Sharpening the Saw For Freedom Fighters
Editor’s Note: My thanks to Bill Starr for his post on what we can do about bigger government infringing on our liberties. 912′ers and Tax Tea Party attendees, and all those unhappy with Obama’s change, take note.
By Bill Starr
I appreciate Kelly Estes giving me an opportunity to share some thoughts with her readers today.
I decided to take a step back from the day-to-day focus on specific issues and address a more long-term topic.
Those of us who are in the trenches fighting for less government and greater individual liberty may wonder, ‘What can we do to enhance our effectiveness in this battle?’
How can we achieve success in the fight for smaller government?
This is what author Stephen Covey called “sharpening the saw” in his popular book, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” — how to “renew yourself” and “increase your capacity to produce and to handle the challenges around you.”
Over the last couple of months, I have been slowly working through the book “Elements of Libertarian Leadership,” written by Leonard Read in 1962. This book has a lot of great advice for those who desire to increase their effectiveness in the fight for liberty, regardless of whether you consider yourself a libertarian, conservative, or some other label.
Mr. Read was the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education, which was the first modern libertarian think tank in the United States. A free PDF download of this book is available here.
Mr. Read died in 1983 at the age of 84. In 1991, Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, wrote an article titled “The Legacy of Leonard E. Read.“
The whole book is worthwhile, but in this article, Mr. Hornberger summarizes it as follows.
Read argued that the best thing to do was to improve one’s self. That is, rather than rushing out to reform the world, a person should instead spend his time reforming and improving himself…
Read’s reasoning was that as a freedom devotee became more and more proficient in explaining the principles of freedom, a greater number of people would become attracted to his line of thinking. As he would often observe during his final lecture at FEE seminars, all the darkness in the world cannot put out the light of one wee candle…
What Read was actually suggesting, I believe, was that nothing worse can befall a good cause than to have it ineptly defended. And so, rather than try to “set others straight,” one should instead concentrate on setting himself straight. In that way, the activities in which freedom devotees become involved — letters to the editor, political activity, speeches, articles, and so forth — will stand a better chance of attracting others to our philosophy…
Another champion of liberty is Mr. David J. Theroux, founder and president of The Independent Institute, a non-partisan, scholarly research and educational organization in Oakland, California.
In a 2003 interview, Mr. Theroux is asked what he thinks are the most effective things an individual can do if he wants to be free. He replies:
“The first thing to do is learn all about the economics, ethics and the history of liberty in order to understand the world and how it got to be the way it is.
The second task is to find readily accessible and effective ways to apply such ideas in order to influence opinion leaders and large numbers of the public.”
I encourage each person who cares about liberty to construct or continue your own personalized program of continuing education on the principles of freedom.
Then find practical ways of putting what you are learning into use by influencing others to learn about and embrace these values as well.
There are many Americans in the trenches, dedicated to restoring individual liberty and shrinking our bloated government. Can we join together on the path to liberty?
Bill Starr
Bill Starr grew up working on the family hog and grain farm in southeast Indiana and has degrees in engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Syracuse University. He is married, with three nearly-grown children, all homeschooled since 1997. Bill enjoys reading and writing about politics, history, and the Austrian school of economics, and is a fan of bluegrass music. You can follow his “tweets” at “http://twitter.com/bill_starr” or read his blog at “http://bill-starr.blogspot.com/“.
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I agree with Mr. Starr in that we do not need to try and influence others until we have educated ourselves. However, one does not need to wait until they are fully educated in order to speak up. A lot of what is going on today is the lack of the use of common sense in DC.
Main-street Americans need to step up and discuss these matters with others. While discussing issues with others an education is being formed, if we are looking up information that deals with each situation.
The problems we have today with government is that there is a whirlwind of issues to deal with and we DON’T have time to fully educate ourselves on all fronts.
There is only one stupid question and that is the question not ask. We need to encourage the average Joes and Janes to speak up and ask the questions on their minds and in their hearts. Then, everyone has a responsibility to get involved in finding the answer. I don’t know about the rest of you but I am at a point of not trusting the so-called experts. Where have we seen their COMMON SENSE? I’m not saying there are not experts out there who have the truths we need, but it is a matter of figuring out where they stand on principles and values of a great and powerful Deity and our founding fathers.
What I see on all forums, that I have visited, is that there are great numbers of members but only a few who post. Hopefully the “silent” are gaining an education from the post, however, it is my belief that the problems we face today is mainly because our silence has allowed our non-representative representatives to act in ways contrary to what is good for America.
Yes, sharpen the saw (minds & hearts), but do not wait to speak up and say what is on your mind. You might be wrong, but you just might have the simple common sense answer to solve a host of issues.
Thanks for your feedback, Beverley.
I agree with you that “progressive improvement beats postponed perfection”.
I was not suggesting that we postpone all action until we are highly educated about liberty, just that we combine meaningful action with a serious continuing self-education program on the principles of liberty.
As I read a little further in “Elements of Libertarian Leadership” today, I came upon the section titled “Accept Each Challenge” on page 147.
In this section, Mr. Read writes, “Most individuals who have any competence in the libertarian philosophy are invited to write and speak… Accept! Initially this will require courage and many aches will ensue… But it is amazing how much thinking and study one will do — once an invitation is accepted — not merely to avoid making a fool of oneself but to appear to others as he, in his secret heart, regards himself! … Look for, rather than run away from, difficult questions posed by others. The search for answers seems to open spigots of the mind. Ideas hitherto undreamed of will begin to flow. The art of becoming is greatly improved by the act of overcoming.”
I think your thoughts echo Mr. Read’s sentiments, and I agree with both of you.
Best regards, Bill Starr
Thu, 21 May 2009, 5:31 pm EDT
Hi Bill,
You were listing some resources that help one become self-educated regarding liberty, its history, and the art of effective persuasion.
I would recommend “The Advocates for Self Government” at http://www.theadvocates.org/
The Advocates for Self-Government is a non-profit, non-partisan libertarian educational organization, founded in 1985 by Marshall Fritz. Their mission is to take the ideas of liberty to the public in an honest, persuasive manner, in the hopes of finding and creating more liberty minded people and to help bring about a more powerful libertarian movement.
They accomplish this by providing education materials and tools that help liberty lovers become effective and successful communicators of libertarian ideas.
Finally, and perhaps most important, they seek to change the dominant political “map” from the old, inaccurate “left-right” model — which excludes libertarians — to a more accurate and inclusive map. The most effective tool they provide to this end is World’s Smallest Political Quiz. http://www.theadvocates.org/quizp/index.html
By getting our society, as individuals to see beyond the illusion of “completeness: created by our bi-partisan system, they hope to open minds to idea that there is broad choice of governing styles that a nation can choose from, and that the most effective, and most fair, is liberty, pure and simple.
Thanks your for some great ideas and an eye opening post.
Duncan Idaho
Memorial Day, 2009, 1:49 pm EDT
Waynesboro, VA