Monday, March 16, 2009

Friend's superb letter on vouchers printed in AJC

My friend Aquinas Heard had a sterling letter to the editor published in today's edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on so-called school vouchers. It is not only the first time I've seen the subject broached honestly, but also the first time I've seen such a compelling and eloquent analogy of the voucher idea's anti-liberty principle.

If 10,000 of us Objectivists wrote such letters every day, imagine the liberating consequences!

You can read Aquinas' letter HERE.

5 comments:

Daniel said...

Thanks for the heads up.

Objectivists don't necessarily need to write a ton more letters if we get more use out of those that are being written now.

Making blog posts that send others to the original LTE is one way to do just that. You did that, and I joined in on the fun.

http://thenearbypen.blogspot.com/2009/03/heard-on-web.html

Daniel said...

Er, unclickable link. Try this

Dave said...

I think we do need more letters written because it's not Objectivists we're trying to reach; it's the other folks. More letters means more rational thought being publicized and possibly swaying opinion, as well as telling editors that they mean need to accommodate that large audience of rational people.
BTW, the link I have worked for me. Thanks, Daniel.

Daniel said...

Fair enough. I won't argue against writing more letters! :-)

Adding links to each one, however--as we have done--increases the readership. And not just for Objectivists.

(Most of the searches that bring people to my site are from those who liked Amelie or Kill Bill--or who are looking for good Rockefeller or Sandstead quotes.)

To your last point, they make new letters much more likely to be publicized--as editors may see the connection between posting a letter by one Aquinas Heard online and having their site linked to by blogs (with corresponding traffic).

Actually--I'm thinking out loud--maybe Aquinas or you could keep track of whether blogs linked to your LTE's. If many do, you can make a decent "cover letter" that shows them you have a readership, that their site will almost definitely get linked to, and so on.

This can be used as sort of leverage in getting op-eds published, which can of course be linked to in a virtuous cycle, and potentially lead to a permanent position.

Dave said...

Another great idea, Daniel. Thanks very much. Hope all is well with you!