IF YOU WANT CHANGE, FIRST…

WHERE’S JIM BABKA?

Last week, Downsize DC’s President joined Katherine Albrecht, who was enthusiastic about Withdrawing Allegiance. Fortunately, a podcast is available from her show website.

STRATEGIC COMMENTARY

How do we reverse the creeping statism happening to our nation?

If you want change, first you must seek it. You must have a plan…

Change will come when enough people share your views, and enough of those are willing to act on what they believe.

What matters MOST, then, is…

…winning the battleground of your neighbor’s mind, the district of their heart, and the precinct of their conscience.

You start this process by denying consent. Denying Consent is the solitary moral objection you bring to the attention of others — a point of concern, with the hope of correction. Others then may follow your example. But your example must come first.

As these Deny Consent moments multiply, you may reach a point where the problem seems deeper — more systemic and foundational. You, and those you influence, may come to feel that tinkering reforms will be insufficient. You may conclude that the system has a cancer, or is cancer itself.

Withdrawing Allegiance is the now the appropriate level of response. It’s part of a boundary-setting process.

Relate this process to everyday circumstances with an analogy (while admitting that all analogies are imperfect comparisons)…

1. Denying Consent is like telling your spouse that you’re hurt or offended by a particular behavior
2. Withdrawing Allegiance is like telling them you’re no longer willing to devote yourself to the marriage unless they seek professional help
3. Next, you may consider drawing others into an Intervention to correct the inappropriate behaviors
4. It’s possible there might be further steps, in stages, each at the appropriate time
5. Eventually, you may seek an actual divorce

Looked at this way “withdrawing allegiance” is an intensification of the moral act of denying consent. It is not the final divorce, but merely a step in that direction. This distinction is important because …

The State has the brutal power to initiate force against you, backed by your neighbor’s assumption that such a power is justified. This requires us to be cautious and savvy.

One cannot simply terminate a relationship with The State without tremendous personal consequences.

There’s no reason we should lead individuals to the sacrificial altar. That won’t change anything. As I’ll explain in a future installment…

There’s a time for everything, but not everything is for this time.

Timing-wise, we believe the first steps are, in order, Denying Consent and Withdrawing Allegiance.

In the next stage, Intervention, we’ll share those moral objections with our neighbors. In this third stage, we’ll learn to speak to their conscience, instead of their partisan minds.

This will be effective, because most people use partisan talking points and competing policy studies when they talk about politics. Both lead to reactionary debates, NOT reflective thought.

We can achieve the reflection we desire by invoking the Golden Rule and the Zero Aggression Principle. This creates a completely different conversation. These moral concepts…

• Focus on the greatest strength of our message, while
• Targeting the greatest weakness in the statist viewpoint

For full impact, you must use clear, unequivocal language. You must call things what they are. The statists, of course, recognize this, which is why they routinely create euphemisms and Orwellian Newspeak.

This will seem difficult at first. But you’ll be amazed how well it works, if you stick with it. Especially if you develop the habit of using words precisely. Precise language is so important that a large part of the pending Zero Aggression Project homepage will be devoted to language and definitions.

The moral approach is the great, untried persuasion method that will rock the world of the statists.

In the next installment, I’ll show you why simply Denying Consent, using social morality as the key, is so very important. You’ll discover a case, from just last week, where conscience resulted in heroic action. You’ll see that listening to your conscience can make a difference.

In the meantime, please keep those letters of support coming. They are encouraging to us.

And, please give us any financial support you can spare. What we’re doing here is, we believe, revolutionary. This dialogue must be started, and it’s made possible by your support.

Thank you,

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
& (coming soon) the Zero Aggression Project