Chapter 14: The People
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.Tom Paine in The Crisis.
The statement above, by Tom Paine, is as true today as it was when he wrote it but the type of effort required to support our freedom today is very different from the effort to which Paine specifically referred. When Paine spoke of the fatigues of supporting freedom he referred to the courage, the perserverance and the sacrifices that were required of those Americans who were actually fighting in the struggle for independence. These Americans had to continue an armed struggle in which they were often outnumbered, often lacked even food and adequate clothing, and in many cases served under officers not fit to command them. And while they were hungry and cold they saw many of their fellow Americans who remained in their warm homes and profited from the war. They also saw that some of the latter sympathized with and aided the enemy.
I think that most Americans today seldom give any thought to the Americans who fought the Revolutionary War and when they do I think they believe that virtually the whole population of the British colonies supported the war for independence. This was far from the truth of the matter and some astute observers of the time estimated that only a third of the Americans of that day supported the concept of independence from Britain to the extent of being willing to make any effort to achieve it.
In many ways the outrages perpetrated against American citizens by our own government today are worse than the actions of George III that led to the American revolution but they arouse little public indignation. For reasons already discussed this lack of public indignation does not mean that there are not Americans who are concerned about the state of affairs in our nation. There is no way of knowing how numerous these concerned Americans are but I believe they constitute at least 5% of our population and possibly as much as 10% or more of it. With a few exceptions most of these Americans are not prominent enough to attract the notice of the media.
To reverse the positive liberal policies of our government and establish a government based on the principles of classical liberalism would represent a change of such magnitude that it would probably be no exaggeration to consider it a revolution. How could such a revolution be accomplished? For reasons previously explained I do not believe that it can ever be accomplished by working through either of our major parties or even through a third party that incorporates a party hierarchy such as that found in the two major parties.
It appears to me that those Americans who want to establish a government of the people, as opposed to a government of factions, can only do so by means of a grass roots political movement, with little or no party leadership, that will select candidates who are dedicated to this type of government and get them elected. This premise poses several questions. Is it possible to create and maintain such a political movement? If it can be created will it be possible to find people who are capable of representing us, will put the interests of the nation ahead of their own and will be willing to run for office? If such people are found can they be elected? I believe the answer to all of these questions is yes if there is a sufficient number of Americans who want to do this and are willing to devote two or three hours a week of their spare time to such an effort.
Before I proceed to an explanation of how such a political movement could be created I want to point out that it is not entirely without precedent in American politics. In North Dakota, early in this century the Non-Partisan League was formed and competed quite successfully with the two major parties for quite a few years. The NPL was formed primarily as a result of the efforts of one man but it did not include any professional politicians and its activities were largely conducted by very ordinary citizens. Committees in each legislative district selected a candidate and then asked that candidate to run. Theoretically, at least, no aspiring candidate sought the NPL nomination for any office, the candidates were simply selected by the committee.
The NPL was quite successful because many farmers, and others, had the perception that politicians of both parties were "selling out" the state to big money interests from out of state. This perception was probably correct in many cases and the NPL achieved considerable success. Because of the nature of the circumstances that gave rise to the NPL it leaned quite strongly toward socialist ideas but a similar movement could serve as an effective political vehicle for classical liberal philosophy.
To facilitate the explanation of the political organization that I will propose I will give it a name, I will call it the Jefferson League. The reason for Jefferson in the name is obvious since Jefferson was the foremost advocate of classical liberalism, not only in his lifetime but ever since. I have called it a league rather than a party because it would be basically and constitutionally different from traditional political parties.
It would differ from traditional parties basically in two ways. First the JL's candidates would be selected by the rank and file members rather than by the leadership. Secondly the sole purpose of the whole movement would be to establish a classical liberal government rather than to further the interests of any faction of the population. This is not to say that the rank and file of either the Republican or Democratic parties willingly and knowingly support the objectives of these factions, they simply have no choice in the matter.
Now how could such a leaderless political movement be created? It can only be created by Americans who value their liberty enough to exercise their own initiative in creating it. It must begin with individuals who organize study groups of people who want to see the present course of our government reversed. These individuals must discuss the matter with friends, relatives, co-workers, and others and invite them to a meeting to explain the purposes and methods of the JL. At this point the JL does not exist and the people in these study groups will have to create it. It is by no means necessary that this study group will be composed solely of people who believe in classical liberalism. They may not even know anything of classical liberalism but they will be people who are interested in preserving their own liberty.
At this first meeting the individual who called it will explain the formation of the JL and the way it is intended to function. At this point, at least in the very beginning of the movement, these people, as far as they know, will be the whole of the JL and they will have to rely on other Americans to exercise the same initiative in the formation of other study groups. This explanation will probably require all of the time available for this first meeting. The group will decide whether they will meet every week, every other week or every month. If they do not decide to meet at least once a month it will probably indicate that there is not enough interest among the members to make the effort worthwhile.
The first order of business at subsequent meetings will be to attempt to devise ways to increase the group's membership and to contact other study groups. The primary objective of the JL will be to select candidates for the House of Representatives and get them elected. The congressional district that elects representatives is, in most cases, the smallest political subdivision, in terms of physical size and population, that elects officers of the federal government. When the JL is sufficiently organized to field a candidate for the House of Representatives it will also be in a position to offer candidates in all of the state legislative districts that lie within that congressional district. When the greater part of a state has been organized the JL will be in a position to select senatorial candidates. When most of the states have been organized it will be in a position to select a presidential candidate.
These developments, of course, will be rather far in the future when the first study groups are formed so I will return now to the formation of the study group and proceed step by step with this explanation. The members of the group will themselves decide what rules, if any, will govern their activities and how best to increase the size of their group and contact other groups. I will offer a few suggestions that I think might be helpful but the group is under no obligation to accept them.
I think it would be well to have a chairman in control of the meetings unless the group is very small. I think it would be wise to rotate the chairmanship at each meeting giving each member an opportunity to chair the group unless any of the members prefer not to serve as chairman. I would also suggest that at the beginning of the meeting each member should be allotted two or three minutes to offer any comments or suggestions he might have regarding the activities of the group. I would also urge very strongly that any time the membership of a group reaches thirty the group should be split into two separate groups.
Obviously none of these study groups will be formed unless the people who are willing to form them can be made aware of this plan. To achieve this purpose I would urge anyone who reads this book and agrees with it to recommend it to as many people as possible.
I am going to make one suggestion that I believe could make contacting other groups fairly easy. Each group should place an ad in the personal column of the classified section of the leading daily newspaper in their community on the first Monday of each month. This ad could read simply "Jefferson League" followed by a telephone number. If more than one member is willing to handle any calls it could include more telephone numbers. Each group would then check this column on the first day of the month and call any other group that places such an ad. The members may well come up with other methods of contacting other groups but I believe that each group should use such an ad.
When ten study groups are in contact with each other they should form a regional committee. This regional committee would meet once a month or every other month and would consist of either one or two delegates from each study group. The task of representing the group at the regional committee should be rotated between all the members of each group. Initially the task of this regional committee would be to share ideas and information and to coordinate the efforts of the individual groups if necessary. I would suggest that whenever the number of study groups in one regional committee reaches thirty it should split into two separate committees.
When ten regional committes have been formed a district committee should be formed that will coordinate the efforts of all the JL members in the district. This committee should probably consist of 20 to 30 members and would meet as often as the members deem necessary. The JL membership would determine how these people are selected but they should be capable, intelligent people who are willing and able to devote some time to their task.
When the membership has reached 1,000 the organization will be ready to select candidates and conduct an election campaign. 1,000 members may seem a very small number to attempt to elect a congressman but it is not a figure chosen at random. The population of each congressional district is about 600,000 people except for those states where the total population is less than that and the whole state is one congressional district. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that each congressional district will be comprised of about 300,000 households. If each member contacts an average of 200 households, 1,000 members would be able to contact two thirds of the people in the district and this is why I recommend that the JL should put up a candidate for the House of Representatives when the total membership of the committee reaches 1,000.
The district committee will be responsible for coordinating this campaign. If there is a lawyer or someone with a good knowledge of state election laws among the membership that individual could advise the committee regarding legal requirements. If no such person is available the members might have to assess themselves two or three dollars each to procure the help of a lawyer. A campaign headquarters will be necessary for three or four months as well as some furniture and telephone service. Members would also be assessed to provide these.
The first necessity however will be candidates. The membership will, obviously, select candidates who are intelligent, articulate, able and willing to spend time campaigning, and willing to serve as elected. Previous government service or political experience should not be a necessity for these candidates and in some cases could be a negative factor in the selection of candidates. Name recognition, however, would be a valuable asset in any candidate. Therefore a candidate who is well known would be preferable to one who is not, provided, of course, that he agrees with the objectives of the JL. I will make no suggestions as to how these candidates should be selected. If the membership of the group has reached 1,000 the members will certainly be capable of deciding this for themselves.
The campaign will begin with a house-to-house canvass for signatures on nominating petitions. The JL will have selected candidates for the state legislature as well as for the House. When this first canvass is made the members should leave, at each household, a brochure that briefly describes the JL and contains an invitation to join, as well as a brochure for each candidate that contains a brief biography of the candidate and a statement by the candidate of his political philosophy and his positions on important issues. This canvass should be continued until it has reached approximately 200,000 households even if the necessary signatures are acquired long before that. For most of the people contacted in this canvass this will be the first time they will learn of the existence of the JL and its objectives. For this reason I expect that this canvass will double or triple the membership. It may very well do much better than that. One percent of a population of 600,000 would be 6,000. Since roughly two thirds of these people would have been contacted the membership would increase to 4,000 if 1% of those contacted are willing to devote some of their spare time to elect good people to office.
About two months before the election the membership will begin canvassing the entire district campaigning for their candidates. If the membership has increased to 3,000 and each member contacts an average of 200 households each home would be contacted twice before the general election. Of course the JL would also use any other campaign methods that are practical. Small contributions such as ten or fifteen dollars could be solicited if the membership deems it advisable. If this is done I believe it would be wise to use any money collected to purchase small roadside signs to be set up by volunteers and for other campaign expenses. I believe it would be very unwise for the JL to spend any significant amount of money on paid political advertising. The major parties depend primarily on paid advertising because it is easy for them to raise money and difficult for them to campaign in person. In addition to this their campaigns are basically based on deception and a carefully crafted 30 second TV spot can be very effective in misleading the voters. The JL, on the other hand, has nothing to gain by deceiving the voters and must rely on explaining its philosophy and objectives and pointing out to voters how they will benefit from the election of JL candidates. If it should happen that 2% of the population of the district is sufficiently interested in preserving their liberty to join and support the JL this would swell the membership in one district to about 12,000. If this happens I believe the JL would have an excellent chance of winning elections in that district.
The JL campaign should stress that establishing a government based on classical liberal principles would not only protect the rights of the American people but would also result in a financial benefit to most Americans. I believe that JL candidates should pledge to continue most of the basic welfare benefits until all other government subsidies and all wasteful government expenditures have been eliminated. This pledge should not include vocational training programs that cannot be justified on the basis of results or programs that are presented as welfare programs but are actually of more benefit to affluent Americans than to the poor. At the same time I believe that JL candidates should favor privatizing the administration of the basic welfare programs. Retaining the basic welfare programs until other government waste has been eliminated is, in my opinion, perfectly consistent with the principles of classical liberalism and is also a good political tactic.
Wherever the principles of classical liberalism coincide with effective tactics they should be stressed. The elimination of fractional reserve banking, inflation, and deflation is a perfect example of such an instance. These are my views of the situation and it is quite possible that some or all of the JL candidates will disagree with them. It is also possible that not all of the JL members will agree with all of the views of their own candidate. I would hope that in all cases most of the members will agree with most of the views of their candidates since they will basically share the same philosophy. I hope that even members who do not completely agree with their candidate will do their best to secure his election because he will certainly be the candidate with views closest to their own.
Would it really be possible for ordinary Americans to create a grass roots political movement in the manner described above? I believe this is definitely possible if the people who would be willing to create it could be made aware of the opportunity to do so. The main reason I wrote this book is to try to make some people aware of the possibility of doing this but I am well aware that this book will reach very few Americans. If one or two prominent Americans would give the idea some national publicity it might very well spread quite rapidly but I do not know of anyone who might do that. If the JL could be organized in one congressional district and make a reasonably good showing or, better yet, elect its candidate it might result in quite a bit of publicity. It appears to me that it is only by one of the last two means that a lot of Americans will ever hear of this idea but it is also possible that someone who hears about it and agrees with its objectives may come up with some way to make people aware of it.
If enough people learn about the JL and actually create it can it win elections? I think there is a good chance that it could. To win an election it would, of course, have to draw support away from the two major parties. I believe it would attract a significant number of voters who normally support the Republican party. The Republicans it would attract would be the conservatives who vote Republican. I believe that conservatives probably comprise more than 50% of the core support of the Republican party and I think most of these people might very well vote for a JL candidate simply because it is becoming obvious that even though a conservative stance brought the Republicans a big victory in 1994 they are unwilling to act like conservatives once they are elected.
The core support of the Democratic party is composed of people who believe strongly in liberalism plus minorities and labor unions. The first group will never be attracted to the JL. The appeal of the Democratic party to minorities, however, appears to be waning among blacks and Hispanics, although not among the "leadership" of those groups. Union membership in general is steadily declining and the strength of the Democratic party among union members appears to be eroding quite rapidly, even though most of the union leadership can still be counted on to support the Democratic party. I think, therefore that a JL candidate could draw some of the independent voters away from the Democratic party and possibly even attract a few minority and union members who would normally vote Democratic. There are also some voters who simply do not vote because they feel there is no significant difference between the two major parties. I don't think anyone has a very good idea of how numerous these people are but I think a JL candidate would attract most of them.
For all of the reasons stated above I believe that if the JL can be successfully organized in one congressional district it would have a pretty good chance of winning an election, although one would have to be very optimistic to expect that it might win in the first election it enters.
It is entirely possible that anyone who organizes a study group will find that in spite of the best efforts of the group it will achieve nothing. It is also possible that if the JL successfully organizes a congressional district it will be unable to win elections. Either development would be discouraging but the people involved would at least have the satisfaction of knowing they tried. This, to me, would be far preferable to having an opportunity to change the status quo and failing to make an effort.
Many Americans in the past have made tremendous sacrifices, including in many cases their very lives, while other Americans have reaped huge benefits from those sacrifices. Creating the Jefferson League would require only the sacrifice of a couple of hours a week, more or less, and no one could profit unfairly from this very small sacrifice. And if it achieved success the results would truly be mind boggling.