Advice to New Libertarians Coming from the Left, part 1

Right now the Left is angry. The Left is afraid of their government. No one should fear their own government; it should be the other way around!

To the new libertarians coming from the left: you’ve seen the incompetence in Young Democrats and the College Democrats of America, and you see how corrupt and ineffective the DNC has become. You see from Hillary Clinton's ridiculous book that progressives will never take responsibility for running an awful candidate and campaign. You see how completely ridiculous the whole situation is and you’ve absolutely had it with political parties.

I like that you’ve lost your patience. I’m truly glad you have. It’s lit a fire under your ass. It’s made you hungry for empowerment and I can just sense you wanting to take radical action.

This is some good advice for new libertarians coming from the Left, courtesy of someone who was once also an outsider slowly testing these strange waters.

The libertarian way is the Golden Rule. The basic philosophy is the "non-aggression principle." Don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff.

After that, most of us believe in the free market--NOT crony capitalism, not taxpayer funded bailouts, not regulations written by lobbyists, and not the government picking winners and losers like with the TARP bailouts. Show me shadiness in capitalism and I’ll show you government fingerprints. Government has long been the primary tool of oppression against the working classes. After that, we basically want gay married couples to be able to defend their tax-free marijuana plants with automatic weapons.

Also, keep in mind there are different factions of libertarians just like there are different factions on the Left and even inside the Democrat Party. You’ve got your Ron Paul good old-timey states’ rights conservative libertarians; then your limited-government mainstream libertarians who believe in the night watchman state; and of course, the black-and-yellow anarchists who believe that free and uninhibited human interaction will get things done A LOT better than any type of central government.

Figure out what issues inspire and motivate you.

What are some issues you want to tackle the most? If you were able to rally the disillusioned masses and march tomorrow, what would be your top grievance? For some people it’ll be the endless undeclared, unconstitutional wars abroad. For others, it’ll be ending the Federal Reserve, or fixing the shattered health care system, or ending the federally-imposed war on drugs, or securing clean air and water, or prison reform.

Whatever your top issue is, you need to do your research on libertarian solutions to these problems so you can later educate others and begin planning for change tailored to that issue. Two excellent sources for lots of great reading that’s easy to understand are the Foundation for Economic Education and the Ludwig von Mises Institute. If you’re a college student, you ought to link up with Students for Liberty and Young Americans for Liberty. Next, if you're politically involved or want to be, I recommend joining the Libertarian Party. Some people love to hate on the L.P. but I've never heard a complaint about the L.P. that couldn't be solved by the complainer showing up and doing something to improve the party's environment or productivity.

Continued tomorrow with more advice in Part 2

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