Any good Rand movies?

Theres also the lists (education for liberty (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/nuwiki.php?do=book.view&bookid=7)) on the wiki. Spreading these around is always a good idea.

[dr. hfn]

2081
Children of Men

[AbolishTheGovt]

We would multiply our numbers by 10x in a matter of a couple years, if we all saturated our newspapers with paid-for ads, published articles, and letters to the editor. The movers and shakers read the newspapers.

Take a look at the counties in the 2008 primaries whose local newspapers got saturated by Ron Paul supporters, and those counties whose local newspapers were neglected by the Ron Paul movement.

[nayjevin]

We would multiply our numbers by 10x in a matter of a couple years, if we all saturated our newspapers with paid-for ads, published articles, and letters to the editor. The movers and shakers read the newspapers.

Take a look at the counties in the 2008 primaries whose local newspapers got saturated by Ron Paul supporters, and those counties whose local newspapers were neglected by the Ron Paul movement.

I wouldn't know where to look to find out if this is true, but if those numbers could be put together it could be quite important in directing us as to where money ought be spent.

[SolusSLX]

I think any info campaign would have to be sustained to affect any change in most people's thinking. They might start to see one aspect of liberty for a little while, but if they go right back to watching the MSM they will be hypnotized back into submission. Some people might get the fire to know more, but most people probably will not. The MSM has non-stop coverage to dismiss any rouge ideas and promote their own while keeping the masses entertained, and most people are glued to the MSM for their entertainment habit.

Heh, people get excited about sports, maybe the best way to get people excited about liberty is a libertarian themed national sports team versus other national sports teams, and then get the US MSM interested in it.

Also about the movie vs books: It's better to have many eggs in many baskets rather than all your eggs in one basket. If the big plan fails then you're out of resources and you've gained nothing.

[heavenlyboy34]

I think the movement should unite (including organizations) and fund the publication of libertarian books. Imagine 24 authors being funded by the movement. A Libertarian book is released every month for like 2 years and we promote each book.

What do you think?

More effective than working with the State by FAR!! :cool::D:)

[dr. hfn]

We would multiply our numbers by 10x in a matter of a couple years, if we all saturated our newspapers with paid-for ads, published articles, and letters to the editor. The movers and shakers read the newspapers.

Take a look at the counties in the 2008 primaries whose local newspapers got saturated by Ron Paul supporters, and those counties whose local newspapers were neglected by the Ron Paul movement.

I really like this idea, it could work together with my book idea. I'm not big on hollywood movies b/c they cost so much to make. These two ideas are for print, bt the future is electronic media. We should also desgin computer and phone apps and advertise online.

[TastyWheat]

The best way to spread the liberty message, in my opinion, is through mass media. Having our own TV network would be very difficult and expensive so I think we should concentrate on the radio market.