Wednesday, June 13, 2007

"One thing libertarians need to get better at is putting human faces on the perils of big government. "

Greenfield, Indiana native and Reason Magazine contributor Radley Balko states simply and well the weakness too many Libertarians have with their attempts at persuasive advocacy:

"One thing libertarians need to get better at is putting human faces on the perils of big government. We tend to be empiricists, putting more emphasis on data. That's important, but sad as it is, moving anecdotes are what spur policy changes, not data. Data's important to keep everyone honest. But stories are what inspire action."

Balko recommends the book Shattered Dreams: One Hundred Stories of Government Abuse for examples of the true stories we need to inspire action.

2 comments:

Jeremy said...

Absolutely great point that I know I need to remember more often.

The link posted messed up for some reason. Try this link . There's a free PDF version available on the site. I can't wait to read it.

Jeremy

Mark W. Rutherford said...

The links have been corrected and now work.