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The Cost of Engagement: Politics and Participatory Practices in the US Liberty Movement

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The Cost of Engagement: Politics and Participatory Practices in the US Liberty Movement The Cost of Engagement: Politics and Participatory Practices in the U.S. Liberty Movement Liana Gamber Thompson, Ph.D. A Case Study Report Working Paper Media, Activism and Participatory Politics Project Civic Paths Annenberg School For Communication and Journalism University of Southern California December 10, 2012 Cover Photo: Taylor Metting, 2011 Executive Summary In the past decade, young libertarians in the U.S., or members of the Liberty Movement as it is called, have utilized new media and technology along with more traditional modes of organizing to grow their movement, capitalizing on the participatory nature of the internet in particularly savvy and creative ways. Still, the Liberty Movement is quite unlike more progressive, grassroots movements, with its organizations and participants sometimes relying on established institutions for various forms of support. As this report highlights, the Liberty Movement represents a hybrid model, one that embraces participatory practices and interfaces with formal political organizations and other elite institutions. This case study outlines the: Relationship between institutional supports and participatory modes of engagement in the Liberty Movement Choices those in the Liberty Movement make about their use of online/offline spaces Role of community in supporting learning and organizing through the Liberty Movement, despite members’ active embrace of individualism Paths toward involvement in the Liberty Movement, including especially the roles of mentors and educators Political rationales shaping the decisions of many movement participants to prioritize political education over voting as a mechanism for change Internal debates around multiculturalism and diversity Emergence of a libertarian fandom around theorists ranging from F.A. Hayek to Ayn Rand In a letter to Richard Rush dated October 20, 1820, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.”1 This report suggests that participants in the Liberty Movement would concur with respect to the challenges they encounter; largely ignored by mainstream media and pushed to the margins of the electoral process, libertarians have it tougher than many groups when it comes to the task of gaining voice and visibility in the mainstream political debate. This report examines how young libertarians confront such obstacles and presents readers with a detailed account of young libertarians and their relationship to the contemporary political landscape. 1 http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/quotations-liberty#_note-8. 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. 4 Exploring the Liberty Movement ..................................................................................................... 5 About the Case Study ............................................................................................................................ 7 Methods................................................................................................................................................................. 7 The Liberty Movement ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Students for Liberty .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Key Questions ................................................................................................................................................... 10 Institutional Support and Participatory Politics ..................................................................... 11 Diversity, Equality and (Anti) Racism in the Liberty Movement ........................................ 17 The Value of Diversity ................................................................................................................................... 19 Gendered Experiences ................................................................................................................................... 23 Mentorship, Learning and Paths to Libertarianism ................................................................ 25 Homeschooling ................................................................................................................................................ 26 Teachers ............................................................................................................................................................ 30 Online Forums ................................................................................................................................................. 31 Formal Mentorship Structures ................................................................................................................... 37 Online Communication, Networking and Participatory Practices .................................... 39 Online/Peer-to-Peer Mentorship ............................................................................................................... 40 A Sense of Community ................................................................................................................................... 41 Spreading Ideas and Building Alliances .................................................................................................. 43 Conceptions of Engagement ............................................................................................................ 44 Defining Activism ............................................................................................................................................ 44 Reinterpreting Politics .................................................................................................................................. 47 The Liberty Movement and Electoral Politics ........................................................................... 49 Big L vs. little l and Political Participation ............................................................................................. 57 A Conscious Choice ......................................................................................................................................... 59 A Ron Paul Revolution? ................................................................................................................................. 61 I Heart Hayek: Libertarian Theory Fandom .............................................................................. 63 Libertarian Fandom as Political ................................................................................................................ 73 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 75 Appendix: Methodological Notes ................................................................................................... 79 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................................... 80 Images ..................................................................................................................................................... 84 3 Acknowledgements This report has been made possible by a fantastic team of devoted scholars, colleagues, and friends, and I would be remiss if I failed to acknowledge their help and support. Thank you to Henry Jenkins, Sangita Shresthova and Neta Kligler-Vilenchik for their tireless efforts, intellectual guidance, and careful proofreading. Thanks also to Joseph Kahne and the members of the MacArthur Youth and Participatory Politics Network, Mizuko Ito, and Jeff Brazil and Whitney Burke at the Digital Media and Learning Hub. I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Amy Binder, Kaja Tretjak, L. Paul Strait, and Ellen Middaugh as well as the Institute for Multimedia Literacy at USC. I also offer my sincere thanks to Zhan Li, Amish Desai, John Gamber Thompson, and the members of the Civic Paths research group at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Thank you to the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for their support, and lastly, to Students for Liberty and the group of fine young people who participated in the interviews for this project. 4 Exploring the Liberty Movement On July 5, 2012, Gawker Media published a short “exposé” on Dorian Electra, a 19- year-old libertarian college student who, since 2010, has shared via YouTube a series of playful self-produced videos about libertarian and economic theory.2 Fig. 1 The article, authored by finance writer Moe Tkacik, skewers Electra, referring to her as a “Libertarian Lolita” and accusing her of being a puppet of the politically influential conservative billionaires, David and Charles Koch: “Now, where the conservative movement will probably never want for obnoxious junior Bible-thumping blowhards like 2 Moe Tkacik, “Meet Rapper Dorian Electra Gomberg: The Libertarian Lolita,” Gawker, July 5, 2012, http://gawker.com/5923731/meet-rapper-dorian-electra-gomberg-the-libertarian-lolita. 5 Jonathan Krohn, Gomberg/Electra is the product of a much more delicate and nuanced decades-long project to make
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