By Brian Roberts
Article 3 in Series, Restoring Freedom: An Entrepreneur’s Perspective
We must bring our revolutionary product of individual freedom to market, and soon; otherwise servitude, Washington D.C.’s product of choice will monopolize and we will see out market share for freedom disappear and our great experiment in self-government fail.
Crossing the Chasm, a book focused on bringing technology products to market, presents an analogy based on World War II Europe. After Hitler took control of Europe, the Allies were left without a front to counter Axis aggression. At the time many considered Europe lost. The Allies, faced with an impossible task, developed a strategy to liberate Europe. That’s what we need: a strategy to liberate freedom itself.
Here’s what the book says about crossing the chasm: “This is not the time to focus on being nice. As we have already said, the perils of the chasm make this a life-or-death situation for you. You must win entry into the mainstream no matter what resistance is posed. So, if we are going to be warlike, we might as well be so explicitly.â€
So here’s our strategy, we cross the English Channel and re-take Normandy, therefore reclaiming state sovereignty; then we use this beach head as a front to re-take Europe, demanding individual freedom and smaller federal government. In order to cross the English channel we must first assemble the right invasion force, which is a strong mix of grassroots individuals, state level politicians and any national level politicians willing to give power back once they get to Washington. We will need to have the right message that is suitable for the early majority. Remember, the early majority will not be interested in the 10th amendment for historic or visionary reasons. They will want to know how a movement based on the 10th can help them improve their daily lives or their children’s future. This communication will be easier over time as more pain from socialism becomes apparent, but reversing the trend right now would be much easier. So we can’t wait, we need to move forward today.
In 2010 our goal is to take over state governments thus liberating our Normandy, state sovereignty; but in preparation we must put together the invasion force. That is our goal for the next 12 months. To achieve this goal, every bit of effort must be placed on the task at hand. As individuals, we must regain control of state governments at all costs. And then we must focus these state governments on the federal government as a legal counter to federal power. For if we do not reclaim this undeniably legal front, guaranteed by the 10th, then all is lost and we may find ourselves years from now resorting to a much less attractive option, guaranteed by the 2nd. No doubt this will happen if we continue our unfocused strategy of attacking whatever issue of the day the media or the politicians tell us to focus on.
As individuals, we must regain control of our state governments and use this to as our “beachhead†to defend our life, liberty and property.
So now that we know what needs to be done, let’s get to it. Just as the Allies faced a fortified beach head when the amphibious assault landed on the Normandy shores, we face massive barriers as we attempt to reassert the 10th amendment. In 1913, states were stripped of much power when the 16th and 17th amendment were ratified. Since then, states have been thrown to the wolves of the progressive movement and judicial rulings have supported abuse of the interstate commerce clause and the welfare clause. This federal abuse of the Constitution is clearly at odds with our Founder’s intentions. Our goal must be to destroy these fortifications as we move forward with our invasion force.
As visionaries supporting the 10th, many of us find the concepts behind it a strong enough argument to support the movement. The early majority, or the mainstream, does not share this enthusiasm but they can be reached. Consider the following tactics:
- Completely satisfy buying objectives of mainstream. We must clearly communicate the reasons for buying individual freedom in terms of the 10th amendment. Then we must accomplish all buying objectives for our supporters. In other words, by working at the state level, we are working within a system that we can put together the resources to make significant changes in the short term, and we must develop tangible results to further grow the movement.
- Establish word-of-mouth marketing. For this develop there must be a critical mass of informed individuals who meet from time to time and by exchanging views reinforce the value of the product being sold. We should challenge unconstitutional laws based on the Constitution an the 10th amendment to increase exposure. Additionally, educating existing grassroots movements is key to this tactic.
- Become the market leader. This is very important. The early majority buys products from the market leader. That is why most people feel like they only have a choice between the Republicans and the Democrats. State sovereignty needs to be positioned and then marketed as the market leader in solutions for regaining individual freedom. This can be accomplished by making the 10th amendment one of the top priorities of the Tea Party and 9/12 movements, recruiting vocal state legislators, supporting and putting in place dedicated governors and then working resolutions and bills at the state level that challenge unpopular federal laws. Â Until a stronger movement is developed, targeting changes at the federal level will be very difficult because there will be very little incentive for a national politician to give back power to the states. This will have to be demanded at a later time. However, we should champion national leaders that are dedicated to our cause.
Many may claim that their individual “most important†issue should be the rallying point for regaining our freedom. However, any other issue, regardless of its popularity, does not have the ability to provide a more local, legitimate base of political power. Consider this business analogy… when a startup company seeks investment they must convince the venture capitalists that they have a revolutionary product with a disruptive technology and a management team capable of bringing the product to market. They understand that the only way to create massive change and thus massive wealth is to provide undeniable value to customers and fundamentally improve the way the customer does business. Therefore, they usually seek to invest in companies that can provide a core, fundamental platform that has the potential to provide the foundation for many other complementary products. They typically do no invest in the add-on products.
Every social, political or economic freedom must be defended first by a political power base that is specifically accountable to individuals intent on defending those freedoms at all cost. You can think of state sovereignty as the core technology and anything else as an add-on product. Winning state sovereignty is the key.
Just like the plan to re-take Normandy provided the allies with a front to retake Europe, a plan built on the 10th provides a front to retake individual freedom. So are we ready to send in the amphibious assault… not so fast, we need to assemble the right forces, determine the right message for the early majority, and dedicate ourselves to the political fight of our lives. Then we might be ready.
Brian Roberts is the President and a founder of an innovative software company in Texas. He has joined the tenth amendment movement as the meetup organizer of Texas Tenth Amendment Center. Follow Brian on Twitter, bcroberts_99.