[Lnc-business] Advocates for Self-Government President Sharon Harris to Retire After Twenty Years

[Brett Bittner]

If I may share as a moment of personal privilege, please take a moment to
reach out to our 2014 Thomas Paine Award-winning to congratulate her on her
retirement:

*Advocates for Self-Government President Sharon Harris to Retire **After
Twenty Years *

After 20 years, Sharon Harris is retiring as president of the Advocates for
Self-Government.

However, she still plans to remain very active with the Advocates and the
liberty movement.

"I'm not retiring as an active libertarian," Sharon emphasizes. "I'm just
stepping down from the varied and time-consuming job of Advocates
president. This will let me focus my efforts on the activities I love most:
writing and speaking about libertarianism and -- my favorite topic -- the
most effective ways to communicate the ideas of liberty. I also plan to
continue doing communication workshops on this topic, some of them in
conjunction with the Advocates.

"Being president of the Advocates for Self-Government has been the most
wonderful and fulfilling job I could have ever imagined for myself! It has
been an incredible honor for me to follow in the footsteps of the previous
two Advocates presidents: Advocates Founder Marshall Fritz and Carole Ann
Rand.

"They created a fantastic organization that has deeply affected the lives
of millions of individuals. The Advocates has enormously increased the size
and effectiveness of the libertarian movement, and has introduced tens of
millions of people to libertarianism."

The Advocates is most famous for the creation and distribution of the
World's Smallest Political Quiz. The Advocates is also well-known for its
acclaimed libertarian communication training.

The Quiz has long been the most popular outreach tool in the libertarian
movement. The Quiz presents a far more complete political map than the old
left-versus-right line (which excludes libertarians). The Quiz lets takers
place themselves on that map by answering ten short questions on current
issues.

"The Quiz is arguably the most effective tool for libertarian understanding
and outreach ever created,” says Sharon. "Millions of people have been
exposed to libertarian ideas by the Quiz. It has changed the way Americans
view the political landscape."

The Quiz went online in 1995, shortly before Sharon became President. Since
then the online version of the Quiz has been taken an incredible 22
million-plus times -- and that number grows by tens of thousands each
month.

* The Quiz has been featured in some of America’s bestselling college and
high school textbooks or their supplementary material. Further, the
Advocates has supplied educators, at their request, with over 30,000 Quiz
cards for their classrooms. "Today, thousands of college and high school
students study the Quiz -- and thus libertarianism," Sharon says. "This is
a huge breakthrough for the liberty movement."

* The Quiz has been printed and discussed in dozens of newspapers and
magazines and many popular and scholarly books.

* The Advocates has also distributed over 10 million Quiz cards, the
original form of the Quiz.

* The Quiz forms the basis for another acclaimed outreach tool, Operation
Politically Homeless (OPH) -- a highly effective way to discover and
recruit libertarian-leaning people at public events. In recent years the
Advocates has given more than 1,000 OPH kits to campus libertarian
organizations, helping libertarian students identify and recruit thousands
of campus activists and foster the growth of libertarianism among
tomorrow's leaders
and voters.

* The Advocates is also famous for teaching libertarians the best ways to
persuade others to accept the ideas of liberty. Sharon has taught
innumerable libertarian communication classes and seminars in almost every
state in America. Last year alone Sharon spoke on successful communication
to over 1,000 libertarians. She consistently receives rave reviews for her
seminars. Her recent book How To Be A Super Communicator for Liberty presents
a selection of some of her best thinking on this, from her 20 years of
studying and teaching.

Ron Paul has praised Sharon's communication work: "Few in the libertarian
movement have spent as much effort working on how to best 'market' the
libertarian message as Sharon Harris," said Paul.

"I'm extremely proud of our communication work," says Sharon. "I truly
believe it has revolutionized the way libertarians present our ideas to the
public. We've helped tens of thousands of libertarians become far more
persuasive and effective in their outreach. And that has helped build our
movement and win others to our side. I look forward to continuing and
expanding this work.

Sharon has been libertarian since 1967. She was a co-founder of the
Libertarian Party of Georgia in 1972. She ran as a Libertarian for Georgia
Commissioner of Agriculture in 1994, winning over 300,000 votes.

In 2012, the National Libertarian Party honored Sharon with their Thomas
Jefferson Award, "presented to the Libertarian Party member whose
achievements merit our recognition of outstanding leadership, high
character, and dedication to the principles and goals of the Party." In
2014 she received the LP's Thomas Paine Award for "outstanding
communication of libertarian ideas, principles, and values."

Brett Bittner, former executive director of the Libertarian Party of
Georgia and former Chairman of the Libertarian State Leadership Alliance,
has been working with the Advocates since April 2014 and has been chosen as
new Advocates executive director. He will take the helm on May 1.

In addition to celebrating Sharon's 20 years of achievement, the
organization is also celebrating its 30th anniversary. The Advocates will
celebrate both anniversaries at an informal party in Atlanta, June 27. All
are invited.  To learn more about this event and Sharon's future plans,
"like" Sharon’s page on Facebook <http://facebook.com/SharonHarris> or email
her <Sharon at TheAdvocates.org>.
###
Brett C. Bittner

brett at brettbittner.com
404.492.6524

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty
than those attending too small a degree of it." -- Thomas Jefferson
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