At the height of the Ron Paul era, the liberty movement was a force to be reckoned with. On a level playing field, he probably would've been the Republican nominee.

But the liberty movement peaked in 2012.

When Donald Trump burst onto the scene in 2015, he reappropriated all of the good doctor's momentum. And Rand Paul's miserable performance sealed the deal.

So now what?

If you consider yourself a liberty-minded person, it's time to wake up. Read the room.

The liberty movement is stalling out because the message is unappealing and the messengers bring nothing of value to the table. Nobody cares about utopian legal philosophies. What problems can you solve? What services can you provide?

If you say "the state is evil and the market is good," yet you provide nothing of value in the market, your words are worthless. They carry no weight. People want the state because it solves problems for them. If you want them to listen to you, you have to solve problems for them.

Last September, Gene Epstein's Soho Forum hosted a debate between Nicholas Sarwark, the chairman of the Libertarian Party, and the beloved Dave Smith, host of Part of the Problem. The resolution was, "The Libertarian Party should never again put up national candidates whose views are similar to those of Gary Johnson and Bill Weld."

Ideologically, we here at WP&I have far more in common with Dave than with Sarwark. However, Sarwark made the most profound point of the night when he told Dave, "My job isn't to convert people to libertarianism. That's YOUR job."

Politicians don't create converts. They attract them. This is why Andrew Breitbart said, "Politics is downstream of culture." If you want a freer society, it starts with you. You won't change the world by picking the most libertarian candidate for president. You'll change the world by changing the culture. And that happens through three channels: business, education, and entertainment.

In a recent conversation on the Tom Woods Show, Tom and Dave discussed the future of the liberty movement. So this is our answer to that question.

The future of the liberty movement is the message of this show:

Your freedom is directly tied to the amount of wealth, power, and influence you have. If you want more freedom, you need more of all three. In fact, if you aren't maximizing your own freedom, you're letting down yourself, your family, and everyone who stands to benefit from your ideas, products, and/or services.

So take responsibility for your own life and maximize your own human capital. Start solving people's problems. Use the freedom you currently have to buy more. When you start living your values, other people will notice. And then your words will actually carry some weight.

In a nutshell, wealth accumulation is the practical application of liberty. So let's make libertarianism capitalist again.

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Intro music by Nick White, producer of The Statist Quo

 

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