The Left and Right can help achieve libertarian goals Retweet
Our most recent Plans & Progress Dispatch (Nov. 28) dealt with an obvious but overlooked strategic point…
- Politicians pay for opinion polls to discover what you want
- They also, for the same reason, count the positions you take in the messages you send them.
In other words…
It’s foolish to think your letters to Congress don’t count!
They do count. Literally. But you have to remember something crucial… 
Other groups are sending messages too, asking for the opposite of what you want. Does that fill you with despair? It shouldn’t. Do you automatically assume that your position must always be in the minority? Guess again…
Gallup estimates that the Left-Right divide breaks down as follows…
- 36% Right
- 25% Left
Neither side has a majority. And 39% of the populace aligns with neither. So how many are libertarians? We’ve written about this on our educational website, the Zero Aggression Project.
- A Reuters survey finds that 1-in-5 Americans — 64 million people! — self-identify as libertarians and are able to define what that means!
- A study by the Public Religion Research Institute adds credibility. It identified 22 million people as “hardcore libertarian,” and 48 million as libertarian-leaning. 22 + 48 = 70 – very close to the 64 million found by Reuters.
In other words, libertarians make up about 20% of the populace, despite the fact the Left and Right control the media and the schools. That’s really amazing when you think about it. Still, some of the libertarians reading this will feel despair because they’re in third place. Third place loses, right? Well, not exactly, because…
There’s another obvious but overlooked strategic point
Libertarians agree with the Left on some issues and the Right on others. Even better, the Left and the Right disagree with each other more than they do libertarians. This makes libertarianism the “swing position.” Think about what that means…
- When people on the Left are pressuring Congress to liberalize marijuana laws libertarian pressure in the same direction could tip the balance
- When people on the Right are pushing to replace Obamacare with free-market reforms, libertarian pressure in the same direction could make the difference
Seen in this way the real problem is NOT that libertarians are too few in number, but rather, that libertarians are apathetic, inactivate, or simply missing crucial opportunities to take meaningful action. We want to correct these defects. Specifically…
We want to locate all the dormant libertarians and inspire them to action by selling them a believable vision of success
That vision involves three things…
- Exploiting areas of agreement with the Left and Right
- Exploiting ideas that should have universal support, like the One Subject at a Time Act and the Read the Bills Act
- Constantly increase the pressure we exert on Congress
All three things require your assistance. Can you…
- Do every action item we send you that you agree with? This is how we defeat the real enemy, which is apathy and inaction.
- Consider starting a monthly pledge to fund expanded recruitment outreach? Our largest monthly pledger gives $250, our average pledge size is $14.54, and the smallest monthly pledge we can use is $2.
Here’s where we need the pressure today…
- The Read the Bills Act is hot because of the GOP’s failure to let Congress read their tax bill. Have you sent a message on this issue in December? If not, please do so now.
- What about the One Subject at a Time Act? Try to send a message on this at least once a month. We want the pressure we exert to constantly expand. That means we need our old supporters to constantly push on Congress.
- Please also consider making a contribution or starting a monthly pledge so we can find and activate more dormant libertarians. Since Monday morning, we’ve spent $42 on advertising to find 69 new subscribers to this newsletter. And to them we say, “Welcome!”
Thanks for being an ACTIVE DC Downsizer,
Perry Willis & Jim Babka
Downsize DC
One Comment
How hard is it to get something on the ballot for all Americans? i.e. 2 term limits for congress and senate. eliminate congress and senate to social security instead of their own retirement program and no special medical dental programs? Make it illegal for congress to vote special programs for themselves.