Do you know how to explain what a self-governor is?

In 1985, Marshall Fritz launched the Advocates for Self-Government. 

The Advocates part of the title was clear. Marshall (pictured above, with arm extended) left his job as an IBM salesman. He believed libertarian policies could lead to human flourishing. And he believed that his sales experience would help could grow the libertarian movement. 

Essentially, every libertarian needed to be an effective salesperson, and Marshall's new organization would provide the training. But...  
 

Well, there was a political party called Libertarian, and the new Advocates organization was legally required to be non-partisan. 

But Marshall and his advisors also wanted it that way. They recognized that they were selling a social philosophy, not a political party. They also knew that there were multiple ways to achieve change in government policy, so they wanted their Advocates to be persuasive in a variety of strategies and initiatives. 

The social philosophy was self-government. 

But is self-government just libertarianism under another name? 
 

To help me answer this question, I turned to a man who knew Marshall, along with some of the other founders and subsequent leaders of The Advocates. 

Jim Babka, best known for his leadership of Downsize DC, was friends with Marshall. They even worked together on a couple of projects. Today, he's editor-at-large here at The Advocates. 

Jim responded to my question with an essay. He writes... 

"Self-Government is the independent, voluntarily-coordinated action of peaceful, self-controlled individuals to address social problems, resolve conflicts, protect others, and make victims whole."

He elaborates on that definition by laying out the three rules of a self-governor. Then, he provides commentary on these three rules so you can get a full picture of this truly rich term - self-governor. 

You can be the first to read it, today.

But this article is “evergreen” - by that, we mean this piece is not just today's news, but perpetually relevant. We will be doing two more, long-term things with it... 

First, we will add this article to Featured Articles section of our website so that visitors to the website will be more likely to find the article and learn from it. 

Second, we will be inserting this column into an introductory email sequence for every new subscriber. This action helps fulfill our educational mission, "To equip people to understand, embrace, and advocate the values of self-government" - especially, the understanding part. 

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