The Advocates For Self-government Presents

◆ ◆ The Advocates for Self-Government Presents

OPERATION

POLITICALLY HOMELESS

Maxi-Manual For Operating An OPH Booth F I F T H

E D I T I O N

By Scott A. Kjar

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About the OPH Manuals This is the OPH Maxi-Manual. It’s very comprehensive and tells you everything you could possibly need to know about how to run a successful Operation Politically Homeless booth. It offers plenty of background, explanations, examples, and options. The OPH Mini-Manual has fewer details, and gets to the How-To portions faster. The Mini-Manual is drawn from the OPH Maxi-Manual. The OPH Checklists and OPH Sample Documents can be used with either manual, or alone. Both manuals, along with the Checklists and Sample Documents, are available online at www.TheAdvocates.org. Feel free to use whichever manual best suits your own needs. For some items, you may want to read more information in a particular area, and can refer to the Maxi-Manual. For other items, you may want to get right to the heart of the matter, and can rely on the Mini-Manual.

Copyright 2006 by the Advocates for Self-Government Operation Politically Homeless, OPH, The World’s Smallest Political Quiz, and the “Diamond Chart” are trademarks of the Advocates for Self-Government. The Mini-Manual, the Maxi-Manual, and the Checklists and Sample Documents together comprise the Fifth Edition of the Operation Politically Homeless Manual. Fifth Edition by Scott A. Kjar, with additional editing and design by Bill Winter. Advocates for Self-Government 213 S. Erwin Street Cartersville, GA 30120 770-386-8372 800-932-1776 www.TheAdvocates.org [email protected] Permission to reprint or duplicate this manual is hereby given, provided that this copyright notice page is included, and other attribution as appropriate is included in such reprints or duplications.

Table of Contents ■ Welcome to OPH . ............................................................................................. 5 ■ OPH in a Nutshell ............................................................................................. 6 ■ OPH Background. .............................................................................................. 7 What is OPH, anyway? What does OPH tell me? Why do we do OPH? When should we do OPH?

■ Doing an OPH: Advance Logistics. .................................................... 11 How do I get a time and place to do OPH? Are there any Web pages that list these locations? How do I recruit volunteers to help? What materials will I need? Should I contact the news media?

■ Doing an OPH: Show Time!. .................................................................... 17 What should I wear? What should I say if the news media show up?

■ Doing an OPH: Working the Booth. ................................................... 19 Can you start with an overview of what will happen at the booth? How should I arrange the booth? How do I get people to take the Quiz? What if they have questions about the questions? How do I figure out where people belong on the Chart? What do I say to people about their evaluations? How do I get contact information from the prospective libertarians? How do I get others to leave? Oops, I accidentally asked a person who already took the Quiz...

■ Doing an OPH: Follow-up. ......................................................................... 33 What should I do with the names I get? Should I hold OPH in conjunction with an Intro presentation? What should I do at the Intro presentation?

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Advocates for Self-Government

Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual

Welcome to OPH!

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elcome to OPH — Operation Politically Homeless. In the pages of this manual, I will describe what OPH is, how you can do your own OPH, and how to make sure that your OPH is successful. I’ve been doing OPH for several years. I have administered thousands of Quizzes, seen people with all manner of political views, been asked questions ranging from the insightful to the provocative to the absurd, and generally had fun. That’s right, I had fun. I have to admit something right now: I’m somewhat introverted. Of course, in the movement for liberty, a lot of us are. And the idea of going out into crowds, meeting hundreds of people in a single day, and chatting with each of them for a few moments is not the way I would normally care to spend my day. But with OPH, it’s okay. I don’t have to make idle chit-chat with people. I don’t have to try to remember everyone’s name. I don’t have to worry about whether I know anything about the local sports team, or a particular TV show, or the latest gossip. Instead, in my dealings with these hundreds of people, I only need to know two things: the basics of liberty, and how to operate an OPH booth. Presumably, if you have this manual in your hands, you already know the basics of liberty. After all, OPH is about outreach, and if you’re doing outreach, you already know that there is something worthwhile in liberty. My task, then, is to teach you how to run an OPH booth. Think of this manual as a “howto” book. After all, I’m an introvert. I like check lists. I like it when people explain things stepby-step — I like it when everything is laid out like a recipe. Like any recipe, there will be some options. You can add chopped nuts to your cookies, or a touch of cinnamon to your pudding. And you can use different ways of organizing the OPH booth, or of convincing people to take the Quiz. These options will be

presented and explained, and you can select the way that makes the most sense to you. After all, you’re the one running your OPH booth. And along the way, maybe you’ll think up a new technique or two that makes your booth more successful. If so, tell us about it! The lessons, methods, and options presented in this manual have all been thought up by previous people doing OPH, refining their techniques, testing them out, and generally seeing what works. Read on to learn more about how you can organize and successfully run your own OPH. You will be helping people better understand their own views, and you will be furthering the movement for liberty in the process. And remember, OPH is fun! Scott Kjar June 1, 2006

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OPH In a Nutshell

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hile this entire manual explains what OPH is all about, how to do it, when to do it, and much more, it never hurts to get the nutshell version first. That way, you can better understand how the details fit together, and what you are trying to accomplish. In that sense, everything you need to know is on this page. Everything, that is, except for the details that make it work! You can think of the rest of this manual as merely being an expansion on this page.

the person’s answers, you quickly realize where this person’s overall political leanings are. You point to the Diamond Chart, standing on an easel. Based on the person’s answers to the Quiz, you indicate where on the Chart this person belongs. The person prints his or her first name on a small colored sticky dot, and places that dot on the Chart at the point you indicate. This point will be within one of the Chart’s five areas: conservative, liberal, libertarian, statist, and centrist. If the answers fall in the libertarian section, you invite the person to an upcoming event. You also ask for the person’s contact information, so that you can inform him or her of upcoming activities. If the answers fall outside of the libertarian section, you thank the person for participating, and you move on to the next person.

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t’s a warm, sunny day. You are working at an outreach booth, perhaps at a county fair, a city festival, or a college campus. You call your booth Operation Politically Homeless. A person approaches you at the booth. The person has seen your banner, or perhaps the Diamond Chart, and is curious. The person wants to know what’s going on. You hand the person a small piece of paper. Across the top are the words “The World’s Smallest Political Quiz.” There are 10 statements on the paper. For each, the person has three choices: Agree, Maybe, and Disagree. In a couple of minutes, the person has completed the Quiz, and hands the piece of paper back to you. Looking over

■ Operation Politically Homeless is simple: You give people the World’s Smallest Political Quiz, add up their scores, put a colored dot on the Chart, and collect contact information if they score libertarian. And it’s fun! 6

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OPH Background

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n the next few pages, I will give you some background information about OPH. I will explain what OPH is, what OPH can tell us about people, why we do OPH, and when we should do OPH. If you already know this information, feel free to move to the pages that tell you how to do an OPH. If you want to know the background, in order to better grasp the zeitgeist of OPH, spend a few minutes on these pages. And remember, OPH is fun!

people come to the OPH booth, take the Quiz, and are plotted on the Diamond Chart. The Quiz has ten simple statements broadly categorized into economic and personal issues. Each statement concerns who should control a particular decision: individuals or government. There are three possible answers: Agree, Maybe, and Disagree.

What does OPH tell me? The answers, when taken together, accomplish two tasks. First, they determine whether a person tends to favor conservative goals or liberal goals. Second, they determine whether a person tends to favor small government or big government. Once the person has taken the Quiz, those answers are evaluated, and are plotted on the Diamond Chart. (Later in this Manual, you will learn how to determine exactly where each person goes on the Diamond Chart.) People can easily see whether they are politically to the left or to the right. Some are closer to the center, and others are more toward the edges. At the same time, they can see whether they are toward the libertarian, or small-government, portion of the Diamond Chart, or closer to the statist, or big-government, area. Thus, we can evaluate each person on both axes. A person is to the left or right of the center, and also to the top or bottom of the center. This makes it easy to get an overall evaluation of the person’s political belief system. Rather than merely calling people conservatives, liberals, or moderates, OPH allows us to expand the categories into more descriptive and effective terms. For example, conservatives seek particular societal outcomes, such as strong traditional families, private property, or religious faith. Liberals, on the other hand, seek social justice, equality, or compassion. Yet, given these sets of goals, it is still possible to be a Big-Government Conservative or a Small-Government Conservative, to be a Big-Government Liberal or a

What is OPH, anyway? Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) is a fun and exciting libertarian outreach technique based on a chart devised in 1969 by political scientist David Nolan. Nolan was frustrated with the traditional Left/Right political spectrum because he observed that many people with very different views were all lumped together in the middle. Nolan, who went on to co-found the Libertarian Party, recognized that there are actually two separate elements that define a person’s political belief: what sorts of goals should government have, and how much ■ David Nolan: He government should be invented a new applied to achieve those political chart goals. The old Left/Right spectrum covered the first; the second was entirely unaddressed. At the OPH booth, we combine two key elements — the World’s Smallest Political Quiz and the Diamond Chart — to evaluate people’s overall political ideologies. In simplest terms, 7

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To the taxpayer, it often matters very little whether it is the Big-Government Conservative or the Big-Government Liberal who expands government, increases taxes, or imposes speech codes; it matters equally little whether it is the Small-Government Conservative or the SmallGovernment Liberal who makes government less intrusive and reduces onerous regulations. In short, it is the amount of government, as much as what the government does, that affects people, and it is the amount of government that is not tested or evaluated by the traditional Left-Right political spectrum. OPH, by using a short political opinion survey coupled with an updated version of David Nolan’s pioneering chart, helps to identify all of these different groups: Traditional Liberals and Traditional Conservatives, Big-Government Liberals and Big-Government Conservatives, Small-Government Liberals (or left-libertarians) and Small-Government Conservatives (or rightlibertarians), Libertarians, Statists, and Centrists. Operation Politically Homeless, by combining the World’s Smallest Political Quiz with the Diamond Chart, provides useful insights into the differences between various political categories. And, as it turns out, OPH happens to be a great way to identify people who are libertarians and just don’t know it.

Small-Government Liberal. A Big-Government Conservative may believe that the best way to achieve his or her goals would be through tax policies that give breaks to traditional families or corporations, using the military to open foreign markets, channeling money into approved religious organizations, or through the use of speech codes to prevent discussion of anti-American ideas. Meanwhile, the Small-Government Conservative may believe that any use of the tax code, military intervention, funneling taxpayer money to religious groups, or establishment of speech codes actually undermines the goals being sought, and would oppose them. Both of these are conservative in their goals, but have very different means of achieving those goals. A Big-Government Liberal may propose all manner of social programs designed to rectify society’s ills, such as Medicare, job retraining programs, wealth transfers, or speech codes to protect various groups from hatred. A SmallGovernment Liberal, while desiring the same outcomes, may look at these programs as merely causing other problems, and not actually solving the initial ones. Thus, it is possible for a Small-Government Liberal and a Small-Government Conservative to have very different goals, but still prefer the smallest government possible. At the same time, a Big-Government Liberal and a Big-Government Conservative may both be pushing for expansion of government in their respective realms.

Why do we do OPH? In any movement, including the movement for liberty, there are two basic ways to grow: convince people to change their views, or find 8

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people who already share your views. I’ve tried them both, and I’d like to illustrate the difference by talking about three friends of mine: Susan, Dave, and James. When I met Susan in 1991, she was an attorney who was working for a federal judge. We started discussing the law, its rationale, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and similar topics. Susan was a typical liberal who believed unreservedly in aggressive prosecution of the anti-trust laws and gun control laws. She believed that only through the use of extreme amounts of benevolent government could society be made worthwhile. I challenged Susan’s thinking, and offered her a libertarian alternative; I tried convincing her to change her views and become a libertarian. She started thinking about it, but objected frequently to my claims. She argued about the validity of particular ideas, and whether libertarian policies could even work. For the next few years, she would call me at all hours with questions. In 2001, Susan went to her first libertarian event — a gun safety seminar! In ten years and literally hundreds of conversations, I had convinced her to change her views. That was a lot of work for a single convert. Dave was a computer programmer who considered himself a small-government conservative. He was familiar with the Constitution, and believed that government was substantially out of control. A friend of mine had challenged his thinking a couple of days earlier, and when Dave had some questions, my friend suggested that Dave talk to me about them. I sat down with Dave, and for about four hours, we worked through many issues, topics, and ideas. By the end of the day, I knew that Dave was already mostly a libertarian, but he had some of the normal conservative concerns, like drugs and immigration. Over the course of about six months, as we talked through these issues in dozens of conversations, Dave came to see how his views on private property and freedom for businesses led inexorably to freedom on issues like drugs and immigration. After six months, Dave made his first donation to a libertarian organization. James came to an OPH booth I was holding

for a campus libertarian club. He took the Quiz, scored in the libertarian section, and then said that he had never met anyone who agreed with him on so many issues. He had always thought that he was the only person in the entire world with his ideas, and he had never heard of libertarianism. He joined the club, soon became its president, attended a libertarian training seminar, and then went on to found, co-found, or become active in several liberty-related clubs on campus, including the Freeman reading group, the local Hemp Alliance, Students for the Second Amendment, and the Objectivist Society. Within weeks, James was bringing in new student members from his classes, his work, his hobbies, from everywhere. Once he could match his views with a name and a consistent philosophy, he became a one-man dynamo for liberty. When I think about all those middle-of-thenight calls from Susan worrying about selling the Grand Canyon or providing symphonies to inner-city kids, or about Dave’s fears over drug legalization and immigration, and then I think about how James was instantly a libertarian at the booth and immediately started bringing in his own members, it becomes clear to me which technique is best for expanding the movement for liberty. By various estimates, libertarians make up somewhere between 15% and 30% of the 9

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participants. If you give 500 Quizzes, you might find 80 prospective libertarians, get 70 names, have 25 come to a meeting, have 10 join, and have three become active members. You want to go where the people are. You want places where there is a lot of foot traffic, and people are willing to pause for a couple of minutes to take the survey and see the results. Common places for OPH are state and county fairs, city festivals, gun shows, flea markets, college campuses, or even busy street corners. The steadier the foot traffic, the more potential libertarians you will encounter. Second, you want to make sure that your organization is ready for a batch of new names. If you hold an OPH, identify a large number of prospective libertarians, and then never follow up with them, you have wasted your time. Very few of the prospective libertarians will follow through on their own; almost none will contact the Advocates for Self-Government or any other libertarian organizations without a little nudge from you and your organization. Thus, when you plan to hold an OPH, you should also schedule a few other activities soon afterward. Schedule an “Introduction to Libertarianism” presentation, or a mock debate with group members playing the roles of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians. Schedule a discussion about some of the funny things that government has done. Schedule an activity related to your target audience (e.g., if you are doing OPH at a gun show, follow up with a gun-related activity; if you are doing OPH at a hemp festival, schedule a medical marijuana presentation; if you are doing OPH on April 15, find a speaker to talk about the libertarian view of taxes, etc.). In conclusion, you want to hold an OPH when you can expect to see a lot of people, and when your organization is in a position to quickly follow up with the new names. When you put these two elements together, your chances of overall long-term success improve dramatically.

American electorate. Yet, when people are asked about their political views, fewer than 5% — and often fewer than 1% — self-identify themselves as libertarians. That means that there are a lot of libertarians out there who just don’t know it. It was easier to find James by talking to 100 people in one day at an OPH booth than it was to convert Susan or Dave from their previous views. And that’s why I do OPH.

When should we do OPH? At the risk of sounding flip, any time is a good time to do OPH. Of course, to help ensure your success, there may be some times that are better than others. The purpose of doing an OPH is to identify prospective libertarians so that you can invite them to join your local organization. Thus, the best time to do OPH is when you can meet these two criteria: you expect to find a lot of prospective libertarians, and you can assimilate them into your group. Let me expand on those two points a little bit. First, OPH is a volume tool. You don’t merely want to give the Quiz to one person, or five, or even 20. You want to give the Quiz to 100 people, 200, or even 500 people in a single day. When you give the Quiz, depending on the venue, you may get somewhere between 10% and 40% of them ending up as libertarians. Of those whose answers peg them in the libertarian section, some will be willing to give you their contact information and others won’t. Of those who give their contact information, some will come to a follow-up activity and others won’t. Of those who come to a follow-up activity, some will join your organization and others won’t. Of those who join your organization, some will become active participants and others won’t. In short, you go through a lot of Quizzes to get a few activists. It’s a numbers game, pure and simple. The more Quizzes you give, the more prospective libertarians you will find, the more members you will gain, and the more activists you will unleash. If you only give 50 Quizzes, you might find 15 prospective libertarians, get 10 names, have five come to a meeting, have two join, and have none who actually ever become active 10

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Doing An OPH: Advance Logistics

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n this portion of the manual, you will learn what to do in advance of the OPH, that is, how you go about preparing for the event. By “advance logistics,” we are talking about finding a location for OPH, getting permission if necessary, recruiting volunteers, making sure that you have the appropriate materials, contacting the news media, and similar issues.

concert where you set up a table out in the parking lot might be okay, because the sound from the concert might not be so bad out there. A booth at a fair or on a campus is usually okay. In addition, you want a steady traffic flow, not a frenzied rush. Standing outside of the football stadium after the big game is probably not conducive to getting many people to take the Quiz. On the other hand, if there is a big tailgate event before the football game (or even the evening before), you may want to find a good location, and get people to take the Quiz well before there is the big rush for the stadium. Once you have decided on a time and place for your OPH, you will need to see about permission. For example, a county fair will have booths available, but they will require preregistration. The same is likely to be true of most venues. The Chamber of Commerce master list probably includes contact information for the organizers of the event. Call the organizers, and ask about the rules for getting a booth. They will provide you with the information, including the size of the booth, the materials that they provide and the materials that you provide (e.g,. sometimes they will provide a table and chairs, but other times they will only provide the space and you must provide everything you need). Some events will be free, but others may require payment ranging from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars. Make sure that you are clear about the financial arrangements; you don’t want to show up to work a booth only to find that you have obligated yourself to payments that you had not budgeted. If you are doing the OPH on a college campus, you will probably need a student group to sponsor you. If there is a campus libertarian club, a Second Amendment group, an organization working for medical marijuana, or the like, this is a good place to seek such sponsorship (not to mention a good source of vol-

How do I get a time and place to do OPH? You want to select an OPH time and place where there will be a lot of people on foot who are willing and able to stop for a few minutes at your booth. State and county fairs, city festivals, flea markets, concerts, gun shows, Oktoberfests, downtown parks, outside of the post office, and college campuses are all likely OPH locations. Your local Chamber of Commerce may have a master list of upcoming activities and events in your town. Contact the Chamber and ask for a copy of the list. It will surely include the types of activities mentioned above. Go through the list, and see what looks good to you. My suggestion is that you find a venue that will have a lot of local people, but not a lot of tourists. After all, you want to gain names for your organization, rather than merely gain names in general. While it is all well and good to work on big-picture libertarianism — and to try to convince people everywhere to embrace libertarianism — that is really more than any one person or group can take on. It is far better to focus your efforts on local activities, because you can directly follow up yourself, and you can see the fruits of your own labor. Also, pick a venue that will not be too noisy. A street dance with live bands may make it very difficult to hear your co-workers or the people who are taking the Quiz. A stadium 11

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The obvious starting place is with members of your group or organization. If you are, say, a local chapter of a gun group, or a medical marijuana advocacy organization, or a political party, you should start by going down the list of members. Pick up the phone, and give them all a call. Tell them what you are doing, when it is, how long it will take, and ask them to help. It is possible that you will call the first four names on the list, they will all volunteer to work all day with you, and you will be all set. Of course, it is more likely that most of the people you call will simply not be home, and those who are home are likely to say “no” to your request. Don’t despair when this happens. One important key is learning what “no” means, and what it doesn’t mean. When you ask someone to come help you work all day at an outreach booth, if the person you are asking says “no,” it may be that you simply haven’t asked the right question. You should listen to what the person says when he or she tells you “no.” If the answer is “No, I’m going to be out-of-state for my daughter’s wedding,” then the person probably won’t be able to help out at all. On the other hand, if the answer is, “No, I have to mow the lawn and get groceries that day,” then maybe the person can help for a half day. In that case, ask for a half day, perhaps the morning shift, or the afternoon shift. That gives the person time to do those other activities, and still help out. Again, if you are told “no” to the request for a half-day, ask for two hours. Having people help out during key times, such as lunch (when your crew will need to take breaks to eat), can make the day go smoother and easier for those of you who are spending the entire day at the table. And if the person still tells you “no,” it probably doesn’t hurt to ask for a donation to help pay for the booth registration fee, the materials, or lunch for the people who are working the table. But what if you don’t have a group or organization, or if you don’t really have any sort of list from which to make calls? Then whom do you ask? That’s when you want to ask your family

unteers to work at the booth). If there is no such student group, contact the student government, or student activities office, and see what the rules are for starting a club. Using OPH to find new campus members is a great kick-off event for a new student group.

Are there any Web pages that list good locations? Listed below are a few Web pages that should help you to find some additional OPH locations in your area. 1. Lots of county fairs and state fairs: http://www.iafenet.org/alphafairs_frame.html 2. Lots of events: http://www.festivalnet.com/ 3. Southern Festivals Newspapers cover North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee: http://www.southfest.com/index.html 4. Big list of festivals: http://www.festivals.com/~finder/ 5. Fairs in about a dozen states (and Canada): http://www.fairsnet.org/ 6. Various fairs and local interest events: http://www.travel50.com/

How do I recruit volunteers to help? Generally, 2-4 people make a good-sized crew for an OPH, depending on your venue. If you have a very large booth or a large open-air space, you may want more people, but for a small space, more than four people at your booth can get crowded. In any case, it doesn’t take very many people to work at an OPH. There is a simple way to get people to help: ask them. If you don’t ask, no one knows that you need help, and no one will likely volunteer. This begs an important question: who are the “them” that you should ask? Who are these people that you are supposed to ask to help? 12

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members, your friends, people you know from work, people you see at the bar, people with whom you do aerobics, or people you just know. Tell them that you are going to be working at a booth, and that you need some people to help you. They won’t have to know all the details of libertarianism, or even have to share your political beliefs. These are people who are helping out not because they believe in the cause, but because you asked them. Friends and family help each other out. After all, you’re probably not asking them to help you for several hours a day, every day, for a couple of weeks. Instead, you’re asking them to come out and help you for a few hours. One day. A half day. Two hours during lunch. Remember, once you have done a day of OPH, you will have a lot of names of other people to call and ask to help out for the next one. You only need help in getting started, in getting that first day under your belt. I am willing to bet that your friends and family will be happy to help you out. After all, OPH is fun! And whatever it is that you are doing, they are doing it with you. “Wait!” you insist. What if you have no group or organization, your family lives across the country, and you have no friends at all? Then what do you do? You still have a few options. For example, if you are not already a member of a libertarian-oriented group, but you are planning to do an OPH, that means that you are probably trying to start such a group. Contact the Advocates for Self-Government, the state or national Libertarian Party (or other libertarian-leaning political group), or whatever umbrella group you plan to associate with, and ask them for some leads. They may well have some names of people in your area who have already expressed a desire to help out, and are just waiting for someone to come along to coordinate some activity. And if nothing else works, remember this: I have done OPH alone several times under those exact circumstances. I frequently go onto campuses where there is no existing libertarian club, and I start from scratch on the first day. The advantage to having more volunteers

■ Having the Chart on a tripod is a great way to attract people to your OPH booth. working at the table is that you can administer more Quizzes and evaluate more potential libertarians. But it is perfectly possible to work the table alone if you absolutely cannot find anyone else to work with you.

What materials will I need? In its simplest form, you will need these items: the Diamond Chart, the World’s Smallest Political Quiz, pens, colored stick-on dots, a table, a bag to put the used Quizzes (this is not garbage!), and a bag for garbage. In such a case, you put the Chart, copies of the Quiz, and pens on the table, and when people finish marking their answers, you show them where to put their colored stick-on dots on the Chart. (This will be described in more detail later in the manual.) A common option would be a tripod or other method of providing better visibility for the Chart. Having the Chart standing is a great way of attracting people to the table. You can 13

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used for the “Harris 5-Jar” technique (explained later in this manual). These are used variously as a pre-screening technique before people even take the Quiz, or as a fundraising technique. A sixth option is a tent or other overhead covering, if you are going to be outside in the sun or the rain. Seventh, I suggest that you go to K-Mart or Wal-Mart and purchase a poster frame for your Diamond Chart. This should have a backing, a frame, and a plastic cover, and you should put the Diamond Chart into the frame behind the cover. Each day, after you have covered your Chart with colored stick-on dots, you will want to peel them off so that your Chart is ready for re-use at your next OPH. The dots peel off the plastic poster frame cover much easier than they peel off the Chart itself, and the backing and frame help it to keep its shape and professional appearance much longer. Eighth, you may want to have literature or material to hand out. I like to do OPH in conjunction with “Introduction to Libertarianism” presentations, so I always have flyers announcing the event, speaker, time, date, and place. You might also want to have literature from the Advocates, the Libertarian Party, the Republican Liberty Caucus, the Democratic Freedom Caucus, the Cato Institute, the Foundation for Economic Education, Reason, the Institute for Humane Studies, or other liberty-oriented groups. Finally, you might actually want to have a second booth right next to the first one, or across the aisle from it. In that way, you can separate the OPH aspect of your activity from the displaying of other materials. After all, while OPH is a great door-opener, its fundamental purpose is to screen for prospective libertarians, and to gain names. Having a separate booth allows those people who want to chat a while — or who want to discuss specific issues more thoroughly — the chance to do so right away. You don’t want these people standing in front of your OPH table, because they will end up

purchase a tripod, make something yourself, or find a way to attach the chart to a wall or bulletin board (if appropriate). Another option is to have clipboards for the Quizzes. I generally use Quizzes that are the size of 1/4 sheet of paper, so I buy a lot of small clipboards for this use. Then, instead of requiring everyone to crowd around the table, I can hand out a bunch of clipboards all at the same time, and thereby serve more people simultaneously. A third option is chairs. Notice that I did not put these in the required items. Frankly, using chairs will make you less effective. You need to stand to talk to people, stand to explain the Quiz, and stand to look people in the eye. Having a chair or two is only an option to allow your crew members to take an occasional break; you cannot work OPH from a chair. A fourth option is a banner for the top of your booth. Sometimes, a banner can help to draw attention to your booth, and thereby bring people to it. The Advocates has a series of banners that are used for this purpose, and they are based on different sorts of events. (Banners mention a political survey, or a gun owners survey, or mention the Quiz, etc.) A fifth option would be five half-gallon jars,

■ The “Harris 5-Jar” technique is both a pre-screening and a fundraising technique. 14

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news. But those are not issues, they are tactics! Several years ago, when I was running for State Representative, I attacked the local school district for being wasteful in its bond issues. I got some newspaper coverage, but the coverage didn’t say anything specific about my position; they only talked about the fact that I was attacking the school system. (Shame on me!) Again, they didn’t talk about my issues, they talked about perceptions and they talked about my tactics. OPH is a tactic. It is a means of identifying prospective libertarians, and a means of increasing overall voter understanding of the complexity of the political spectrum. It’s not an issue, and it’s not a position paper. And because it is a tactic, and specifically a tactic about perceptions, it might be considered news by the news media. So by all means, notify the media. You might actually get someone to come cover you! Of course, your next likely question is this: how do I figure out who to notify? You will want to build your own press list. Compiling this list is not difficult, but it may take a couple of hours. First, go to the Yellow Pages, and look up the listings under Television Stations, Radio Stations, Newspapers, and Magazines. Write down the name, address, and phone number of each one. Then call each one, and ask for their fax number for press releases. Also, you will want to get the name of the appropriate person. It is always better to send a press release to a specific person, because then that person will likely read and consider your release. If you send it to a newspaper without a contact name, it may be shunted aside, or read by an overworked editor who doesn’t consider it very thoroughly. Also, if the same person regularly reads your releases, that person is more likely to consider your group to be newsworthy. Groups that pop up once every few years and then disappear are unlikely to be considered “newsworthy” regardless of what they are doing; groups that regularly engage in activity will get more coverage. By sending your releases to the same journalists, they see you engaging in regular activity, and thus they are more likely to provide media coverage — if not now, perhaps

turning away others who might take the Quiz. By all means, keep such conversations, arguments, and issues discussions away from the OPH table. If that means having a separate table, then so be it. There may be other options that you find to use. If so, please pass the information along to us. We can all learn from each other, and sometimes the newcomers see things that experienced people miss. As you read the section about “Working the Booth,” you will be able to decide for yourself which options you wish to use, and how you wish to set up your booth.

Should I contact the news media? Absolutely. While an OPH is primarily designed to identify prospective libertarians, it also serves to show clearly the differences between libertarians, conservatives, liberals, centrists, and statists. As such, it is a great tool to show your local media representative. One thing you must realize about most members of the media: as much as they say that they want to talk about the issues, they don’t really want to talk about the issues. This is one of the reasons why libertarians don’t get much coverage — we always want to talk about the issues. Just read the coverage of the candidates sometime. It rarely gives the specific details about a candidate’s stance on a particular issue (unless it is a big-government position), and there is rarely much serious contrast between the positions of various candidates. Instead, coverage always concerns which groups have endorsed which candidates, or where a candidate is campaigning, or what a candidate had for lunch, or who is likely to be the candidate’s advisors, if elected. In short, the media like to cover the perception of issues, or tactics related to issues, rather than the issues themselves. When the Republicans begin a voter registration drive in Hispanic neighborhoods, that is news. If the Democrats push for voter registration at the Social Services offices, that is news. If there is discussion about redrawing precinct boundaries in order to change the racial composition of an elected body, that is 15

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Once you have done this, you have your own press list all ready to go. If you have a fax machine or a fax modem, you can key in the numbers so that faxing is automatic. If you plan to use regular mail, you might want to put the information into some sort of computer database, so that you can print out labels (or better yet, print directly onto the envelopes — it looks more professional). See the Checklists and Sample Documents file for more information about compiling a press list, and for a sample press release. Feel free to customize it to fit your particular situation.

in the future. For television stations, the key person will have a title like Assignment Editor or News Producer. That will be the person who assigns reporters to go cover particular stories, and sends camera crews out. At a radio station, the News Director is the key news person. Many radio stations will only have one or two news people, so it will be obvious who the appropriate person is. For newspapers, you will want to find out the name of the political reporter, the news editor, and the metro editor, so you can send the release to all three of them. And if you are unsure, just ask the person who answered the phone. Tell them who you are, and ask for the name of the person to whom you should send your press releases.

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Doing An OPH: Show Time!

R

emember the old adage: you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Since you are at the table as a representative of some organization, whether it is the local Libertarian Party, a local issues group, or some other entity, you want to make sure that your appearance and demeanor convey favorable information about your organization. Remember, this is not about how you normally look or act; it is about how your audience will react to how you look and act.

accompanied by a casual top are probably fine. Also, don’t overdo your make-up. If you are going to wear a hat or cap, make sure that it is appropriate to your venue and to your purpose. A cap supporting your candidate at the candidate’s booth is okay, but if you are running a general OPH for the purpose of identifying prospective libertarians, then a cap that identifies your candidate may drive away more people than it attracts. Likewise, a cap with a slogan or gesture on it may be a big turn-off. If you must wear hats or caps (e.g., to keep out the sun), try to keep it simple. Another item that is important but often overlooked is skin care. If you are going to be outside, you will want some sun screen. If you are in an area with bugs, an insect repellent is a good idea. Don’t forget some drinking water.

What should I wear? Your exact attire will partly be determined by the type and location of the event. If you are at a professional event, you will want to wear professional attire. If you are at a casual event, then casual attire is acceptable. However, you don’t want to be too casual. There is a big difference between looking relaxed and looking slovenly; between conveying an impression of casual success and conveying one of shabby carelessness. Think about how your target audience will be dressed. Then, you will want to dress that way, or slightly better. For example, at a fair booth, guys can generally wear a knit shirt with a collar, or a sport shirt, or even a dress shirt that is not too dressy. However, a jacket and tie are probably too formal for a fair. (Note: if you are a candidate, then you probably want to wear a jacket and tie anyway. Just don’t look too stuffy.) Casual slacks are usually fine, but blue jeans or shorts would be crossing the line. T-shirts with slogans will detract from your appearance, no matter how catchy or cute you believe the slogan to be. Women can follow the same general rules regarding attire. That is, shorts and t-shirts are not recommended, while business attire might be a little too dressy. A casual skirt or slacks

What should I say if the news media show up? Since you contacted the media and told them about the booth, you shouldn’t be too surprised if someone from the media actually stops by. Perhaps a newspaper or TV reporter might drop by to see you in action. First, make sure that they get shots of the Diamond Chart, and of one or more individuals taking the Quiz. Next, explain to the reporter what the Chart is, and how it separates folks into their respective ideologies. Along the way, make sure that you drop in other relevant contact information, like the Web site for the Advocates for Self-Government (www.TheAdvocates.org), or the name of the Libertarian Party, the Republican Liberty Caucus, the Democratic Freedom Caucus, Cato, IHS, or other group you are affiliated with, and their respective contact information. Be sure to point out the overall results you have so far. Explain the general trend — e.g., are there more liberals, conservatives, statists, libertarians, or centrists? Which group seems to 17

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be the most represented, and which group seems to be the least represented? Also, since you will compile the final results after the day is over, offer to fax the final tallies (the percentages of conservatives, liberals, centrists, libertarians, and statists you found). If the results get in soon enough, the reporter may work that piece of information into the story. I would like to toss in one extra hint about dealing with the news media. In my experience — and in the experience of many others with whom I have spoken — attractive and articulate women are more likely to get coverage than are men. If you have an attractive, articulate woman working at the table, designate her as the reporter’s key contact person, and make sure that she gives the statements and explains the process. And if there is a photo, make sure that she is in the photo. A secondary effect of this is that if women are seen as prominently participating in your organization, women may subsequently join the organization. In the movement for liberty, we generally have more men than women, so anything that helps recruit more women is a big plus.

■ In the libertarian movement, we generally have more men than women, so anything that helps recruit more women is a big plus.

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Doing An OPH: Working the Booth

I

know, you’re starting to get impatient. I am telling stories, talking about what to wear, and how to build a press list — and all you really want to know is what to do when you get to the booth. That is, how should you arrange the booth, how do you get people to take the Quiz, how do you evaluate the Quiz, and how do you put the results on the Chart? And most important, how do you get people to give you their names and contact information before they leave the booth? After all, that’s the real reason you are there.

nutshell. Of course, a little more explanation of some of those details might not hurt.

How should I arrange the booth? This is where you have a lot of options. How you should arrange the booth is based substantially on what options you are using.

The Spartan Booth I usually run a very spartan (simple) booth made up of the following items: ■ Copies of the World’s Smallest Political Quiz ■ Diamond Chart on an easel ■ Several clipboards (I use about seven when I work alone, and about 10 when I work with other people) ■ Lots of pens (buy a lot of cheap Bic pens because they will walk away all day long — but if you take off the pen caps, fewer of them will vanish!) ■ Sheets of colored stick-on dots ■ Flyer giving details of my upcoming “Intro to Libertarianism” speech ■ Table (if the fair or other location does not supply one) ■ Table cloth (hangs down far enough to hide the stuff under the table) ■ Extra supplies in a box under the table ■ A small plastic bag (from the grocery store) taped to the back of the table ■ Small garbage bag under the table

Can you start with an overview of what will happen at the booth? The overall flow of the booth is pretty straightforward. You will get people’s attention and attract them to the booth. If you are using the Harris Jars, you will have them vote in a jar. Following that (or if you are not using the Harris Jars), the next step is for people to take the Quiz. Once they take the Quiz, you will evaluate it for them, figuring out whether they are libertarians, conservatives, liberals, centrists, or statists. Upon completing that determination, you will show them where they will put their colored stick-on dot onto the Diamond Chart. If they are in the libertarian section, you will invite them to attend the next meeting, event, or activity of your local group, and also ask for their contact information so that you can notify them about future meetings, events, and activities. You will give them literature or information as appropriate, drop their completed Quiz into your Quiz bag, and move on to the next person. That’s pretty much the entire OPH in a

When running this stripped-down version of the booth, just arrange the clipboards around the table so you have easy access to them as you move around the table to talk to people. Keep excess supplies under the table, not on the table, since they will clutter up your space. The key to OPH is volume. Get people to take the Quiz, and then, if appropriate, get their contact information. Often, having a lot of flyers, brochures, 19

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caps, refrigerator magnets, magazines, or similar items at your booth merely slows down the process, and increases the chance that someone will want to argue with you over something. The Spartan Booth is OPH — nothing more and nothing less.

Candidate Booth If you are running a booth for the candidate, you will want to be sure to add these items: ■ The candidate! ■ Banner with candidate’s name (e.g., “John Smith for Governor”) ■ Brochures and candidate information

Harris Jars

You will probably do the OPH the same, but in the end, your purpose is to get people to vote for your candidate. This may be a little bit trickier than you think at first. After all, once you have people take the Quiz, and you show them where they stand on the Chart, they will likely want to know where the candidate stands on the Chart. In this way, you are as likely to turn people off from voting for you as you are to turn people on to voting for you. If you are a libertarian, and the person in front of you has scored in one of their other parts of the Chart, they are likely to conclude that you are not the candidate for whom they should vote. On the other hand, if you can get all those in the libertarian area to cast a ballot for you on Election Day, that might be a big improvement over what you otherwise would have polled. Just remember, the purpose here is to find people who are already libertarians but don’t know it; we are substantially less interested in confirming for others that they are not libertarians. And remember: keep your table neat.

The Harris Jars are used both as a screening mechanism and as a fundraising technique. Since we recognize that many people are not going to be in the libertarian section of the Quiz, it is often helpful to reduce the number of people who actually fill out the Quiz and get placed on the Chart. The Harris Jars fulfill this function quite well. For the Harris Jars method, you start with all the same items listed in the Spartan Booth, plus: ■ Five clear two-quart jars ■ A few dollars (coins and bills) for seed money ■ Banner saying “Does government do a good job?” You will put the banner over your booth as a means of attracting attention. Your five jars, which should be prominently displayed on the table, are labeled Always, Usually, About Half, Seldom, and Never. With this technique, you will ask people to vote with some money in one of these five jars. The rest of the booth is made up of the Chart, clipboards, copies of the Quiz, colored stick-on dots, and so on from the Spartan Booth. And be sure to keep the table neat! As a screening technique, you offer the Quiz to those people who drop their donation into the Seldom or Never jars, since these people are most likely to be prospective libertarians. As a fund-raising technique, your group gets to keep all the money dropped into the jars! Another way you can use the Harris Jars is to wait until people have already taken the Quiz. Before they leave the table, ask them to drop a little money into their favorite jar.

Information Booth You might want to offer more information at your booth. And, while I don’t recommend this, you might decide that it is worthwhile to administer fewer copies of the Quiz and engage in a few more conversations. After all, those people who stop to talk might actually turn out to be people sincerely interested in libertarianism, and by chatting with them for a few minutes, you could substantially increase the chances that they will become involved. (However, you are also more likely to have to argue with conservatives, liberals, and statists, but hey — you are the one running the booth!) For an Information Booth, you might add some of the following: 20

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■ Brochures from the Advocates ■ Political party brochures ■ Brochures from think tanks such as Cato, FEE, IHS, or PERC ■ Magazines such as Reason or Liberty ■ Journals such as Journal of Libertarian Studies, Independent Review, or The Cato Journal

so that your tape doesn’t cover or hide your materials. As for the other items, they convey a negative impression to most people. You are trying to convey a positive impression, so you should avoid these things. And remember again that old adage: you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

In this case, a major initiative should be to get people to take some information for later reading. Caution: do not try to load people down with every single item at your table. Find out the person’s interests, and then offer them a couple of items. If you give too much, people will end up being overwhelmed, and likely to throw it all away. If you give a little info — just the right amount — then people are more likely to actually read it. And remember, with all these different items on the table, it is important to keep the table neat.

How do I get people to take the Quiz? This is one of the most important questions in the entire manual. After all, if no one takes the Quiz, then you are just standing there all day watching people go past. And for those introverts among us, this may also be the most difficult question, since we don’t automatically approach other people in a way that sets them at ease and makes them want to cooperate with us. Yet, this need not be a difficult part of the operation. If I may borrow from Nike commercials for a moment, you have to decide what to say, and then just say it. What you say may be partly based on how you are organizing the booth, or on how people look when they go past, or on something else unrelated. The point is that you have to get someone’s attention first, and the rest follows. For example, if you are using the Harris Jars, simply make eye contact with someone near the booth, and ask the question on your banner: “Does government do a good job?” You can use this same line over and over all day long. Once people hear the question, you can point to the jars, and ask people to drop a quarter in the jar of their choice. If they participate that far, then you say “Would you please take our 10-question survey?” And as you do this, hand over a clipboard and pen. Place these in people’s hands before they have a moment to say “no.” After all, they are going with the flow, and it is easy for you to set the pace of your encounter. (I am not suggesting that you roughly shove things at people. Rather, offer them the clipboard as though their acceptance is the most obvious and logical thing to do. Since I do a lot of OPH in Alabama and Georgia, where folks are fairly polite, I have to be careful not to appear pushy or gruff in this. Rather, I merely place it

ALL Booths I have talked about some things to have at your booth. One thing that I mentioned earlier in the manual was a poster frame with a plastic cover for your Diamond Chart. This helps keep it clean and neat, and makes it easier when you have to peel off the stick-on dots. You will have to peel them off after every outing, or else you soon have a blob of color and no one can even see the ideological labels underneath, at which time the Chart loses a lot of its value. Another thing that I have tried to mention over and over is that you should always keep your booth neat. If your booth gets cluttered, messy, or unkempt, you will quickly scare off your prospective Quiz-takers. However, there are also some things that you should not have at your booth: ■ Duct tape ■ C-clamps to hold things together ■ Obscene or offensive shirts, pins, flyers, caps ■ Grungy volunteers in stinky clothes ■ Half-eaten food or food wrappers Duct tape and C-clamps are amazing fix-alls for whatever goes wrong. Of course, they also look unprofessional, or even tacky. If you need tape, use transparent tape or double-faced tape 21

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saying “Does government do a good job?” Follow this up by pointing at the jars.) ■ “Please drop a coin in the jar that comes closest to your opinion.” ■ “If you’d like to find out who agrees with you politically, please answer the ten questions in this little Quiz. We’ll find your position, and put your own dot on this Chart.” ■ “We’re trying to replace the old Left/Right political scale with this new Diamond Chart. The old scale is so simplistic that it leaves a lot of people politically homeless.” ■ “Sometimes you agree with the Democrats and sometimes you agree with the Republicans? Sounds like the traditional Left/Right scale doesn’t really explain where you are. Maybe our Diamond Chart can help.” ■ “Hey, that’s a great (jacket / shirt / outfit / cap / whatever). Do you have a moment? Here, take the World’s Smallest Political Quiz. It’s fun!” ■ “Curious?” (Just hold up the Quiz as people walk past, grin, and say this one word.)

in their hands as though I am doing them a favor. After all, I am doing them a favor by helping them take the Quiz.) If you are working at a candidate booth, you simply ask people to learn about your candidate. “Are you familiar with Mr. Jones, candidate for Governor?” Once you have their attention, then tell them that Mr. Jones is getting feedback from people, and ask them to please fill out this short political opinion survey. My particular technique is somewhat akin to a carnival barker. You have all seen carnival employees urging you to attend their show, or come to their booth. “Five tries for a buck! Come on, give it a try!” They urge and cajole you to toss ping-pong balls into saucers, or throw darts at balloons, or squirt water into a clown’s mouth, win a stuffed bear, guess your weight, or whatever it is. These carnies get your attention, and just ask over and over and over. Since I frequently do OPH on college campuses, I tell students that they should stop and take my test, that I guarantee they will pass, that every answer is a correct answer, and so on. While I take no for an answer, I don’t take no answer for an answer, and I keep pitching to them until they either say okay, no, or are out of earshot. Eventually, I might say something cute enough that the person turns to me and agrees to take the Quiz. Here are some phrases or statements offered by previous people who did OPH. Some of these can be used to induce people to take the Quiz. Others may be used to help overcome objections or questions people might have about why you are doing this, or what you hope to accomplish with this activity. Feel free to incorporate them if you like them, or ignore them if they do not fit your style. Remember, you are the one doing the OPH. You will have to decide what feels right for you, and what works for you.

What if they have questions about the questions? Sometimes, people will be unclear about exactly what the questions mean, or if there is more to them than meets the eye. How you answer these questions depends in part on what you are trying to accomplish. Since I am usually just looking for people who are already libertarians, and I am not out trying to explain or convince people that libertarianism is for them, I try to give neutral answers, be factual, but not sway people to answer the questions my way. Others might be actively representing their local party, a particular candidate, or otherwise in a situation in which they seek to convince the Quiz-taker that the libertarian answer is correct. In such a case, you might want to give more information, details, or explanation. But don’t despair if you can’t answer every question or objection thrown your way. To the best of my knowledge, only Harry Browne (twotime Libertarian Party candidate for president) and Mary Ruwart (author of a book giving libertarian answers to tough questions) can answer every question that people might ask,

■ “Better stop and take my Quiz! I guarantee that you’ll pass.” ■ “Did you study for today’s Quiz? ■ “Ten easy questions, and you’ll probably realize something about yourself that you don’t already know.” ■ “Would you participate in our one-question political survey?” (Then point at the sign 22

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munist? (Note: don’t ever take such comments personally, or get defensive. Don’t let people pick fights with you at the table.) Possible Answer: I’m just taking a survey about what people believe. I’m asking for your opinion. (Note: This answer is good for almost any question or challenge that you can’t otherwise answer. After all, you are asking for their opinions, and that is what the Quiz does. So when in doubt, simply fall back on this statement: I’m asking for your opinion.) ■ Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft.

■ If people have questions about the Quiz questions, try to give neutral — and factual — answers, and don’t try to sway people to answer the questions your preferred way.

Question: What if I think there should be a draft during war, but not during peace? (or) What if I want to have a draft during national emergencies, but no other time? Possible Answer: If you sometimes want a draft and sometimes don’t, then you might want to answer with the Maybe option.

and neither of them has ever worked an OPH table with me. Just do the best that you can, and remember to be polite. Since I usually am not trying to convince anyone of anything at the table, my answers tend to be neutral or non-confrontational. Here are a few things you can say to people if they have questions. (Feel free to come up with your own answers, if you prefer.)

Question: What if I don’t want a military draft, but I want mandatory service, like Americorps? Possible Answer: If you want mandatory service, whether it be military or Americorps, you should Agree. The issue here is not specifically the military, but whether people should be required to put in a time of service to their country.

Personal Issues ■ Government should not censor speech, press, media, or the Internet.

Question: What if I think that enough people will always register so that we don’t need the draft, but I want to keep the laws on the books just in case? Possible Answer: You are kind of in the middle of this question. If you can’t state that your answer is Agree or Disagree, just pick the Maybe option. It’s sort of a catch-all answer.

Question: They don’t control those things now, do they? Possible Answer: The Federal Communications Commission oversees some of those things nationally. There have been various court cases and federal laws about the Internet in the past few years. Question: What if I don’t want my kid seeing pornography on the Internet? Possible Answer: If you want government to regulate the Internet, then you Disagree. If you don’t want the government to regulate the Internet, then you Agree.

■ Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs. Question: What are you, some kind of hippie? Possible Answer: I’m just taking a survey about what people believe. I’m asking for your opinion.

Question: This is America. We don’t have those restrictions. Are you some kind of com23

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Constitution and the Bill of Rights? Possible Answer: If you think that, then you Agree with the statement.

Question: What if I think that things like marijuana should be legal for cancer patients, but I don’t want a bunch of doped-up kids driving around? Possible Answer: If you think that some laws should be changed but not others, try the Maybe answer.

Economic Issues ■ End “corporate welfare.” No government handouts to business.

■ There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults.

Question: Do we give handouts to them now? Possible Answer: There are many forms of handouts and subsidies. The question concerns whether we should give them. Answer Agree if you think government should not give handouts and subsidies to business, and Disagree if you think it should.

Question: What kind of regulations are there on sex between consenting adults? Possible Answer: Regulations on sex for consenting adults may involve issues like prostitution, pornography, X-rated movies, and homosexuality. Question: Are you some kind of pervert? Do you think those things should be legal? Possible Answer: I’m just taking a survey about what people believe. The question is whether you think they should be legal.

Question: Most businesses don’t need any subsidies. They are rich enough. But some industries need some help to compete. Possible Answer: If you want some subsidies but not others, perhaps you should choose the Maybe answer.

Question: I think we should have those regulations. Those things should be outlawed! Possible Answer: Then you Disagree.

■ End government barriers to international free trade.

Question: I think those things should be legal. Get government out of my bedroom. Possible Answer: Then circle A for Agree.

Question: So you favor NAFTA and GATT? Possible Answer: I’m just taking a survey about what people believe. I’m asking for your opinion.

Question: Well, I think that some of that is okay, but not others. Possible Answer: If you want some but not others, try the Maybe answer.

Question: What barriers are we talking about? Possible Answer: There are many government barriers, such as taxes on imports and exports, quotas, and so on.

■ There should be no National ID card. Question: What is a National ID card? Possible Answer: Some politicians have proposed that all Americans should have a National ID card for such things as medical care, travel, or identification.

Question: Can you give me an example of a such barriers? Possible Answer: Japanese cars shipped to America pay an import tax, and in response, Japan puts a tax on American wheat.

Question: Well, I think that it will help stop terrorism. Possible Answer: Then you Disagree with the statement.

Question: What if I want America to put tariffs on Japanese cars, but I don’t want the Japanese to put a tariff on American wheat? Possible Answer: (smile) You’ll have to figure out for yourself how to score that.

Question: Doesn’t that violate the U.S. 24

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■ Let people control their own retirement. Privatize Social Security.

Possible Answer: Then you should mark D for Disagree.

Question: Without Social Security, we’ll just end up back in the Great Depression. Possible Answer: So you Disagree with the statement.

Question: I don’t want to pay any taxes! Possible Answer: Sounds like you support a 100% tax cut. You should mark A for Agree.

Overall

Question: Without Social Security, people won’t take care of themselves and elderly people will starve. Do you hate your grandparents? Possible Answer: Remember, I am not arguing for anything, I am just asking your opinion.

You will notice that none of the answers to these questions called for a discussion of your personal opinion on these issues. In every case, the purpose is to get back to the Quiz-taker’s opinion. You are not trying to convince the person that a particular answer is correct or incorrect. Rather, you want to find out what the person thinks about these issues. As I stated previously, if you want to argue, discuss, or debate people over the answers, perhaps you should have a second booth across the aisle from the first booth. Then, for those people who want to argue, send them over to the second booth, and keep them out of the way of the OPH. At the OPH booth, you don’t ever want to debate people, argue about the answers, or try to give information about why these questions are the questions on the Quiz. The questions have been tested, tried, reviewed, revised, updated, upgraded, altered, improved, and processed over literally thousands of field activities. You don’t have to defend the questions; they stand for themselves. All you have to do is get the other person to answer them. You are only providing a little bit of information when people ask for it, and then you want to be sure your answers are balanced, or that they provide the shortest route to the person’s opinion. Don’t get bogged down arguing or debating — this is counterproductive!

■ Replace government welfare with private charity. Question: What is the difference? Possible Answer: Government welfare is paid for with tax dollars and is operated by government employees. Private charity is funded by voluntary contributions, and is operated by non-government groups like the United Way or Habitat for Humanity. Question: That won’t work. People are mean and stingy, and won’t help each other. Possible Answer: Then you should indicate that you Disagree with the statement. ■ Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more. Question: If we cut taxes so much, how will we pay for the military (or the schools, or the roads, etc.)? Possible Answer: If you think we need to keep taxes at about the current level to pay for the military (or schools, or roads, etc.), then simply mark D for Disagree. Question: What if I think we should cut taxes (or government spending) just a little bit? Possible Answer: If you think it should be cut by considerably less than 50%, then you should probably mark D for Disagree.

How do I figure out where people belong on the Chart? Once they have taken the Quiz, you will need to evaluate their answers and figure out where they belong on the Chart. This is very simple. You will calculate a score for the

Question: I think we need higher taxes (to help poor people, or to reduce oil imports, or to fight terrorism). 25

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Personal Issues, and a separate score for the Economic Issues. You give 20 points for each Agree answer, 10 points for each Maybe answer, and 0 points for each Disagree answer. For easy reference, there is a space on the Quiz where you can write the point total for each section. When you add them up, put the respective point totals in these spaces. You will use these numbers to figure out where the person belongs on the Diamond Chart. Note that the points themselves don’t have any particular underlying meaning. They are simply the mechanism by which we figure out where the person belongs on the Diamond Chart. We could have used an entirely different mechanism to indicate where people belong, or used single digits instead of double digits, or many other systems; this one is just easy to use. It is not necessary for people to understand that big scores or small scores have particular meaning, or even to know what their scores are. After all, these numbers are only used to indicate the point on the Chart where the person belongs. It is the location on the Chart that has meaning, so don’t get bogged down explaining to the person what their calculated scores are. Let’s take a couple of examples of scoring to give you a better idea of how this works. Suppose you have these answers:

■ After people have taken the Quiz, you will computate their score and show them exactly where they belong on the Chart. 10 = 30, you would put 30 in the space under the Personal Issues section. ■ Economic Issues In this case, you would add 60 points for the three Agree answers (20 + 20 + 20), 10 points for the Maybe answer, and 0 points for the Disagree answer for a total of 70 points for the Economic Issues section. We do not add these two figures together to get any sort of total score. Rather, we will find where these two figures cross or intersect on the Diamond Chart. It is at the intersection of these two numbers that the person’s ideological position is found. Informally, we refer to such a person as a 30-70. You can use any person’s Personal and Economic scores as a handy indicator of a person’s views. Again, though, it is not the numbers that are important, but the section of the Chart that they represent. Let’s start with the Personal Issues number. On the Diamond Chart, on the side labeled Personal Issues, find where 30 would be. I have added a bold line that runs diagonally from lower left to upper right. The person’s overall position will be somewhere on this bold diagonal. Now let’s look at the Economic Issues

What are your views on PERSONAL issues? Government should not censor speech, press, media, or internet. ......... A Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft. ........... M There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults. .............. D Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs. .................. D There should be no National ID card. ................................................. D

What are your views on ECONOMIC issues? End corporate welfare. No government handouts to business. .... A End government barriers to international free trade. ................ A Let people control their own retirement. Privatize Social Security. . A Replace government welfare with private charity. .................... M Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more. ............... D

■ Personal Issues You would add 20 points for the single Agree answer, 10 points for the Maybe answer, and 0 points for the three Disagree answers. Since 20 + 26

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■ Economic Issues In this case, you would add 40 points for the two Agree answers (20 + 20), and 20 points for the two Maybe answers (10 + 10). We add 40 + 20, and get a total of 60 points for the Economic Issues section.

number. It is a 70. On the Diamond Chart, on the side labeled Economic Issues, find where 70 would be. Again I have drawn a bold line, this time on the diagonal from lower right to upper left. The person’s overall position will be somewhere on that diagonal. Now we simply find the point where the 30 line on the Personal Issues side intersects with the 70 line on the Economic Issues side. This point in the Conservative section, so the combination of these two numbers tells us that this person is a Conservative.

We will find the number 80 on the Personal Issues side of the Chart, and see where its line goes up and to the right. We will then find the number 60 on the Economic Issues side, and see where its line goes up and to the left. We call this person an 80-60, and we find the spot where these two items intersect. This point is in the top portion — the libertarian section. Whoopee! That’s what you are looking for!

Let’s take a second example. What are your views on PERSONAL issues? Government should not censor speech, press, media, or internet. ......... D Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft. ............ A There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults. .............. A Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs. .................. A There should be no National ID card. ................................................. A

Once you have evaluated the Quiz three or four times and figured out how to place people on the Chart, you will realize that this is a very easy task. For the person taking the Quiz, of course, it might be tough to figure out because they have likely never done this. But once you have scored a small handful of Quizzes, you will be able to find where folks fit on the Chart as if you were an old pro at it.

What are your views on ECONOMIC issues? End corporate welfare. No government handouts to business. .... M End government barriers to international free trade. ................ M Let people control their own retirement. Privatize Social Security. . D Replace government welfare with private charity. .................... A Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more. ............... A

■ Personal Issues You would add 80 points for the four Agree answers (20 + 20 + 20 + 20), and 0 points for the Disagree answer. Thus, you would put 80 in the space under the Personal Issues section.

What do I say to people about their evaluations? While you are there to identify prospective libertarians, that doesn’t mean you should be 27

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are not in government are likely to be smallgovernment liberals. If they are near the border between liberal and libertarian, I am likely to say, “You’re a liberal-libertarian,” or, “You’re a left-leaning libertarian.” I often follow up by asking, “Do you know what libertarian means?” If they say “Yes,” ask if they are surprised that they are borderline libertarians. For these people, the answer is often, “No, I am not surprised.” If they are on the border, and they know about libertarianism, and they probably sort of thought that maybe they were libertarians anyway. If they answer “No” when I ask if they know what libertarian means, I generally try to describe libertarians in a way that builds bridges with the particular person, based on the Quiz answers. (For example, if the person said to legalize drugs but not guns, I will not say that libertarians want a strong Second Amendment; I will say that libertarians are at the forefront of the fight for medical marijuana. Build bridges to their position, and then develop their understanding of all of libertarianism at a later time.)

rude or dismissive of anyone else. After all, you have asked them to take this survey, and they have taken it. By all means, continue to be polite, even to those scary folks who score in the Statist section! Thus, you need to figure out ways to be polite, and still explain to these folks what their answers imply. Of course, how much explanation you offer may depend on how busy the booth is, how many people are working, and so on.

Liberals and Conservatives For people who score in the Conservative or Liberal portions of the Chart, you can simply say, “You’re a Conservative,” or “You’re a Liberal.” Even though people generally don’t understand what these terms mean, most people think they understand what they mean, and that’s probably as close as you will get. Sometimes, I will say something like, “You’re a liberal. Is that what you thought you would be?” Or, “You scored in the conservative area. Did you think that you were a conservative?” Many times, people do not know. People often tell me that they don’t know anything about politics, and that they have no idea what they are. Sometimes, this is because they are simply politically homeless. In other cases, it’s just because they really haven’t been paying attention. In any event, you don’t want to spend a lot of time with liberals and conservatives, regardless of how much they know or don’t know, because they are not your target audience.

Big-Government Liberals When someone scores in the big-government liberal section, I usually laugh, tell them that they are big-government liberals, and then point out that some recent national politician (e.g., the most recent Republican candidate for president) campaigned specifically against that person. I’ll laughingly say, “You’re the person that Candidate X said he wanted to do away with. I’ll bet you’d like to get rid of Candidate X, too, wouldn’t you?” Usually, the person laughs and agrees with me. Occasionally, though, someone will be aghast, since that person loves Candidate X, and can’t imagine that these answers are in any way different from Candidate X’s view. (And indeed, since there are so many big-government liberals in both the Democrat and Republican parties, it is possible that although Candidate X campaigned against big-government liberals, Candidate X may nonetheless be a big-government liberal!)

Small-Government Liberals Despite what the radio talk show hosts and the Republicans claim, it is possible to be a small-government liberal. Liberals are people who want to see particular outcomes, such as equality, fairness, and tolerance. There are some liberals who believe that big government hampers those efforts. Thus, make sure that you don’t get stuck in the old left-right mindset and immediately insist that all liberals are biggovernment liberals. While it seems likely that most liberals who are in government are big-government liberals, it also appears to me that a lot of liberals who 28

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Big-Government Conservatives

Small-Government Conservatives

Republicans all like to claim that they are conservatives, and they use the term conservative to mean small government. Neither claim is necessarily true. Remember, conservatives are people who want particular outcomes, like an America filled with big businesses, traditional Christian faith, and a particular type of family structure. These are goals; they are not means of achieving them. Many conservatives want to use big government to achieve these goals. For such people, I tell them that they are big-government conservatives, and I point out some of the recent big-government proposals by major conservative politicians. (To cite one recent example, President George W. Bush proposed massive federal government spending on private religious charities as a means of helping the poor. He wants a conservative outcome — strengthened religious faith and a return to traditional family structure — and he is willing to use all of the power and money of the federal government to achieve it. This is a big-government conservative proposal.) Sometimes, these big-government conservatives will disagree with me. They will insist that all conservatives are smallgovernment conservatives, and that they, in particular, are small-government conservatives. Do not argue with these people! Okay, so I am right and they are wrong. So what? I am surely not going to convince these folks to become libertarians, and any time I spend talking with them at the booth is a waste of my time. If they absolutely insist that they are smallgovernment conservatives, just say something like, “I suppose a different set of questions might have given you a different score.” Instead of insisting that they are wrong (even though they are), I give them an out — a way that they can continue to hold their views despite the evidence to the contrary. After all, they are biggovernment conservatives; they are accustomed to holding dissonant views despite evidence to the contrary!

All conservatives believe that they are small-government conservatives, but not all of them are. Small-government conservatives, after all, believe in no government subsidies to religion or business, and no special tax breaks for any particular type of family. While there are many small-government conservatives in real life, they are all-but extinct in Washington, DC. When I tell these people that they are small-government conservatives, they usually respond that they knew that. After all, all conservatives already believe this of themselves, so when you find a few for whom it is true, it is not a surprise that they already believe it. If they are particularly close to the libertarian border, I may describe them as conservativelibertarians, or right-libertarians. When I ask them if they know what libertarian means, they often do, although I find that these people are often quick to distinguish themselves from libertarians. For example, a small-government conservative may favor a lot of individual liberty, but still be a staunch advocate of the War on Drugs, or be a firm opponent of immigration. Thus, a knowledgeable smallgovernment conservative may be aware of libertarianism, and may also be convinced that libertarianism is wrong on some important principle or “goes too far” in general. Do not try to convert this person on the spot; this person is probably prepared to argue with you all day long. Instead, suggest that you have more in common with each other than with the liberals, and try to build bridges. Likewise, often the small-government conservative has considered the possibility that he or she might actually be a libertarian. When you bring up this option, you may well be met with an affirmative response.

Statists Statists see a need for government everywhere. They want government to control your lifestyle choices and your economic choices, they want government to provide a huge safety net, and they want government to 29

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the Chart. And, as libertarians, we automatically fear that everyone in that section must be a monster lurking in the shadows, ready to strike. But the fact of the matter is that many people in this section are very compassionate and caring people. What they don’t understand is that the power to do good is the same as the power to do evil. It is not doing good that concerns libertarians, it is the power that is the problem. When looking at benevolent dictators, statists often see benevolence; libertarians see dictators with the power to quit being benevolent. So what I tell these folks is that they tend to see people who need help, and they want to make sure that there is plenty of government available for those people in need. (And, just to point out the obvious, if there is anyone you don’t want to waste your time having political debates with, it’s Statists! You will disagree with everything they believe, and you’re not going to change their mind. Move on to the next person as quickly as possible.)

protect people from each other and from themselves. Okay, these are the truly scary people. Or are they? As it turns out, some of my best friends are statists. In many cases, their views are based not so much on any underlying political ideology as they are based on their jobs. You see, when you have particular jobs, you tend to see the world in a way that is based on your occupation. Some jobs are “helper” jobs, and the people in them are accustomed to helping others all the time. For example, I find that nurses who take the Quiz usually score as statists. This makes sense; nurses regularly see people who can’t take care of themselves. Nurses are accustomed to helping people do big and little things, assisting them in making decisions when they are poorly informed, and offering a big guiding hand for people. In short, in their daily jobs, nurses are helpers. As such, it is not a big surprise to me when I find a group of nurses that score in the statist section. Don’t misunderstand me here. I am not picking on nurses. I am merely using them as an example. I can offer many similar examples of people who are statists because of their jobs. At one college campus, I administered the Quiz to the head of the Student Union. This woman dealt with student groups on a daily basis. Because student groups are headed by, well, students, they are often poorly organized, inadequately staffed, and rarely have clear goals that they are trying to achieve. This woman’s job was to step in, bring order to chaos, help these groups to do better, and provide the resources necessary for them to be successful. In short, she was a campus version of a government bureaucrat, and her 0-0 score exemplified it. It’s no wonder that she believes that individuals and groups need guidance, direction, and money from the federal government; it’s her job to give guidance, direction, and money to student groups. She merely generalizes her experiences to the entire world. (And she did make the campus a better place!) Now, it is true that people like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt would show up in the Statist section of

How do I get contact information from the prospective libertarians? Ask them. Or, actually, tell them! First, you should be aware of the things you should not do. Do not say, “Uh, like, would you, uh, like to, y’know, be on my, um, mailing list?” The answer to this question is always “NO!” Being uncertain is the kiss of death in outreach. If you are uncertain or tentative about this request, then the other person, who has less information than you have, will be even more dubious. And uncertainty leads to rejection. Better practice what you will say and then say it smoothly, cheerfully, and confidently; don’t just blurt something out. Second, don’t refer to your “mailing list.” This term is a big turn-off for people who imagine that they will get bombarded by hundreds of pieces of junk mail nagging them with all sorts of demands or offers. Of course, it is a mailing list, and you will be sending mail to them. But let’s face it, the libertarian movement is hardly in a position to bombard people with junk mail. Realistically, this person will get just 30

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frequently hold an Intro presentation on that very night, to get those who are really enthusiastic. I often hold another Intro session in about two weeks, for those folks who need a little time to put the event on their calendar. That way, if the person is at all interested, my follow-up is immediate. I don’t have to worry about the person going home and forgetting all about the event, or worse yet, forgetting that he or she ever took the Quiz and scored in the libertarian section. If a person will act, the person will probably act right away. You don’t have to have your event that very night, but you sure don’t want to wait for six months before you have it. Delaying the upcoming event gains you nothing, and loses you some prospects who go cold very quickly.

a handful of polite offers to attend a libertarian event. You certainly shouldn’t be hesitant about signing someone up for that. Third, don’t ask them for their contact information. Tell them. Think about this for a moment. You know that they are already libertarians. (Remember, you’re only signing up your best prospects — people who scored in the libertarian quadrant.) You know that libertarianism is a good thing. You know that if they get involved in libertarianism, they will like it. You know that they’ll be glad they got involved. But they don’t know these things. Now, you are not forcing them to fill out the information, so you need not worry about being un-libertarian. But when you start with the assumption that they will provide their information, they usually will; if you start with the assumption that they won’t provide their information, they probably won’t. Make your assumption, and act accordingly. When I find someone who scores in the libertarian section, I usually respond like this: “Hey, that’s great — you’re a libertarian. Did you know that?” (pause for answer) “I’m here today with (my local group) and we are out trying to identify people who already believe the things that we believe — like you. If you give me your contact information, I’d be happy to inform you of upcoming activities and events that you might find interesting.” At this point, I hand the Quiz back to the person and turn it over to the back, where I have the spaces for the person’s Name, Address, City, State, Zip, Phone, and E-Mail. I also hand over a pen, and then I shut up! Don’t talk while the person is writing this down; talking at this stage will reduce the number of people who actually fill it out. And be sure to get the e-mail address; it is easier and less expensive to send e-mail to your contacts than it is to send regular mail. I try to make it sound like their giving this information to me is the most obvious thing in the world. Because, after all, it is! And once I’ve got their contact information, I tell them about our upcoming group activities. I like to do OPH in conjunction with an “Introduction to Libertarianism” presentation. And because I often work on college campuses, I

How do I get others to leave? Once you have evaluated a person’s political positions, and placed their colored stick-on dot on the Diamond Chart, you thank the person for stopping by, and you turn to the next person. At this time, most individuals will turn and walk away from you. However, once in a while, some conservative or liberal wants to stand there and argue with you over some question. In these situations, you must not get drawn into an argument, debate, or even discussion. As soon as you do this, you will scare everyone else away from your table. And I guarantee you, 100% of the time, you will not convince the person who is arguing with you that you are correct. So the best solution is to avoid the argument in the first place. If someone asks, “How can you even ask whether we should repeal all drug laws!?” — simply smile and say, “I’m just conducting a survey.” When they insist that we should have a mandatory military service, just smile and say, “And that’s why you disagreed with that particular statement on the Quiz.” The purpose of the booth is not to convince people that liberty is right; it is to identify people who already believe that liberty is right, but don’t know that they are libertarians. If a person asks you where you stand on the issues, don’t hide anything. Feel free to point to 31

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Normally, this is not a problem. Most folks will recognize that you are busy, that you have seen a lot of people, and will simply laugh and tell you that they already took it. Once in a while, you will encounter someone who expects you to have remembered him or her in that gigantic throng, and who can’t put himself or herself in your shoes. In that case, the person might have a sarcastic remark for you. Don’t despair. There’s a handy way to deal with both sets of people — those who are cool about it, and those who are not: laugh. Yes, laugh. If someone is a jerk, act as though you don’t realize that the person is being a jerk. Act as though you thought that they were trying to be funny, and that they succeeded. In many cases, that’s all it takes to turn these cranky people into uncranky people. And immediately after you laugh, ask them to show you their spot on the Chart. This must be done with humor, lest they think that you disbelieve them. (Why would anyone lie about that?!) Just laugh, ask them to remind you of where they scored on the Chart, and in most cases, that will assuage the situation. And then, say, “Thank You.” It’s amazing how far those two words go. Let’s face it, we are becoming a less civil society all the time, and a simple act of politeness occurs with less and less frequency. Merely thanking someone for having taken the time to take your survey goes a long way to banishing any ill feelings they might have. After all, if someone is in a bad mood, it certainly isn’t because of you. You gave them the Quiz, and showed them where they belong on the Chart. These are fun. Don’t ever return nastiness with nastiness. That is counterproductive, and wrecks your whole mood. Remember, whatever you might think of that other person, you are there as a representative of your organization, and your organization holds no ill will toward that person (even those who scored 0-0!).

your own colored spot on the Diamond Chart. But if the person is not a libertarian, or did not score on the border with libertarianism, there is no point in explaining the further implications of your position. If the person is already mostly a libertarian, but has questions about one or two individual issues, suggest that he or she come to the next meeting of your group and ask the question there, where people will be ready, willing, and able to discuss all issues and answer any questions the person may have. If a liberal or conservative insists on hanging around and bugging you about some topic, that is a good time for a restroom break. That’s right, break off, mention to your OPH coworkers that you are taking a pit stop, and head for the restroom. Usually, the person who is bugging you will not follow you to the restroom, and is also unlikely to try to pick up the debate with the other people working the table. It is also possible, of course, to plan for these kinds of people by having a separate booth. Often, I do OPH in conjunction with a separate booth located next to or across the aisle from the OPH booth. Staff that booth with the people from your organization who are able to handle questions in a non-argumentative way. Then, when people have questions, send them to the other booth, away from your OPH, to do their discussing. Remember, the purpose of the OPH booth is to gather names of prospective libertarians. It is not to argue with every conservative or liberal who comes along and wants to pick a fight. If you want to do that, you don’t need an OPH booth; you merely need a sign that says: “Libertarian wants to argue with Liberals and Conservatives. Step up and give me your best shot!” You will have all the argument you need, and you won’t have to go to the effort of putting up an OPH booth.

Oops, I asked a person who already took the Quiz... At high-traffic areas, where you see literally hundreds (or even thousands) of people stream past you, it is likely that you will ask some people to take the Quiz more than once. 32

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Doing An OPH: Follow Up

I

mentioned earlier that the best time to do OPH is when you expect to find some prospective libertarians, and when you can do follow-up with them. Follow-up is a crucial element of the OPH event. A good follow-up event soon after the OPH will significantly increase the conversion rate of people who actually become members of your organization. Failure to have a good follow-up event soon after the OPH will decrease your conversion rate. Since the purpose of OPH is to identify names of proto-libertarians whom you can then get to join your group, doing the OPH without doing the follow-up is liking pouring your morning orange juice but not bothering to get out a glass. It pretty much misses the point of pouring the O.J. in the first place.

your own word processing manual for more information about how to do this simple database, if you don’t have a database expert to handle it.) Another option is to use an online database program. I use Yahoo Groups because it is easy, and doesn’t require me to be a computer programmer. (www.yahoogroups.com). Use this to make an e-mail list. It is far less expensive and convenient to contact a person via e-mail than it is to contact them via regular mail. Using something like Yahoo Groups allows you to have quick and inexpensive contact with the folks on your list. Many of these group-type systems support chat functions, files, and other things that can also be utilized if your group is so inclined. For example, you could have a weekly one-hour online chat in which you provide information on a particular topic. Likewise, you could create files of articles or information that are appropriate for new people. You can even tell these database programs to automatically send certain messages to people as soon as they are subscribed to the list. Second, share the information with the Advocates. The Advocates is always at the ready to provide information to people who want to know more, or to respond to those people who have questions. The Advocates will do their own follow-up mailing separate from what you are doing. This allows the person to get more than one type of libertarian information from more than one source. This is important because not every person responds to the same things. Thus, while one person may be interested in the philosophy of liberty, another may be interested in the history of gun control, while a third is just upset with the local garbage collection. As people receive different types of information, they respond in different ways. By making sure that there is a wide variety of information sent out, we increase the likelihood that the person will find something that he or she likes.

What should I do with the names I get? There are several things that you can do with the names — and perhaps a few that you should do with them. First, you will want to organize the information into some cohesive fashion: your mailing list. Since you want to follow-up with these folks, you want to quickly put the information into a format conducive to follow-up. If you have a computer person who maintains your group’s database, share the information with that person. That person can key-in the data, and can then produce mailing labels or reports for you. If you don’t have such a person, you should either get one, or learn the basics of a database yourself. (Note: working with a database need not be difficult. I maintain my local database in Microsoft Word, which means that I don’t worry about fields, relations, queries, or anything else. I just type it in. Read 33

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Also, share the information with whatever umbrella organization is sponsoring you. For example, if you are a local chapter of a political party or organization, an educational reform group, a medical marijuana advocacy organization, or a pro-Second Amendment club, you probably have some sort of state or national organization behind you. Share the information with these people, too. They will want to do their own follow-up from the national or state level. I firmly believe that the best thing you can do with a new prospect is to invite him or her to an “Introduction to Liberty” presentation. (See below.) But if you absolutely cannot hold such a presentation, be sure to mail information from your local group to all your OPH prospects. A personalized cover letter, reminding them about the Quiz and their libertarian score, and thanking them for requesting information, is always good. Include a brochure or flyer about your organization. You’ll want to give prospects an opportunity to become active in your organization, so invite them to an upcoming meeting or convention. The overall tone of your info package should be friendly, upbeat, and professional. And remember this: contacts grow stale! If you get a contact name on January 10 and you don’t contact that person again until June 10, the person probably won’t remember having taking the Quiz or having scored in the libertarian quadrant. In that case, you are sending junk mail. And if the person does remember this stuff, he or she has probably already written off your organization as a bunch of hopeless amateurs, incapable of prompt, professional follow-up. Thus, whatever you are going to do with the names, do it immediately!

■ The purpose of OPH is to find libertarians — so hosting an OPH without doing some kind of follow-up is a waste of your time!

Should I hold an OPH in conjunction with an Introductory presentation? I do. In fact, this is the key to all of my OPH events. I don’t just do OPH simply because I like doing it (although I certainly like doing it!). Rather, I do OPH to try to get people involved in my organization. And for most people, if they are going to take any action, it will be right away. Ask any salesperson about it. Many years ago, I sold cookware door-to-door. I wasn’t very good, but I observed the other salespeople, and I learned a lot. And one of the things I learned is that a person will either buy the first time you visit them, or the person will never buy. People will tell you differently, and they will believe themselves, but 100% of the time, the people who asked us to come back did not buy. When we put that into OPH terms, that means that a person who scores as a libertarian will either be interested right away — or probably won’t be interested at all. And if the person is interested right away, you need to have an event right away. The best thing to do is to hold an 34

Advocates for Self-Government

Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual

“Introduction to Liberty” presentation that very evening, and another within two weeks of your OPH. Strike while the iron is hot. Have an opportunity for the person to immediately begin learning more. You might balk at this. Many people tell me that they think it is better to hold an event as much as two months later, so that prospective libertarians have a chance to put it into their schedules. Resist this belief! All this does is give people a chance to forget that they took the Quiz. Unless you are planning to send them mail and then call them on the phone to remind them of your event, they will forget all about it. Just because you are excited about this event doesn’t mean that they will be. Catch people when they are interested. (Next time you go to a convenience store, pay attention to where the candy bars are located — right next to the counter. They know all about people and their impulses!) Now, there is nothing wrong with holding an event in a few days, and holding an event in a month. And if you are doing a lot of OPH, you probably need to hold multiple Introductory presentations anyway.

In my first introductory presentation in the late 1980s, given to a political science class at a university, I followed Bergland’s book like a game plan. The teacher congratulated me for making such a logical, cohesive, and consistent argument. I accepted the praise, and silently thanked David Bergland for helping me get an A in that class. Today, in my introductory presentations, I talk a lot about the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the legitimacy of government action. Even though I am an economics professor, my presentation has a lot of soft-core philosophy in it. Interestingly, my friend Roderick, a philosophy professor, told me that his libertarian introductory presentations are mostly about economics. Go figure. Another friend of mine, Mark, likes to tell little stories about the silly things that the government has done lately. Suffice to say that Mark never runs out of stories about the inanities by the health department, board of supervisors, zoning board, school district, and other government bodies. He just reads the daily newspaper, and comes up with a speech right away. If you really don’t want to write your own speech, that’s not a problem. The Advocates have some pre-written speeches that you can deliver. You can buy the script from the Advocates, and you can even listen to a tape of someone else delivering the speech before a live audience. If you don’t feel like re-inventing the wheel, you don’t have to. Also, make sure to leave time at the end of your formal presentation to take questions from the audience. That way, you can address concerns and specific issues you did cover in your talk. I advise one last thing about such presentations: have a sign-in sheet. Have someone at the door to greet every attendee and to get every attendee to sign in when they arrive. Some will say that they already gave you their information at the OPH table. That’s fine, but you still want their information. Sometimes, the table information will be illegible, or you may have spilled coffee on it, or something else can happen. It’s better to get the information again.

What should I do at an Intro presentation? There are as many answers to this question as there are people who give these presentations. I suggest that you start off by “borrowing” from some great libertarian book, such as David Bergland’s updated Libertarianism in One Lesson or either of Harry Browne’s campaign books, Why Government Doesn’t Work or The Great Libertarian Offer. Just read them, pick out the basic themes, arguments, and examples, and give the presentation.

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Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual

Advocates for Self-Government

And that way, if someone brings a friend — it happens more often than you might guess — you have a built-in mechanism for getting the friend’s information, too. And since people are hesitant about being the first to sign a sheet, you should fill in your own information on the first line. And fill in everything. If you skip your address and phone number, on the assumption that you already have it in the database, then everyone else will skip their address and phone number, on the assumption that this information is unnecessary. In that case, your sign-in sheet loses most of its value.

A final suggestion: End every introductory presentation with a call to action. That is, invite attendees to join your group and to sign up as volunteers. Remember, you don’t just want these folks to become libertarians — you want them to become active libertarians. What can these new volunteers do? They can help staff your next OPH booth! Put them to work recruiting the next generation of libertarian activists. That’s the only way our movement will grow.

ADVOCATES for SELF-GOVERNMENT THE LIBERTY BUILDING • 213 SOUTH ERWIN STREET • CARTERSVILLE, GA 30120-3513 WWW.THEADVOCATES.ORG • PHONE: 770-386-8372 • FAX: 770-386-8373 • EMAIL: [email protected] 36