By Zach Foster
Syn-er-gy. n. 1. The interaction of two
or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum
of their individual effects. 2. Cooperative interaction among groups,
especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation,
that creates an enhanced combined effect.
This is a very delicate subject, but
please approach it with an open mind, and know that in no way do I wish to
threaten YAL’s non-partisan, non-profit status in the writing of this
communique to my fellow liberty activists.
First of all I must congratulate all the
YAL chapters who have actively established and maintained a presence on their
campuses and nearby towns. The many
protests and creative demonstrations against violations of privacy and dignity
by the TSA have made the papers in many cities.
YAL members have shown that they have what it takes to raise awareness
to the issues.
However, I am concerned with a perceived
lack of unity among different factions within the greater liberty
movement. For example, in California
there have been many complaints of YAL chapter members being hesitant or opposed
to partner in activism with members of Youth for Ron Paul. Among Youth for Ron Paul, there is widespread
opposition to working with grass roots activists. Furthermore, though this gap is being
bridged, there are still liberty factions within the Republican Party who will
not work with Libertarian Party members to enact change, and vice versa.
I fully understand that overtly doing so
would threaten tax-exempt and legal statuses of these various
organizations. However, let us not
forget that we are individuals, and as individuals we have a freedom of
association. This author happens to be a
member of various organizations, from YAL and YFP to the state defense
force. However, being a member of one
organization does not mean that identity is tattooed on my forehead. I still have the right to associate freely as
a private citizen, as do all of you. If
you wish to not compromise the status of your organization, then simply don’t
wear the uniform, or the name tag, or the badges, etc. Wear your Ron Paul t-shirt or Gary Johnson
t-shirt, or even a Murray Rothbard shirt or hat.
I urge all liberty activists to reach
out to neighboring liberty organizations [you all surf on Facebook, you know
who they are!]. Organize with them. Educate voters on the issues. Team up with them to get people registered to
vote. Combine your numbers so that you
can go door-to-door and cover a greater areas.
Follow the example of groups like the LA Liberty HQ, who are constantly
distributing literature, knocking on doors, canvassing parades and farmers’
markets, and making phone calls on behalf of multiple liberty candidates from
multiple parties.
Just like having more laborers in the
market creates more goods and more wealth, having more liberty activists
working together creates more projects and more people reached and voters
won. Multiplying your output means
multiplying the chances of our victory.
For those of you who are already working
with neighboring organizations, setting aside minor differences for the sake of
spreading the message of liberty, I commend you. Keep up the good work! We have a lot more ahead of us, but we have
the privilege of being the forces on the ground leading the charge of this
revolution.
Image by markn3tel (via Flickr) and
published via Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License. The owner does
not necessarily endorse this author or his work.
