We’ve all become so accustomed to communicating on the Internet via such things as email, websites, webinars, live-streaming, Facebook, and the like that it’s easy to forget the enjoyment and value of person-to-person speeches.
In the last few weeks, I’ve given speeches at three college campuses–the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Albany, New York, and Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. The talks were sponsored by local chapters of the Young Americans for Liberty, a nationwide group of college students who are libertarians. The theme of my talk at each of these venues was “Civil Liberties, Foreign Policy, and the War on Terrorism.” This Thursday evening, I’m delivering a live talk via the Internet on the same theme to the YAL chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
I cannot adequately express what an enjoyment it has been to deliver these three speeches, especially given the nature of the audience. It is obvious that the scales have fallen from the eyes of these students. Unlike so many of their peers and their parents, they have achieved the same type of breakthrough that characterizes other libertarians. They see reality. They know they’ve been lied to. They are figuring out that the entire welfare-warfare state apparatus that statists have imported to our nation is a crock and is the very antithesis of freedom, free markets, and limited government.
They obviously have much more studying to do but it is clear that their minds are no longer clouded by the propaganda and indoctrination that has so many Americans in their grip. And it’s exciting to see how they are much they are enjoying the study of libertarianism. In fact, it was their idea to sponsor a forum on the critical importance of civil liberties to a free society.
I often receive letters from FFF supporters who encourage me to continue speaking to these groups because they’re the key to the future. That’s true, but only partially. Actually, I believe they are the key to the present. They can serve as a powerful catalyst to our changing the course of our nation—away from the statism that is sending America into financial bankruptcy, moral debauchery, and loss of liberty toward America’s founding principles of liberty, free markets, and a limited-government constitutional republic. As I tell the students, one person standing in accordance with his conscience can move mountains. I point out to them that their parents’ and grandparents’ generations have had their consciences rusted shut with their dependence on the welfare state and their deference to the national-security state and that they–young libertarians standing according to the dictates of their consciences–can be the oil that lubricates and gets those rusted consciences moving again.
A few months ago, I was invited to deliver a speech at a big awards ceremony sponsored by a group in Yuma, Arizona, named the Freedom Library. The founder and head of the organization is a man named Howard Blitz, who is longtime personal friend and a great friend of FFF. The mission of the Freedom Library is to educate young people in the principles of economic liberty, free markets, and limited government. Howard has done unbelievably positive work in Yuma fulfilling that mission. It’s an honor to be participating in his annual awards event, which will have about 500 people in attendance.
The theme of the program is “Economic Solutions: Past and Present.” I’ll be sharing the program with a good friend of mine, Dick Cheatham, who attended VMI when I was there. Howard also has us delivering presentations to two classes at a local high school. The Yuma event is on Tuesday, April 30, and is open to the public. The admission price is $5. If you’re in the area, I hope you will join us.
Once that talk got arranged, Sheldon Richman, FFF’s vice president, and I decided to piggyback on the Yuma talk by having FFF evening speaking events in Phoenix and Dallas, enabling us to interact personally with FFF supporters and any friends they bring to these events. The theme of the evenings will be “Restoring Liberty to America.” The events are open to the public. Admission is free. If you’re in Phoenix or Dallas next Wednesday and Thursday, I hope you’ll take the time to join us and bring others.
Here are the details on the Upcoming Events:
Yuma Event:
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Gila Ridge High School Performing Arts Center
7151 East 24th Street
Yuma, Arizona
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Doors at 5:45 p.m.
For more information, contact Freedom Library: info@freedomlibrary.org or (928) 726-3123.
Phoenix Event:
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
The Scottsdale Plaza Resort
7100 N. Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona 85253
Hotel telephone: (480) 948-5000
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM
No registration required.
For more information, contact FFF: bfrazier@fff.org or (703) 934-6101.
Dallas Event:
Thursday, May 2, 2013
The Warwick-Melrose Hotel
3015 Oak Lawn Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75219
Hotel telephone: (214) 521-5151
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM
No registration required.For more information, contact FFF: bfrazier@fff.org or (703) 934-6101.