How do you contribute to SFL in your new job role?
I work in the Student Programs department, where I assist with making sure that our programs run smoothly and that we do the best we can to help empower students who want to bring liberty to their campuses. Right now I’m helping with evaluating the effectiveness of our international training programs, so we can identify the students who will best contribute to SFL as leaders on campus.
How did you first get interested in liberty?
I was pushing myself to get politically active around the 2012 election, which took place a few months after I started college. I went to the Involvement Fair after my first week of college and found the Hiram College Students For Liberty recruitment table. I was relieved, because for a long time I’d considered myself a libertarian without really knowing what it meant, and after a few meetings I finally had a solid foundation for my beliefs. I became hooked after attending ISFLC. It took one lecture from a passionate speaker to make me realize that I had to find a way to work in the movement for the rest of my life.
Who do you think is the most underrated libertarian thinker?
I’d have to say Bernie Sanders, because economics. (I’m kidding). Andrew Breitbart isn’t regarded as a libertarian by most who saw him in the media, though I can hardly call him a textbook conservative. Breitbart’s book Righteous Indignation not only escalated my interest in media studies, but quite possibly made me even more libertarian. With the dawn of the Internet, Breitbart worked to create platforms for people to offer their voices online about politics and culture, rather than shutting people down to advance an agenda. To me, he was an advocate for free thinking and for personal and journalistic integrity. He spent most of his career as a commentator breaking stories of corruption and criticizing the media giants and political campaigns that pitted people against each other. I’ve noticed that libertarians — people who advocate for a peaceful, voluntary society — are heavily criticized by those very people and it’s so easy to become disillusioned. One of my favorite quotes from Righteous Indignation perfectly encapsulates the mission of those who work for a freer future: “Walk toward the fire. Don’t worry about what they call you. All those things are said against you because they want to stop you in your tracks. But if you keep going, you’re sending a message to people who are rooting for you, who are agreeing with you. The message is that they can do it, too.”
On a non-liberty note, what do you like to do in your free time?
I’ve always enjoyed going on bike rides, golfing, kayaking and just being outside in general. Lately I’ve been spending my time trying to teach myself new skills that I know will be valuable in the future, whether to myself or to my workplace. Right now I’m on basic coding. I’m learning HTML and CSS through Udemy videos, and I can say that I’m very proud of the basic, poorly colored websites that are littered with lorem ipsum.