The opening ceremony of the 2008 New Hampshire Liberty Forum was likely the most important presentation of the entire conference, and yet less than half the attendees were present. That it was held at 9:30 am might have something to do with that.

Sharon Harris from the Advocates for Self-Government gave the opening speech, “Sticking it to Statism,” presenting some reasons why libertarian ideas have not had much success winning the hearts and minds of people to date, why that is now changing, and what people can do to communicate these ideas more effectively to bring the good news to people and have them accept it.

The central theme of the speech was that ideas which are successful, which penetrate the minds of people and are accepted, or become “sticky,” all have six particular characteristics, and that most people think differently than people in this audience. These facts necessitate changes in the way we present ideas to others.

I won’t go too much into what changes are needed here, but I will say that this speech was inspiring and absolutely will change the way I write here in the future. I have more hope than ever that people will come to see what we see and know what we know, the truth about the message of liberty. The truth that liberty is the best way to improve the human condition, protect the environment, and even make money without the need for guilt.

So I will simply leave you with the video. I had to change tapes in the middle of the presentation, so there’s a slightly nasty cut.