In the LP Radicals Yahoo Group
Michael H. Wilson wrote…
The elderly need better access to transportation services and legal services, but restrictions on who can own an inner city transit company deny the elderly access to such services and restriction on paralegals make legal services more expensive. Magazines on alternative healthcare might be receptive to ads criticizing the laws restricting midwives and I would definitely place ads in Ebony magazine on any number of issues that make life more difficult for members of the African-American community such as lack of adequate inner city transportation, occupational licensing and housing regulations. I have some of these issues on my website http://libertarianpeople.org (okay maybe it is more of a play toy than a website, but it’ll get better).
I think issues like this need to be emphasized a lot more by local LPs, to help build our ties to local communities and expand our diversity so we can be more effective. Contribute your thoughts and experiences in the comments!
Less
aynrkey
bostonteapartygoer
Kenn Jacobine
mattdharris
Mike Seebeck
Miche
paulie
Jim Davidson
ponggod
Stuart Richards
Steven Greffenius
Todd Andrew Barnett
The problem with old people, especially, is that they were often products of the New Deal or Great Society eras. So even if you make an argument for better services through free markets, their next expectation will be a subsidy to provide it.
That’s one of my other ideas is emphasizing reaching out to youth way, way, way, more.
Besides, we can’t reach everyone, but we can reach some folks, even if not all the way right away – and yes, sometimes you can even teach an old dog new tricks.
Besides not everyone is monolithic. There’s tons of natural libertarians in communities we’ve never really made a real attempt to reach. They are usually the ones who are cynical and disgusted with governnment, and may very well not vote or vote only grudgingly for the Democrats as a lesser evil.
Cheezus Eric I resemble that remark. Being 62 and ready to curl up a grow moss I guess
I think we have a lot of potential voters out there we haven’t even tried to reach. Here are some points from a federal study on transportation.
According to the federal government’s own study lack of transportation “has economic, social, and human cost, such as higher unemployment, reduced tax revenue, greater welfare and medical cost and limited social potential”. They did not get into the crime problem, but where we find poverty we also find crime and other social ills. Without going into a long litany of problems I think if we put our words together we can show that opening the transit market will help reduce a number of social problem from poverty and welfare dependency to air pollution and traffic congestion …”almost half of those without an automobile are 65 or older and”…”23% of full-time working mothers and almost 60% of part-time working mothers have non-traditional work hours thus they have less chances of connecting with locally scheduled transit.
Almost 40% of urban black African-American households do not have access to a car.
Almost 40% of American households do not have public transit services within two miles of their homes.
81% of that group are women.”
WE can show that government at all levels have made it more difficult to own, and operate a private transit business. History is on our side.
In the early 1900′s local government outlawed jitneys when they began to cut into the revenue that streetcars enjoyed and then the 1930′s era Public Utilities Holding Act required that the electric companies that owned streetcars division at that time sell them off.
We should be focusing on the diversity that opening the marketplace would bring.
I like to use to examples. The first is the Atlantic City jitneys which is the oldest, private and probably last remaining transit business in the nation of any size. It may not be the best to use and we need to broaden our scope, but they do offer rides at $1.50 each and a discount for seniors as I recall. The second example I trot out is that of Curitiba, Brazil which has what has been called the finest example of mass transit in the world. It consist of 13 private unsubsidized profit making companies. (Like that description?) that carry about 1.3 million passengers daily in a metro areas of about 3 million. Yes their city is tightly planned and I do not emphasis that aspect of their work. Google Curitiba, Brazil bus system. You’ll find a number of articles. And they built the thing for a fraction olf the money cities usually invest in local transit. BTW their buses run a couple of minutes apart.
MHW
MHW:
I put some spaces in your comment, I think it’s easier to read that way…hope
you don’t mind.
No problem Paul. As the saying goes…” presentation is everything.” One can always use a good editor.
MHW
There were a lot of old folk that DIDN’T vote for FDR, too.
It doesn’t have to take a lot of money to get the word out.
There also spot cable targetting
from Doug Craig…
“Hey paulie the website is http://www.spotcable.com
this is a company called NCC. You can cable ads
anywhere in the US here. On the site they have
regional reps. I believe they have about13 districts.
I found this when I used to subscribe to campaign and
election magizine.”
Letters to the editor are one of the most read parts of any newspaper.
for anyone interested in writing letters to the editor or otherwise
contacting media about this:
http://www.mondotimes.com/world/usa.html
More media links, includes local blogs for many towns
http://newslink.org/
“Seven ways to find local blogs”
http://www.personaldemocracy.com/node/1140
The big thing is follow through. We have all the info needed to take
appropriate action here – I hate to sound like Larry the Cable Guy but
let’s “Git R Done”!