Barry Klein
12-25-2013, 12:23 AM
I am an activist who works at the local level. I have assembled several tactics that can be used to nudge the country back to liberty.
I propose an incremental approach marked by solid victories.....real on-the-ground policy change.
The strategy is one that has liberty loving Americans racking up victories by actually writing law at the local level in home rule cities and becoming more effective when organized as pressure groups for freedom. There is a wonderful 30 page booklet to explain the steps, Local Ballot Measures, published by the Lucy Burns Instiute.
Liberty activists can get quick traction with a strategy for reform that I call Policy Politics.
These tactics require little money or volunteer time and, experience tells me, bring a high prospect of success.
The central premise is that the freedom movement needs victories and a one-issue-at-a-time game plan gives us a way to make that happen by looking first at cities whity charters that can be amended by citizen action, making us "citizen legislators."
Since the US has 23,000 cities and 3,000 counties, and most are small population jurisdictions, mere handfuls of activists can be effective in most settings with a few months of work. In some cases, such as petition drives conducted on election days in the smallest of cities, a few HOURS of work.
Furthermore, each victory can bring small government activists closer to policy minded individuals in their areas who are not motivated by a hunger for liberty but would open relationships in which attitudes can be changed.
Fortunately, at the local level, victories are quickly achievable if one works on policy and strategically selects the time to work an issue, such as when a scandal hits the media putting officeholders in disgrace, or when a reform proposal is so meritorious it cannot be discredited, such as one that calls for full transparency on a city or county website.
Success in policy politics can lead to more success.
If anyone is interested I would be happy to send him or her information about these tactics which revolve around coalition building, election day petition drives, block-walking, amending city charters, and acquiring voter email addresses to create Liberty Voter Blocs.
I will include examples of one of these ideas already in play.
Barry Klein
Pres./ Houston Property Rights Association
713-224-4144
For more info, look for info on home rule states on Wikipedia.
I propose an incremental approach marked by solid victories.....real on-the-ground policy change.
The strategy is one that has liberty loving Americans racking up victories by actually writing law at the local level in home rule cities and becoming more effective when organized as pressure groups for freedom. There is a wonderful 30 page booklet to explain the steps, Local Ballot Measures, published by the Lucy Burns Instiute.
Liberty activists can get quick traction with a strategy for reform that I call Policy Politics.
These tactics require little money or volunteer time and, experience tells me, bring a high prospect of success.
The central premise is that the freedom movement needs victories and a one-issue-at-a-time game plan gives us a way to make that happen by looking first at cities whity charters that can be amended by citizen action, making us "citizen legislators."
Since the US has 23,000 cities and 3,000 counties, and most are small population jurisdictions, mere handfuls of activists can be effective in most settings with a few months of work. In some cases, such as petition drives conducted on election days in the smallest of cities, a few HOURS of work.
Furthermore, each victory can bring small government activists closer to policy minded individuals in their areas who are not motivated by a hunger for liberty but would open relationships in which attitudes can be changed.
Fortunately, at the local level, victories are quickly achievable if one works on policy and strategically selects the time to work an issue, such as when a scandal hits the media putting officeholders in disgrace, or when a reform proposal is so meritorious it cannot be discredited, such as one that calls for full transparency on a city or county website.
Success in policy politics can lead to more success.
If anyone is interested I would be happy to send him or her information about these tactics which revolve around coalition building, election day petition drives, block-walking, amending city charters, and acquiring voter email addresses to create Liberty Voter Blocs.
I will include examples of one of these ideas already in play.
Barry Klein
Pres./ Houston Property Rights Association
713-224-4144
For more info, look for info on home rule states on Wikipedia.