Hello,
I'm currently a student at The Ohio State University and the fund-raising director of the campus Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) chapter. We are getting ready to launch the first-ever YAL newspaper on our campus this year (and I believe the first newspaper for any YAL chapter, for that matter). I have undergone activism training with both the Leadership Institute and YAL and I am very eager to get involved in serious pro-liberty activism. I am seriously considering staying somewhere in NH (Keene seems like the activism hot spot, yes?) over the summer to get some hands-on experience. Are there any internships or jobs available through the Free Keene network, or do members know of activist activities to keep one busy? I would probably need lodging as well (Porc Manor?), but the rent wouldn't be any issue at all; I need some sort of activity to occupy myself with while I am in NH.
Any help or pointers would be much appreciated.
Respectfully,
Benji
P.S. I also had the experience of being a recruiting manager at a market research firm for much of 2010, if that helps any.
[quote author=HamburgerSV link=topic=4255.msg47233#msg47233 date=1289457434]
Hello,
I'm currently a student at The Ohio State University and the fund-raising director of the campus Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) chapter. We are getting ready to launch the first-ever YAL newspaper on our campus this year (and I believe the first newspaper for any YAL chapter, for that matter). I have undergone activism training with both the Leadership Institute and YAL and I am very eager to get involved in serious pro-liberty activism. I am seriously considering staying somewhere in NH (Keene seems like the activism hot spot, yes?) over the summer to get some hands-on experience. Are there any internships or jobs available through the Free Keene network, or do members know of activist activities to keep one busy? I would probably need lodging as well (Porc Manor?), but the rent wouldn't be any issue at all; I need some sort of activity to occupy myself with while I am in NH.
Any help or pointers would be much appreciated.
Respectfully,
Benji
P.S. I also had the experience of being a recruiting manager at a market research firm for much of 2010, if that helps any.
[/quote]
Wow, awesome Benji! I'm a big fan of YAL. There's lots of activism happening all over the state, but the main type of activism seems to vary from area to area. In Keene, it seems that more activists focus on civil disobedience, and media, while in Manchester and Concord, there are more people working to effect change within the political system. Grafton is another hot spot, with a lot of outreach, and agorism (underground business) going on.
nhliberty.org is a good site to look at, for inside the system stuff. There's also freegrafton.com (freemanch.com is coming soon). The main FSP forum, at http://forum.freestateproject.org/ is worth checking out too, with people from various different areas. What sort of activism are you most interested in?
I'm for both brands of activism, however I have a strong sensitivity for creating an image of [whichever organization] that doesn't alienate people in the community. Thus, I believe education through tasteful civil disobedience and political activism is the best approach. As a fringe political movement, we cannot afford to be branded as "crazies" and have otherwise sensible people be turned off to our message because they are turned off by our activism.
For instance, when Obama visited Ohio State in October, we targeted our activism on social liberty issues that liberals would support that Obama has not supported. We printed thousands of fake programs for the rally and they were a big hit, as well as having a contingent of sign-waving protesters and a commando group (including myself) to actually attend the rally and subtly spread our discontent with Obama (posing as liberals - I even had an Obama pin) and then organizing people over the course of the rally to shout out in protest at Obama. I am not sure how effective that was, but we were very popular amongst the people we were near in the crowd. I don't think most YAL groups could pull off such an operation only because of their size, but we have about 40 active members here so we were able to do a variety of different things.
[quote author=HamburgerSV link=topic=4255.msg47235#msg47235 date=1289463001]
I'm for both brands of activism, however I have a strong sensitivity for creating an image of [whichever organization] that doesn't alienate people in the community. Thus, I believe education through tasteful civil disobedience and political activism is the best approach. As a fringe political movement, we cannot afford to be branded as "crazies" and have otherwise sensible people be turned off to our message because they are turned off by our activism.
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Well, I certainly agree with that.
And it sounds like you've pulled off some pretty great stuff at OSU. 
You might consider visiting and meeting people in different areas, to get a feel for what's going on. If either line up with your schedule, there's the Liberty Forum in march, and Porcfest in June. They're great ways to meet lots of people. Or just come – are you aware of porc 411? It's a great way to let people know you'll be in the area, and that you'd like to meet up.
If I was previously vague, I do support participation in our current political system as a mechanism to bring about change. I think a lot of good can be done if enough people in New Hampshire conspire to elect high-ranking officials who support liberty. It probably will never be perfect in our current system, but we have to see the forest for the trees, so to speak. I don't see how this is incompatible with voluntary systems operating outside the statist-quo as well though. I never understood why certain libertarians don't vote. The whole non-participation idea (that a non-voting populace will send a message to government that they operate on limited legitimacy) has proven to be nonsense, as government carries on with impunity as a vast majority of the citizens do not vote. A handful more libertarians abstaining on principle just seems silly to me.
[quote author=HamburgerSV link=topic=4255.msg47240#msg47240 date=1289466737]
If I was previously vague, I do support participation in our current political system as a mechanism to bring about change. I think a lot of good can be done if enough people in New Hampshire conspire to elect high-ranking officials who support liberty. It probably will never be perfect in our current system, but we have to see the forest for the trees, so to speak. I don't see how this is incompatible with voluntary systems operating outside the statist-quo as well though. I never understood why certain libertarians don't vote. The whole non-participation idea (that a non-voting populace will send a message to government that they operate on limited legitimacy) has proven to be nonsense, as government carries on with impunity as a vast majority of the citizens do not vote. A handful more libertarians abstaining on principle just seems silly to me.
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Yep, I agree with all that too. I think a variety of approaches is best. I also think voting for a third party candidate, or even writing in "nobody", as I've done on a number of occasions, sends a far stronger protest message than not voting.
I should add, in fairness, that in addition to Keene, I am considering the Seacoast area (I've heard very positive things about Seabrook, and I have family in nearby Gloucester, MA).
Hey HamburgerSV. I'm a member of YAL. There isn't a chapter in Keene although there are pro-liberty college students and other doing all types of activism in the Keene area (including political). Likewise, there is tons of activism happening all over NH. If you come to NH this summer and need ideas for activism, see me. I can literally think of 100s of things that I would love to see being done but are not currently being done. I'm not the only one either. I assure you, if you move anywhere in southern NH, you will never be bored because there isn't enough liberty activism to do.
I agree with Keith. While the activism movement in NH is larger than anywhere else, that still doesn't mean a whole lot. I don't want to dissuade you from coming here, but I also think you should know what it is like. There are plenty of opportunities to socialize and occasional activism than can be very exciting. This movement is very young and hasn't even officially begun. Everyone here is an early mover, and this is basically a ground-floor activism opportunity.