Short answer…NO.

When I was in university majoring in art, I had one of those self-discovering moments when I learned something new about myself. At that time, I was taking a painting class, and I was working on a still-life. I was about halfway through with it when I realized that the composition wasn’t working, the colors were off, and overall I just wasn’t pleased with the whole project.

I had probably spent a good 12 hours or more on it when I decided to stop and just start again from scratch.

The other students in the class were amazed that I would start again considering the painting was due in two days. But since I am a intuitive, semi-logical and efficient person, I knew without actually putting it into words that it didn’t make sense to continue.

As it turned out, I’d been doing this a lot with my art projects in other classes as well. My painting teacher, who was also my instructor in another class, knew my habits.

That day when the 3 hour class was about halfway finished and I decided to start again (based primarily on a sub-conscience decision), my professor came up to me and said, “I really like it how you’re not afraid to start over. You’re really smart not to spend time on something that isn’t working.”

This really surprised me. I had never consciously realized that this was part of my character. I just did it because it made sense, but I had never formed this conclusion into words. This was the first time I “realized” this about myself.

As for now, I am aware of my projects and their current state. If I realize that the composition of my life is unbalanced, or the colors of my situations are dull, and if I realize that something is a waste of time and won’t likely be a success, I won’t finish it for the sake of completing what I’ve started.

I will stop and start afresh.

I’m sure you’ve probably figured out that this is leading up to something specific in my current life. And you would be correct.

The other week I wrote my first blog post for LibertySeeds, and I said how I was going to send a letter to a random person enclosed with a one dollar bill and some suggestions on places to learn about liberty and the corruption of the government. That was my intent, but now I realize that the execution of this was quite wrong because it would most likely be a waste of time (and money).

I had this change of mind because of something my brother said. He was talking about the Walk For Liberty, and he said how our mission was to spend our time on folks who were already liberty-minded because our ultimate intent is to get people turned-on to the Free State Project who are apt to listen. We shouldn’t waste our time trying to convince a staunch socialist about moving to New Hampshire when we could be spending our time on the multitudes of people who truly love freedom and liberty but perhaps don’t know much about the Free State Project. It’s best to focus our energy on our “target audience.”

That’s a damn good point, Will (or Bill as only I call him).

Why waste our time trying to sell cars to blind people? We will be more successful and prosper quicker if we are efficient by selling our ideas to people who like cars and need cars.

So I now realize that my spontaneous idea of sending 52 letters and 52 total dollars to potentially blind people in the course of one year will not be as efficient as say, donating an extra dollar a week to Free Talk Live.

I am currently a part of the AMP program with Free Talk Live. For those of you who don’t know, Free Talk Live is a call in talk radio show that speaks the truth about the government and gives positive solutions to problems. They don’t make a lot of money yet, so they need the help of their listeners. So they’ve created the AMP program (Advertise, Market and Promote) to help get on board with more radio stations throughout the country (they are now on over 30 radio stations).

So I am not going to finish what I originally wanted to do. So for now, I am going to up my current 3 dollar a month donation to 7 bucks every month. FTL is a better investment.

That’s my thought for the day that I want to share. If you would like to listen to the latest episode of Free Talk Live for free, click here. If you would like to donate to FTL like me, go here. Thanks for listening and/or donating.

Your Friend In Liberty,

John Buchanan

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I just have a quick story and then some thoughts.

When I was 17 years old, I was at a friend of a friend’s house. I knew this kid, we had hung out before, but we had kind of a strange relationship because we only made fun of each other in a dry, semi-humorous way.

That afternoon when I walked into his living room with some of my friends, he pulled out a shotgun and aimed it point-blank at my chest.

I just smiled and said, “Go ahead, make my day.”

Well, we just laughed it off a bit, he withdrew the gun, and we walked into the kitchen as the barrel was pointed towards the ceiling.

In the kitchen, I drank a V-8. I was the master of burping (and I still am), and I distinctly recall burping so hard that a little bit of the red drink came out my nose. Interesting…

We spent about 10 minutes talking about the gun and various other stimulating conversations that teenagers usually have. Wanting a change of environment, we started to make our way back toward the living room.

BOOM! The shotgun went off. I was still standing. I looked over my shoulder searching for the bloody hole in my back. I felt no pain, but I was in shock.

The action of the shotgun accidentally going off and the racing thoughts in my head only took a second.

I quickly realized I wasn’t hit. The hole was in the ceiling, but guessing by the position of the gun and the new entranceway to the attic, the shot’s trajectory screamed by my head within 6 inches.

Even though this kid was an idiot, and I was as well for encouraging his reckless behavior of “showing off” with a gun, I still believe that the vast majority of guns do more to protect Americans than not.

An armed society is a protected society, and just because a few folks get themselves killed because of ignorance or disrespect for the gun or even from sadistic violence is not enough justification for the government to step in with THEIR pointed-guns saying, “Okay nice people, it’s time to put ‘em down; you don’t need that gun. We will protect you just fine.”

They say this through the barrel of a rifle. Does anyone not see the hypocrisy?

Let’s compare California to New Hampshire.

That west coast state is notorious for having violent crimes with guns, and it’s the 6th highest for gun homicides per 100,000. Whenever I think of LA, I can’t help but associate it with gangs of criminals carrying guns. When we look at the statistics, California has one of the highest rates of gun homicides but it’s one of the toughest states to own a gun or to legally carry one in public (I don’t know…is it even possible for a person to open-carry in Cali?).

Now when you go to New Hampshire, it’s a state without any connotations of violent gun crimes. And the statistics back this up as a fact. This east coast state is the absolute lowest for gun homicides per 100,000! Yet many ordinary people can openly walk around with a gun strapped to their hip for all the world to see.

Back to my earlier point: an armed society is a protected society. I believe the main reason New Hampshire is safer comes from the idea that criminals will think twice before doing some harm to another because he doesn’t know if the potential victim is packing heat or if someone else nearby is armed.

But in California, the criminal is willing to bet that the only people with guns are fellow criminals and police (which are almost the same). So if the crazy guy with a gun avoids the cops and other thugs, then he will feel confident in robbing a store or mugging some random person.

No one is openly carrying in California like they can and do in New Hampshire!

The only truly scary thing in this world is when a bunch of petrified people get together and try to control another group with the threat of violence all in the name of safety. The anti-gun groups want to use the government to stop good people from having and using guns. Don’t they realize that the government will stop the use of guns by using guns themselves? This is sick!

Taking away guns is not ideal for the common good. Did it work for California? What’s the situation like in New Hampshire?

It’s a no brainer, people!

Even though my head probably came closer to being blown off than your head ever will, I still want guns in the hands of people who want them. If more respectable people had guns, I would feel safer in LA.

And if I walked into a Starbucks in New Hampshire, I would know that if a thug came in and started picking people off, the guy enjoying a coffee next to me might put a stop to the situation.

Would you have that kind of protection in California? And remember, the cops will not protect you; they will only come and clean up your bullet-ridden body. We can protect ourselves (and our neighbors) better than they can and ever could!

Your Friend in Liberty,

John Buchanan

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Have you ever known someone who left their dirty dishes around every corner of the house? Near the time I graduated high school you might have thought I only socialized with scientists for the number of experiments I saw on a weekly basis. There’s nothing like finding that mysterious pot of food (still sitting on the stove mind you) with a white furry crust that could quite possibly be a science fair contender.

How does neglect get to this state? What’s so hard about cleaning a little bit here and there? Just 5 minutes of dish washing a day would be enough to downgrade the bio-threat to safer levels! Why the procrastination? Why the indifference?

I believe when a problem becomes too big, it appears overwhelming, bigger than life, and impossible to solve. So the easy solution is to give up, put on a blindfold, plug the nostrils and stumble around the house not seeing the problem right under the proverbial nose.

One of the problems with the American government is that it creates a lot of filthy plates and bowls and then has the audacity to say, “That bowl is clean; eat up citizen!”

But I’m not eating that anymore!

I see how it’s time to clean house. My concern is that most people lay around sleepy-eyed in two difference beds. In one room, you’ll find a person who says there’s a problem and that the house should be cleaned up but then quickly falls back asleep. On the other side of the house, in a bedroom filled with stacks of bowls, a person watches TV never realizing that the dishes block the light from the window. This person is happy to pinch the nose and gaze at the tube while peaking through the covers. The problem is all around but never acknowledged.

I no longer want to live in a dirty house. I want to become that guy who sees a dirty knife and says, “I’m sorry, there’s a spot on this; could I have a new one?” But really, I don’t want the government to supply my cutlery needs; I would rather kick’em to the curbside and yell, “Get lost! You’re no longer welcome as a guest in our house, you slob!”

It’s time to spread the word that we live in a roach-infested house and that an exterminator should be called. Who will we tell? And who will actually spray every corner of our house with pesticide?

Answer: you and you and you. Everyone who cares!

The first step is to get people out of bed and to show them exactly how the dishes pose a problem. After that, the housekeepers (that’s you and I) need to take out the garbage thus making a change. Just 5 minutes a week (not every day) is all we have to do in order to get people in the proper mindset.

But how does 5 minutes of activism a week work? Will it even make a difference? Remember, those dishes are stacked to the ceiling! OMG!

Last night I only got a few hours of sleep. I woke up and the words “anonymous activism” floated through my sleep-clouded mind. I then had an idea. The next thing I knew, I was out of bed and walking towards the bedroom door. Seriously, I never willed myself out of bed like I usually do, especially if I’ve only slept for 5 hours!

So I grabbed my laptop, fixed some coffee, and here I sit on the sofa writing my first blog post for my newly created site, LibertySeeds.com. So what was the idea that compelled me to “awake walk”?

Money…but let me tell you this first.

To be honest, I’ve never been much of an activist. I used to wear, “Save the whales!” t-shirts when I was in middle school, and I liked to tell authority off in various ways, but I never really did much in the way of deep cleaning.

I used to be that guy who always knew there was a problem with the dirty dishes, but I preferred to sleep, so off I went into lah-lah-land (insert snoring sounds).

Any way, it was my brother, Will Buchanan who put the alarm clock next to my bed. The buzzer went off and started playing a radio talk show. The actual show I’m referring to is Free Talk Live. It’s a 6 day a week broadcast in which people can call in and talk about anything, but most of the discussions are about the problems with government and society. What’s fantastic about this show is that it’s not stuck on a negative rant of the-world-sucks-mentality; it really tries hard to offer solutions. The tone is ultimately positive and encouraging.

Listening to Free Talk Live changed me. I started agreeing on issues I never considered before. So I started sharing these thoughts with my friends, and we had discussions about welfare, the military, and taxes, you know, things like that. But simply talking to my small circle of friends was not enough.

And once again my brother put another alarm clock on my nightstand. He invited me to join him on his house cleaning mission dubbed, Walk For Liberty. He pledges to walk 100% of the way from Oregon to New Hampshire so as to raise awareness for Ron Paul’s presidency campaign and the Free State Project. Education is important. So, I agreed to join this cleaning quest and speak my mind to the country by saying, “Those dishes are dirty, and here’s how we can clean them together.”

So here I am, sitting on a sofa in Hawaii at my brother’s place preparing for our 6 or 7 month powerhouse cleaning tour of America. But I’m anxious to start. I want to make a difference now.

We still have about a month an a half before our walk for liberty starts, so here’s my idea for anonymous activism that anyone can do. Just 5 minutes (or less) a week will start to make a change.

Since the first step is to get people out of bed, we need to give them a wake up call. But in our case, we’re going to give them a wake up letter right to their very homes. Not an email! An actual old fashioned letter. We want to make an impact. Traditional things like that can work. So can money. So we’ll combine the two.

My so called science experiment will be to send a letter to a random person once a week. I will tell them my observations on the governmental problems and my desire to clean house. Education is key, so I will give them websites to check out, TV shows they should watch, and radio programs to listen to.

When cleaning an overwhelmingly dirty house, it should be done with baby steps when it comes to people who’ve never cleaned before.

So in addition to the letter, I will give them a dollar to prove that my intentions are true and that they were not one of millions of people who received the letter. I want them to feel special. I want them to hear the alarm by their over-used bed. I want them to take action. So if I have to bribe one person with one dollar a week to read a libertarian based website or to listen to Free Talk Live, well, that’s a dollar well spent!

The letter could be handwritten (ideal for a stronger impact), but if you’re too busy, you could use a typed-up form letter and then just fill-in your name and whatnot, add the crisp dollar, and send it out.

If you’re a new housekeeper like me, then we need to start small. But the potential for this could be huge.

Just imagine if 100 anonymous activists sent out 100 letters a week for one year. That’s 5,200 letters! And how many of those 5,200 will tell their family, friends, and co-workers about getting a letter and a dollar? What if each one told just 5 people? That’s 26,000 people who heard the message that started from just 100 people! The numbers add up quickly.

What if 200 of us housekeepers did this for a year? That’s 52,000 people a year getting the “true word.”

Remember the expression, money talks? The dollar with the letter is crucial. You could even take it a step further and write a message on the dollar with a pen. Just write something inspiring and add the website address of an appropriate liberty-minded cause.

So just imagine if 52,000 one dollar bills went into circulation with a written statement? The message could easily get out to over 100,000 or 200,000 people. All of this from the work of 100 to 200 dedicated anonymous activists who spent less than 5 minutes a week for one year.

I will start this experiment this week and I would love others to join me. I pledge that I will send out 52 letters and 52 one dollar bills with advertisements for liberty within the next 52 weeks. How many will you send out?

Good luck to us all!

Your Friend in Liberty,

John Buchanan

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