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The Advocates for Self-Government Presents

OPERATION
POLITICALLY
HOMELESS

Maxi-Manual For Operating An OPH Booth

F I F T H E D I T I O N

By Scott A. Kjar
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 About the OPH Manuals
This is the OPH Maxi-Manual. It’s very comprehensive and tells you
everything you could possibly need to know about how to run a successful
Operation Politically Homeless booth. It offers plenty of background,
explanations, examples, and options.

The OPH Mini-Manual has fewer details, and gets to the How-To portions
faster. The Mini-Manual is drawn from the OPH Maxi-Manual.

The OPH Checklists and OPH Sample Documents can be used with either
manual, or alone.

Both manuals, along with the Checklists and Sample Documents, are available
online at www.TheAdvocates.org.

Feel free to use whichever manual best suits your own needs. For some
items, you may want to read more information in a particular area, and can
refer to the Maxi-Manual. For other items, you may want to get right to the
heart of the matter, and can rely on the Mini-Manual.

Copyright 2006 by the Advocates for Self-Government

Operation Politically Homeless, OPH, The World’s Smallest Political Quiz, and the “Diamond Chart” are
trademarks of the Advocates for Self-Government.

The Mini-Manual, the Maxi-Manual, and the Checklists and Sample Documents together comprise
the Fifth Edition of the Operation Politically Homeless Manual.
Fifth Edition by Scott A. Kjar, with additional editing and design by Bill Winter.

Advocates for Self-Government

213 S. Erwin Street
Cartersville, GA 30120
770-386-8372
800-932-1776
www.TheAdvocates.org
info@TheAdvocates.org

Permission to reprint or duplicate this manual is hereby given, provided that this copyright notice page is
included, and other attribution as appropriate is included in such reprints or duplications.
 Table of Contents

■ Welcome to OPH . ............................................................................................. 5

■ OPH in a Nutshell ............................................................................................. 6
■ OPH Background. .............................................................................................. 7
What is OPH, anyway?
What does OPH tell me?
Why do we do OPH?
When should we do OPH?

■ Doing an OPH: Advance Logistics. .................................................... 11

How do I get a time and place to do OPH?
Are there any Web pages that list these locations?
How do I recruit volunteers to help?
What materials will I need?
Should I contact the news media?

■ Doing an OPH: Show Time!. .................................................................... 17

What should I wear?
What should I say if the news media show up?

■ Doing an OPH: Working the Booth. ................................................... 19

Can you start with an overview of what will happen at the booth?
How should I arrange the booth?
How do I get people to take the Quiz?
What if they have questions about the questions?
How do I figure out where people belong on the Chart?
What do I say to people about their evaluations?
How do I get contact information from the prospective libertarians?
How do I get others to leave?
Oops, I accidentally asked a person who already took the Quiz...

■ Doing an OPH: Follow-up. ......................................................................... 33

What should I do with the names I get?
Should I hold OPH in conjunction with an Intro presentation?
What should I do at the Intro presentation?
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual Advocates for Self-Government

4
Advocates for Self-Government Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual

Welcome to OPH!

W
elcome to OPH — Operation Politically
Homeless. In the pages of this manual,
I will describe what OPH is, how you
can do your own OPH, and how to make sure
that your OPH is successful.
I’ve been doing OPH for several years. I have
administered thousands of Quizzes, seen people
with all manner of political views, been asked
questions ranging from the insightful to the
provocative to the absurd, and generally had
fun. That’s right, I had fun.
I have to admit something right now: I’m
somewhat introverted. Of course, in the
movement for liberty, a lot of us are. And the
idea of going out into crowds, meeting hundreds
of people in a single day, and chatting with
each of them for a few moments is not the way I
would normally care to spend my day.
But with OPH, it’s okay. I don’t have to
make idle chit-chat with people. I don’t have to
try to remember everyone’s name. I don’t have
to worry about whether I know anything about
the local sports team, or a particular TV show,
or the latest gossip.
Instead, in my dealings with these hundreds presented and explained, and you can select the
of people, I only need to know two things: the way that makes the most sense to you. After
basics of liberty, and how to operate an OPH booth. all, you’re the one running your OPH booth.
Presumably, if you have this manual in your And along the way, maybe you’ll think up a
hands, you already know the basics of liberty. new technique or two that makes your booth
After all, OPH is about outreach, and if you’re more successful. If so, tell us about it!
doing outreach, you already know that there is The lessons, methods, and options presented
something worthwhile in liberty. in this manual have all been thought up by
My task, then, is to teach you how to run previous people doing OPH, refining their
an OPH booth. Think of this manual as a “how- techniques, testing them out, and generally
to” book. After all, I’m an introvert. I like check seeing what works.
lists. I like it when people explain things step- Read on to learn more about how you can
by-step — I like it when everything is laid out organize and successfully run your own OPH.
like a recipe. You will be helping people better understand
Like any recipe, there will be some options. their own views, and you will be furthering the
You can add chopped nuts to your cookies, or a movement for liberty in the process.
touch of cinnamon to your pudding. And remember, OPH is fun!
And you can use different ways of Scott Kjar
organizing the OPH booth, or of convincing June 1, 2006
people to take the Quiz. These options will be

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Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual Advocates for Self-Government

OPH In a Nutshell

W
hile this entire manual explains
what OPH is all about, how to
do it, when to do it, and much
more, it never hurts to get the nutshell
version first. That way, you can better
understand how the details fit together,
and what you are trying to accomplish. In
that sense, everything you need to know
is on this page. Everything, that is, except
for the details that make it work! You can
think of the rest of this manual as merely
being an expansion on this page.
the person’s answers, you quickly realize where
this person’s overall political leanings are.
You point to the Diamond Chart, standing
on an easel. Based on the person’s answers to
the Quiz, you indicate where on the Chart this
person belongs.
The person prints his or her first name on a
small colored sticky dot, and places that dot on
the Chart at the point you indicate. This point
will be within one of the Chart’s five areas:
conservative, liberal, libertarian, statist, and
centrist.
If the answers fall in the libertarian section,
you invite the person to an upcoming event.
You also ask for the person’s contact infor-

I
t’s a warm, sunny day. You are working at an mation, so that you can inform him or her of
outreach booth, perhaps at a county fair, a upcoming activities.
city festival, or a college campus. You call If the answers fall outside of the libertarian
your booth Operation Politically Homeless. section, you thank the person for participating,
A person approaches you at the booth. The and you move on to the next person.
person has seen your banner, or perhaps the
Diamond Chart, and is curious. The person wants
to know what’s going on.
You hand the person
a small piece of paper.
Across the top are the
words “The World’s
Smallest Political Quiz.”
There are 10 statements
on the paper. For each,
the person has three
choices: Agree, Maybe,
and Disagree.
In a couple of
minutes, the person has
completed the Quiz, and
hands the piece of paper
back to you. Looking over

■ Operation Politically Homeless is simple:

You give people the World’s Smallest Political
Quiz, add up their scores, put a colored dot
on the Chart, and collect contact information
if they score libertarian. And it’s fun!

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Advocates for Self-Government Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual

OPH Background

I
n the next few pages, I will give you people come to the OPH booth, take the Quiz,
some background information about and are plotted on the Diamond Chart. The Quiz
OPH. I will explain what OPH is, what has ten simple statements broadly categorized
into economic and personal issues. Each state-
OPH can tell us about people, why we do
ment concerns who should control a particular
OPH, and when we should do OPH. If you decision: individuals or government. There are
already know this information, feel free three possible answers: Agree, Maybe, and Disagree.
to move to the pages that tell you how to
do an OPH. If you want to know the back- What does OPH tell me?
ground, in order to better grasp the The answers, when taken together,
zeitgeist of OPH, spend a few minutes on accomplish two tasks. First, they determine
these pages. And remember, OPH is fun! whether a person tends to favor conservative
goals or liberal goals. Second, they determine
What is OPH, anyway? whether a person tends to favor small
government or big government.
Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) is a
Once the person has taken the Quiz, those
fun and exciting libertarian outreach technique
answers are evaluated, and are plotted on the
based on a chart devised in 1969 by political
Diamond Chart. (Later in this Manual, you will
scientist David Nolan.
learn how to determine exactly where each
Nolan was frustrated with the traditional
person goes on the Diamond Chart.) People can
Left/Right political spectrum because he
easily see whether they are politically to the
observed that many
left or to the right. Some are closer to the
people with very
center, and others are more toward the edges.
different views were all
At the same time, they can see whether they are
lumped together in the
toward the libertarian, or small-government,
middle. Nolan, who went
portion of the Diamond Chart, or closer to the
on to co-found the
statist, or big-government, area.
Libertarian Party,
Thus, we can evaluate each person on both
recognized that there are
axes. A person is to the left or right of the
actually two separate
center, and also to the top or bottom of the
elements that define a
center. This makes it easy to get an overall
person’s political belief:
evaluation of the person’s political belief
what sorts of goals
system. Rather than merely calling people
should government have,
conservatives, liberals, or moderates, OPH allows
and how much ■ David Nolan: He us to expand the categories into more
government should be invented a new descriptive and effective terms.
applied to achieve those political chart For example, conservatives seek particular
goals. The old Left/Right
societal outcomes, such as strong traditional
spectrum covered the first; the second was
families, private property, or religious faith.
entirely unaddressed.
Liberals, on the other hand, seek social justice,
At the OPH booth, we combine two key
equality, or compassion. Yet, given these sets of
elements — the World’s Smallest Political Quiz
goals, it is still possible to be a Big-Government
and the Diamond Chart — to evaluate people’s
Conservative or a Small-Government Conser-
overall political ideologies. In simplest terms,
vative, to be a Big-Government Liberal or a

7
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
Small-Government Liberal.
A Big-Government Conservative may believe
that the best way to achieve his or her goals
would be through tax policies that give breaks
to traditional families or corporations, using the
military to open foreign markets, channeling
money into approved religious organizations, or
through the use of speech codes to prevent
discussion of anti-American ideas.
Meanwhile, the Small-Government
Conservative may believe that any use of the
tax code, military intervention, funneling
taxpayer money to religious groups, or
establishment of speech codes actually
undermines the goals being sought, and would
oppose them. Both of these are conservative in
their goals, but have very different means of
achieving those goals.
A Big-Government Liberal may propose all
manner of social programs designed to rectify
society’s ills, such as Medicare, job retraining
programs, wealth transfers, or speech codes to
protect various groups from hatred. A Small-
Government Liberal, while desiring the same
outcomes, may look at these programs as merely
causing other problems, and not actually solving
the initial ones.
Thus, it is possible for a Small-Government
Liberal and a Small-Government Conservative to
have very different goals, but still prefer the
smallest government possible. At the same time,
a Big-Government Liberal and a Big-Government
Conservative may both be pushing for expansion
of government in their respective realms.
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Advocates for Self-Government
To the taxpayer, it often matters very little
whether it is the Big-Government Conservative
or the Big-Government Liberal who expands
government, increases taxes, or imposes speech
codes; it matters equally little whether it is the
Small-Government Conservative or the Small-
Government Liberal who makes government less
intrusive and reduces onerous regulations.
In short, it is the amount of government, as
much as what the government does, that affects
people, and it is the amount of government that
is not tested or evaluated by the traditional
Left-Right political spectrum.
OPH, by using a short political opinion
survey coupled with an updated version of
David Nolan’s pioneering chart, helps to identify
all of these different groups: Traditional Liberals
and Traditional Conservatives, Big-Government
Liberals and Big-Government Conservatives,
Small-Government Liberals (or left-libertarians)
and Small-Government Conservatives (or right-
libertarians), Libertarians, Statists, and Centrists.
Operation Politically Homeless, by
combining the World’s Smallest Political Quiz
with the Diamond Chart, provides useful
insights into the differences between various
political categories. And, as it turns out, OPH
happens to be a great way to identify people
who are libertarians and just don’t know it.
Why do we do OPH?
In any movement, including the movement
for liberty, there are two basic ways to grow:
convince people to change their views, or find
Advocates for Self-Government
people who already share your views. I’ve tried
them both, and I’d like to illustrate the
difference by talking about three friends of
mine: Susan, Dave, and James.
When I met Susan in 1991, she was an
attorney who was working for a federal judge.
We started discussing the law, its rationale, the
Constitution, the Declaration of Independence,
and similar topics. Susan was a typical liberal
who believed unreservedly in aggressive
prosecution of the anti-trust laws and gun
control laws. She believed that only through the
use of extreme amounts of benevolent
government could society be made worthwhile.
I challenged Susan’s thinking, and offered
her a libertarian alternative; I tried convincing
her to change her views and become a liber-
tarian. She started thinking about it, but
objected frequently to my claims. She argued
about the validity of particular ideas, and
whether libertarian policies could even work.
For the next few years, she would call me at all
hours with questions. In 2001, Susan went to
her first libertarian event — a gun safety
seminar! In ten years and literally hundreds of
conversations, I had convinced her to change
her views. That was a lot of work for a single
convert.
Dave was a computer programmer who
considered himself a small-government conser-
vative. He was familiar with the Constitution,
and believed that government was substantially
out of control. A friend of mine had challenged
his thinking a couple of days earlier, and when
Dave had some questions, my friend suggested
that Dave talk to me about them. I sat down
with Dave, and for about four hours, we worked
through many issues, topics, and ideas. By the
end of the day, I knew that Dave was already
mostly a libertarian, but he had some of the
normal conservative concerns, like drugs and
immigration.
Over the course of about six months, as we
talked through these issues in dozens of
conversations, Dave came to see how his views
on private property and freedom for businesses
led inexorably to freedom on issues like drugs
and immigration. After six months, Dave made
his first donation to a libertarian organization.
James came to an OPH booth I was holding
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Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
for a campus libertarian club. He took the Quiz,
scored in the libertarian section, and then said
that he had never met anyone who agreed with
him on so many issues. He had always thought
that he was the only person in the entire world
with his ideas, and he had never heard of
libertarianism.
He joined the club, soon became its presi-
dent, attended a libertarian training seminar,
and then went on to found, co-found, or become
active in several liberty-related clubs on campus,
including the Freeman reading group, the local
Hemp Alliance, Students for the Second
Amendment, and the Objectivist Society. Within
weeks, James was bringing in new student
members from his classes, his work, his hobbies,
from everywhere. Once he could match his views
with a name and a consistent philosophy, he
became a one-man dynamo for liberty.
When I think about all those middle-of-the-
night calls from Susan worrying about selling
the Grand Canyon or providing symphonies to
inner-city kids, or about Dave’s fears over drug
legalization and immigration, and then I think
about how James was instantly a libertarian at
the booth and immediately started bringing in
his own members, it becomes clear to me which
technique is best for expanding the movement
for liberty.
By various estimates, libertarians make up
somewhere between 15% and 30% of the
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
American electorate. Yet, when people are asked
about their political views, fewer than 5% —
and often fewer than 1% — self-identify
themselves as libertarians. That means that
there are a lot of libertarians out there who just
don’t know it. It was easier to find James by
talking to 100 people in one day at an OPH
booth than it was to convert Susan or Dave from
their previous views. And that’s why I do OPH.
When should we do OPH?
At the risk of sounding flip, any time is a
good time to do OPH. Of course, to help ensure
your success, there may be some times that are
better than others.
The purpose of doing an OPH is to identify
prospective libertarians so that you can invite
them to join your local organization. Thus, the
best time to do OPH is when you can meet these
two criteria: you expect to find a lot of
prospective libertarians, and you can assimilate
them into your group. Let me expand on those
two points a little bit.
First, OPH is a volume tool. You don’t merely
want to give the Quiz to one person, or five, or
even 20. You want to give the Quiz to 100
people, 200, or even 500 people in a single day.
When you give the Quiz, depending on the
venue, you may get somewhere between 10%
and 40% of them ending up as libertarians. Of
those whose answers peg them in the libertarian
section, some will be willing to give you their
contact information and others won’t. Of those
who give their contact information, some will
come to a follow-up activity and others won’t.
Of those who come to a follow-up activity, some
will join your organization and others won’t. Of
those who join your organization, some will
become active participants and others won’t. In
short, you go through a lot of Quizzes to get a
few activists.
It’s a numbers game, pure and simple. The
more Quizzes you give, the more prospective
libertarians you will find, the more members
you will gain, and the more activists you will
unleash. If you only give 50 Quizzes, you might
find 15 prospective libertarians, get 10 names,
have five come to a meeting, have two join, and
have none who actually ever become active
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Advocates for Self-Government
participants. If you give 500 Quizzes, you might
find 80 prospective libertarians, get 70 names,
have 25 come to a meeting, have 10 join, and
have three become active members.
You want to go where the people are. You
want places where there is a lot of foot traffic,
and people are willing to pause for a couple of
minutes to take the survey and see the results.
Common places for OPH are state and county
fairs, city festivals, gun shows, flea markets,
college campuses, or even busy street corners.
The steadier the foot traffic, the more potential
libertarians you will encounter.
Second, you want to make sure that your
organization is ready for a batch of new names.
If you hold an OPH, identify a large number of
prospective libertarians, and then never follow
up with them, you have wasted your time. Very
few of the prospective libertarians will follow
through on their own; almost none will contact
the Advocates for Self-Government or any other
libertarian organizations without a little nudge
from you and your organization.
Thus, when you plan to hold an OPH, you
should also schedule a few other activities soon
afterward. Schedule an “Introduction to
Libertarianism” presentation, or a mock debate
with group members playing the roles of
liberals, conservatives, and libertarians.
Schedule a discussion about some of the funny
things that government has done. Schedule an
activity related to your target audience (e.g., if
you are doing OPH at a gun show, follow up
with a gun-related activity; if you are doing
OPH at a hemp festival, schedule a medical
marijuana presentation; if you are doing OPH on
April 15, find a speaker to talk about the
libertarian view of taxes, etc.).
In conclusion, you want to hold an OPH
when you can expect to see a lot of people, and
when your organization is in a position to
quickly follow up with the new names. When
you put these two elements together, your
chances of overall long-term success improve
dramatically.
Advocates for Self-Government
Doing An OPH: Advance Logistics
I
n this portion of the manual, you will
learn what to do in advance of the OPH,
that is, how you go about preparing for
the event. By “advance logistics,” we are
talking about finding a location for OPH,
getting permission if necessary, recruiting
volunteers, making sure that you have the
appropriate materials, contacting the
news media, and similar issues.
How do I get a time and
place to do OPH?
You want to select an OPH time and place
where there will be a lot of people on foot who
are willing and able to stop for a few minutes at
your booth. State and county fairs, city
festivals, flea markets, concerts, gun shows,
Oktoberfests, downtown parks, outside of the
post office, and college campuses are all likely
OPH locations.
Your local Chamber of Commerce may have a
master list of upcoming activities and events in
your town. Contact the Chamber and ask for a
copy of the list. It will surely include the types
of activities mentioned above. Go through the
list, and see what looks good to you.
My suggestion is that you find a venue that
will have a lot of local people, but not a lot of
tourists. After all, you want to gain names for
your organization, rather than merely gain
names in general. While it is all well and good
to work on big-picture libertarianism — and to
try to convince people everywhere to embrace
libertarianism — that is really more than any
one person or group can take on. It is far better
to focus your efforts on local activities, because
you can directly follow up yourself, and you can
see the fruits of your own labor.
Also, pick a venue that will not be too
noisy. A street dance with live bands may make
it very difficult to hear your co-workers or the
people who are taking the Quiz. A stadium
11
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
concert where you set up a table out in the
parking lot might be okay, because the sound
from the concert might not be so bad out there.
A booth at a fair or on a campus is usually okay.
In addition, you want a steady traffic flow,
not a frenzied rush. Standing outside of the
football stadium after the big game is probably
not conducive to getting many people to take
the Quiz. On the other hand, if there is a big
tailgate event before the football game (or even
the evening before), you may want to find a
good location, and get people to take the Quiz
well before there is the big rush for the
stadium.
Once you have decided on a time and place
for your OPH, you will need to see about
permission. For example, a county fair will have
booths available, but they will require
preregistration.
The same is likely to be true of most venues.
The Chamber of Commerce master list probably
includes contact information for the organizers
of the event. Call the organizers, and ask about
the rules for getting a booth. They will provide
you with the information, including the size of
the booth, the materials that they provide and
the materials that you provide (e.g,. sometimes
they will provide a table and chairs, but other
times they will only provide the space and you
must provide everything you need). Some events
will be free, but others may require payment
ranging from a few dollars to a few hundred
dollars. Make sure that you are clear about the
financial arrangements; you don’t want to show
up to work a booth only to find that you have
obligated yourself to payments that you had not
budgeted.
If you are doing the OPH on a college
campus, you will probably need a student group
to sponsor you. If there is a campus libertarian
club, a Second Amendment group, an organ-
ization working for medical marijuana, or the
like, this is a good place to seek such sponsor-
ship (not to mention a good source of vol-
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
unteers to work at the booth). If there is no
such student group, contact the student govern-
ment, or student activities office, and see what
the rules are for starting a club. Using OPH to
find new campus members is a great kick-off
event for a new student group.
Are there any Web pages
that list good locations?
Listed below are a few Web pages that
should help you to find some additional OPH
locations in your area.
1. Lots of county fairs and state fairs:
http://www.iafenet.org/alphafairs_frame.html
2. Lots of events:
http://www.festivalnet.com/
3. Southern Festivals Newspapers cover North
Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia,
Virginia and Tennessee:
http://www.southfest.com/index.html
4. Big list of festivals:
http://www.festivals.com/~finder/
5. Fairs in about a dozen states (and Canada):
http://www.fairsnet.org/
6. Various fairs and local interest events:
http://www.travel50.com/
How do I recruit
volunteers to help?
Generally, 2-4 people make a good-sized
crew for an OPH, depending on your venue. If
you have a very large booth or a large open-air
space, you may want more people, but for a
small space, more than four people at your
booth can get crowded. In any case, it doesn’t
take very many people to work at an OPH.
There is a simple way to get people to help:
ask them. If you don’t ask, no one knows that
you need help, and no one will likely volunteer.
This begs an important question: who are the
“them” that you should ask? Who are these
people that you are supposed to ask to help?
12
Advocates for Self-Government
The obvious starting place is with members
of your group or organization. If you are, say, a
local chapter of a gun group, or a medical
marijuana advocacy organization, or a political
party, you should start by going down the list of
members. Pick up the phone, and give them all
a call. Tell them what you are doing, when it is,
how long it will take, and ask them to help.
It is possible that you will call the first four
names on the list, they will all volunteer to
work all day with you, and you will be all set.
Of course, it is more likely that most of the
people you call will simply not be home, and
those who are home are likely to say “no” to
your request.
Don’t despair when this happens. One
important key is learning what “no” means, and
what it doesn’t mean. When you ask someone to
come help you work all day at an outreach
booth, if the person you are asking says “no,” it
may be that you simply haven’t asked the right
question. You should listen to what the person
says when he or she tells you “no.” If the
answer is “No, I’m going to be out-of-state for
my daughter’s wedding,” then the person
probably won’t be able to help out at all. On the
other hand, if the answer is, “No, I have to mow
the lawn and get groceries that day,” then
maybe the person can help for a half day. In
that case, ask for a half day, perhaps the
morning shift, or the afternoon shift. That gives
the person time to do those other activities, and
still help out.
Again, if you are told “no” to the request
for a half-day, ask for two hours. Having people
help out during key times, such as lunch (when
your crew will need to take breaks to eat), can
make the day go smoother and easier for those
of you who are spending the entire day at the
table.
And if the person still tells you “no,” it
probably doesn’t hurt to ask for a donation to
help pay for the booth registration fee, the
materials, or lunch for the people who are
working the table.
But what if you don’t have a group or
organization, or if you don’t really have any
sort of list from which to make calls? Then
whom do you ask?
That’s when you want to ask your family
Advocates for Self-Government Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual

members, your friends, people you know from

work, people you see at the bar, people with
whom you do aerobics, or people you just know.
Tell them that you are going to be working at a
booth, and that you need some people to help
you. They won’t have to know all the details of
libertarianism, or even have to share your
political beliefs. These are people who are
helping out not because they believe in the
cause, but because you asked them.
Friends and family help each other out.
After all, you’re probably not asking them to
help you for several hours a day, every day, for a
couple of weeks. Instead, you’re asking them to
come out and help you for a few hours. One day.
A half day. Two hours during lunch.
Remember, once you have done a day of
OPH, you will have a lot of names of other
people to call and ask to help out for the next
one. You only need help in getting started, in
getting that first day under your belt. I am
willing to bet that your friends and family will
be happy to help you out. After all, OPH is fun!
And whatever it is that you are doing, they are
doing it with you.
“Wait!” you insist. What if you have no ■ Having the Chart on a tripod is a great way
group or organization, your family lives across to attract people to your OPH booth.
the country, and you have no friends at all?
Then what do you do? You still have a few
working at the table is that you can administer
options.
more Quizzes and evaluate more potential
For example, if you are not already a
libertarians. But it is perfectly possible to work
member of a libertarian-oriented group, but you
the table alone if you absolutely cannot find
are planning to do an OPH, that means that you
anyone else to work with you.
are probably trying to start such a group.
Contact the Advocates for Self-Government, the
state or national Libertarian Party (or other What materials will I need?
libertarian-leaning political group), or whatever In its simplest form, you will need these
umbrella group you plan to associate with, and items: the Diamond Chart, the World’s Smallest
ask them for some leads. They may well have Political Quiz, pens, colored stick-on dots, a
some names of people in your area who have table, a bag to put the used Quizzes (this is not
already expressed a desire to help out, and are garbage!), and a bag for garbage. In such a case,
just waiting for someone to come along to you put the Chart, copies of the Quiz, and pens
coordinate some activity. on the table, and when people finish marking
And if nothing else works, remember this: I their answers, you show them where to put their
have done OPH alone several times under those colored stick-on dots on the Chart. (This will be
exact circumstances. I frequently go onto described in more detail later in the manual.)
campuses where there is no existing libertarian A common option would be a tripod or other
club, and I start from scratch on the first day. method of providing better visibility for the
The advantage to having more volunteers Chart. Having the Chart standing is a great way
of attracting people to the table. You can

13
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
purchase a tripod, make something yourself, or
find a way to attach the chart to a wall or
bulletin board (if appropriate).
Another option is to have clipboards for the
Quizzes. I generally use Quizzes that are the
size of 1/4 sheet of paper, so I buy a lot of
small clipboards for this use. Then, instead of
requiring everyone to crowd around the table, I
can hand out a bunch of clipboards all at the
same time, and thereby serve more people
simultaneously.
A third option is chairs. Notice that I did
not put these in the required items. Frankly,
using chairs will make you less effective. You
need to stand to talk to people, stand to explain
the Quiz, and stand to look people in the eye.
Having a chair or two is only an option to allow
your crew members to take an occasional break;
you cannot work OPH from a chair.
A fourth option is a banner for the top of
your booth. Sometimes, a banner can help to
draw attention to your booth, and thereby bring
people to it. The Advocates has a series of
banners that are used for this purpose, and they
are based on different sorts of events. (Banners
mention a political survey, or a gun owners
survey, or mention the Quiz, etc.)
A fifth option would be five half-gallon jars,
■ The “Harris 5-Jar” technique is both a
pre-screening and a fundraising technique.
14
Advocates for Self-Government
used for the “Harris 5-Jar” technique (explained
later in this manual). These are used variously
as a pre-screening technique before people even
take the Quiz, or as a fundraising technique.
A sixth option is a tent or other overhead
covering, if you are going to be outside in the
sun or the rain.
Seventh, I suggest that you go to K-Mart or
Wal-Mart and purchase a poster frame for your
Diamond Chart. This should have a backing, a
frame, and a plastic cover, and you should put
the Diamond Chart into the frame behind the
cover. Each day, after you have covered your
Chart with colored stick-on dots, you will want
to peel them off so that your Chart is ready for
re-use at your next OPH. The dots peel off the
plastic poster frame cover much easier than
they peel off the Chart itself, and the backing
and frame help it to keep its shape and
professional appearance much longer.
Eighth, you may want to have literature or
material to hand out. I like to do OPH in con-
junction with “Introduction to Libertarianism”
presentations, so I always have flyers announcing
the event, speaker, time, date, and place. You
might also want to have literature from the
Advocates, the Libertarian Party, the Republican
Liberty Caucus, the Democratic Freedom Caucus,
the Cato Institute, the Foundation
for Economic Education, Reason, the
Institute for Humane Studies, or
other liberty-oriented groups.
Finally, you might actually want
to have a second booth right next to
the first one, or across the aisle
from it. In that way, you can
separate the OPH aspect of your
activity from the displaying of other
materials.
After all, while OPH is a great
door-opener, its fundamental
purpose is to screen for prospective
libertarians, and to gain names.
Having a separate booth allows
those people who want to chat a
while — or who want to discuss
specific issues more thoroughly —
the chance to do so right away. You
don’t want these people standing in front of
your OPH table, because they will end up
Advocates for Self-Government
turning away others who might take the Quiz.
By all means, keep such conversations, argu-
ments, and issues discussions away from the OPH
table. If that means having a separate table,
then so be it.
There may be other options that you find to
use. If so, please pass the information along to
us. We can all learn from each other, and some-
times the newcomers see things that experienced
people miss. As you read the section about
“Working the Booth,” you will be able to decide
for yourself which options you wish to use, and
how you wish to set up your booth.
Should I contact the
news media?
Absolutely. While an OPH is primarily
designed to identify prospective libertarians, it
also serves to show clearly the differences
between libertarians, conservatives, liberals,
centrists, and statists. As such, it is a great tool
to show your local media representative.
One thing you must realize about most
members of the media: as much as they say that
they want to talk about the issues, they don’t
really want to talk about the issues. This is one
of the reasons why libertarians don’t get much
coverage — we always want to talk about the
issues.
Just read the coverage of the candidates
sometime. It rarely gives the specific details
about a candidate’s stance on a particular issue
(unless it is a big-government position), and
there is rarely much serious contrast between
the positions of various candidates. Instead,
coverage always concerns which groups have
endorsed which candidates, or where a candidate
is campaigning, or what a candidate had for
lunch, or who is likely to be the candidate’s
advisors, if elected. In short, the media like to
cover the perception of issues, or tactics related
to issues, rather than the issues themselves.
When the Republicans begin a voter reg-
istration drive in Hispanic neighborhoods, that
is news. If the Democrats push for voter reg-
istration at the Social Services offices, that is
news. If there is discussion about redrawing
precinct boundaries in order to change the
racial composition of an elected body, that is
15
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
news. But those are not issues, they are tactics!
Several years ago, when I was running for
State Representative, I attacked the local school
district for being wasteful in its bond issues. I
got some newspaper coverage, but the coverage
didn’t say anything specific about my position;
they only talked about the fact that I was
attacking the school system. (Shame on me!)
Again, they didn’t talk about my issues, they
talked about perceptions and they talked about
my tactics.
OPH is a tactic. It is a means of identifying
prospective libertarians, and a means of
increasing overall voter understanding of the
complexity of the political spectrum. It’s not an
issue, and it’s not a position paper. And because
it is a tactic, and specifically a tactic about
perceptions, it might be considered news by the
news media. So by all means, notify the media.
You might actually get someone to come cover
you!
Of course, your next likely question is this:
how do I figure out who to notify? You will
want to build your own press list. Compiling
this list is not difficult, but it may take a
couple of hours. First, go to the Yellow Pages,
and look up the listings under Television
Stations, Radio Stations, Newspapers, and
Magazines. Write down the name, address, and
phone number of each one.
Then call each one, and ask for their fax
number for press releases. Also, you will want to
get the name of the appropriate person. It is
always better to send a press release to a
specific person, because then that person will
likely read and consider your release. If you
send it to a newspaper without a contact name,
it may be shunted aside, or read by an
overworked editor who doesn’t consider it very
thoroughly. Also, if the same person regularly
reads your releases, that person is more likely to
consider your group to be newsworthy. Groups
that pop up once every few years and then
disappear are unlikely to be considered
“newsworthy” regardless of what they are doing;
groups that regularly engage in activity will get
more coverage. By sending your releases to the
same journalists, they see you engaging in
regular activity, and thus they are more likely to
provide media coverage — if not now, perhaps
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
in the future.
For television stations, the key person will
have a title like Assignment Editor or News
Producer. That will be the person who assigns
reporters to go cover particular stories, and
sends camera crews out.
At a radio station, the News Director is the
key news person. Many radio stations will only
have one or two news people, so it will be
obvious who the appropriate person is.
For newspapers, you will want to find out
the name of the political reporter, the news
editor, and the metro editor, so you can send
the release to all three of them. And if you are
unsure, just ask the person who answered the
phone. Tell them who you are, and ask for the
name of the person to whom you should send
your press releases.
16
Advocates for Self-Government
Once you have done this, you have your
own press list all ready to go. If you have a fax
machine or a fax modem, you can key in the
numbers so that faxing is automatic. If you plan
to use regular mail, you might want to put the
information into some sort of computer data-
base, so that you can print out labels (or better
yet, print directly onto the envelopes — it
looks more professional).
See the Checklists and Sample Documents
file for more information about compiling a
press list, and for a sample press release. Feel
free to customize it to fit your particular
situation.
Advocates for Self-Government
Doing An OPH: Show Time!
R
emember the old adage: you don’t
get a second chance to make a
first impression. Since you are at
the table as a representative of some organ-
ization, whether it is the local Libertarian
Party, a local issues group, or some other
entity, you want to make sure that your
appearance and demeanor convey favorable
information about your organization. Re-
member, this is not about how you normally
look or act; it is about how your audience
will react to how you look and act.
What should I wear?
Your exact attire will partly be determined
by the type and location of the event. If you are
at a professional event, you will want to wear
professional attire. If you are at a casual event,
then casual attire is acceptable. However, you
don’t want to be too casual. There is a big
difference between looking relaxed and looking
slovenly; between conveying an impression of
casual success and conveying one of shabby
carelessness.
Think about how your target audience will
be dressed. Then, you will want to dress that
way, or slightly better. For example, at a fair
booth, guys can generally wear a knit shirt with
a collar, or a sport shirt, or even a dress shirt
that is not too dressy. However, a jacket and tie
are probably too formal for a fair. (Note: if you
are a candidate, then you probably want to wear
a jacket and tie anyway. Just don’t look too
stuffy.) Casual slacks are usually fine, but blue
jeans or shorts would be crossing the line.
T-shirts with slogans will detract from your
appearance, no matter how catchy or cute you
believe the slogan to be.
Women can follow the same general rules
regarding attire. That is, shorts and t-shirts are
not recommended, while business attire might
be a little too dressy. A casual skirt or slacks
17
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
accompanied by a casual top are probably fine.
Also, don’t overdo your make-up.
If you are going to wear a hat or cap, make
sure that it is appropriate to your venue and to
your purpose. A cap supporting your candidate
at the candidate’s booth is okay, but if you are
running a general OPH for the purpose of
identifying prospective libertarians, then a cap
that identifies your candidate may drive away
more people than it attracts. Likewise, a cap
with a slogan or gesture on it may be a big
turn-off. If you must wear hats or caps (e.g., to
keep out the sun), try to keep it simple.
Another item that is important but often
overlooked is skin care. If you are going to be
outside, you will want some sun screen. If you
are in an area with bugs, an insect repellent is a
good idea. Don’t forget some drinking water.
What should I say if the
news media show up?
Since you contacted the media and told
them about the booth, you shouldn’t be too
surprised if someone from the media actually
stops by. Perhaps a newspaper or TV reporter
might drop by to see you in action.
First, make sure that they get shots of the
Diamond Chart, and of one or more individuals
taking the Quiz. Next, explain to the reporter
what the Chart is, and how it separates folks
into their respective ideologies. Along the way,
make sure that you drop in other relevant
contact information, like the Web site for
the Advocates for Self-Government
(www.TheAdvocates.org), or the name of the
Libertarian Party, the Republican Liberty
Caucus, the Democratic Freedom Caucus, Cato,
IHS, or other group you are affiliated with, and
their respective contact information.
Be sure to point out the overall results you
have so far. Explain the general trend — e.g.,
are there more liberals, conservatives, statists,
libertarians, or centrists? Which group seems to
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual Advocates for Self-Government

be the most represented, and which

group seems to be the least
represented?
Also, since you will compile the
final results after the day is over,
offer to fax the final tallies (the
percentages of conservatives,
liberals, centrists, libertarians, and
statists you found). If the results get
in soon enough, the reporter may
work that piece of information into
the story.
I would like to toss in one extra
hint about dealing with the news
media. In my experience — and in
the experience of many others with
whom I have spoken — attractive
and articulate women are more
likely to get coverage than are men.
If you have an attractive, articulate woman ■ In the libertarian movement, we generally
working at the table, designate her as the have more men than women, so anything
reporter’s key contact person, and make sure that helps recruit more women is a big plus.
that she gives the statements and explains the
process. And if there is a photo, make sure that
she is in the photo.
A secondary effect of this is that if women
are seen as prominently participating in your
organization, women may subsequently join the
organization. In the movement for liberty, we
generally have more men than women, so any-
thing that helps recruit more women is a big plus.

18
Advocates for Self-Government
Doing An OPH: Working the Booth
I
know, you’re starting to get impatient.
I am telling stories, talking about what
to wear, and how to build a press list
— and all you really want to know is
what to do when you get to the booth.
That is, how should you arrange the
booth, how do you get people to take the
Quiz, how do you evaluate the Quiz, and
how do you put the results on the Chart?
And most important, how do you get
people to give you their names and
contact information before they leave the
booth? After all, that’s the real reason
you are there.
Can you start with an
overview of what will
happen at the booth?
The overall flow of the booth is pretty
straightforward. You will get people’s attention
and attract them to the booth. If you are using
the Harris Jars, you will have them vote in a jar.
Following that (or if you are not using the
Harris Jars), the next step is for people to take
the Quiz.
Once they take the Quiz, you will evaluate it
for them, figuring out whether they are liber-
tarians, conservatives, liberals, centrists, or
statists. Upon completing that determination,
you will show them where they will put their
colored stick-on dot onto the Diamond Chart.
If they are in the libertarian section, you
will invite them to attend the next meeting,
event, or activity of your local group, and also
ask for their contact information so that you
can notify them about future meetings, events,
and activities.
You will give them literature or information
as appropriate, drop their completed Quiz into
your Quiz bag, and move on to the next person.
That’s pretty much the entire OPH in a
19
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
nutshell. Of course, a little more explanation of
some of those details might not hurt.
How should I arrange
the booth?
This is where you have a lot of options.
How you should arrange the booth is based
substantially on what options you are using.
The Spartan Booth
I usually run a very spartan (simple) booth
made up of the following items:
■ Copies of the World’s Smallest Political Quiz
■ Diamond Chart on an easel
■ Several clipboards (I use about seven when I
work alone, and about 10 when I work with
other people)
■ Lots of pens (buy a lot of cheap Bic pens
because they will walk away all day long —
but if you take off the pen caps, fewer of
them will vanish!)
■ Sheets of colored stick-on dots
■ Flyer giving details of my upcoming “Intro to
Libertarianism” speech
■ Table (if the fair or other location does not
supply one)
■ Table cloth (hangs down far enough to hide
the stuff under the table)
■ Extra supplies in a box under the table
■ A small plastic bag (from the grocery store)
taped to the back of the table
■ Small garbage bag under the table
When running this stripped-down version of
the booth, just arrange the clipboards around
the table so you have easy access to them as
you move around the table to talk to people.
Keep excess supplies under the table, not on the
table, since they will clutter up your space. The
key to OPH is volume. Get people to take the
Quiz, and then, if appropriate, get their contact
information.
Often, having a lot of flyers, brochures,
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
caps, refrigerator magnets, magazines, or similar
items at your booth merely slows down the
process, and increases the chance that someone
will want to argue with you over something. The
Spartan Booth is OPH — nothing more and
nothing less.
Harris Jars
The Harris Jars are used both as a screening
mechanism and as a fundraising technique.
Since we recognize that many people are not
going to be in the libertarian section of the
Quiz, it is often helpful to reduce the number of
people who actually fill out the Quiz and get
placed on the Chart. The Harris Jars fulfill this
function quite well.
For the Harris Jars method, you start with all
the same items listed in the Spartan Booth, plus:
■ Five clear two-quart jars
■ A few dollars (coins and bills) for seed money
■ Banner saying “Does government do a good
job?”
You will put the banner over your booth as
a means of attracting attention. Your five jars,
which should be prominently displayed on the
table, are labeled Always, Usually, About Half,
Seldom, and Never. With this technique, you
will ask people to vote with some money in one
of these five jars. The rest of the booth is made
up of the Chart, clipboards, copies of the Quiz,
colored stick-on dots, and so on from the Spartan
Booth. And be sure to keep the table neat!
As a screening technique, you offer the Quiz
to those people who drop their donation into
the Seldom or Never jars, since these people are
most likely to be prospective libertarians. As a
fund-raising technique, your group gets to keep
all the money dropped into the jars!
Another way you can use the Harris Jars is
to wait until people have already taken the
Quiz. Before they leave the table, ask them to
drop a little money into their favorite jar.
20
Advocates for Self-Government
Candidate Booth
If you are running a booth for the candidate,
you will want to be sure to add these items:
■ The candidate!
■ Banner with candidate’s name (e.g., “John
Smith for Governor”)
■ Brochures and candidate information
You will probably do the OPH the same, but
in the end, your purpose is to get people to
vote for your candidate. This may be a little bit
trickier than you think at first. After all, once
you have people take the Quiz, and you show
them where they stand on the Chart, they will
likely want to know where the candidate stands
on the Chart. In this way, you are as likely to
turn people off from voting for you as you are
to turn people on to voting for you. If you are a
libertarian, and the person in front of you has
scored in one of their other parts of the Chart,
they are likely to conclude that you are not the
candidate for whom they should vote.
On the other hand, if you can get all those
in the libertarian area to cast a ballot for you
on Election Day, that might be a big improve-
ment over what you otherwise would have
polled.
Just remember, the purpose here is to find
people who are already libertarians but don’t
know it; we are substantially less interested in
confirming for others that they are not liber-
tarians. And remember: keep your table neat.
Information Booth
You might want to offer more information at
your booth. And, while I don’t recommend this,
you might decide that it is worthwhile to
administer fewer copies of the Quiz and engage
in a few more conversations. After all, those
people who stop to talk might actually turn out
to be people sincerely interested in liber-
tarianism, and by chatting with them for a few
minutes, you could substantially increase the
chances that they will become involved.
(However, you are also more likely to have to
argue with conservatives, liberals, and statists,
but hey — you are the one running the booth!)
For an Information Booth, you might add some
of the following:
Advocates for Self-Government
■ Brochures from the Advocates
■ Political party brochures
■ Brochures from think tanks such as Cato, FEE,
IHS, or PERC
■ Magazines such as Reason or Liberty
■ Journals such as Journal of Libertarian Studies,
Independent Review, or The Cato Journal
In this case, a major initiative should be to
get people to take some information for later
reading.
Caution: do not try to load people down
with every single item at your table. Find out
the person’s interests, and then offer them a
couple of items. If you give too much, people
will end up being overwhelmed, and likely to
throw it all away. If you give a little info — just
the right amount — then people are more likely
to actually read it. And remember, with all these
different items on the table, it is important to
keep the table neat.
ALL Booths
I have talked about some things to have at
your booth. One thing that I mentioned earlier
in the manual was a poster frame with a plastic
cover for your Diamond Chart. This helps keep it
clean and neat, and makes it easier when you
have to peel off the stick-on dots. You will have
to peel them off after every outing, or else you
soon have a blob of color and no one can even
see the ideological labels underneath, at which
time the Chart loses a lot of its value.
Another thing that I have tried to mention
over and over is that you should always keep
your booth neat. If your booth gets cluttered,
messy, or unkempt, you will quickly scare off
your prospective Quiz-takers.
However, there are also some things that
you should not have at your booth:
■ Duct tape
■ C-clamps to hold things together
■ Obscene or offensive shirts, pins, flyers, caps
■ Grungy volunteers in stinky clothes
■ Half-eaten food or food wrappers
Duct tape and C-clamps are amazing fix-alls
for whatever goes wrong. Of course, they also
look unprofessional, or even tacky. If you need
tape, use transparent tape or double-faced tape
21
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
so that your tape doesn’t cover or hide your
materials. As for the other items, they convey a
negative impression to most people. You are
trying to convey a positive impression, so you
should avoid these things. And remember again
that old adage: you never get a second chance
to make a first impression.
How do I get people
to take the Quiz?
This is one of the most important questions
in the entire manual. After all, if no one takes
the Quiz, then you are just standing there all
day watching people go past. And for those
introverts among us, this may also be the most
difficult question, since we don’t automatically
approach other people in a way that sets them at
ease and makes them want to cooperate with us.
Yet, this need not be a difficult part of the
operation. If I may borrow from Nike com-
mercials for a moment, you have to decide what
to say, and then just say it.
What you say may be partly based on how
you are organizing the booth, or on how people
look when they go past, or on something else
unrelated. The point is that you have to get
someone’s attention first, and the rest follows.
For example, if you are using the Harris
Jars, simply make eye contact with someone
near the booth, and ask the question on your
banner: “Does government do a good job?” You
can use this same line over and over all day
long. Once people hear the question, you can
point to the jars, and ask people to drop a
quarter in the jar of their choice.
If they participate that far, then you say
“Would you please take our 10-question
survey?” And as you do this, hand over a
clipboard and pen. Place these in people’s hands
before they have a moment to say “no.” After
all, they are going with the flow, and it is easy
for you to set the pace of your encounter.
(I am not suggesting that you roughly shove
things at people. Rather, offer them the
clipboard as though their acceptance is the most
obvious and logical thing to do. Since I do a lot
of OPH in Alabama and Georgia, where folks are
fairly polite, I have to be careful not to appear
pushy or gruff in this. Rather, I merely place it
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
in their hands as though I am doing them a
favor. After all, I am doing them a favor by
helping them take the Quiz.)
If you are working at a candidate booth, you
simply ask people to learn about your candidate.
“Are you familiar with Mr. Jones, candidate for
Governor?” Once you have their attention, then
tell them that Mr. Jones is getting feedback
from people, and ask them to please fill out this
short political opinion survey.
My particular technique is somewhat akin to
a carnival barker. You have all seen carnival
employees urging you to attend their show, or
come to their booth. “Five tries for a buck! Come
on, give it a try!” They urge and cajole you to
toss ping-pong balls into saucers, or throw darts
at balloons, or squirt water into a clown’s
mouth, win a stuffed bear, guess your weight,
or whatever it is. These carnies get your
attention, and just ask over and over and over.
Since I frequently do OPH on college campuses,
I tell students that they should stop and take
my test, that I guarantee they will pass, that
every answer is a correct answer, and so on.
While I take no for an answer, I don’t take
no answer for an answer, and I keep pitching to
them until they either say okay, no, or are out
of earshot. Eventually, I might say something
cute enough that the person turns to me and
agrees to take the Quiz.
Here are some phrases or statements offered
by previous people who did OPH. Some of these
can be used to induce people to take the Quiz.
Others may be used to help overcome objections
or questions people might have about why you
are doing this, or what you hope to accomplish
with this activity. Feel free to incorporate them
if you like them, or ignore them if they do not
fit your style. Remember, you are the one doing
the OPH. You will have to decide what feels
right for you, and what works for you.
■ “Better stop and take my Quiz! I guarantee
that you’ll pass.”
■ “Did you study for today’s Quiz?
■ “Ten easy questions, and you’ll probably
realize something about yourself that you
don’t already know.”
■ “Would you participate in our one-question
political survey?” (Then point at the sign
22
Advocates for Self-Government
saying “Does government do a good job?”
Follow this up by pointing at the jars.)
■ “Please drop a coin in the jar that comes
closest to your opinion.”
■ “If you’d like to find out who agrees with you
politically, please answer the ten questions in
this little Quiz. We’ll find your position, and
put your own dot on this Chart.”
■ “We’re trying to replace the old Left/Right
political scale with this new Diamond Chart.
The old scale is so simplistic that it leaves a
lot of people politically homeless.”
■ “Sometimes you agree with the Democrats
and sometimes you agree with the Repub-
licans? Sounds like the traditional Left/Right
scale doesn’t really explain where you are.
Maybe our Diamond Chart can help.”
■ “Hey, that’s a great (jacket / shirt / outfit /
cap / whatever). Do you have a moment?
Here, take the World’s Smallest Political Quiz.
It’s fun!”
■ “Curious?” (Just hold up the Quiz as people
walk past, grin, and say this one word.)
What if they have questions
about the questions?
Sometimes, people will be unclear about
exactly what the questions mean, or if there is
more to them than meets the eye. How you
answer these questions depends in part on what
you are trying to accomplish. Since I am usually
just looking for people who are already libertar-
ians, and I am not out trying to explain or
convince people that libertarianism is for them,
I try to give neutral answers, be factual, but not
sway people to answer the questions my way.
Others might be actively representing their
local party, a particular candidate, or otherwise
in a situation in which they seek to convince
the Quiz-taker that the libertarian answer is
correct. In such a case, you might want to give
more information, details, or explanation.
But don’t despair if you can’t answer every
question or objection thrown your way. To the
best of my knowledge, only Harry Browne (two-
time Libertarian Party candidate for president)
and Mary Ruwart (author of a book giving
libertarian answers to tough questions) can
answer every question that people might ask,
Advocates for Self-Government
■ If people have questions about the Quiz
questions, try to give neutral — and factual
— answers, and don’t try to sway people to
answer the questions your preferred way.
and neither of them has ever worked an OPH
table with me. Just do the best that you can,
and remember to be polite.
Since I usually am not trying to convince
anyone of anything at the table, my answers
tend to be neutral or non-confrontational. Here
are a few things you can say to people if they
have questions. (Feel free to come up with your
own answers, if you prefer.)
Personal Issues
■ Government should not censor speech,
press, media, or the Internet.
Question: They don’t control those things
now, do they?
Possible Answer: The Federal Communi-
cations Commission oversees some of those
things nationally. There have been various court
cases and federal laws about the Internet in the
past few years.
Question: What if I don’t want my kid
seeing pornography on the Internet?
Possible Answer: If you want government
to regulate the Internet, then you Disagree. If
you don’t want the government to regulate the
Internet, then you Agree.
Question: This is America. We don’t have
those restrictions. Are you some kind of com-
23
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
munist? (Note: don’t ever take such comments
personally, or get defensive. Don’t let people
pick fights with you at the table.)
Possible Answer: I’m just taking a survey
about what people believe. I’m asking for your
opinion. (Note: This answer is good for almost
any question or challenge that you can’t
otherwise answer. After all, you are asking for
their opinions, and that is what the Quiz does.
So when in doubt, simply fall back on this
statement: I’m asking for your opinion.)
■ Military service should be voluntary. There
should be no draft.
Question: What if I think there should be a
draft during war, but not during peace? (or)
What if I want to have a draft during national
emergencies, but no other time?
Possible Answer: If you sometimes want a
draft and sometimes don’t, then you might want
to answer with the Maybe option.
Question: What if I don’t want a military
draft, but I want mandatory service, like
Americorps?
Possible Answer: If you want mandatory
service, whether it be military or Americorps,
you should Agree. The issue here is not
specifically the military, but whether people
should be required to put in a time of service to
their country.
Question: What if I think that enough
people will always register so that we don’t
need the draft, but I want to keep the laws on
the books just in case?
Possible Answer: You are kind of in the
middle of this question. If you can’t state that
your answer is Agree or Disagree, just pick the
Maybe option. It’s sort of a catch-all answer.
■ Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession
and use of drugs.
Question: What are you, some kind of
hippie?
Possible Answer: I’m just taking a survey
about what people believe. I’m asking for your
opinion.
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
Question: What if I think that things like
marijuana should be legal for cancer patients,
but I don’t want a bunch of doped-up kids
driving around?
Possible Answer: If you think that some
laws should be changed but not others, try the
Maybe answer.
■ There should be no laws regarding sex for
consenting adults.
Question: What kind of regulations are
there on sex between consenting adults?
Possible Answer: Regulations on sex for
consenting adults may involve issues like
prostitution, pornography, X-rated movies, and
homosexuality.
Question: Are you some kind of pervert? Do
you think those things should be legal?
Possible Answer: I’m just taking a survey
about what people believe. The question is
whether you think they should be legal.
Question: I think we should have those
regulations. Those things should be outlawed!
Possible Answer: Then you Disagree.
Question: I think those things should be
legal. Get government out of my bedroom.
Possible Answer: Then circle A for Agree.
Question: Well, I think that some of that is
okay, but not others.
Possible Answer: If you want some but not
others, try the Maybe answer.
■ There should be no National ID card.
Question: What is a National ID card?
Possible Answer: Some politicians have
proposed that all Americans should have a
National ID card for such things as medical care,
travel, or identification.
Question: Well, I think that it will help stop
terrorism.
Possible Answer: Then you Disagree with
the statement.
Question: Doesn’t that violate the U.S.
24
Advocates for Self-Government
Constitution and the Bill of Rights?
Possible Answer: If you think that, then
you Agree with the statement.
Economic Issues
■ End “corporate welfare.” No government
handouts to business.
Question: Do we give handouts to them
now?
Possible Answer: There are many forms of
handouts and subsidies. The question concerns
whether we should give them. Answer Agree if
you think government should not give handouts
and subsidies to business, and Disagree if you
think it should.
Question: Most businesses don’t need any
subsidies. They are rich enough. But some
industries need some help to compete.
Possible Answer: If you want some
subsidies but not others, perhaps you should
choose the Maybe answer.
■ End government barriers to international
free trade.
Question: So you favor NAFTA and GATT?
Possible Answer: I’m just taking a survey
about what people believe. I’m asking for your
opinion.
Question: What barriers are we talking
about?
Possible Answer: There are many govern-
ment barriers, such as taxes on imports and
exports, quotas, and so on.
Question: Can you give me an example of a
such barriers?
Possible Answer: Japanese cars shipped to
America pay an import tax, and in response,
Japan puts a tax on American wheat.
Question: What if I want America to put
tariffs on Japanese cars, but I don’t want the
Japanese to put a tariff on American wheat?
Possible Answer: (smile) You’ll have to
figure out for yourself how to score that.
Advocates for Self-Government
■ Let people control their own retirement.
Privatize Social Security.
Question: Without Social Security, we’ll just
end up back in the Great Depression.
Possible Answer: So you Disagree with the
statement.
Question: Without Social Security, people
won’t take care of themselves and elderly people
will starve. Do you hate your grandparents?
Possible Answer: Remember, I am not
arguing for anything, I am just asking your
opinion.
■ Replace government welfare with private
charity.
Question: What is the difference?
Possible Answer: Government welfare is
paid for with tax dollars and is operated by gov-
ernment employees. Private charity is funded by
voluntary contributions, and is operated by
non-government groups like the United Way or
Habitat for Humanity.
Question: That won’t work. People are mean
and stingy, and won’t help each other.
Possible Answer: Then you should indicate
that you Disagree with the statement.
■ Cut taxes and government spending by
50% or more.
Question: If we cut taxes so much, how will
we pay for the military (or the schools, or the
roads, etc.)?
Possible Answer: If you think we need to
keep taxes at about the current level to pay for
the military (or schools, or roads, etc.), then
simply mark D for Disagree.
Question: What if I think we should cut
taxes (or government spending) just a little bit?
Possible Answer: If you think it should be
cut by considerably less than 50%, then you
should probably mark D for Disagree.
Question: I think we need higher taxes (to
help poor people, or to reduce oil imports, or to
fight terrorism).
25
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
Possible Answer: Then you should mark D
for Disagree.
Question: I don’t want to pay any taxes!
Possible Answer: Sounds like you support a
100% tax cut. You should mark A for Agree.
Overall
You will notice that none of the answers to
these questions called for a discussion of your
personal opinion on these issues. In every case,
the purpose is to get back to the Quiz-taker’s
opinion.
You are not trying to convince the person
that a particular answer is correct or incorrect.
Rather, you want to find out what the person
thinks about these issues.
As I stated previously, if you want to argue,
discuss, or debate people over the answers,
perhaps you should have a second booth across
the aisle from the first booth. Then, for those
people who want to argue, send them over to
the second booth, and keep them out of the
way of the OPH.
At the OPH booth, you don’t ever want to
debate people, argue about the answers, or try
to give information about why these questions
are the questions on the Quiz. The questions
have been tested, tried, reviewed, revised,
updated, upgraded, altered, improved, and
processed over literally thousands of field
activities. You don’t have to defend the
questions; they stand for themselves. All you
have to do is get the other person to answer
them.
You are only providing a little bit of
information when people ask for it, and then
you want to be sure your answers are balanced,
or that they provide the shortest route to the
person’s opinion.
Don’t get bogged down arguing or debating
— this is counterproductive!
How do I figure out where
people belong on the Chart?
Once they have taken the Quiz, you will
need to evaluate their answers and figure out
where they belong on the Chart. This is very
simple. You will calculate a score for the
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual Advocates for Self-Government

Personal Issues, and a separate score

for the Economic Issues. You give 20
points for each Agree answer, 10
points for each Maybe answer, and 0
points for each Disagree answer.
For easy reference, there is a space
on the Quiz where you can write the
point total for each section. When you
add them up, put the respective point
totals in these spaces. You will use
these numbers to figure out where the
person belongs on the Diamond Chart.
Note that the points themselves
don’t have any particular underlying
meaning. They are simply the
mechanism by which we figure out
where the person belongs on the
Diamond Chart. We could have used an entirely ■ After people have taken the Quiz, you will
different mechanism to indicate where people computate their score and show them exactly
belong, or used single digits instead of double where they belong on the Chart.
digits, or many other systems; this one is just
easy to use.
It is not necessary for people to understand 10 = 30, you would put 30 in the space under
that big scores or small scores have particular the Personal Issues section.
meaning, or even to know what their scores are.
After all, these numbers are only used to ■ Economic Issues
indicate the point on the Chart where the In this case, you would add 60 points for
person belongs. It is the location on the Chart the three Agree answers (20 + 20 + 20), 10
that has meaning, so don’t get bogged down points for the Maybe answer, and 0 points for
explaining to the person what their calculated the Disagree answer for a total of 70 points for
scores are. the Economic Issues section.
Let’s take a couple of examples of scoring to
give you a better idea of how this works. We do not add these two figures together to
Suppose you have these answers: get any sort of total score. Rather, we will find
where these two figures cross or intersect on
What are your views on PERSONAL issues? the Diamond Chart. It is at the intersection of
Government should not censor speech, press, media, or internet. ......... A
Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft. ........... M these two numbers that the person’s ideological
There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults. .............. D position is found. Informally, we refer to such a
Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs. .................. D person as a 30-70. You can use any person’s
There should be no National ID card. ................................................. D
Personal and Economic scores as a handy
What are your views on ECONOMIC issues? indicator of a person’s views. Again, though, it
End corporate welfare. No government handouts to business. .... A is not the numbers that are important, but the
End government barriers to international free trade. ................ A
Let people control their own retirement. Privatize Social Security. . A
section of the Chart that they represent.
Replace government welfare with private charity. .................... M Let’s start with the Personal Issues number.
Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more. ............... D On the Diamond Chart, on the side labeled Per-
sonal Issues, find where 30 would be. I have added
■ Personal Issues a bold line that runs diagonally from lower left
You would add 20 points for the single Agree to upper right. The person’s overall position will
answer, 10 points for the Maybe answer, and 0 be somewhere on this bold diagonal.
points for the three Disagree answers. Since 20 + Now let’s look at the Economic Issues

26
Advocates for Self-Government Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual

number. It is a 70. On the Diamond Chart, on ■ Economic Issues

the side labeled Economic Issues, find where 70 In this case, you would add 40 points for
would be. Again I have drawn a bold line, this the two Agree answers (20 + 20), and 20 points
time on the diagonal from lower right to upper for the two Maybe answers (10 + 10). We add 40
left. The person’s overall position will be + 20, and get a total of 60 points for the
somewhere on that diagonal. Economic Issues section.
Now we simply find the point where the 30
line on the Personal Issues side intersects with We will find the number 80 on the Personal
the 70 line on the Economic Issues side. This Issues side of the Chart, and see where its line
point in the Conservative section, so the goes up and to the right. We will then find the
combination of these two numbers tells us that number 60 on the Economic Issues side, and see
this person is a Conservative. where its line goes up and to the left. We call
this person an 80-60, and we find the spot
where these two items intersect. This point is in
the top portion — the libertarian section.
Whoopee! That’s what you are looking for!

Let’s take a second example.

What are your views on PERSONAL issues?
Government should not censor speech, press, media, or internet. ......... D
Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft. ............ A
There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults. .............. A Once you have evaluated the Quiz three or
Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs. .................. A
There should be no National ID card. ................................................. A
four times and figured out how to place people
on the Chart, you will realize that this is a very
What are your views on ECONOMIC issues? easy task. For the person taking the Quiz, of
End corporate welfare. No government handouts to business. .... M
End government barriers to international free trade. ................ M
course, it might be tough to figure out because
Let people control their own retirement. Privatize Social Security. . D they have likely never done this. But once you
Replace government welfare with private charity. .................... A have scored a small handful of Quizzes, you will
Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more. ............... A
be able to find where folks fit on the Chart as if
you were an old pro at it.
■ Personal Issues
You would add 80 points for the four Agree
answers (20 + 20 + 20 + 20), and 0 points for What do I say to people
the Disagree answer. Thus, you would put 80 in about their evaluations?
the space under the Personal Issues section. While you are there to identify prospective
libertarians, that doesn’t mean you should be

27
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
rude or dismissive of anyone else. After all, you
have asked them to take this survey, and they
have taken it. By all means, continue to be
polite, even to those scary folks who score in
the Statist section! Thus, you need to figure out
ways to be polite, and still explain to these
folks what their answers imply. Of course, how
much explanation you offer may depend on how
busy the booth is, how many people are
working, and so on.
Liberals and Conservatives
For people who score in the Conservative or
Liberal portions of the Chart, you can simply
say, “You’re a Conservative,” or “You’re a
Liberal.” Even though people generally don’t
understand what these terms mean, most people
think they understand what they mean, and
that’s probably as close as you will get.
Sometimes, I will say something like, “You’re a
liberal. Is that what you thought you would
be?” Or, “You scored in the conservative area.
Did you think that you were a conservative?”
Many times, people do not know. People
often tell me that they don’t know anything
about politics, and that they have no idea what
they are. Sometimes, this is because they are
simply politically homeless. In other cases, it’s
just because they really haven’t been paying
attention. In any event, you don’t want to
spend a lot of time with liberals and
conservatives, regardless of how much they
know or don’t know, because they are not your
target audience.
Small-Government Liberals
Despite what the radio talk show hosts and
the Republicans claim, it is possible to be a
small-government liberal. Liberals are people
who want to see particular outcomes, such as
equality, fairness, and tolerance. There are some
liberals who believe that big government
hampers those efforts. Thus, make sure that you
don’t get stuck in the old left-right mindset and
immediately insist that all liberals are big-
government liberals.
While it seems likely that most liberals who
are in government are big-government liberals,
it also appears to me that a lot of liberals who
28
Advocates for Self-Government
are not in government are likely to be small-
government liberals.
If they are near the border between liberal
and libertarian, I am likely to say, “You’re a
liberal-libertarian,” or, “You’re a left-leaning
libertarian.” I often follow up by asking, “Do
you know what libertarian means?” If they say
“Yes,” ask if they are surprised that they are
borderline libertarians. For these people, the
answer is often, “No, I am not surprised.” If they
are on the border, and they know about liber-
tarianism, and they probably sort of thought
that maybe they were libertarians anyway.
If they answer “No” when I ask if they know
what libertarian means, I generally try to
describe libertarians in a way that builds bridges
with the particular person, based on the Quiz
answers. (For example, if the person said to
legalize drugs but not guns, I will not say that
libertarians want a strong Second Amendment; I
will say that libertarians are at the forefront of
the fight for medical marijuana. Build bridges to
their position, and then develop their under-
standing of all of libertarianism at a later time.)
Big-Government Liberals
When someone scores in the big-government
liberal section, I usually laugh, tell them that
they are big-government liberals, and then
point out that some recent national politician
(e.g., the most recent Republican candidate for
president) campaigned specifically against that
person. I’ll laughingly say, “You’re the person
that Candidate X said he wanted to do away
with. I’ll bet you’d like to get rid of Candidate
X, too, wouldn’t you?” Usually, the person
laughs and agrees with me.
Occasionally, though, someone will be
aghast, since that person loves Candidate X, and
can’t imagine that these answers are in any way
different from Candidate X’s view. (And indeed,
since there are so many big-government liberals
in both the Democrat and Republican parties, it
is possible that although Candidate X campaigned
against big-government liberals, Candidate X
may nonetheless be a big-government liberal!)
Advocates for Self-Government
Big-Government
Conservatives
Republicans all like to claim that they are
conservatives, and they use the term conser-
vative to mean small government. Neither claim
is necessarily true. Remember, conservatives are
people who want particular outcomes, like an
America filled with big businesses, traditional
Christian faith, and a particular type of family
structure.
These are goals; they are not means of
achieving them. Many conservatives want to use
big government to achieve these goals.
For such people, I tell them that they are
big-government conservatives, and I point out
some of the recent big-government proposals by
major conservative politicians. (To cite one
recent example, President George W. Bush
proposed massive federal government spending
on private religious charities as a means of
helping the poor. He wants a conservative
outcome — strengthened religious faith and a
return to traditional family structure — and he
is willing to use all of the power and money of
the federal government to achieve it. This is a
big-government conservative proposal.)
Sometimes, these big-government
conservatives will disagree with me. They will
insist that all conservatives are small-
government conservatives, and that they, in
particular, are small-government conservatives.
Do not argue with these people! Okay, so I am
right and they are wrong. So what? I am surely
not going to convince these folks to become
libertarians, and any time I spend talking with
them at the booth is a waste of my time.
If they absolutely insist that they are small-
government conservatives, just say something
like, “I suppose a different set of questions
might have given you a different score.” Instead
of insisting that they are wrong (even though
they are), I give them an out — a way that they
can continue to hold their views despite the
evidence to the contrary. After all, they are big-
government conservatives; they are accustomed
to holding dissonant views despite evidence to
the contrary!
29
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
Small-Government
Conservatives
All conservatives believe that they are
small-government conservatives, but not all of
them are. Small-government conservatives, after
all, believe in no government subsidies to
religion or business, and no special tax breaks
for any particular type of family. While there are
many small-government conservatives in real
life, they are all-but extinct in Washington, DC.
When I tell these people that they are
small-government conservatives, they usually
respond that they knew that. After all, all
conservatives already believe this of themselves,
so when you find a few for whom it is true, it is
not a surprise that they already believe it. If
they are particularly close to the libertarian
border, I may describe them as conservative-
libertarians, or right-libertarians.
When I ask them if they know what
libertarian means, they often do, although I
find that these people are often quick to
distinguish themselves from libertarians.
For example, a small-government
conservative may favor a lot of individual
liberty, but still be a staunch advocate of the
War on Drugs, or be a firm opponent of
immigration. Thus, a knowledgeable small-
government conservative may be aware of
libertarianism, and may also be convinced that
libertarianism is wrong on some important
principle or “goes too far” in general. Do not try
to convert this person on the spot; this person
is probably prepared to argue with you all day
long. Instead, suggest that you have more in
common with each other than with the liberals,
and try to build bridges.
Likewise, often the small-government
conservative has considered the possibility that
he or she might actually be a libertarian. When
you bring up this option, you may well be met
with an affirmative response.
Statists
Statists see a need for government
everywhere. They want government to control
your lifestyle choices and your economic
choices, they want government to provide a
huge safety net, and they want government to
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
protect people from each other and from
themselves.
Okay, these are the truly scary people. Or
are they?
As it turns out, some of my best friends are
statists. In many cases, their views are based
not so much on any underlying political
ideology as they are based on their jobs. You
see, when you have particular jobs, you tend to
see the world in a way that is based on your
occupation. Some jobs are “helper” jobs, and
the people in them are accustomed to helping
others all the time.
For example, I find that nurses who take the
Quiz usually score as statists. This makes sense;
nurses regularly see people who can’t take care
of themselves. Nurses are accustomed to helping
people do big and little things, assisting them
in making decisions when they are poorly
informed, and offering a big guiding hand for
people. In short, in their daily jobs, nurses are
helpers. As such, it is not a big surprise to me
when I find a group of nurses that score in the
statist section.
Don’t misunderstand me here. I am not
picking on nurses. I am merely using them as an
example. I can offer many similar examples of
people who are statists because of their jobs.
At one college campus, I administered the
Quiz to the head of the Student Union. This
woman dealt with student groups on a daily
basis. Because student groups are headed by,
well, students, they are often poorly organized,
inadequately staffed, and rarely have clear goals
that they are trying to achieve. This woman’s
job was to step in, bring order to chaos, help
these groups to do better, and provide the
resources necessary for them to be successful.
In short, she was a campus version of a
government bureaucrat, and her 0-0 score
exemplified it. It’s no wonder that she believes
that individuals and groups need guidance,
direction, and money from the federal govern-
ment; it’s her job to give guidance, direction,
and money to student groups. She merely
generalizes her experiences to the entire world.
(And she did make the campus a better place!)
Now, it is true that people like Hitler, Stalin,
Mao, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roos-
evelt would show up in the Statist section of
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Advocates for Self-Government
the Chart. And, as libertarians, we automatically
fear that everyone in that section must be a
monster lurking in the shadows, ready to strike.
But the fact of the matter is that many
people in this section are very compassionate
and caring people. What they don’t understand
is that the power to do good is the same as the
power to do evil. It is not doing good that
concerns libertarians, it is the power that is the
problem. When looking at benevolent dictators,
statists often see benevolence; libertarians see
dictators with the power to quit being
benevolent.
So what I tell these folks is that they tend
to see people who need help, and they want to
make sure that there is plenty of government
available for those people in need.
(And, just to point out the obvious, if there
is anyone you don’t want to waste your time
having political debates with, it’s Statists! You
will disagree with everything they believe, and
you’re not going to change their mind. Move on
to the next person as quickly as possible.)
How do I get contact
information from the
prospective libertarians?
Ask them. Or, actually, tell them!
First, you should be aware of the things you
should not do. Do not say, “Uh, like, would you,
uh, like to, y’know, be on my, um, mailing list?”
The answer to this question is always “NO!”
Being uncertain is the kiss of death in
outreach. If you are uncertain or tentative
about this request, then the other person, who
has less information than you have, will be even
more dubious. And uncertainty leads to
rejection. Better practice what you will say and
then say it smoothly, cheerfully, and
confidently; don’t just blurt something out.
Second, don’t refer to your “mailing list.”
This term is a big turn-off for people who
imagine that they will get bombarded by
hundreds of pieces of junk mail nagging them
with all sorts of demands or offers. Of course, it
is a mailing list, and you will be sending mail to
them. But let’s face it, the libertarian movement
is hardly in a position to bombard people with
junk mail. Realistically, this person will get just
Advocates for Self-Government
a handful of polite offers to attend a libertarian
event. You certainly shouldn’t be hesitant about
signing someone up for that.
Third, don’t ask them for their contact
information. Tell them. Think about this for a
moment. You know that they are already
libertarians. (Remember, you’re only signing up
your best prospects — people who scored in the
libertarian quadrant.) You know that libertar-
ianism is a good thing. You know that if they
get involved in libertarianism, they will like it.
You know that they’ll be glad they got involved.
But they don’t know these things. Now, you are
not forcing them to fill out the information, so
you need not worry about being un-libertarian.
But when you start with the assumption that
they will provide their information, they usually
will; if you start with the assumption that they
won’t provide their information, they probably
won’t. Make your assumption, and act
accordingly.
When I find someone who scores in the
libertarian section, I usually respond like this:
“Hey, that’s great — you’re a libertarian. Did
you know that?” (pause for answer) “I’m here
today with (my local group) and we are out
trying to identify people who already believe
the things that we believe — like you. If you
give me your contact information, I’d be happy
to inform you of upcoming activities and events
that you might find interesting.”
At this point, I hand the Quiz back to the
person and turn it over to the back, where I
have the spaces for the person’s Name, Address,
City, State, Zip, Phone, and E-Mail. I also hand
over a pen, and then I shut up! Don’t talk while
the person is writing this down; talking at this
stage will reduce the number of people who
actually fill it out. And be sure to get the e-mail
address; it is easier and less expensive to send
e-mail to your contacts than it is to send
regular mail.
I try to make it sound like their giving this
information to me is the most obvious thing in
the world. Because, after all, it is!
And once I’ve got their contact information,
I tell them about our upcoming group activities.
I like to do OPH in conjunction with an “Intro-
duction to Libertarianism” presentation. And
because I often work on college campuses, I
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Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
frequently hold an Intro presentation on that
very night, to get those who are really
enthusiastic. I often hold another Intro session
in about two weeks, for those folks who need a
little time to put the event on their calendar.
That way, if the person is at all interested,
my follow-up is immediate. I don’t have to worry
about the person going home and forgetting all
about the event, or worse yet, forgetting that
he or she ever took the Quiz and scored in the
libertarian section. If a person will act, the
person will probably act right away. You don’t
have to have your event that very night, but
you sure don’t want to wait for six months
before you have it. Delaying the upcoming
event gains you nothing, and loses you some
prospects who go cold very quickly.
How do I get others to leave?
Once you have evaluated a person’s political
positions, and placed their colored stick-on dot
on the Diamond Chart, you thank the person for
stopping by, and you turn to the next person.
At this time, most individuals will turn and
walk away from you.
However, once in a while, some conservative
or liberal wants to stand there and argue with
you over some question. In these situations,
you must not get drawn into an argument,
debate, or even discussion. As soon as you do
this, you will scare everyone else away from
your table. And I guarantee you, 100% of the
time, you will not convince the person who is
arguing with you that you are correct.
So the best solution is to avoid the
argument in the first place. If someone asks,
“How can you even ask whether we should
repeal all drug laws!?” — simply smile and say,
“I’m just conducting a survey.” When they insist
that we should have a mandatory military
service, just smile and say, “And that’s why you
disagreed with that particular statement on the
Quiz.” The purpose of the booth is not to
convince people that liberty is right; it is to
identify people who already believe that liberty
is right, but don’t know that they are
libertarians.
If a person asks you where you stand on the
issues, don’t hide anything. Feel free to point to
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
your own colored spot on the Diamond Chart.
But if the person is not a libertarian, or did not
score on the border with libertarianism, there is
no point in explaining the further implications
of your position.
If the person is already mostly a libertarian,
but has questions about one or two individual
issues, suggest that he or she come to the next
meeting of your group and ask the question
there, where people will be ready, willing, and
able to discuss all issues and answer any
questions the person may have.
If a liberal or conservative insists on
hanging around and bugging you about some
topic, that is a good time for a restroom break.
That’s right, break off, mention to your OPH co-
workers that you are taking a pit stop, and head
for the restroom. Usually, the person who is
bugging you will not follow you to the restroom,
and is also unlikely to try to pick up the debate
with the other people working the table.
It is also possible, of course, to plan for
these kinds of people by having a separate
booth. Often, I do OPH in conjunction with a
separate booth located next to or across the
aisle from the OPH booth. Staff that booth with
the people from your organization who are able
to handle questions in a non-argumentative
way. Then, when people have questions, send
them to the other booth, away from your OPH,
to do their discussing.
Remember, the purpose of the OPH booth is
to gather names of prospective libertarians. It is
not to argue with every conservative or liberal
who comes along and wants to pick a fight. If
you want to do that, you don’t need an OPH
booth; you merely need a sign that says:
“Libertarian wants to argue with Liberals and
Conservatives. Step up and give me your best
shot!” You will have all the argument you need,
and you won’t have to go to the effort of
putting up an OPH booth.
Oops, I asked a person who
already took the Quiz...
At high-traffic areas, where you see literally
hundreds (or even thousands) of people stream
past you, it is likely that you will ask some
people to take the Quiz more than once.
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Advocates for Self-Government
Normally, this is not a problem. Most folks will
recognize that you are busy, that you have seen
a lot of people, and will simply laugh and tell
you that they already took it.
Once in a while, you will encounter someone
who expects you to have remembered him or her
in that gigantic throng, and who can’t put
himself or herself in your shoes. In that case,
the person might have a sarcastic remark for
you. Don’t despair. There’s a handy way to deal
with both sets of people — those who are cool
about it, and those who are not: laugh.
Yes, laugh. If someone is a jerk, act as
though you don’t realize that the person is
being a jerk. Act as though you thought that
they were trying to be funny, and that they
succeeded. In many cases, that’s all it takes to
turn these cranky people into uncranky people.
And immediately after you laugh, ask them
to show you their spot on the Chart. This must
be done with humor, lest they think that you
disbelieve them. (Why would anyone lie about
that?!) Just laugh, ask them to remind you of
where they scored on the Chart, and in most
cases, that will assuage the situation.
And then, say, “Thank You.” It’s amazing
how far those two words go. Let’s face it, we are
becoming a less civil society all the time, and a
simple act of politeness occurs with less and less
frequency. Merely thanking someone for having
taken the time to take your survey goes a long
way to banishing any ill feelings they might have.
After all, if someone is in a bad mood, it
certainly isn’t because of you. You gave them
the Quiz, and showed them where they belong
on the Chart. These are fun.
Don’t ever return nastiness with nastiness.
That is counterproductive, and wrecks your
whole mood. Remember, whatever you might
think of that other person, you are there as a
representative of your organization, and your
organization holds no ill will toward that person
(even those who scored 0-0!).
Advocates for Self-Government
Doing An OPH: Follow Up
I
mentioned earlier that the best time
to do OPH is when you expect to find
some prospective libertarians, and
when you can do follow-up with them.
Follow-up is a crucial element of the OPH
event. A good follow-up event soon after
the OPH will significantly increase the
conversion rate of people who actually
become members of your organization.
Failure to have a good follow-up event
soon after the OPH will decrease your
conversion rate. Since the purpose of OPH
is to identify names of proto-libertarians
whom you can then get to join your
group, doing the OPH without doing the
follow-up is liking pouring your morning
orange juice but not bothering to get out
a glass. It pretty much misses the point of
pouring the O.J. in the first place.
What should I do with
the names I get?
There are several things that you can do
with the names — and perhaps a few that you
should do with them.
First, you will want to organize the infor-
mation into some cohesive fashion: your mailing
list. Since you want to follow-up with these
folks, you want to quickly put the information
into a format conducive to follow-up.
If you have a computer person who
maintains your group’s database, share the
information with that person. That person can
key-in the data, and can then produce mailing
labels or reports for you. If you don’t have such
a person, you should either get one, or learn the
basics of a database yourself. (Note: working
with a database need not be difficult. I maintain
my local database in Microsoft Word, which
means that I don’t worry about fields, relations,
queries, or anything else. I just type it in. Read
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Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
your own word processing manual for more
information about how to do this simple
database, if you don’t have a database expert to
handle it.)
Another option is to use an online database
program. I use Yahoo Groups because it is easy,
and doesn’t require me to be a computer
programmer. (www.yahoogroups.com). Use this
to make an e-mail list. It is far less expensive
and convenient to contact a person via e-mail
than it is to contact them via regular mail.
Using something like Yahoo Groups allows you
to have quick and inexpensive contact with the
folks on your list. Many of these group-type
systems support chat functions, files, and other
things that can also be utilized if your group is
so inclined. For example, you could have a
weekly one-hour online chat in which you
provide information on a particular topic.
Likewise, you could create files of articles or
information that are appropriate for new people.
You can even tell these database programs to
automatically send certain messages to people
as soon as they are subscribed to the list.
Second, share the information with the
Advocates. The Advocates is always at the ready
to provide information to people who want to
know more, or to respond to those people who
have questions. The Advocates will do their own
follow-up mailing separate from what you are
doing. This allows the person to get more than
one type of libertarian information from more
than one source.
This is important because not every person
responds to the same things. Thus, while one
person may be interested in the philosophy of
liberty, another may be interested in the history
of gun control, while a third is just upset with
the local garbage collection. As people receive
different types of information, they respond in
different ways. By making sure that there is a
wide variety of information sent out, we
increase the likelihood that the person will find
something that he or she likes.
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual Advocates for Self-Government

Also, share the information with

whatever umbrella organization is
sponsoring you. For example, if you
are a local chapter of a political
party or organization, an edu-
cational reform group, a medical
marijuana advocacy organization, or
a pro-Second Amendment club, you
probably have some sort of state or
national organization behind you.
Share the information with these
people, too. They will want to do
their own follow-up from the
national or state level.
I firmly believe that the best
thing you can do with a new
prospect is to invite him or her to
an “Introduction to Liberty”
presentation. (See below.) But if you absolutely ■ The purpose of OPH is to find libertarians
cannot hold such a presentation, be sure to mail — so hosting an OPH without doing some
information from your local group to all your kind of follow-up is a waste of your time!
OPH prospects. A personalized cover letter,
reminding them about the Quiz and their
libertarian score, and thanking them for Should I hold an OPH
requesting information, is always good. Include in conjunction with an
a brochure or flyer about your organization.
You’ll want to give prospects an opportunity to Introductory presentation?
become active in your organization, so invite I do. In fact, this is the key to all of my
them to an upcoming meeting or convention. OPH events. I don’t just do OPH simply because
The overall tone of your info package should be I like doing it (although I certainly like doing
friendly, upbeat, and professional. it!). Rather, I do OPH to try to get people
And remember this: contacts grow stale! If involved in my organization. And for most
you get a contact name on January 10 and you people, if they are going to take any action, it
don’t contact that person again until June 10, will be right away.
the person probably won’t remember having Ask any salesperson about it. Many years
taking the Quiz or having scored in the ago, I sold cookware door-to-door. I wasn’t very
libertarian quadrant. In that case, you are good, but I observed the other salespeople, and
sending junk mail. And if the person does I learned a lot. And one of the things I learned
remember this stuff, he or she has probably is that a person will either buy the first time
already written off your organization as a bunch you visit them, or the person will never buy.
of hopeless amateurs, incapable of prompt, People will tell you differently, and they will
professional follow-up. believe themselves, but 100% of the time, the
Thus, whatever you are going to do with the people who asked us to come back did not buy.
names, do it immediately! When we put that into OPH terms, that
means that a person who scores as a libertarian
will either be interested right away — or
probably won’t be interested at all. And if the
person is interested right away, you need to
have an event right away.
The best thing to do is to hold an

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Advocates for Self-Government
“Introduction to Liberty” presentation that very
evening, and another within two weeks of your
OPH. Strike while the iron is hot. Have an
opportunity for the person to immediately
begin learning more.
You might balk at this. Many people tell me
that they think it is better to hold an event as
much as two months later, so that prospective
libertarians have a chance to put it into their
schedules. Resist this belief! All this does is give
people a chance to forget that they took the
Quiz. Unless you are planning to send them mail
and then call them on the phone to remind
them of your event, they will forget all about it.
Just because you are excited about this event
doesn’t mean that they will be. Catch people
when they are interested. (Next time you go to
a convenience store, pay attention to where the
candy bars are located — right next to the
counter. They know all about people and their
impulses!)
Now, there is nothing wrong with holding an
event in a few days, and holding an event in a
month. And if you are doing a lot of OPH, you
probably need to hold multiple Introductory
presentations anyway.
What should I do at
an Intro presentation?
There are as many answers to this question
as there are people who give these presen-
tations. I suggest that you start off by
“borrowing” from some great libertarian book,
such as David Bergland’s updated Libertarianism
in One Lesson or either of Harry Browne’s
campaign books, Why Government Doesn’t Work
or The Great Libertarian Offer. Just read them,
pick out the basic themes, arguments, and
examples, and give the presentation.
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Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual
In my first introductory presentation in the
late 1980s, given to a political science class at a
university, I followed Bergland’s book like a
game plan. The teacher congratulated me for
making such a logical, cohesive, and consistent
argument. I accepted the praise, and silently
thanked David Bergland for helping me get an A
in that class.
Today, in my introductory presentations, I
talk a lot about the Declaration of Independence,
the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the
legitimacy of government action. Even though I
am an economics professor, my presentation has
a lot of soft-core philosophy in it.
Interestingly, my friend Roderick, a phil-
osophy professor, told me that his libertarian
introductory presentations are mostly about
economics. Go figure.
Another friend of mine, Mark, likes to tell
little stories about the silly things that the
government has done lately. Suffice to say that
Mark never runs out of stories about the
inanities by the health department, board of
supervisors, zoning board, school district, and
other government bodies. He just reads the
daily newspaper, and comes up with a speech
right away.
If you really don’t want to write your own
speech, that’s not a problem. The Advocates
have some pre-written speeches that you can
deliver. You can buy the script from the
Advocates, and you can even listen to a tape of
someone else delivering the speech before a live
audience. If you don’t feel like re-inventing the
wheel, you don’t have to.
Also, make sure to leave time at the end of
your formal presentation to take questions from
the audience. That way, you can address
concerns and specific issues you did cover in
your talk.
I advise one last thing about such presen-
tations: have a sign-in sheet. Have someone at
the door to greet every attendee and to get
every attendee to sign in when they arrive.
Some will say that they already gave you their
information at the OPH table. That’s fine, but
you still want their information. Sometimes, the
table information will be illegible, or you may
have spilled coffee on it, or something else can
happen. It’s better to get the information again.
Operation Politically Homeless Maxi-Manual Advocates for Self-Government

And that way, if someone brings a friend — it
happens more often than you might guess —
you have a built-in mechanism for getting the
friend’s information, too.
And since people are hesitant about being
the first to sign a sheet, you should fill in your
own information on the first line. And fill in
everything. If you skip your address and phone
number, on the assumption that you already
have it in the database, then everyone else will
skip their address and phone number, on the
assumption that this information is
unnecessary. In that case, your sign-in sheet
loses most of its value.
A final suggestion: End every introductory
presentation with a call to action. That is, invite
attendees to join your group and to sign up as
volunteers. Remember, you don’t just want these
folks to become libertarians — you want them
to become active libertarians.
What can these new volunteers do? They
can help staff your next OPH booth! Put them
to work recruiting the next generation of
libertarian activists. That’s the only way our
movement will grow.

ADVOCATES for SELF-GOVERNMENT

THE LIBERTY BUILDING • 213 SOUTH ERWIN STREET • CARTERSVILLE, GA 30120-3513
WWW.THEADVOCATES.ORG • PHONE: 770-386-8372 • FAX: 770-386-8373 • EMAIL: QUIZ@THEADVOCATES.ORG

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