Give Them Hope!
This article was featured in our weekly newsletter, the Liberator Online. To receive it in your inbox, sign up here.
I took the opportunity to see the movie Sausage Party (REMINDER: THIS MOVIE IS NOT SAFE FOR KIDS) over the weekend. While filled with raunchy adult humor and innuendo, near the end of the film, there was a line of dialogue that struck me as important for our conversations with those who aren’t libertarians yet… Give them hope!
Conversations about politics right now center around how terrible both old parties’ candidates for president are, and we have a terrific opportunity to discuss libertarian ideas in the vacuum without any good ideas.
In the movie, there is a moment when the lead character can shatter an entire belief system (and does) to share the truth. He has two choices: he can disrespect their beliefs as he tears down their entire way of life, or he can offer them hope as he shows them the truth. At first, he adopts the former, yet moves toward the latter as he sees no fruit borne by his first efforts.
As libertarians, we should strive to adopt the second route.
We are LITERALLY the only people who can offer a world that is peaceful, prosperous, and free.
We need to offer the hope that outcome provides as we bring more people toward our way of thinking.
Think about it for a minute… We’re opening their eyes to something that goes against what the authoritarians have been touting their entire lives. We can either persuade them gently and bring them into the fold, or we can disrespect everything they’ve known their entire lives and lose them.
Those who want control and to use force over others build up the tool they use… The government.  They portray it as the only way to do anything, regardless of consequence. Our ideas and beliefs run counter to that, and that change is often hard to swallow after a life filled with being taught what we know to be false.
So, when we work to change hearts and minds, we can do so with a welcoming elegance and grace, shepherding our new brothers and sister in liberty to embrace what we already do, or we can do so clumsily and without lasting effect.
Posted on August 25, 2016
Comments are off
Tags:authoritarians,candidates,free,From Me To You,give them hope,good ideas,government,hope,Liberator Online,Libertarians,old parties,opportunity,outcome,peaceful,politics,President,prosperous,raunchy adult humor,Sausage Party,share the truth,shatter an entire belief system,vacuum,way of thinking
Brett Bittner serves as the Executive Director of the Advocates for Self-Government. Originally from Georgia, Brett has lived in South Carolina, Texas, Alabama, and Indiana. The Indianapolis resident was Marketing Director for The Advocates before becoming the Executive Director in April 2015. Prior, he served in multiple roles for the Libertarian Party, including Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of Georgia, Chairman of the Libertarian State Leadership Alliance (LSLA), and Chairman of the largest county affiliate in Georgia. In addition to his Libertarian Party credentials, Brett also served as a member of the Marietta City School Board, being elected in a special election to fulfill an unexpired term and re-elected the following year to a full term. He also served on the Steering Committee for Get A Move On ATL, a project of the Civic League of Regional Atlanta. Currently, he also serves as founder, and on the board, of the the Indianapolis chapter of America’s Future Foundation. He addresses civic and leadership groups throughout on current issues and free-market solutions. He is a frequent contributor to newspapers and radio programs around the country and spent two years providing free-market perspectives as a commentator on a daily Liberty Express radio program.