Twin Cities-based radio talk host Jason Lewis hopes he’ll have the answer for conservatives and libertarians looking for a one-stop location online where they can organize for and promote their causes, Galt.io.
“The beauty of it is, if they don’t find a cause they like, they can start their own,” Lewis told The Wanderer in a telephone interview about the social organizing platform.
Lewis, who’s heard in Minnesota’s Twin Cities on KTLK (1130 AM), said he has 60 radio affiliates, from Oregon to Florida.
“The left has always out-organized us,” the self-described libertarian conservative broadcaster said, mentioning the left-wing MoveOn.org as a prominent example. “. . . So far the feedback has been very positive” to Galt.io, which he hopes to have launched by May 1.
As of March 30, the online framework for www.galt.io showed 5,519 pledges totaling $631,875 — far exceeding its goal of $250,000 to get started.
Galt.io is “for like-minded people who favor limited government, religious liberty, lower taxes” and kindred causes, he said.
“Support Hobby Lobby” in its battle against federal compulsion would be a possible cause, Lewis told The Wanderer.
He added later, “You can make it as narrow, as specific…as global as you want” in creating or joining a cause.
The new site would be an answer for a person who believes, “I’m getting this sense of, no one’s speaking for me,” Lewis said.
Likening the site to a social medium like Facebook, he said a person could create a network at Galt.io with a local focus, such as a fight with a zoning board, or a broader one. Instead of just advocating “Boycott liberal media,” a person could target a specific television station, he said. If the person wanted to call attention to a letter to the editor that a newspaper wouldn’t publish, he could post it at the site.
The web site says: “Welcome to Galt.io! If you’re here, you’re probably already a thinker and producer — a maker, not a taker. You believe that private property, the rule of law, and voluntary association are the cornerstones of individual rights and human liberty. You are also a little fed up with the current crop of politicians who celebrate mediocrity, forced charity, and out-of-control big government.
“Our nation’s political and economic paralysis has probably made you feel that your views are isolated or at least part of a silent minority that doesn’t have much relevance or a voice in today’s environment” this introduction says.
“Galt.io is set to change that — permanently! We have created this web site to invite people of like minds to help become a part of this exciting plan right from the beginning.
“We urge you to make a difference by pledging your hard-earned dollars so you can be one of the founding members of a brave new world that will finally change a bankrupt status quo,” the site says. “Please help us bring this to life by using the power of social organizing on the Internet to ‘starve the beast’ of big government and those who support it.”
In a January 24 post at his radio program’s web site (www.jasonlewisshow.com), Lewis said, “We’re still building out the network from your pledges, but in addition to being able to start your own local ‘cause’ and attract supporters from your neighborhood, other possibilities include combining ‘causes’ for a state or national issue; mapping, marketing, even cloning causes you like across this digital universe.”
The site would have its own special currency, Galtcoins, which Lewis described as “play money, virtual currency” used to measure which causes are flourishing. The coins are named for the hero in Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, John Galt.
While Galt.io is a beginning, Lewis won’t forecast where it could go. “Who knows what’s going to happen ten years down the road?” Galt.io has a variety of resources, including an introductory video by Lewis lasting nearly six and a half minutes.
The site says, “We aren’t going to kid anyone, this is no small task and we’ve only just begun with this crowdfunding of Galt.io. Where this goes, what can be done with Galtcoins and where it ends up will be fascinating to watch unfold. What’s exciting is that once members start joining Galt.io, the network will have the ability to move in directions and evolve into a force that right now can’t fully be defined.”
Also, Lewis authored the book Power Divided Is Power Checked (Bascom Hill Publishing Group, 2011). A promotion for the book says it’s a reminder “that the concept of states’ rights, as bequeathed by the Founding Fathers to a grateful nation, was about a constitutional framework intended to limit the missteps of government and provide the greatest amount of freedom and decision-making power to the citizens of the ‘several states’.”
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