While a many liberty lovers believe that conservatives are the easiest group to engage when trying to convince people of the message of freedom and liberty, I feel that liberals are often overlooked. Sure there are a lot of liberals with an authoritarian streak. There are a lot of people on the left who believe that they know what’s best for you, and that its acceptable to coerce you using the state, but many people who call themselves liberals don’t harbor such an ingrained nanny state ideal.

When you’re discussing liberty with people, the best place to start is on areas of agreement. Here are some areas where liberals and libertarians might find common ground.

1. War & Peace

While I don’t have confidence in liberal politicians to actually follow through on promises for peace and nonintervention, I do believe that most average folk who call themselves liberals are generally opposed to war. The issue of foreign policy is a great place to start because most liberals see foreign intervention as harmful, which segways well into the question of why they believe that domestic intervention is beneficial.

2. The Initiation of Force

Many liberals support government intervention in the market place and even in areas of lifestyle choice, but not all of them think about the fact that laws are enforced at the point of a gun. There is a distinct difference between saying “People shouldn’t smoke in bars,” and saying, “People who smoke in bars should have money taken from them at gunpoint.” The fact that the state is force escapes some very well-intentioned people. If you can’t convince someone that it’s wrong to use force against individuals who haven’t aggressed against other people, then you’re wasting your time and should talk to someone else who might actually agree with you.

3. Sex & Drugs

Many liberals support reducing penalties for drug use or completely legalizing certain drugs. I find that there is often a lot of inconsistency here because some liberals believe that marijuana is simply not as bad as other drugs. They are saying that marijuana is an “OK” drug while cocaine or tobacco is not. It’s important to show how prohibition does more harm than good regardless of what substance is being prohibited.

4. Power to the People

Many liberals believe that a democratic form of government will necessarily result in a free and empowered citizenry. The fact is that a limited goverment is what protects individual liberties. This requires that most areas of people’s lives be completely outside the scope of government. For instance, the First Amendment guarantees that the majority can’t dictate what is proper in the areas of speech or religion. If people on the left can recognize that democracy by no means guarantees freedom, then perhaps they can come around to the conclusion that government must be limited if people are to be free.

If a liberal can come to see how government intervention leads to unintended consequences, then perhaps they’ll abandon the New Left’s calls for a nanny state. Once one has covered the areas where liberals are already likely to support freedom, it’s important to push the envelope by showing that if a person claims to like liberty on issues 1 & 2, then it seems logical that they should support it on isses 3 & 4. Government programs for the poor and middle class seldom solve the problems for which they were designed and tend to make people dependant on handouts. Liberals generally call for more social programs because they want to help the poor and middle class, but if they see that these programs are a net detriment to the very people they’re intended to help then logically they would want to help the poor by abolishing such programs.

Even on the issue of silver or gold backed money liberals might be willing to consider free market alternatives, if they’re presented in the right light. In recent years the left has attacked the Bush administrations deficit spending. Even though many liberals don’t grasp that the problem’s roots go back to 1913 with the creation of the federal reserve, they could be shown how central banking leads to fiscal irresponsibility, debt, and inflation. Reintroducing commodity backed money would go a long way towards revitalizing the American middle class.

So while many liberty lovers are trying to spread the word by talking to folks on the right it’s important not to overlook liberal friends who may not have ever heard the ideas of liberty.