I think facebook just doesn’t like libertarians.  Every time I post something about liberty, it just dies.  I might get one like, and then it just withers away, never to be seen again.  Meanwhile, my friend posts something like, “I’m hungry,” and it gets hundreds of likes.
So I started a blog, thinking it would generate more traffic for my writings.  Wrong!  I’ve had my own blog now for years, and only a few people have ever visited it.  Usually they stumble out of the site, just as quickly as they stumbled in.  I feel like I’m a good writer, but how can I be sure if no one ever reads it?
That’s where Liberty.me comes in handy.   It’s kind of like facebook, but for libertarians.  Imagine an entire community of libertarians all in one place, liking, posting, chatting . . . working together towards a freer society.  Like an online version of “Galt’s Gulch” from Atlas Shrugged.
When I first signed up for Liberty.me, I was instantly greeted with a chat window with about 60 other people.
“Hi everyone.  Um, where am I?  This is my first time here . . . I’m Joe.”
“Welcome to your new home, Joe!” “Hi JOE!” “Hey everyone, it’s Joe!” “Where are you from?” I have to say – as a lonely libertarian, it was the most welcoming experience I’d ever gotten just from visiting a website!
The site is jam packed with articles, liberty guides, free books, classes, videos, blogs, and discussion groups; all in an extremely beautiful web page. The colors, the fonts, and placement – everything has been thought about with beauty and style in mind.
The blog creation tool is pretty spectacular. If you’ve ever tried to create a blog before, you know that it can be pretty annoying. But Liberty.me already has a beautiful theme built into it . . . no more spending days searching for themes and style sheets. Every blog post you publish zips straight to the front page of the Liberty.me website, where it receives a high amount of traffic. A few posts I wrote were up-voted so much that they stayed on the front page for days, and one was even included in a “best of the week” newsletter from Liberty.me (“My Year as a Billionaire”).
My favorite part of Liberty.me are the liberty guides. For example, the guide, “Surviving Obamacare” has some terrific ideas about avoiding the pitfalls of the new government run American healthcare system. Want to completely avoid Obamacare? Want to still get the pharmaceuticals you need, without paying an arm and a leg? This guide has answers that will save you hundreds of dollars.
There’s so much on the site that one could already spend a lifetime enjoying. There are even concerts with libertarian musicians (live on Google hangouts), web cam chats with free market authors, friendly debates and discussions about everything under the sun – all in a website that’s beautiful, searchable, and filled with quality users.
On the minus side, I do think that the video system could be improved. It would be nice to be able to post videos, and have them appear on the front page, just like the articles. But this is sure to be updated in the future, along with more bells and whistles.
After all – the site managers are slavishly dedicated to keeping their subscribers, and are always asking questions about how the site can be improved.
A subscription to Liberty.me costs $14 a month. This might seem pretty steep, but when you think about what you’re getting: instant blog traffic, a library of books and liberty guides, and a community of like-minded liberty lovers – the subscription seems like a small price to pay. Of course, all your posts and writings can be read and shared for free by anybody on the internet, but to create your own blog on Liberty.me does cost a subscription.
So why would someone pay $14 a month for a subscription to something that’s kind of like facebook, when they could just use facebook for free?
Well, Liberty.me isn’t meant to “take the place” of facebook.  It’s meant for something different.
In Atlas Shrugged, the greatest minds in the world left to start a community called, “Galt’s Gulch”, where individuals could work together to form a freer society.  This is very much like what Liberty.me feels like.  Almost every article, every class, every guide on the site is geared to how we can end pass around the government.  In fact, one blogger on Liberty.me even writes about his experience moving to a real life version of “Galt’s Gulch” in Chile.
Apparently there is a real life libertarian community based in Chile, where the principles of property rights and individual responsibility are celebrated, and a steady stream of talented and productive people are migrating.
In the book “Atlas Shrugged”, technology plays a big role in bringing down the government.  It’s technology that helps the forces of freedom prevail against the government in the story – and that is probably the way it will go in real life as well.  For a hundred years, an experiment in giant government has ruled the world.  But technology has allowed good ideas to spread quicker than ever, and eventually I believe, the good ideas will win.   The government is slow, and slogs along, but the free market is quick and sexy, and dances around the state like a ballerina around a tank.  Liberty.me is all about a community that can learn to dance around the state together, and hopefully, make some good friends while doing it.

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