I Chose Liberty - Ludwig von Mises Institute

274 I Chose Liberty: Autobiographies of Contemporary Libertarians
them—who used to put all their faith in the state but have wised up. I know of almost no
former free market advocates who have come to the view that central planning is the way
to go. The drift is almost entirely in our direction.
Pessimism, moreover, is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You don’t work as hard for anything
if you don’t think it will prevail, which only assures its defeat. I never feel as though I have
to win over every hard-core statist. If they are incorrigible, I just smile and tell them that
they’re on the losing side and it’s only a matter of time before they jump ship. Just explain
to them that liberty will ultimately prevail and there’s no point in believing otherwise.
That doesn’t mean, however, that those of us who believe in liberty can just sit back
and let history take its course. We must devote maximum time and energy on its behalf.
What a person can do in this regard comes under two headings: (1) Introspection and
Improvement and (2) Outreach.
Each person needs to start by honestly assessing his own personal set of skills, talents,
resources, and knowledge base. Get your own life in order, be a burden to no one, seek
nothing from others through the political process except that they leave you alone, be a
model in everything you do that will lead and inspire others by example. Take charge of
your life, accept all your responsibilities at home and elsewhere without hesitation. And get
your mental attitude in shape—by which I mean things like have a healthy sense of humor,
a good feel for both your strengths and weaknesses, a bubbly optimism. Be a good citizen
who respects the lives and property of others. You can’t expect to be free if you support
making others less free. Make your life a nonstop learning journey—read and become as
informed about freedom in all its aspects as you can possibly be.
Take care of that and then you’re in good shape to engage in Outreach. It starts by
recognizing that liberty depends on its believers becoming teachers of liberty. Once you’ve
assessed what you do best—whether it be writing, speaking, encouraging others in oneon-one,
intimate settings, or just writing checks and providing advice to others who do
these things on behalf of liberty, then get off your duff and do it.
The single greatest threat to liberty is ignorance. Most people who don’t support liberty
have not come to that view because they’ve read the literature extensively and decided
against it. They’ve just never been exposed to a coherent, persuasive case for it. They’re
certainly not getting it from the government schools or the establishment media. Education
is still the number one challenge we liberty advocates face. We simply must reach more
people, and develop more clever and attractive appeals.
In a policy sense, the greatest threats to liberty are these: the government school
monopoly, blind support of the state in every “emergency” (in the wake of 9/11, we’re seeing
growing encroachments on liberty with little to show for it), and a large segment of the
population that would rather vote for a living than work for one, and that includes lots of
corporations as well as university professors and ordinary welfare recipients.
There’s only one thing to do about it: educate, educate, educate. And don’t take no for
an answer. William Wilberforce worked for 46 years to get Britain to abolish slavery and
lost dozens of votes along the way. It never deterred him. He just learned to get better and
better at making his case.