One suggestion for you as you seek to promote liberty, free markets, and individual rights: actively write letters to the editor!
There are many benefits to doing this. For example, when you get published -- and be patient, you will! -- you will help thousands of others learn more about your views and principles. In turn, this emboldens the thousands upon thousands of individuals who may share your views, but don't quite hold them quite as passionately, or may simply not have time to write letters.
Also, thousands upon thousands of individuals could be swayed in part by what you have to say. Just look at Obama's plunging poll numbers -- clearly, millions of Americans have a meaningfully less favorable view of their president now than they did on inauguration day about a year ago. Part of this is attributable to the anti-reality philosophy Obama has chosen for himself, and the numerous poor decisions that he has made as a result of his harmful philosophy. But part of this is also attributable to the tea party movement in general, which has been vocal about its desire for the federal government to stop infringing upon Americans' unalienable moral rights. While part of being vocal means holding in-person rallies from time-to-time, in-person rallies aren't a daily -- or even a weekly or monthly -- activity for many of us. But you can write letters to the editor as your time permits, any day, any week!
Personally, I write about 3-5 letters per week -- and I send them to multiple publications. But if you don't have time to write that much, try 2-3 per week, or even 2-3 per month. And the letters don't have to be lengthy, either -- in fact, many newspapers prefer to publish pithy letters, such as the following two-sentence letter of mine published in its entirety by the New York Daily News this past December 14th:
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/12/14/2009-12-14_untitled__vox14ed.html
How do you write an effective Letter to the Editor? Click on the following link, which takes you to the article "How to Write an Effective Letter to the Editor" by political commentator -- and member of the Facebook page for the North New Jersey Tea Party Group -- Robert Tracinski:
http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?news_iv_ctrl=-1&page=NewsArticle&id=11070
You can send your letters to the editor to a wide variety of publications. For example, I send every letter I write to the New York Post at letters@nypost.com (making sure, as always, to include my name, address, cell phone number, and the phrase "OK to Print/Publish"). I've been fortunate to have over 20 letters of mine published in the New York Post over the last year and a half. And, since the New York Post enjoys the sixth-largest circulation of any newspaper in America, my letters have no doubt been read by plenty of folks.
Interestingly enough, though, I may actually get more mileage out of submitting letters to the editor to much smaller, more local publications. I live in Clifton, New Jersey, and here we have a local (and free) community newspaper delivered to the doorstep of each Cliftonite every Friday -- it's called the Clifton Journal. I e-mail the Clifton Journal two letters every week (since this paper is published weekly, I don't send them every letter I write) via cliftonjournal@northjersey.com. And, since the competition for publication is a lot less than that of a paper like the New York Post, I get published on average 2-4 times per month.
Odds are that you live in a town or city with a free community newspaper; start writing to them regularly and see what happens!
In general, I am not a fan of Wikipedia. (Wonder why? Click on this link.) Nevertheless, the following Wikipedia page lists dozens of New Jersey-based newspapers, many of which accept letters to the editor via e-mail:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Newspapers
Also, undertake activities that leverage any letters that you do get published. At the end of every month, I use Facebook to message about 100 individuals -- some personal friends, but most of them media personalities -- with links to some of my letters to the editor that get published. No doubt that most of these people don't click on the links I send them. But that's not the point -- the point is, no doubt that some do (even if I don't know for certain which ones)! As such, my letters not only get in the hands of readers of the New York Post and the Clifton Journal, they also get in the hands of some of our country's leading opinion makers.
In addition, I leverage what I write by regularly posting comments to the Duke Over America blog -- created by my good friend Thomas LaDuke, who is also a member of the Facebook page for the North New Jersey Tea Party Group. Even if I don't get a particular letter published, I can post it to the Duke Over America blog. Similarly, you can start your own blog, or become a contributor to a friend's blog that might already be in existence. That way, you can post what you write to a blog. (I also use my Facebook profile to link to every blog piece I publish, so that my nearly 2,000 Facebook friends are informed that I've published something. Some won't read my blog posts, but based on feedback I've received, many do.)
And of course -- I recently became one of the contributors to the New Jersey Tea Parties United blog, the blog you are reading right now. No doubt that in the future, I'll be posting political commentary to this blog. I hope you enjoy what I will have to say in coming weeks and months.
In the meantime... I strongly encourage you take up your metaphorical pen and starting writing letters to the editor. To paraphrase a common saying, the letter to the editor is mightier than the sword!
– Mark Kalinowski
North New Jersey Tea Party Group
Liberty, Free Markets, and Individual Rights
By the way, I encourage ALL liberty-minded folks to “friend me” on Facebook,
and also to join the official Facebook page for the North New Jersey Tea Party Group
For folks not on Facebook, please add your name to our e-mail distribution list by contacting us at nnjteaparty@gmail.com
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