FREEDOM 3 (of 4): FREEING FREEDOM (v1.0)

[Michael Salamey]

When Libertarians (or Liberty-loving people) create a context for what Freedom is, their next step should be to promote their message to as many people as possible (who are willing to listen).

The Libertarian message of freedom is popular. Many people share Libertarian values but affiliate themselves with a different political party, not knowing they actually support Libertarianism. Part of the reason may be the party’s name. Let’s face it. “Libertarians” could be the name of an alien race from Star Trek (as could arguably, Republicans).

Kidding aside, in his book, The Political Brain, author, political psychologist, and Democratic advocate Dr. Drew Westen explains how the Republican Party forced democrats to change their popular party label, “Liberals”. Dr. Westen asserts Republicans have ingeniously used the media to associate the word “liberal” with negative connotations: “tax and spend liberals”, for example, or “big government liberals”, “bleeding heart liberals” and other pejorative associations. Republicans have done such an excellent job desecrating the word, Democrats for the last twenty years have been back-pedaling away from calling themselves “liberals”. Instead, they now refer to themselves as “progressives” or “moderates”.

By the same token, Republicans almost never use the full extension of their traditional acronym, “The G.O.P.” Democrats have done a marvelous job of making “Grand OLD Party” sound nearly archaic.

Apart from perhaps a simpler, more direct name for Libertarians (how about the “American Freedom Party”?), the Libertarian movement could benefit from better marketing and understanding of the minds of voters. Clearly, Libertarians understand voters’ hearts, as indicated in this meeting announcement from Scott Boman, 2008 Michigan Libertarian candidate for the Senate:

“While the candidates we nominate rarely win, the ballot proposals we endorse have been causes for celebration. In 2006 the Libertarian Party of Michigan was the only political party to support the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (proposal 2). It won by a landslide. In 2008, the LPM (unlike the Democrats and Republicans) supported the Medical Marijuana Initiative (proposal 1). Again it won by a landslide.”

Americans believe in Libertarian values, but they shy away from Libertarians. What should Libertarians do to pull them back and inspire them to vote in alignment with the values of the Constitution?

As I have indicated previously (in part one), a good place to start is by re-defining words like “Freedom” and repackaging the Libertarian message in a way that nearly everyone understands. To inspire people to reclaim the freedom stolen from them, they have to know exactly what they have lost and understand its actual value.

“Ideas that spread, win,” was sound advice offered by author, speaker, and marketing guru, Seth Godin during a 2003 TED conference. In an entertaining story about the initial marketing failure, and later success, of sliced bread, Mr. Godin offered the following chaste points, to be remembered in any attempt to spread a great idea:

• People have more choices and less time than ever before. There are simply more things competing for the time and attention of every American than there has ever been. Two obvious examples are televisions and cell phones. In 1980, the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association reported there were 1,011 TV stations and 28 cable television stations in the United States. By 1995, those figures had sprung to 1,532 TV stations ad 9,686 cable stations. In 1983, the first cell phone was introduced in America—there was only one, made by Ameritech. In 2003, there were 159 million cell phone users, according to the Census Bureau. What makes the Libertarian message more important than the many other things competing for a potential voter’s attention? That is the crucial question Libertarians must focus on if they hope to spread their message.

• We are ALL in the fashion business now. Sound and Color bombard Americans everywhere all the time, it seems. Every media-message begs for our attention. Politicians and Advertisers are learning what the fashion industry has known for years: Image matters. The 2007 Toyota Highlander Sport Utility Vehicle and the Lexus RX350 shared the same manufacturing platform and chassis. However, the base price for a 2007 Highlander was $24,880. The more glamorous looking Lexus started at $37,400. What is glamorous about supporting Libertarianism? What makes the message worth paying attention to and sharing with others. What makes Freedom more valuable than catching the next episode of The Simpsons? (Don’t laugh. It is an honest question.) Whatever the message, it has to be perceived as more attractive and valuable than the alternative offer.

• The message must be remarkable. Finally, Seth Godin reminds us the message or product must compel people to remark, to share it with others. That decides what is talked about and what gets changed. Technology reviews by the popular website CNET offers four superior alternatives to the mega-successful Apple Ipod mp3 player: Creative’s Zen Stone Plus, Cowon’s IAudio 7, Archos 605 wifi, and Cowon’s IAudio D2 DMB—all virtually unheard of by most casual consumers. Why haven’t the better quality products surpassed the sales of the Ipod? They are simply unremarkable. The success of the Ipod has little to do with the Ipod itself—Apple’s real genius was in having people notice it, and talk about it.

(By the way, the full video of Seth Godin’s TED presentation can be found at the following address. It is well worth watching, as nearly all the videos on the www.ted.com site: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks_seth_godin_on_sliced_bread.html)

Drew Westen adds another compelling strategy from his aforementioned book. He points out the need for the party selling the message to have a compelling narrative story. This is one of the key aspects to President Obama’s successful campaign. Most good stories share simple elements. They have a hero, a villain, and a difficult challenge for the hero to overcome (in a righteous way).

Looking back at election season, President Obama had everything working against him. He competed against celebrity candidates (Rudy Giuliani—the 9/11 leader, and Hilary Clinton—senator and wife of simultaneously the most famous and infamous president in modern history). He is a minority. He has a traditional Muslim name during perhaps the most unpopular time in history for Muslims—worse, a name that is only one letter removed from the most notorious terrorist ever known. He has few qualifications to lead, little experience, a shaky background, and (by any logical assessment) he is a socialist. Yet, Barack Obama won.

Obviously, Obama had a lot of things working for him, too. He is an eloquent speaker, he made powerful use of technology, and he was facing arguably the least competent President in U.S. history. However, one of his biggest assets was a great story. Obama painted himself as the hero of the working people and Bush as practically an Enemy of the State (and McCain by proxy).

Obama was inspirational. He spoke of the future under his presidency with aspiration. He made powerful use of words people feel good about, like “hope” and “change”, and described not only the challenge ahead of him, but also how he would lead us all to… well, to more Socialism for those of us smart enough smart enough to understand his proposals. But for most voters, he promised to lead us to a glorious future where everybody has job security, everyone pitches in and all important public services like health care are “free” (Libertarians would do well to illustrate the difference between Obama’s type of “free” and the Libertarian meaning of “free”).

Libertarians have an opportunity to offer an equally compelling and inspirational story. We have seen many versions of it popularized already, in books like Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and movies such as Star Wars.

With a proper and commonly understood context for Libertarian principles, a narrative story most Americans can relate to, and use of modern marketing ideas to propagate their vision, Libertarians can gain the support and momentum needed to overthrow the Republican/Democrat duopoly.

Libertarians can free America from the ignorance of Americans… if they can offer and inspire something more compelling than the bliss of that ignorance.

—Michael James Salamey