Join Us In Celebrating!

MILLIONSof Americans encountered
the ideas of liberty this year – thanks to the tools
and programs of the Advocates!

Read all about it – and learn our plans to reach
millions more this coming year!

Dear friend of liberty,

This has been a fantastic year of success for the Advocates.

As an Advocates supporter, you are investing in liberty. In this letter I am pleased to share with you the results of your investment for 2012. I think you will agree with me that your investment in the Advocates paid big dividends for the ideals of liberty that you and I cherish.

Millions of Americans Encounter Libertarianism through the Quiz

As you know, the world-famous World’s Smallest Political Quiz is the centerpiece of our outreach efforts. This amazing tool helps people understand libertarianism at a glance, and provides resources for quickly learning more about liberty and the libertarian movement.

This year millions of Americans learned about libertarianism through the Quiz – by the direct efforts of the Advocates and by the work of grassroots libertarian activists using the Quiz to reach their friends, neighbors, and community.

ONLINE:The Quiz was taken over one million times at our website in 2012. Thousands of times – every single day. It has now been taken an incredible 19.2 million times since we put it online in the early days of the web!

QUIZ CARDS:In this digital age, you may be surprised to learn how amazingly successful the Quiz is in its original card form.

So far this year the Advocates has distributed over 750,000 Quiz cards. Libertarian activists reach people one-on-one with these Quizzes, and the cards are also an essential part of our acclaimed OPH outreach kits. (More on OPH below.)

OTHER QUIZ DISTRIBUTION: This was a campaign year, and hundreds of libertarian candidates across America took the Quiz to literally millions of people as they made the Quiz a centerpiece of their campaigns: at their websites, in their campaign literature, and at campaign booths. Their supporters also shared the Quiz at their

websites, social media sites, and numerous other forums. Libertarians used our Facebook and smartphone Quiz apps to spread the Quiz as well. And supporters of Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson placed ads featuring links to the Quiz in some of America’s largest newspapers – with total readership over one million.

Further, as I’ve written in the past, the Quiz is in textbooks and supplementary material used in high school and college classrooms across America. Yes, libertarianism in the classroom – a libertarian dream come true!

Why the Quiz Is So Incredibly Effective

The Quiz is magic! It quickly gives an accurate picture of the Quiz takers’ political leanings. It is eye-catching, intriguing, fun. And a Quiz taker can go from knowing nothing about libertarianism to becoming a full-fledged libertarian activist – all from an encounter with a single Quiz card or the online Quiz.

Every Quiz taker at our website is offered the chance to learn more about the ideas of liberty and the libertarian movement – in a friendly, professional, and convincing way.

Each Quiz card offers a link to the same information about libertarianism.

In short, the Quiz is a self-contained libertarian outreach package.

Thousands of times every single day, in every kind of media, the Quiz offers Americans a positive encounter with the ideas of liberty you and I hold so deeply.

This is work that is changing the world!

'I never knew I was a libertarian – until I took the Quiz!'"

I’ve shared some large numbers. Now let me personalize those numbers by sharing one example from this year.

TV star Rupert Boneham is known to millions of Americans for his appearances on the top-rated "Survivors" show. He's a hero to many because of his Rupert's Kids charity, which provides mentoring and job training to at-risk youths.

Rupert ran a high-profile campaign for governor of Indiana this year as a Libertarian – and he made the Quiz a centerpiece of his campaign literature.

Why? Here’s what he told an interviewer: "I am a proud Libertarian. It may have taken most of my life to figure out that I had been living and teaching the libertarian philosophy for years! It was when I first took the World’s Smallest Political Quiz that I discovered there was a political party that I truly aligned with."

That’s right. Just like untold numbers of other Americans, Rupert’s first encounter with libertarian ideas came with the Quiz.

And just like so many of them, Rupert is now eagerly spreading those ideas via the Quiz – in his case, to thousands of others – so they, too, can experience the libertarian revelation that changed his life.

Quiz outreach is amazingly effective. Quiz users become Quiz fans eager to share the Quiz with others – and collectively they have helped the Quiz go viral. In this way the Quiz reaches millions – changing minds, building our movement, and bringing us closer to a free society.

How many other influential future libertarians like Rupert Boneham can we reach with the ideas of liberty, using the amazing drawing power and eye-opening insights the Quiz provides? And how many will they, in turn, reach?

We know that the activists, leaders, candidates, voters and donors of tomorrow are out there, waiting to encounter these ideas. It’s up to us to reach them. The Quiz is a great, time-tested, proven way to do this.

As Ron Paul – who knows a thing or two about today’s liberty movement – noted in the Congressional Record, the daily record of the U.S. Congress:

"The World's Smallest Political Quiz is responsible for many Americans' first contact with libertarian ideas. While traveling around the country, I have often heard people say, 'I never knew I was a libertarian until I took the Quiz!'"

Future Quiz success depends on your support.

OPH “Awesome” on College Campuses

As I’ve told you in earlier letters, we’ve been working hard to supply campus libertarian groups across America with our exclusive Operation Politically Homeless outreach kits.

I am excited to announce that we have now given OPH kits to more than 600 campus libertarian groups – in almost every state in America.

And the results from students using OPH have been amazing!

A quick reminder: OPH uses the World’s Smallest Political Quiz and other unique features to transform an ordinary hum-drum outreach booth into an exciting crowd-drawing event. OPH makes it easy and fun for just a couple of libertarians to discover new libertarians and libertarian-leaning individuals wherever people are gathered. 

OPH works sensationally on college campuses. We have received glowing testimonials from student activists across the America, telling us they’re using OPH to spread their message and get lots of new members – and they’re having fun doing it!

Here’s what leaders of the two biggest student libertarian groups have to say about OPH:

 "The OPH kits are fantastic on campus, and we're thankful for your efforts." – Corey Hubbard, Director of Events, Young Americans for Liberty (YAL)

"This is awesome! What a great resource for students!" – Clark Ruper, Vice President, Students for Liberty (SFL)

“Our number one recruiting tool!”

Let me share a couple of recent reports from students using OPH. Here’s what Michael Hurley of California State-Fullerton’s Young Americans for Liberty chapter wrote about an OPH event they held in mid-September:

“With help from the World’s Smallest Political Quiz, [students] were eager to see where they fit on the ideological spectrum.  As always the Operation Politically Homeless kit created much interest in our table, opening the way [for us] to talk to people about the idea of liberty and what YAL does on our campus and to encourage student to sign-up to remain informed of upcoming events.”

The chapter got 52 new sign-ups – from this single event!

 “We have enjoyed much recruitment success over the past two years in our Young Americans for Liberty chapter at Cal State Fullerton due to your World's Smallest Political Quiz,” Hurley wrote. “It is our number one recruiting tool, as it attracts much attention to our tabling efforts.”

“Thrilling – we got some awesome new recruits!”

In mid-October, the University of Utah Young Americans for Liberty chapter held an OPH event. OPH again worked its magic. Reported chapter president Neal Hardin:

“The reaction was thrilling. People thronged our table, asking if they could take the Quiz! Several people scored a perfect libertarian [score], and anyone that valued limited government was invited to join our chapter. People from all realms of the political map were interested in what we do, and we got some awesome new recruits out of the event.”

I could share many similar OPH stories with you. I’ve enclosed an insert featuring more quotes and some great photos, showing what campus libertarians are accomplishing with OPH -- thanks to your support. Please check it out. I believe you'll be as inspired by this as I am.

Bottom line: students love OPH – and they’re using it to find the leaders and activists of tomorrow’s libertarian movement!

Whoops and Hollers for the Advocates!

I had the honor and pleasure of speaking in July at the Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) national conference in Washington, DC. When I mentioned the Quiz and OPH I received not just applause, but whoops and hollers!

At the YAL convention our booth was swamped with students. They lined up to talk to us, learn more about our services, and sign up for their OPH outreach kits. Over and over again, their faces lit up as they shared stories of their success with OPH, the Quiz and other Advocates outreach tools. It was a fantastic and rewarding experience for me.

The Advocates had a presence at many other student libertarian meetings across America in 2012, including the Students for Liberty (SFL) International Conference, and SFL Regional Conferences at the University of Florida, the University of Michigan, Arizona State, the University of Chicago, the University of North Carolina, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania, Pepperdine University, and the University of Texas-Austin.

We spoke individually to hundreds of hardworking dedicated libertarian student activists. Time and time again, students told us they love the Quiz, OPH and other Advocates outreach and education tools – and they are using them to win the hearts and minds of other students to the ideas of liberty.

America’s young libertarians are fired up about freedom. They are determined to make individual liberty once again a burning issue in American politics. And they have the knowledge, the passion and the commitment to make that happen.

They are a big reason that I am so optimistic about the future of liberty.

I hope you are as excited about this as I am – and that you will help us continue and expand the Advocates’ work in this area.

Teaching the Very Best Ways to Spread the Liberty Message

It’s wonderful that the Quiz and OPH are helping millions of Americans encounter and understand the ideas of liberty. And it’s great that many go on to embrace those ideas and become libertarians themselves.

But it’s not enough.

We must also teach these new libertarians to become powerful and effective advocates for liberty. We must equip them with the knowledge and the best tools to bring their friends, neighbors and community into the liberty movement.

That’s why, for over 25 years, the Advocates has worked to empower libertarians by teaching them the very best ways to communicate the ideas of liberty.

We’re doing that vital work in so many ways:

• Speeches and seminars:In addition to our presentations at the student meetings mentioned above, we shared communication tips and techniques at numerous other libertarian events, including Campaign for Liberty’s L-PAC Conference, FreedomFest, the Libertarian Party’s National Convention, and at meetings of the Libertarian Party in Georgia, Indiana, Texas, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
  
  I was also honored this year to be invited to speak to a sell-out crowd at the annual convention of State Policy Network – an outstanding national organization which works to strengthen and advance market-oriented, state-focused think tanks in all 50 states working hard to build a free society.  
  
  
• The Liberator Online:The central focus of our popular email newsletter is communicating the ideas of liberty. Each issue takes expert communication know-how to over 34,000 subscribers.

• Social media:We also share our very best communication techniques on our Communicating Liberty blog and at our Facebook page – where we have over 16,000 followers. Over 50,000 times a month, Facebook users encounter content from our Facebook page, according to Facebook statistics. Facebook users share content from our Facebook page with their friends more than 5,000 times each month.
  
  
• Libertarian Answers: Dr. Mary Ruwartis one of the pioneers of libertarian communication. Her specialty is helping libertarians craft persuasive answers to the toughest questions libertarians face. Now we’ve compiled all of those answers into a searchable database at our LibertarianAnswers.com website – a great new resource for libertarians and for those who are curious about libertarianism.

• Two great new communication books:This year we published two outstanding books on libertarian communication.
  
  Michael Cloud's Unlocking More Secrets of Libertarian Persuasion is a follow-up to his acclaimed Secrets of Libertarian Persuasion. It's crammed with ideas to empower every reader to become far more effective at spreading the ideas of liberty.
  
  We also published Mary Ruwart's Short Answers to the Tough Questions, Expanded Edition. This new enlarged version of her classic handbook gives friendly, concise and persuasive libertarian responses to commonly-heard questions on virtually every issue. It's an invaluable guide for every libertarian seeking to convince others of the benefits of liberty. 
  
  These publications join our unique library of other essential libertarian communication resources, including books, audios and videos.
  
  

And this is great news, because…

What the World Needs Now…

… is more libertarians! And just as important: we desperately need libertarians who are effective and persuasive ambassadors for liberty. Libertarians who will provide the manpower and the leadership for a huge national grassroots libertarian movement that will make liberty a burning issue in American politics once again.

That’s what we’re creating at the Advocates!

That’s what your generosity makes possible.Looking Ahead

The 2012 elections are over. But our work is kicking into an even higher gear for the coming year. We have exciting plans to greatly increase the effectiveness of our legendary online Quiz outreach.

And we'll be ramping up our communication training, conducting workshops across the country, publishing more communication tips and techniques for libertarians, and continuing to empower libertarian students to discover, create, and activate more libertarians on campus.

Through our array of carefully-designed programs, we are creating the new libertarian grassroots “army” of effective activists for liberty our movement so desperately needs.

What We’ve Been Waiting For

Perhaps you feel it. Our day is dawning. Millions of Americans are now ready to hear and embrace the ideas of liberty. This is the time you and I have been working so hard for!

These newly-awakened liberty-minded individuals desperately need what only the Advocates can offer them. Solid information on the ideas of liberty and the libertarian movement. The best ways to be effective advocates for freedom. How to win hearts and minds – while avoiding the disastrous communication mistakes that, in the past, too often turned people off to libertarianism. We have what they need. We must reach them.

But the Advocates can’t do this without you. Your support makes our work possible. Your donation helps us build and empower the growing, energetic libertarian movement the world needs so urgently now.

Your donation helps us ensure that millions of people will encounter libertarian ideas in attractive, honest, persuasive ways – because of the unique, proven programs YOU make possible.

Your donation today will allow us to make a huge difference for liberty in the months ahead.