675: The Liberty Youth Coalition is Going to be a GAME CHANGER in 2023

Brian Nichols  0:25  
mass mobilization, education, restoration and mutual aid. Can that be the tools to help bring a new generation of liberty warriors forward? Let's talk about that. Instead of focusing on winning arguments, we're teaching the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and how we can use them to win in the world of politics, teaching you how to meet people where they're at on the issues they care about. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. Wow, happy Monday. They're grinding on The Brian Nichols Show. And thank you for joining us on a port that are unfilled episode. I am as always your humble host. Joining you live from our Stratus ip studio with your in lovely concert. Don't let cyber attacks are outdated business technology puts your company at risk. Learn more at the Brian Nichols show.com forward slash Stratus ip. All right. Well, we've been talking about this lately. The future of the libertarian movement, the future of liberty, where does it stand? We're gonna find out because today we are joined by a member of the Liberty youth coalition. Ezra Wyrick. Thanks for joining us here in The Brian Nichols Show.

Ezra Wyrick  1:28  
Thank you so much for having me on.

Brian Nichols  1:29  
Absolutely. Ezra, thanks for joining us. And thank you for helping plant the seeds of liberty for the future generations, we absolutely need to do. So. We've talked about this many a time. Most recently, we just had Chase Oliver on the program where we talked about passing the torch of liberty and he believes strongly that Gen Z is in fact the generation who will bring us forward when it comes to helping hopefully get some Liberty based solutions into action. But before we get there, Ezra, do us a favor, introduce yourself to The Brian Nichols Show and also introduce the libertarian. Sorry, the Liberty youth coalition.

Ezra Wyrick  2:07  
Yeah, yes. Hello, my name is Ezra Wyrick. I am an 18 year old from East Tennessee. I'm the chief editor of Mises magazine, the director of Mises magazine at the Liberty youth coalition. I guess I got my start in the libertarian slashed, you know, liberty movement in 2012, or first exposure during Ron Paul's presidential run pretty young at the time didn't really take it to heart. You know, we had I had a very conservative upbringing. So that was just you know, I guess I guess it was natural. So, you know, did that for a while and then 2016 comes along the Trump administration kind of weave my way back into libertarianism. And then during the lockdowns, 2020 kind of just solidified it.

Brian Nichols  2:59  
We all felt that right. 21 it was it was too much. Absolutely. So talking about the liberty, the Liberty youth coalition, what is this organization? What do you guys focusing on and specifically in the world of bringing liberty to Gen Z.

Ezra Wyrick  3:12  
So the Liberty youth coalition was founded, kind of as a result of some misdirection at the top of the Young Americans for Liberty, some of the people that work for Young Americans for Liberty came together to found the Liberty youth coalition, dedicated to the same goals that Young Americans for Liberty was once dedicated to bringing the message of liberty to the young people. Specifically, the way that we seek to do that is, you know, number one, through mass mobilization, we need activists, we need people that are willing to get out there. And even if it's just sitting in front of a computer screen, or whether you go out, you hold up signs, you go to protest, you go to rallies, it doesn't matter. We need activists, we need people that are willing to take time out of their day, to advance the message of liberty and advance advance the ideas that they care about. That's what we need. We need mass mobilization. And that's one of the things that we seek but also we seek to educate people, we seek to educate people. In Austrian economics, we seek to educate them in the way that things really are, and not the way that a lot of people say things are and a lot of intellectuals say that things are we seek to educate people in the in the objective truth, particularly the objective economic truth. But we also dabble in in social issues, obviously, because I mean, you can't escape that as an organization. But education is a big part of what we seek to do. Just right now we are working on pamphlets that we're going to be sending out to our chapters on college university campuses, so we can kind of spread the message that way. And then what we do with the magazine, that's another big part of education, the digital magazine that we will be doing I guess if it's a digital magazine, I would properly phrase it a newsletter. Therefore, a weird what we're going to be doing with the magazine is we're going to be having a recurring authors, people writing articles about certain topics related to economics related to culture related to social issues, related to justice, current events, and really getting that message out there. That that hasn't, you know, that hasn't come to fruition just yet, because we're still working on everything. And we're still, we're still getting everything going. But that will be that will be coming out soon. But we also want to restore, we also we also are dedicated to restoration. We're dedicated to restoring the old American way, the American values of the American values of tar and feathering tax collectors is a good place to start. That, that, that rebellious, individualistic American way of colonial times, you know, pre and post revolution, before the rise of big government in the United States, that is what we seek to restore. And one way that we can do that is we can support candidates that seek to return to that individualistic mindset and seek to promote liberty and personal responsibility, we can promote candidates to do that, unfortunately, there aren't many candidates who do. But the candidates that do seek to do that need to need to be, I guess the word I'm looking for here is they need to be magnified, they need to be magnified, they need to be put out there, and then he'd be put on the stage. And we need to actively support them, because they actively support us, and they actively support our ideas, therefore we should be, we should be supporting them. But one other thing that we are dedicated to something that we don't see a lot of unfortunately, in libertarian circles, there is the message of personal responsibility. And there is the message of you know, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, which you know, is what it is. But we don't see a lot of dedication to mutual aid in the libertarian community. And I know that obviously, people who have read iron Rand, and people who follow the objectivist mindset, and I have friends who do simply see charity and mutual aid and that kind of thing, and altruism in general as evil. Well, that's, that's not the values of the Liberty youth Coalition. We believe that if we that if we are to believe in individualism and personal responsibility, and in a culture of helping your fellow man or without interference from the government, and we should also believe in mutual aid, we should support charities, we should seek to help people. And this also doubles as a way to really get out into the community and really engage with people and really get our message out there. So we're dedicated to restoration. We're dedicated to education, we're, we're dedicated to mass mobilization, and we're dedicated to mutual aid. Those are our four foundations that our organization stands out.

Brian Nichols  8:02  
So when you're talking about the tar and feather, if folks want to head to the Brian Nichols show.com, they can get their tar and feather shirts and hats and all that kind of fun stuff, too. Just saying, we have that from our good friend there. Colin Olivia. He's a good Liberty graphic designer. So go check that out over at Brian Nichols, show.com. But otherwise, I wanted to talk about something that just it crept into my head here, because we're in The Brian Nichols Show, as we're talking about sales, and marketing, and how can we effectively communicate to folks when we're trying to reach out with our ideas, and when we're talking to Gen Z, and you're gonna be talking a lot to Gen Z, as a member of Gen Z, one of the things I think it's important for us to remember is that we have to meet you where you're at, on the issues you care about. And so when you're talking to Gen Z, and you're going out and interacting, not maybe promoting liberty, but more so just asking questions, or hanging out being an 18 year old, just being a kid, what's the conversation? What do you hear are the top things that Gen Z is talking about? Doesn't even have to be political? Just what is the conversation? What is the cultural outlook, I mean, all those things that us old Fuddy duddies over here, maybe aren't privy to, could you enlighten us and tell us how things look?

Ezra Wyrick  9:16  
Well, I can tell you that Gen Z and young people are into the more socially left open, open mindset when it comes to social issues. That is one part of libertarianism that is very popular among the young people. Unfortunately, we don't see a lot of the economic side. And that is something that I'm dedicated to working on. Obviously, I mean, young people would be drawn to the rebellious type rhetoric of libertarian ideology, voluntaryist ideology, but we want to be than to be drawn to more than that. We don't want them to think that libertarianism is all about being glib. Are 18 and all about just doing whatever the heck you want to do without any regard for consequences. Because I believe one of the most important aspects, and one of the most important ideas of liberty, one of the most important aspects of liberty is the personal responsibility part. And young people particularly need to know about the personal responsibility part, he did understand, hey, this is not just about going out and doing whatever you want to do to your fellow man, without any fear for any consequences, and, you know, just go wild. That's not what it's about. You have liberty, and you have a responsibility, to use your liberty, and to use the freedom that you have been given by God wisely. And I think that the young people in particular, there's this misconception. And also among the older people, that libertarianism is all about left wing social policy, blah, blah, blah. I don't want young people to be attracted to the libertine aspect of libertarianism. But I want young people to be attracted to libertarianism. And there has to be some kind of a happy medium there. Like, if young people are going to be attracted to libertarianism, because of the more open social views that I would prefer, that they are attracted to the idea of liberty, not just what comes with liberty. And I think that's something that needs to be really propagated particularly among the young people, it needs to be a this is not all about, you know, just doing whatever this is about, yeah, do whatever, as long as you're not harming someone else, but be reasonable. And there needs to be a certain amount of reason, it needs to be a certain amount of responsibility. That's the message I want to see out there.

Brian Nichols  11:42  
Do you think that the Libertarian party today is doing a good job at doing that? And let me also put that in context to the Libertarian Party of yesteryear, because granted, you're 18. So you're, I'm sure you're still kind of learning the history and experiencing what we've all experienced here in the greater liberty movement over the past 10 years. But I guess you're in that world. Do you see where the Libertarian Party is heading in the direction of what you think will be successful in bringing Gen Z on board.

Ezra Wyrick  12:16  
I see the Libertarian Party headed in a direction that may bring Gen Z on board. Obviously, there's there's the social left wing aspect, which has been a part of the Libertarian Party platform for a while, after the takeoff after the takeover of the new guys, the basis caucus, the Libertarian Party of yesteryear, was very much more leaning into the social left wing aspect. And I think the Mises caucus is much more leaning in the direction of, you know, responsibility and a little bit more socially right wing. I'm not sure which one of those messages will be convincing to young people. I don't think extreme social zealotry, and extreme, traditional conservatism is going to bring any young people into the fold. But I don't also, like I said, I don't think that overly libertine, or do whatever you want to do type philosophy is going to bring young people in either or it may, but it may bring them into a movement, and they don't know what they're getting themselves into. And once they realize the personal responsibility side of things, they'll be slowly making an exit. So I don't want to

I can't hear you.

Brian Nichols  13:33  
Helps by and mute myself. When you're talking to Gen Z, it helps. I guess, when we're talking politically, to focus on the issues that politically beyond the social issues, right, let's talk about the actual policy issues, in terms of, I'd say more direct impact on the day to day, right? Like, what are you hearing in that world? Is it still the world of college tuition or abortion or something else?

Ezra Wyrick  13:58  
Well, young people care about social issues. That's something I'm gonna harp on all day. Yep. Young people care about social issues. And also, I guess I just like to make a point here. The reason that you see the GOP do horribly among young people, is because the GOP is still living in 1980. In terms of social policy. That's why and I firmly believe that if the GOP is going to be successful within the next 2025 years, they're going to have to become a certain amount of of libertarian, there's going to have to be a libertarian swing there. And if there isn't, then they can say goodbye to any status that they might have as a viable political party. Because the voters that are going to be the main voting blocks within the next 2025 years are not going to go for messaging from 1983. That's not going to happen. But to answer your question, yeah, it's the world of college tuition. There's a lot of talk about abortion. There's a lot of talk about a variety of issues. Young people don't know much about what they're what they're talking about when it comes to these kinds of issues, they tend to just follow the follow the, I guess, the overwhelming narrative, not really thinking for themselves. It's something that will come with age, it's something that will come with experience. But right now, young people are absolutely caring about issues. But they're not necessarily doing the research. And they're not putting in the work to find out the truth about these issues.

Brian Nichols  15:28  
All right, as well, we're heading towards the tail end of the episode, which means I want to start focusing on the the positives, right, the things that we can start doing to build a better future. So let's talk about planting some seeds. Where do you see the most opportunity for libertarians and just the greater liberty movement to have in terms of planting seeds with Gen Z, beyond social issues? Let's maybe focus on the, you know, the things that we are good at. Right? Where do you think we're gonna have some success there?

Ezra Wyrick  15:59  
Common Sense, common sense issues, common sense issues, that the government should not determine the rate at which a employee should receive from an employer? What that should be determined by the productivity of the employer. The government should not decide what does or does not go in the body of a citizen that should be decided, by the citizens own psyche that should be decided that should be their decision. Those are common sense ideas. Those are issues that while they may be controversial, they are less controversial among young people, well, the minimum wage is a controversial one still among young people, because that's just something that that's a habit and unfortunate habit that people have gotten into. But I just use that as an example. I think that common sense issues, like the ones I mentioned, and beyond the ones that I mentioned, just common sense. Rhetoric is the way that you bring young people and more broadly, people in general into the fold use common sense rhetoric.

Brian Nichols  17:00  
All right, well, Ezra, we are already getting hard pressed for time, which means it's time for us to go towards final thoughts. And I'll kick things off. And I think this continues with the theme that we've been talking about here and The Brian Nichols Show. And we talked about this earlier. And that is, we have to continue passing the torch, we have to continue planting the seeds, not just for the folks beyond like the political liberty movement, but also specifically generational and when we're not spending our time focusing on Gen Z and trying to plant seeds, we're forgetting. And this goes back to something we've also talked about here, the New Year, the idea of politics being downstream from culture, right. And this is a recurring theme. But we've really been focusing on this this new year, because if we ignore the cultural aspect, which to your point, a lot of Gen Z, and just a lot of young folks are fixated on, then we're going to lose them when the time comes for the political conversation, which means we end up having the political conversation, when they're in their later years in life. Now, that is all well and good. We changed some hearts and minds down the road. But we want to make a real long lasting impact right now for long term, we have to start doing better when we're reaching out to the younger generations when they're young. And I think that is important for us in the greater liberty movement. But it's also important for us to raise up folks like us, right in the Liberty youth coalition. So that's my final thoughts. What do you got for us?

Ezra Wyrick  18:23  
To your point there, I think that you you made you made a point that I thought was interesting. Later on down the road will convince people later on down the road? Well, I think a question that libertarians have people that care about liberty in general have to ask them at the ask themselves and each other is how long is the road? How long are we going to be able to wait, our time is now we don't have we don't have time, the state the rise of the total state and the total state has just completely taken over. And it's taken over people's minds. It's taken over people's psyche, and people are driven by status rhetoric. And if we don't have if we if we just continue to say, Well, later on down the road, we'll get them next year. We'll get them next decade. Well, eventually, we're going to run out of years, and we're going to run out of decades. So we absolutely need to focus. This is this is crunch time.

Brian Nichols  19:17  
All right, as well. With that being said, it's time for us to unfortunately say goodbye. But before we do we want folks to be able to go ahead and number one, learn more about the Liberty youth coalition. But number two, continue the conversation. So where can folks go ahead find you. They want to reach out to you on social media and we're gonna go ahead and find the Liberty youth coalition.

Ezra Wyrick  19:37  
Find me on Twitter at Ezra for liberty, shoot me a follow I'll follow you back. You can find the Liberty youth coalition at Liberty elysium.com That's Liberty l YCU m.com. That's the website for now. We are working on a new and improved website that's going to be much bigger and much better. And you could support those efforts. And the other efforts of the organization in general at WWW dot Gibson go.com/spark Liberty.

Brian Nichols  20:08  
Perfect. Alright folks, well, if you're one of the 99% of folks who are listening to us over on the podcast version of the show, I know you're trying to write down furiously, all those links. No worries, go to the transcription there in your podcast catcher of The Brian Nichols Show, you'll find all those links also the description for the episode as well. I said the transcription we have that there as well. Plus, we have the video version of the show where you can go ahead and see yours truly, as well as Ezra over on YouTube on Odyssey and on rumble wherever it is all I ask please do us a favor, hit that little subscribe button and the notification bell so you don't miss a single time we go live but with that being said, it's Brian Nichols signing off. You're on The Brian Nichols Show forever Wyrick. We'll see you tomorrow.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai