America's Future Foundation

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PolicyMic.com is AFF’s partner in getting the liberty message out to new audiences of young people. We’ve worked with them to host debate questions from the Chicago chapter’s event last week (“Is income inequality unjust?” “Does the presidential race actually matter?” and “Is Ron Paul’s foreign policy dangerous?”). And last week, they published a widely-read (and commented) piece I wrote on Ron Paul’s long-term impact on U.S. politics.

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Conventional wisdom used to be that the political left had control over the online sphere. This sentiment reached its zenith after President Obama’s new media focused election campaign in 2008. Since then however, due to the efforts of those like Erik Telford, conservative bloggers and activists have won over the Internet and set a new standard for the successful use of new media. New York Times political reporter Trip Gabriel even concluded “that the passion of bloggers seems to have swung towards conservatives.”

Telford made his mark early as a social media pioneer in conservative politics, allowing the grass-roots organization Americans for Prosperity (AFP)  to fill the need for national leadership in new media activism for the Tea Party.

In addition to being the director of membership and online strategy at AFP, Telford served as the executive director of RightOnline, an initiative aimed at cultivating online activism among center-right bloggers and organizations. Telford organized four national conferences, drawing thousands of attendees and national media attention as RightOnline squared off against the older and more established left-wing Netroots Nation convention four years in a row (in Austin in 2008, Pittsburgh in 2009, Las Vegas in 2010, and Minneapolis in 2011).

In 2011, Telford moved to the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity where he currently serves as the vice president of strategic initiatives and outreach. His work has been featured in news outlets including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, the Washington Times, and online at the Daily Caller and Townhall. However, one his most notable accomplishments  may have been in April, 2009, when he was named Keith Olbermann’s #2 worst (“worser”) person in the world for his role in advancing the Tea Party movement (which, as a friend of mine has been known to say, “is like being kissed on the forehead by Ronald Reagan”).

Finding a niche in political communications.

Telford’s friends and family could have told you that he would be politically engaged. He was, in his words, “a political nutcase from a young age.” But his interest in communications and new media surprised him in graduate school at George Washington University.

I knew that I wanted to work in politics, but I always thought I wanted to work more in the campaign and party-oriented sphere. My work study job was at the graduate school at GWU that hosted Crossfire for CNN at the time. And I just loved the media stuff, and seeing the behind the scenes I just thought was so cool. That developed an interest in media that I didn’t necessary have prior than that.

To satisfy this growing interest in communications and media, Telford took several political communications courses including courses in new media.

Like many graduating in 2006, Telford did not find a friendly hiring environment for conservatives. As he was trying to find out how to make the best of the situation and his multiple degrees, he picked up a flyer about Americans For Prosperity at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) by America’s Conservative Union. From there he found out that AFP was hiring a new media director; he applied and started shortly thereafter.

Accepting the position as AFP’s New Media Director,

Took me in a direction I never would have anticipated going, but I love the grassroots stuff. I love the work that AFP was doing, and it allowed me to stick to my issues and ideals rather than having to compromise ideologically. That really defined for me the path that I wanted to go in, and it wasn’t one that I would have chosen out of the blue, but I’m really glad I found it.

No need for preconceived notions.

He says there were many “preconceived notions I found when I came to DC, like you have to go to law school, you have to work on the hill, you have to work on a campaign.” But being in a position that allowed him to explore the media that fascinated him and do work that he found interesting, Telford found himself saying no to the campaign-style opportunities that he thought he had wanted to do in college. It allowed him to defy the conventional wisdom of Washington, DC.

At the time I went to do my masters degree, a lot of people were saying that you should go to law school even if you don’t want to be a lawyer. But I knew for sure I didn’t want to be a lawyer, and I didn’t want to spend three year going through the pain of law school and then have to pay for it afterwards… Some of the most brilliant people I have met through work have dropped out of college or didn’t do anything after high school, and they are achieving more than people who went to Harvard.

Telford was cautious to warn young people that while a college degree doesn’t determine your success, not to underestimate the value of pursuing higher education in today’s weaker employment market. “I think it is a lot tougher now with employment being lower,” he says that you will always be competing with the “vanity of needing a college degree or a professional degree just to get your foot in the door for an interview.”

Pioneering the realm of new media, Telford says that he found that the old conventions were not there to hold him back.

I was in the new media realm which was so new, there were opportunities to excel at a higher rate because there were no standard orthodoxy, no gatekeepers. When you are an early adapter to a field, you get to be a pioneer and you don’t have to follow the rules that other people made.

Of course, when Telford was staring out in 2006 “new media” was Facebook and MySpace. He recalls that he knew he was facing an uphill battle when he was asked if he would get them on that “MyFace.”

Networking is more than social networking.

Even though Telford of all people understands the value of social networking, he says that it can never replace the good, old-fashioned in-person kind.

A lot of people rely too much on the online stuff, and it is important to connect with people online, but if you never meet them in person, it never ends up being as effective.

He recommends finding people who are a little bit older or more experienced than yourself and asking to go to coffee or lunch with them.

I would sit down with these consultants who would be giving the same advice to clients for hundreds of dollars an hour, but just because I bought them lunch and picked their brain they felt honored because someone was respecting them and wanted to get their input. It was helping me in terms of just getting advice, but also as they would learn what I did, they would start connect me with other people.

Similarly, he recommends being someone who likes to connect other people, and not to just look out for your own connections.

Some people get protective of their connections, they don’t want their peer to out-network them. But people like people who are connected, and the more you are connecting with people and connecting them to other people enhances those bonds, and those relationships, and your standing.

For more networking advice, Telford recommends reading Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi. To find out more about Telford, check out the Franklin Center’s website. Also, follow him on twitter at @BlameTelford.

A final piece of advice from Erik.

When at an event such as an AFF happy hour or roundtable discussion, cold card-collecting “is good for collecting cards, but bad for establishing connections.” People don’t want to know that they’re going in your card catalog before they get to know you.

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Jacqueline Otto’s shelves at home are lined with used-book store finds; just a few of her favorite authors include C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, H.G. Wells, Orson Scott Card, Ray Bradbury, Jules Verne, and George Orwell.

She first read F.A. Hayek and Frédéric Bastiat at 16. Her political affiliation on Facebook is “Freedom,” and she hopes to always be known as a lover of liberty.

Jacqueline is on Twitter at @jacque_otto.

AFFers inside the Beltway may not know it, but AFF is also flourishing outside of Washington, D.C.

From Chicago to Pittsburgh, AFF is bringing inquisitive, open minds together to discuss and debate the issues of the day.

For example, the Chicago chapter, just last week held “Debate-a-palooza Part Deux!” Following last September’s successful Debate-a-palooza, we reprised it in January. AFFers and old pros alike debated whether income inequality was unjust, whether the presidential race actually matters and is worth the $6 billion it will cost, and whether Ron Paul’s foreign policy is dangerous. Like with most of our chapter’s roundtables, the majority of the speakers in our debate were young professionals working in news media, consulting, and business, but we also included the CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, John Tillman.

In Pittsburgh, AFFers have already tackled Ron Paul’s foreign policy, Ayn Rand, and other subjects. This year they plan to hold even more events to bring their city’s young classical liberal population together. Elizabeth Stelle and her team have been doing an excellent job there.

The Minneapolis chapter–led by Scott Thompson–has also been active, holding six events last year. And I was lucky enough to join Roger at the launch of the New York City chapter last November. Chadwick Ciocci, a NYC-area activist, put together a great program with Wall Street Journal columnist Joe Rago.

AFF also has some new chapters starting this year. The first among them is AFF-Raleigh, which has a great leadership team being led by Joe Coletti and others from the Raleigh-area liberty movement. Their first program this winter will tackle North Carolina’s upcoming referendum on gay marriage, which is set for this spring.

Soon, we’ll have news to report about new chapters in Denver (actually a chapter restart) and Atlanta.

AFF’s chapters outside of D.C. have a special role. Where the D.C. chapter is a place for young liberty movement pros to network with peers and movement elders, AFF’s chapters are developing excellent communicators on free market economics, civil society, and limited government within the business, cultural, and technology worlds. Plus, they’re bringing liberty-loving young people together in cities where they might move for a job, but be unaware of people whose values and world views align with theirs.

So the next time your buddy from college laments that there’s no one in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Nashville, Denver, New York, or Raleigh with whom they can have an intelligent conversation on free markets and liberty, steer them toward one of our excellent chapters in those cities.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting more about what AFF’s local chapters are doing to advance understanding and discussion of liberty. AFF’s chapters are a vital part of our movement, and one of the best ways to set the stage for a popular, pro-liberty movement in the years ahead.

So you want to be influential? Right. Start at the top! But that may be a bit hard to do. So maybe you could start at the bottom, instead. I suppose that’s where I started. And I learned a few things on the way “up.”

I’ve worked for liberty as a student activist, an author, an editor, a petitioner, a campaign manager, a public relations agent, a rabble-rouser, a seminar organizer, a think tank officer, a journalist, a public speaker, a teacher, and a lobbyist. I’ve promoted libertarian ideas in academic lectures and seminars, on talk shows, on national television, in debates, in one-on-one conversations, in parliamentary and congressional testimony, in scholarly papers and books, in op-eds in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other papers in the United States, and in papers abroad, such as Die Welt, Caijing, Al Hayat, and The Spectator of London.

I’ve done so in Baghdad, Kabul, Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, London, Accra, Jakarta, Berlin, Istanbul, Nairobi, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, and even in hostile territory, such as Washington, D.C. I’ve set up libertarian projects in fourteen languages. You name the job, and chances are I’ve gotten some experience at it. I was an intern at the Cato Institute and ended up as vice president for international programs there. (I’m now a senior fellow at Cato and vice president for international programs at the Atlas Network, to which we transferred Cato’s international programs.)

So, what did I learn? I’ve come up with seven things I think I’ve learned and that I think you may be able to put to work to become a more influential and successful promoter of liberty. I will share them here on AFF’s blog in this new series, which is adapted from the Institute for Humane Studies’ “Creating Your Path to a Public Policy Career” guide.

First, be the person on whom others can rely to get the job done. If you develop a reputation for making things happen (and not just talking about how great it would be if something were to happen), people will look to you for leadership, as well. Projects don’t just happen. They are projected and implemented by someone. Be that person. (There’s some irony in writing that, when my submission of this essay was after the deadline, but I was busy! My only excuse is to cite an adage that I’ve generally found to be true: “If you want something done, ask a busy person.”)

It’s good not to be known as a clockwatcher. The best way not to be known as a clockwatcher is not to be a clockwatcher. I generally find that the project, not the clock, dictates the schedule of a successful person.  And, on a related note, don’t be seen as the person who finishes a job and then goofs off. Finish your work and then—if you have the time—ask your colleagues what else needs to be done.

Palmer is vice president for international programs at the Atlas Network and senior fellow at the Cato Institute. Read the full IHS “Creating Your Path to a Public Policy Career” guide here.

Schrader is program assistant at The Heritage Foundation.  She can be reached at internships@heritage.org

Gene Healy is vice president of the Cato Institute. He is also a self-described recovering lawyer from New Jersey.

What makes Gene Healy unique is the success he has found in writing on libertarian issues. Gene’s work can be found in his weekly column in the Washington Examiner and in other outlets including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Legal Times.

What’s the difference between being a manager and being a non-manager?  Obviously, there are myriad answers to that question, but let’s just focus on one: your to-do list.

Thank you for all you do to make America’s Future Foundation possible.  Whether you are a member, regular attendee, financial supporter, Doublethink reader, or otherwise a fan, you play an important part in AFF’s mission to identify and develop young professional leaders for liberty.

2011

2011 was a transitional year for the organization.  The board of directors maintained continuity and helped me get started on the right foot during the summer.  We worked hard to re-engage our supporters and re-launch AFF’s core programs while also building on the success of AFF’s regional chapters.

Highlights of the year included AFF’s 15^th anniversary gala, a return of the monthly roundtable discussions in Washington, D.C., a leadership dinner with Senator Rand Paul, and numerous happy hours, and co-sponsored programs.  A new group of talented staff joined us in the fall and improved programs and communications for members and attendees.  Doublethink magazine was re-launched with editor Noelle Daly and has already published 15 feature pieces covering issues from marriage to tax policy, and more.  In addition, the “Conventional Folly” blog included colorful commentary from AFF members and friends.

AFF’s mission does not stop at the beltway.  Richard Lorenc was hired this year as National Chapter Coordinator to replicate his success as the Chicago chapter leader over the past three years.  In addition to leading 17 events in Chicago last year, he mentored the Pittsburgh chapter which had three events, and helped launch the New York City chapter. Highlights included visits by Governor Gary Johnson, author Richard Miniter, and Cato Institute scholar Mike Tanner along with events about religion and liberty, free markets, entitlements, and a film screening.

2012

In 2012, America’s Future Foundation is positioned for growth to further our mission of identifying and developing young professional leaders for liberty. In addition to strengthening AFF’s core programs, we will try new programs and build on partnerships with other groups advancing liberty.  Details will be announced soon, but we are also open to your ideas and feedback.  What do you want AFF to become and how do you see yourself participating in that vision?  Please let us know.

Roundtables in Washington, D.C. are scheduled for each third Thursday and happy hours are scheduled for each fourth Thursday.  We hope you can join us for these and other AFF programs.  The annual AFF Gala will be held in May and a Leadership Dinner will be held March.  Details and invitations will follow.

Regional chapters are growing and AFF is working to expand them even further.  In 2012, we will strengthen existing chapters in Chicago, New York, and Pittsburgh, while also starting new chapters in Raleigh and several other cities.  If you are interested in AFF coming to your city, please contact Richard Lorenc at Richard@americasfuture.org.

Membership will be a key component of America’s Future Foundation in 2012.  We will strengthen our offerings for members, increase personal follow-up, and further solidify the connections needed to advance liberty in Washington and around the country.  In addition, AFF’s Crabfest will return in the fall as a much-anticipated social event in the DC area!

A reflection on the American‘s for Prosperity Defending the Dream Summit

by Jacqueline Otto

This past weekend, a few thousand conservatives inside the Washington Convention Center were enjoying dinner and patriotic music. A few hundred protesters with Occupy DC  sat outside the same building in the November cold. Those inside chorused the National Anthem and saluted the American Flag. Those outside yelled at and heckled police officers and denounce the American Dream. Those inside memorialized a great American, and brought their children to learn about freedom. Those outside vandalized private property and brought their children to learn about civil disobedience. The difference is stark and stunning. The significance is unmistakable.

The Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF) hosted the Defending the Dream Summit primarily to educate. The Summit offered breakout sessions on issues ranging from state spending to how to produce effective YouTube videos. The event featured authoritative scholars, journalists, and current and former Presidential candidates.

A couple of friends from Florida who own a small technology company came to learn how to use their skills in helping local campaigns. A family came from Arkansas to teach their children about current legislative issues and the importance of limited government. Many people came seeking to find organizations to which they can donate their time and money, a sign of robust civic association.

Not so with the Occupy DC protesters outside. They came not to respectfully learn, but to violently dispute. They came not to donate time and money, but to demand more benefits and money from the government.

As they attempted to shut down Massachusetts Avenue, I witnessed a protester in a wheelchair roll herself in front of a moving car. Other protesters who were blocking streets ended up hospitalized. Some protesters brought their toddlers, who were caught up in the mob that rushed the convention center. While some were trying to break down the front door, others yelled “We are not violent!” When we were finally able to leave, security guards funneled us through a back door.

Before these events, AFP Summit attendees had mostly afforded the Occupy protesters the benefit of the doubt. Surely they were sincere, just a little (or very much) misguided. Surely their moral indignation was rooted in an admirable ideal, but their lack of leadership is what has lead them to chaos. Most people believed that the Occupy Wall Street protests had many themes in common with the Tea Party aura of the AFP Summit.

But as National Review’s Jonah Goldberg said at the event, “any similarity between Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party misses the fundamental differences.” Namely, while both were against bailouts, the Tea Party opposes them in principle, and because they were footing the bill. Occupy Wall Street opposes them because they didn’t get a bailout for personal debts.

In 2008 Goldberg prophetically described the Occupy Wall Street protesters as “The Spoiled Children of Capitalism”:

It’s an old story. Loving parents provide a generous environment for their offspring. Kids are given not only ample food, clothing and shelter, but the emotional necessities as well: encouragement, discipline, self-reliance, the ability to work with others and on their own. And yet, in due course, the kids rebel. Some even say their parents never loved them, that they were unfair, indifferent, cruel. Often, such protests are sparked by parents’ refusal to be even more generous. I want a car, demands the child. Work for it, insist the parents. Why do you hate me? asks the ingrate. . . .

We’ve all witnessed the tendency to take a boon for granted. Being accustomed to a provision naturally leads the human heart to consider that provision an entitlement… And so it goes, I think, with capitalism generally.

Capitalism is the greatest system ever created for alleviating general human misery, and yet it breeds ingratitude.

While these protesters raged against capitalism, and specifically David and Charles Koch, who have been both beneficiaries and benefactors of capitalism, the AFP Summit attendees celebrated the ability of capitalism to reduce poverty and alleviate suffering. Recall that the name of the gathering was the “Defending the Dream Summit.” The dream of the attendees is that of free markets, limited government, and freedom for humanity. It is a belief in the dignity of liberty.

Not surprisingly, Ronald Reagan was often cited through the event. And it is Ronald Reagan that most aptly described the juxtaposition of these two social forces.

You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to a man’s age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order. Or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.

Commentators like to describe political thought as a kind of spectrum, where every distinct position could be plotted. We have all seen the charts and the Cartesian planes and have taken the quizzes and discussed our results. But the real lesson of this event is that we must set these distinctions aside. It is up and down that is important.

Freedom lifts up. Violence drags down. That is the distinction that matters most.

Jacqueline Otto blogs at www.ValuesAndCapitalism.com, a project of the American Enterprise Institute.

The Phillips Foundation is now accepting applications for the 2012 Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship Program. Print and online journalists with less than 10 years of professional experience are eligible.

Fellows are awarded $50,000 for full-time and $25,000 for part-time to undertake a one-year project of the applicant’s choosing focusing on journalism supportive of American culture and a free society.

Several of the past fellows have included prominent AFF members and Doublethink contributors, including Tim Carney, Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Sonny Bunch, David Donadio, Michael Dougherty, Cheryl Miller, and others.

For more information, visit: www.novakfellowships.org, or contact: The Phillips Foundation, 1 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 620, Washington, DC 20001. Phone: 202-677-4633. Email:
info@thephillipsfoundation.org.