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Letters to the Editor

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Letters to the Editor

General Tips

Sample Letters

Miscellaneous tips


First, some general tips:

  • It is always best to contact the paper you are interested in submitting a letter to and ask to speak to the department dealing with letters to the editor. You should then find out what the length of the letter should be, and where it should be sent to. If you send a letter that is too long, they may simply not publish it.

  • Always include your full name, address, phone number and e-mail address with your letter. Your article will most likely not be published without providing this basic information.

  • Mention the freestateproject.org website as a resource for more information.

  • Please mail or e-mail a copy of your letter to info@freestateproject.org and indicate whether we can publish it on our website. Note that if you succeed in publishing three LTEs in one year, you will qualify for The Advocates' Lights of Liberty award!.

  • Keeping your letter brief will help assure that your important points are not cut out by the newspaper.

  • Send letters to weekly community newspapers too. The smaller the newspaper's circulation, the easier it is to get your letter printed.

  • Make references to the newspaper. While some papers print general commentary, many will only print letters that refer to a specific article.

Some sample letters for you to use or customize:

Dear Editor:

I love Massachusetts, but I can't stand this kind of persecution. The government has gone too far this time! [Here follows a description of this week's persecution and why it is harmful.]

I'm leaving for New Hampshire as part of the Free State Project (www.freestateproject.org) because I want to be free! I've finally found a group of people who share my passion for freedom and are willing to do something to achieve it. I want liberty in my lifetime, so I'm joining the Free State Project and moving to New Hampshire.

(Contributed by A. Phillips)

Dear Editor: I am writing to address the [incident, event, article, other letter] of [date], in which [brief summary]. The critical issue is ___. The Free State Projectoffers a[nother] [solution, answer, viewpoint, perspective]; that is: ____. [Brief description of the FSP]. The folks at the FSP have for several years [list relevant goals, achievements relating to the subject of the letter]. I think this may be the answer in this case. Applying the stated goals of the organization [explain application]. Conclusion. (FSP Rules, of course! - ;)

(Letter by Ernie De Bella published in the Everett, WA Herald on February 23:)

Dear Editors:

Boy was I surprised to see the article on the Free State Project (Libertarians look for a state to call their own 2/23) in my local paper. It was a pleasant surprise actually.

I subscribe to the Herald specifically because of the focus on local issues which this paper does a fantastic job of doing. But when you select interesting articles like the one about the Free State Project (FSP) it really helps round out the paper.

I'm not a Libertarian but I do have a strong libertarian (notice the difference in spelling) streak running through me and have signed up for the FSP in hopes that the movement can be successful in promoting freedom in our country.

I haven't been disappointed in the project so far even though it's still in it's infancy. What makes FSP all the more impressive is they haven't sold my name to any outside agency so I don't get a bunch of extra junk mail.

How refreshingly different from every other organization and business I've given my name to and how nice to read about it in my local paper.

Thanks again Ernie De Bella Edmonds WA

(Contributed by B. Nelson)

Dear Sir: I am writing to inform your readers of a group in which some, at least, might be interested: The Free State Project (FSP). This group is a direct result of the frustration many of us feel at the over-reaching power of Government that has slowly and surely insinuated itself into our everyday lives, sometimes in direct opposition to the mandates of our Constitution. We have come to the realization that perhaps the only hope we have of truly availing ourselves to the life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness promised in our Constitution is to join with other like-minded individuals and peacefully settle in an agreed-upon state. Once there, we will begin a lawful process of decreasing the state's intrusion into its citizens' lives--includingsuch taxes and fees as we are able.Ourgoal is 20,000 members, and our numbers are steadily increasing. I understand that this forum is has space-limitations. I therefore invite anyone interested to visit the FSP website: http://www.freestateproject.org or write to the FSP at: [insert address]. Respectfully, [name]

(Contributed by J. Eiland)

Do You Want Liberty In Your Lifetime?

If you're like many Americans today, you're probably thoroughly disenchanted, even disgusted, with the current political climate in our country. Politicians on both sides of the aisle compete with one another to come up with bigger and better schemes for taxing you and spending your heard-earned money in order to please their special-interest supporters and party bosses. You may even be looking around and seeing your own neighbors wanting the government to take care of them, and wanting YOU to fit the bill.

Do you look forward to a time when government might once again protect you from those who want to pick your pocket instead of actively aiding and abetting them? Would you rather be free to live your own life without worrying about what special interest group is trying to force you to conform to their agenda?

Chances are, you may be looking around and thinking that change is not possible, that the heritage of freedom that we as Americans hold so dear may be fast slipping through our fingers, that your children may grow up in an America where "liberty" is increasingly a foreign word, and state control of the smallest details of our lives is increasingly a reality. If you've ever had any similar thoughts to the ones described here, then you should know that you are not alone. There are others like you, who long for a return to liberty and the rule of law in its proper place: protecting, not exploiting, the citizen.

The Free State Project (FSP)is an effort by liberty-minded people like you who have just such a vision in mind:a return to freedom, individual responsibility, and liberty in our lifetime. How is this possible?

The plan is simple: Five thousand freedom-minded persons will gather together in order to choose one state in the Union that is ideal for reasserting our traditional American ideals of individual liberty and responsibility. Once the state is chosen, the original 5000 hope to draw 15,000 or more like-minded persons who will join them in moving to this state and using their combined resources and influence to put government back in its place and protect individual liberty.

The FSP is currently one year old and has already signed up 1228 members, thus it is already well on its way to the first milestone of 5000 members, and ever closer to its ultimate goal of working for a truly free state in our great American Union. If you haven't heard of the FSP yet, you will soon.

Does a free state sound like something worth working for? Does the idea that you could be truly free in your own lifetime, and have a chance to pass on a truly great American legacy for your children as well, touch on some hidden hopes that you still have that change can really come? If so, or if you just have questions and want to know more, I encourage you to stop by the FSP's website (http://www.freestateproject.org), and take a look at their material. There you'll find state data tables, an informative list of frequently asked questions, and discussion forums where people just like you are currently working to make this vision a reality.

So if the current political climate has you wondering what liberties you might lose in the coming years, or what legacy your children stand to inherit, please consider the Free State Project and the enormous potential that its success would mean to us all. It's a new andvery real chance for liberty in your lifetime.

(Contributed by R. Hawes)

Miscellaneous tips: