> We need both thinkers and doers. Principle without action, and > action without principle, are both dead ends.
Perhaps. But I see a whole lot of talkers and very few doers. Talking in circles without any action is a collosal waste of time. We're topped off on principle... it's time to act. Eric is a doer. He travels around the country helping on campaigns and encourages others to get off their asses to volunteer and donate along with him. I don't agree with Eric on some philosophical things (like the Iraq war, George W Bush, etc.), but I have a lot of respect for him and we agree on libertarian issues a lot more than we disagree. There are 740 members on this list. How many of them have donated money to libertarian campaigns? How many have volunteered time? If that number is more than 25, I'd be astounded. My LNC colleague and friend Hardy solicited this list for help getting Libertarians elected to the state legislature in Vermont. It's not a pipe dream... it's realistically achievable with only a few thousand dollars. How many people donated? http://www.vtlp.org/news/blog02.asp?ProdCode=351142992006 I asked this group to volunteer 10 minutes each to help me organize college groups all over the country through Facebook. Want to know how many of you volunteered? Zero. http://www.facebooklibertarians.org/ LP headquarters has been soliciting volunteers for months to make phone calls to voters through the ballot base software. How many of you helped? http://www.ballotbase.org/ Talking accomplishes nothing without action. I know all of you want to be the talkers hoping someone else will take the action. Well, it doesn't work. YOU need to take the action. Every minute you spend debating philosophy here is a minute you're not spending helping Libertarians get elected and a minute you're not spending moving public policy in a libertarian direction. Eric got the quote wrong. What I actually said was: "I'd rather have 1 Eric Dondero out walking polls for libertarian candidates and petitioning for libertarian initiatives than 1,000 Paul Irelands arguing about who is the purest libertarian." And I stand by that statement. Everyone has either time or money they can donate to the libertarian movement. Some people have both. I respect that not everyone can donate money, but it saddens me to see people argue because it clearly demonstrates they have time they could be donating but prefer to squander. Please keep in mind the following libertarian mantra (10 words, 2 letters each): If it is to be, it is up to me. Chuck Moulton Vice-Chair, Libertarian National Committee ------------------------------ Chuck, Good points for sure. I'm sure it's difficult to get donations and volunteers, let alone get them from individualist libertarians. I know I have learned a lot from discussions here. I shudder to think of the quality of activism I would have been able to perform previous to my education over the last 5 years. Education (accurate information, good understanding, and truthful knowledge) is the cornerstone of life-supporting action. IMO the value of this new information technology, especially the impact of these discussion forums, is priceless. I think we forget that this wave of high-tech free-speech/communication has only been around for about ten years, and I think we underestimate its extremely intensive educational effect. I kind of hate to say it, but I think all we need is a little more patience. The bow is still in the process of being pulled back. I hope others feel similarly in that a certain threshold of assimilated information will spontaneously spur action from a lot of libertarians in the near future. It might often seem awkward, but what is going on here is priceless. Besides, how else would you have been able to make your good points without it? Mark ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
