Today the following topics were covered:
The Real Nature of Politics (Mike Rothfeld):
The most interesting things I got out of this:
- The American political system is not broken, we should stop whining about it and show more initiative and action
- We need MORE confrontation to succeed, less bi-partisanship and compromising
- Two theories on how to succeed politically: Education vs. Mobilization/Confrontation
- Education alone will accomplish nothing without Mobilization/Confrontation
- Only about 60% of the population are eligible to vote. Based on this number, one can narrow down the target group based on factors such as ‘who actually cares’, ‘who is registered’, ‘who can we definitely not won over’ etc.
- Ultimately campaigns thus end up focusing on only around 6% of the people living in a district
- How to make politicians act:
- Understanding the nature of a politician is crucial: politicians are usually subordinate to their ambition
- “unless you are feared politically, you will not be respected politically”
- “When a politician tells you how politics works, ask yourself: How does the politician and the political class benefit if i believe it?”
- When running a grassroots campaign: be careful not to become the politician’s representative to the grassroots, you have to be the opposite
Caucuses, Mass Meetings & Conventions (John Tate):
John basically explained how conventions work and how to succeed in caucuses and primaries.
Sound Money, Sound Economy (Tom Woods):
Tom Woods basically outlined all the things that I explained in The History of Money and The Business Cycle. I may add that he did not talk about the consumption business cycle, but mentioned the production business cycle.
Recruiting and Vetting Candidates (Kirk Shelley):
Keys to Changing Policy (Mike Rothfeld):
Some more information on how to work the political system.
Exhibitors:
Last but not least, I walked around and looked at some of the booths. Some interesting organizations I found out about:
- AtlasNetwork.org – An organization that specializes in educating people in other countries about the concepts of liberty and provides means to mobilize people and make political change happen. Currently they are working in Arabic, Azerbaijani, Malay, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Kurdish, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Urdu
- SeaSteading.org – An organization that seeks to establish seasteading projects in international waters
- NWrarities.com – A coin dealer that I talked to. He told me something I had not thought about yet: Old pre 1933 gold coins have gained about 20% year on year while regular new bullion issues have pretty much remained stable in price. New bullion issues are not as limited as pre 1933 ones. I think this shows that there is a high demand for gold as money specifically, but not so much for the metal, a typical phenomenon of deflation.