Here’s the great thing about LibertyCon and other economics conferences, you get the chance to have dinner with famous libertarians!
We’ve all heard that networking gets you far and it’s absolutely true. It’s an invaluable tool that should be used often.
I’ll admit I’m not an expert on networking but I do know that the best way to connect with people is on a more personal level. It’s basically making new friends depending on how well you vibe with the other person.
Showing up and networking at these libertarian events is exciting because you never know who you’ll meet, like world famous architects.
I met up with my friend and the principal of Zaha Hadid Architects, Patrik Schumacher. We had met two years ago at Mises University and have remained in contact since.
Here’s a couple of fun facts about Patrik.
- He was a cultural Marxist in the 1980s but did a complete 180 and became an anarcho-capitalist in 2008. He was inspired by Ron Paul’s ideas of economic freedom and logically came to the conclusion that capitalism is the key to a prosperous society.
- I had drinks with Patrik a few times and he prefers wine over beer.
- He follows the Austrian school of economics.
Patrik and I had quite the intellectual discussion over dinner. We discussed his plans to publish a book and offered to send me a rough draft of it, which I’ll review. He is currently looking for a publisher within the libertarian network, preferably a well-known organization so he asked for my help.
However, I won’t discuss the details of it yet, not until I have his permission to do so.
I also met the admin and founder (he calls himself Dadmin) of Liberty Memes, David Gay.
David is one of the funniest, kindest, and generous (emphasis on generous) people out there. He runs a meme page on Facebook and a private charity group.
We went out to dinner and even offered to pay for my meal! I tried to refuse a few times and I wanted to show my appreciation and pay at least the tip but he insisted on covering it all.
Dadmin if you’re reading this, thank you so much for the wonderful Mediterranean dinner, it was delicious. I will pay it forward one day.
We talked about the liberty movement and how it could’ve been a bigger political presence in America. Our libertarian principles and ideas could’ve taken flight if we were more utilitarian. By that I mean, libertarians should focus more efforts on creating and supporting businesses who practice our ideas of conscious capitalism.
Instead, we libertarians rely too much on legislative power to gain supporters. There are better ways to do it and that’s through decentralized, grassroots charity and businesses addressing the needs of their individual communities.