LR11: Just Ask Already

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Liberty Revealed Episode 11 Show Summary

Mike shares his opinion about asking for what you want when doing outreach.

Listen to Liberty Revealed Episode 11

Liberty Revealed Episode 11 Show Notes

Welcome back to another episode of Liberty Revealed with me, your host, Mike Mahony. Today I want to follow up some more on the leadership issues raised in Episode 10.

I spent the last 90 minutes speaking with a friend, Chuck McGlawn, about the liberty movement. Chuck disagrees with my stance in Episode 10 regarding Libertarian Leadership, but he brought out some good points I felt needed to be added to the last discussion, so here I am to add those and explain my own take on them.

Chuck relayed a story to me about his introduction to the Libertarian Party and how he helped out in many ways and they liked his ideas, yet nobody once asked him to join the party. His point seems to be that it is difficult to truly grow the movement when the members themselves spend all their time talking to each other and not recruiting new members.

I believe this is the same problem candidates have with raising money for their campaigns. They need to learn to ask for the donation. The Libertarian candidates I’ve come in contact with seem to rely on people knowing they need money rather than simply asking for the money. In addition, the candidates don’t ask for enough money when they do finally ask. I’ve watched Democrat and Republican candidates shamelessly ask for $500 donations. They do so because they know people who can donate that much will and those who can’t will donate something smaller. By asking for the higher amount they show the urgency to their campaign. If I get asked for $500 and can only afford $100, I am going to give $100. At the same time, if I am asked for “any small donation” I may just wind up giving $50.  

I once read a book called “Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary” which was about the reasons people don’t attend church but are otherwise believers. The number one reason why people who are believers were not in church this past Sunday–nobody invited them. I would have to believe it is the same thing with party membership and even donations. People don’t join the party because they are not asked and people don’t donate because they are not asked.

All leaders need to set aside fear of rejection and ask the tough questions that will further their cause. As stated in the previous episode, I believe a leader should be aware that ideologies in society don’t change overnight. Any candidate from any party that thinks they will run for office and if elected, change things to their way of thinking is completely out of touch with reality. There has to be a process wherein that person who won the election convinces others that their ideas are worthy of consideration. The hard work begins upon winning the election.

It appears that many leaders in the liberty movement think that a person’s presence at their event means they will join alongside the others in the movement and begin working towards spreading the word about the movement. This just isn’t the case. Many people are moved by one single event and so they attend. It is while you have them at that event that you need to ask them to get more involved if that is your goal. In other words, whatever the goal of your event and its outreach is, ask people to follow you along that path. If you are trying to get people to register as Libertarians or switch their registration to be Libertarian, ask them to do so at the event. Don’t expect them to be moved to do that on their own. If you are trying to recruit members for a meetup group, say so. Let people know that you want them to join your group and help you spread the movement. Don’t be shy about it. The worst that can happen is they say no thanks and you don’t have a new member. If you don’t ask, the best that can happen if you don’t have a new member. Asking increases your odds of getting what you want. It brings clarity to the people attending your events and they can then decide what action they would like to take.

This leads me to the qualities of a leader that make this discussion possible.

Leaders should be honest and have integrity. This is why I say candidates need to stick to their principles. Leaders should be confident. This is why I say leaders should ask for what they want. Leaders should inspire others. This is why I say candidates should work hard to get elected and then work with their colleagues to change how things are done. Show others how the liberty movement can be effective in government and then inspire them to change things.

I think as a Libertarian candidate it is going to be important for you to explain your platform in a way that shows it can co-exist with the existing way of doing things. Upon winning the seat you’ve sought, you can then utilize your leadership skills to inspire your colleagues to change their approach to government. One example I heard quite a lot as a candidate revolves around tax cuts. Libertarians believe in abolishing income taxes completely. Thus, when President Trump announced tax cuts, I got behind that idea. Many of my Libertarian friends were irritated by my stance. They felt I should have only supported completely abolishing income taxes and that a tax cut wasn’t going far enough. To me, it doesn’t work that way. I have to take my own ideological thermometer and see how close these other plans are to what I believe. To me, a tax cut is a giant step in the right direction and for that reason, I would support it. This can be applied to many ideas in government. I say that if the ideas are close to your ideology and they help move society closer to a Libertarian society, those ideas deserve our support. Through this approach, we can slowly move society towards our Libertarian ideas.

As stated earlier, this won’t happen overnight. Anyone who thinks it will is completely out of touch with reality.

I’ve spent about a decade writing articles about how to get into great shape. I’m good at giving out the advice that will work, but I’m horrible at following that advice. Why? Well, I know exactly what I should be doing, but I am so impatient that I expect almost overnight success. This is the case even though I preach baby steps. Baby steps work with weight loss and they work with changes to society. I completely understand and respect that there are those who feel that an all or nothing approach is the right way, but I strongly disagree with that approach.

I believe we need to show our leadership qualities. We need to let society know we can effectively govern. We need to win the trust of our colleagues. We need to support the issues that most closely fit our own ideology. This is how we will move society closer to a Libertarian view of things. Each small step brings us closer to that ultimate goal.

That’s all for today’s episode. .If you like what you’ve heard, please rate us 5 stars on Apple Podcasts and Google Play. If you’d like to learn more about personal liberty, grab your free copy of my book “Liberty Revealed” by heading over to https://yogispodcastnetwork.com/libertyrevealed. Until next time…stay free!
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