All of those things mentioned by previous posts are good, PLUS take advantage of social media. Our opposition is doing it. Part of the reason that conservatives and libertarians lose the communications wars is that they don't take advantage of current technologies. It's not enough any longer, and hasn't been enough for a LONG time, to simply not buy and read the local liberal rag, or to only watch FoxNews to the exclusion of MSNBC or CNN, or to only listen to conservative talk radio. Liberals are not only using social media to talk to one another, they are using social media to talk to the fence-sitters. If we do not do the same thing, then the only voice that the fence-sitters hear is that of the left.....and all their illiberal fascist agenda.
The problem is, there seems to be a tendency on the part of conservatives (less so for libertarians) to look down on these technologies. We are (stupidly, in my opinion) PROUD of being luddites. We see ourselves as somehow above those things. We talk a lot about the marketplace of ideas, but the ugly (for us) truth is that the marketplace of ideas has moved on and relocated in modern social media. If we don't take advantage of FaceBook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, the Blogosphere, etc., etc., etc., then we are dead on arrival, and dead men tell no tales. That translates as "our message doesn't get out."
Conservatives and libertarians of ALL ages need to stop looking down their noses at these technologies and get involved in using them. You want to reach young people, right? Well THAT is where they are congregating. We need to stop looking at our beliefs as a comfortable haven, like church-goers who never make themselves stretch, and we need to start seeing ourselves as missionaries—people who go to dark places and shine a light.
Conservatives who are not willing to do these things either don't hold their core beliefs strongly enough to want to defend them, or they are not confident that they know their conservative apologetics well enough to sally forth and engage people. Neither is acceptable—not when we are losing elections to majorities who are either ignorant of or despise the truth of the conservative/libertarian message.
LASTLY: Make practical monetary investments in educating young people. Right now, sitting on a bookcase in my breakfast room are the following books:
- 20 copies of "Essential Liberty," https://patriotpostshop.com/products/124The Essential Liberty Guide—much more than just a founding documents booklet
Softcover, 155 pages
Measures 4.75" by 3.5"
Restore our Constitution’s integrity and mandate for Rule of Law! The Essential Liberty Pocket Reference Guide contains the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Additionally, an inspiring historical introduction by the Patriot Post’s executive editor Mark Alexander, the Oath of Allegiance to the Constitution, the Declaration of the Cause and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, The Articles of Confederation, various state plans from the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, and a wide selection of quotations from the Founding Fathers are all included in this excellent pocket reference. - 3 copies of "Tea Party Primer," https://patriotpostshop.com/products/1382Much more than just a founding documents booklet
Softcover, 157 pages
Measures 4.75" by 3.5"
A field guide to Essential Liberty and the restoration of Constitutional integrity. Includes an Introduction to the Tea Party and the Legacy of Liberty by Mark Alexander, our Founding Documents and much more. - 4 copies of "Founders' Wisdom," https://patriotpostshop.com/products/1603The Patriot’s Essential Liberty Companion Guide to Our Founders' Wisdom
49 pages
Founders' Wisdom is a publication of the Essential Liberty Project, which supports the restoration of Rule of Law as enshrined in our Constitution, the premier contract between “We, the People,” and our government.
Founders' Wisdom includes Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech, Samuel Adams Advocates American Independence, Text of the First National Day of Thanksgiving in America, Closing Speech at the Constitutional Convention, George Washington’s First Inaugural Address, Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, Rules of Civility and Farewell Address, as well as much more from Jefferson, Madison, and Franklin.
This pamphlet is a supplement to the Essential Liberty Pocket Guide,an outstanding primer on Liberty as “endowed by our Creator” and codified by our Founders in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. - 1 copy left of "The Constitution of the United States," published by Patriot Post in the same pamphlet format as "Founders' Wisdom," I need to order more but apparently no longer for sale on that site. However, some of the above mentioned items have a copy of the Constitution within their pages.
I keep copies of all of these booklets mentioned above in my vehicle, and I give them away whenever I have a conversation with a young person about their heritage. You have to believe me when I say that they are actually THIRSTING for it. Sometimes they don't realize that they are thirsting for it, but they actually are, and those conversations are what make them realize that they are thirsting for it. Do any of you think that most young folks today actually have a sense of their own freedom and the liberties which are their natural inheritance? Not really. They don't really see an unhindered future for themselves. They understand only what their government allows them to do, and they don't really like the restrictions they believe that places on them. They just don't dare oppose it because they don't understand that they have the Founders' intent on their sides........because THAT has never been taught to them. What flows from that is the cynicism of youth that we see so much of. They don't understand that the yearning for freedom they feel within them is actually in line with the original intent of our form of government. They really don't understand the nature of liberty, but they are very willing to talk about it because it speaks to them. It is during those conversations when you can actually see for yourself the light turning on in their eyes. That is the moment to strike while the iron is hot, and give away one of these booklets. One such young person....about 20 years old or so at the time.....was really angry and disillusioned, and it was affecting his relationship with his parents because his rejection of the politics of essential liberty was as much a rejection of them and their role in his life. I have a quasi-mentoring role in his life, so I gave him a copy of "Essential Liberty." The next time I saw him, about 2 weeks later, he had already finished reading it and he told me that it had completely changed his outlook. He said that he went to his parents and told them about what he had learned, and it made them cry with relief. How many of us are blessed enough to hear something like that about the effect we have had on the life of a young person who is not our own child.....and to know that it gave his or her parents joy and relief?
In his movie, "AGENDA: Grinding America Down," Curtis Bowers describes having been asked as a graduate student in 1992 to attend a meeting of The Committees of Correspondance, a front group for the American Communist Party. He said he expected to meet a bunch of young college radicals. Instead, he described the membership as a bunch of older, gray-haired and bespectacled baby-boomers wearing suits and carrying briefcases. His point being that these people have been at it for a loooong time, and they are the ones who now direct the education of our children. Now, even as a libertarian-leaning conservative and Christian myself, I'm not sure that I guy into every detail of Bowers' film, although he is clear to say that those he accuses are NOT a conspiracy, but rather a movement, with 5 or 6 stated goals; and that if you look back over the past 100 years or so of the existence of that movement, all or most of those goals have either been accomplished, or are near accomplishment. ONE of those goals is to commandeer the education of our children. Marx said that if he could get control of the childrens' education for 4 years, he could guarantee socialism forever. He also stated that Communism is the goal of Socialism. So you have to think about that when you look at what has happened to the education of our children over the past 100 years. I remember reading somewhere a few years ago that someone had found a copy of the test questions from a civics exam given to teenaged students in a one-room schoolhouse somewhere on the American frontier during the late 19th century; and had tested some then current high school students (circa 1980s-1990s) with those very same questions. The modern students failed the test, and yet these were questions that a poor farmer's kid in a one-room schoolhouse on the frontier would have been expected to answer correctly, or fail. They had to pass it to continue with their educations. Today, we're not even asking our kids the same questions.
In conclusion, we have TWO responsibilities, if we want to reverse the decline of the country: Communication, and education. Both will cost you both in time, and in treasure. Don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Invest in learning and using modern communication tools for competing in the modern marketplace of ideas, and spend money on good handouts for youngsters, and then don't be a cheapskate with them.