Many of these strategies are important. Social media is a great tool. Education is critical – we must teach young people the importance of natural rights, personal responsibility, and defending one’s life. We must not allow petty tyrants to take power!
Ultimately, in the long-term, the answer to the question in this poll is probably a combination of all these strategies, but in the short term, which one is the most effective tool we have?
Got another idea? Hit “other,” and tell us in the comments!
Don’t know why there are “comments” at both this page and the poll, so hope it is ok if I repost what I said there to this page. I prefer to post here and just didn’t think about it until too late.
All of those things are good, but simply don’t go far enough unless people understand and reject the bogus “authority” of the non-voluntary government. That requires that people take personal responsibility for their lives, choices and actions.
So, the first action that seems imperative is to get the children out of the government indoctrination camps. It’s not possible to truly counteract that indoctrination otherwise.
Second is to refuse to participate in the government three ring electoral politics system. Coupled with refusal to pay taxes, as much as possible, along with not accepting any of the loot stolen from yourself or your neighbors, not asking government for anything to start with. This is not easy at a time when government holds a monopoly on so many things people do need… but anyone can do it to some extent.
Third is non-compliance of every sort, where ever possible that won’t get you killed outright. The general population outnumbers the “enforcers” by a long shot, and the only way they can “enforce” anything is because people generally comply, even if grudgingly. Teach your children and neighbors to question this bogus “authority” and refuse to blindly comply.
And, secondary to the above, do your best to simply ignore the whole rotten mess. Obsession with politics, threats and all the rest displaces the time and other things in your life that could be used to BE more free, right here and now. Don’t give the tyrants free rent in your mind. Be aware of the threats, certainly, but don’t spend all of your time and effort thinking and worrying about them. Look for ways to BE free, and teach freedom instead. Claire Wolfe’s writing and books are a darn good place to look for ideas about that
To vote or not to vote; that is the question.
Being a Live and let Live type of person, I say everyone do and don’t do what they want to do or not do.
As for me I vote because I intend to meet and fight tyranny in every format I have the opportunity to fight it at and it is my wish & everlasting hope to send every tyrant back into the darkness from where they came.
Fighting for liberty is a life long mission, I have no more intention of hiding from the fight than I do of ceding one inch to tyrants and if I am force to cede an inch it is just as much of my intention to take back that inch at the first opportunity given. Giving up ain’t in the cards with me, never ever!
But again if you believe in freedom and liberty you also have to believe in everyone’s right to decide to participate at an level or not at a level however & how they desire.
Of course everyone chooses for him/herself. Voting merely means that you agree, “consent” to be governed, supposedly by the “will of the majority.” Obummercare and other things long ago made it abundantly clear that those for whom you vote, on any side, care nothing for the will of the majority, let alone YOUR will. Can’t see how that is “fighting for liberty” myself.
ML I honestly believe you to be a sincere and good person.
However IMHO (and this is only my opinion and nothing more) by not voting you are in a way consenting to and supporting whatever & whoever wins but by voting and working to change things I believe you can make a difference, and let me tell you politics can be hard work believe it or not, I know first hand.
There are good and bad politicians just like there are good and bad people, there are politicians who do not believe in liberty and their own tyranny just like there are people who do not believe in liberty but their own tyranny.
I intend to work till I die for people who in my mind believe in liberty and also I intend to fight against those till I die who I believe; believe in their own tyranny! Whether it is at the voting booth, on a blog like this or in my everyday life.
But to each his or her own, what you do or not do is your call !!
As Thomas Jefferson once said if it doesn’t pick my pocket nor break my leg it isn’t my business.
Ummm…. Tough call. All of the options are good and valid ways to promote liberty.
One particular point, though, is the use of Social Media. It’s a megaphone, a way to reach people you wouldn’t normally reach. And it’s a terrible idea to just allow anti-freedom people to dominate that forum unopposed.
Augustine of Hippo said, “The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.” Continuing that analogy, Social Media is a public arena, where all can witness first-hand the lion in all its glory. But unless we’re there to unleash it, the lion will never be let loose.
“If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it.
If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
If you repeat a lie long enough, it becomes truth.
If you repeat a lie many times, people are bound to start believing it. ”
“The Sack of Rome” by Alexander Stille
This is something I see happening everyday in our modern media, on blogs and in everyday life, but I truly believe that it only takes a little match to bring light to a dark room, and if those of us who know the truth can just stand together against the great darkness around us, we may not be the majority but the light that we can shine can beat the darkness back into the dirty cracks from which it came!
And ain’t that is what this here blog is all about anyway?
I find myself guilty of believing what Comrade X says at times, and then what Mama Liberty says at others. I will go to FB and post something there to try and spread pro gun, pro freedom ideas, like Comrade X would suggest, but then afterwards, when I have time to actually consider what I have written and the odds of it actually moving the needle for even one person towards the pro freedom side of the equation, I find myself siding with Mama Liberty, and thinking that my time would have been better spent in doing something more constructive. Even just reading a good book. It isn’t that I feel that I am a double minded person, but rather the fact that this issue is a tough one for me.
I know who I am, which is more than many can say about themselves. I know my strengths and weaknesses, and I do work on them. One of my weaknesses is that I want everyone to agree with me because I think that my opinion is right. I am sure that others have that same problem, but they don’t allow themselves to admit it. The thing is, I am willing to change my mind if the facts are presented to me that justify the change. That is why I am grateful to TZP and the people here that have taught me to chase down facts and not opinions to back my own ideas up.
As far as what is the best strategy for protecting our gun rights, I am willing to bet that most would agree that it has to be a combination of more than one thing. When the homosexual rights movement was just beginning, they didn’t stick with only one strategy, but they were active on several fronts at once. From things like in your face protests to outlandish parades, all the way to quietly working behind the scenes in politics, to working with health organizations when AIDS first came on the scene to make it a health issue, theirs was a multi faceted effort that took time to build momentum, that finally for them has seemingly bore fruit.
We of course cannot follow their exact pattern, but there is much we can learn from the effort that they made to become acceptable and the norm rather than a hated group. They started out with an agenda of incrementalism, which, looking back, must have had some type of leadership with vision, or else divine intervention was real and working in their favor. The snowball affect took over and we find ourselves where we are today, with the LGBT community accepted for the most part.
I am not the leader type. I posses neither the education nor the experience to set an agenda to drive the gun rights movement where it needs to go from here, nor do I understand exactly where it is even possible to get to, given the reality of what we face at this time. I know what our constitution says we should have as far as our 2nd amendment rights. I just think that we have to take things a step at a time. What the next step is, that is what leaders are needed to help decide.
Do we have to vote for these leaders? Not really. They have already shown who they are. What we do need to do is support them, and here is where it gets tricky. Because often our leaders can also be wrong in some areas, while being great on gun rights. But just like the member of your family whom you love to pieces, but who gets in trouble for a d.u.i., we must forgive them their mistakes and stand behind them and with them when it comes to moving the cause of liberty and gun rights forward. It is the only way we have a chance of keeping what we have and getting more of what we deserve.
+1