Defenders of Liberty Should Seek Influence, Not Power

Defenders of Liberty Should Seek Influence, Not Power

Positions of power are always tempting but I think that “true believers” in the cause of liberty should not get sucked in to offers of positions of power. They should instead, seek “influence” rather than power. For example, when Greg Patterson was nominated to the Arizona Board of Regents I wrote him an email suggesting that he turn down the nomination and opining that, if he were confirmed, he would find it to be an “emasculating” experience.

My reasoning was that Greg was already very influential with his blog and other political activities. I suspected that his need to be less controversial in his new position would cause him to moderate his views. Since being confirmed in this new position Greg has already shut down his blog and I assume this means he will be less assertive in other ways too. I feel that we may have lost an outstanding warrior for the cause of liberty, at least for the eight years of his term.