The following was written by Pretoria-based ASFL Local Coordinator Martin van Staden 

Libertarian pioneers were certainly not shortsighted. From general philosophical works like Murray Rothbard’s The Ethics of Liberty to legally-inclined texts like Bruno Leoni’s Freedom and the Law, libertarian authors have covered it all. It comes as no surprise then that some within our movement made the conscious decision to not focus on philosophy and deeper understandings of governance, but simply on the machinery that will underlie this philosophy: leadership and management for liberty.

Students For Liberty, far from being only a debate or philosophical club, focuses overwhelmingly on training, equipping and placing leaders. A leadership manual of over 200 pages, which is arguably more of a book on leading libertarianism, is one of these resources SFL provides its leaders; excluding all the webinars and talks. Leonard Read of the Foundation for Economic Education wrote an actual book on the topic: Elements of Libertarian Leadership. These works move beyond the theoretical and into the practical, something which is often lacking within our movement.

Read says that several thousand libertarian leaders with a deep (constantly improving) understanding of freedom as a concept will naturally attract the masses. He calls this the power of attraction. But he further stays that we as libertarian leaders should recognize our shortcomings – he lays much emphasis on this – since we risk becoming authoritarian if we fancy ourselves omniscient, and thus able to decide what is best for others (even if it is rooted in libertarian philosophy). We as libertarian leaders should concern ourselves only with ourselves (and not others), and through the power of attraction as we improve, others will come. If we concern ourselves overwhelmingly with others, we are in fact exhibiting authoritarian tendencies, for the authoritarian goes through life “not building his inner self,” but attempting to fight others. Freedom cannot be marketed or sold. It can only be bought by those who do not have it when they are attracted to those (our libertarian leaders) who do.

A precondition for libertarian leaders to achieve this magneticity is to be able to listen and receive other ideas. The SFL manual and Clark Ruper, in a leadership webinar, also touched on this. Libertarian leaders, especially student leaders at places of learning, cannot spread ideas and the philosophy of freedom without understanding where their opponents are coming from. An example from my own experience is the case of ‘critical theory’ (more commonly known as ‘cultural Marxism’), as developed by the Frankfurt School. When I first came into contact with the ideas of critical theory earlier this year, I was profoundly interested. While I came to realize its authoritarian, and eventually, totalitarian nature, I was fascinated by how well this nature is hidden.

With third wave feminism, critical race theory and critical legal studies as some of its schools of thought, I have delved into researching this philosophy that stands directly opposed to libertarianism. My personal understanding of freedom was enriched but also my leadership abilities. I understand now why the totalitarian critical theorists believe they are the ones who campaign for liberty and I am now able to tell them why they are not. “Conscious malevolence”, Read writes, “rarely, if ever, controls actions.” Those who believe in the Frankfurtian ideas and the ideas of Marx are not being malicious. They are sincere. We need to understand their point of view and receive their ideas sincerely, even if we are to reject them on logical grounds (but they may tell us that our usage of logic and reason is grounded in white supremacy; another example of the totalitarian essence of critical race theory).

Read goes on in the book to talk about why there are so few libertarian leaders. What stood out to me was that we are either too lazy or too distracted by the “trivia of life.” We are passionate student libertarians during our college days but after graduation and getting a job, we usually drop it entirely, never to return. We stop improving our understanding of freedom and we lose our power of attraction. With SFL, some of this is natural: clearly, we can’t always remain students and at some stage we need to move on and out of the organization. But, then, what was it all for? Students For Liberty trains us with a purpose – not to simply organize on campuses but to go on, after graduation, to come leaders for liberty in our communities. Being dedicated to liberty is a lifelong commitment. Few, if any, of us will live to see the realization of a totally minarchist or anarchist society (especially in Africa), but we will remain important linkages in the chain to get there – if only for the sake of those generations to come.