There is Hope… For Liberty in Our Lifetime
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By: Shane Radliff [social title=”” subtitle=”” link=”www.facebook.com/LUAtruth” icon=”fa-facebook”]
July 29th, 2015
If you have been paying attention to the last three months of articles and broadcasts, you’ve seen Matt and I picking apart and exposing the inconsistencies of “liberty-minded” groups and political parties, as well as us judging the overall efficacy of certain tactics being used.
I would like to think that the focus of Liberty Under Attack, up to this point, has been on things that are important and crucial for all of us to understand, if we are going to truly know and understand our enemy. We must know and understand their mechanisms, their strategies, and their methods, in how they accomplish the enslavement of mankind, in order to defeat it.
Those articles and broadcasts are completely essential and needed if we are ever going to regain our Liberty. Although, I do think it is important, at least, to give people some hope without lying to them. We are far from our goal, but looking at the positive side of things, is important in keeping up morale and the will to fight against this monstrous enemy, known as the State.
There has surely been some progress, no matter how minor or miniscule it may seem. There have been entrepreneurial inventions that give anarchists and libertarians ways to avoid the State and its minions, the increasing numbers of liberty-minded folks, and the implementation of successful strategies that can be utilized.
There are surely some things that we can be thankful for.
Liberate RVA
We can surely be thankful for the success of Liberate RVA, an anti-political group out of Richmond, Virginia. LRVA has brought together over 100 voluntaryists in Richmond (and the surrounding areas) in hopes of accumulating enough people to “turn away from the State” and build a society based on voluntary and consensual interactions, utilizing the non-aggression principle and the axiom of self-ownership.
Better yet, Kal Molinet, Tyler Lloyd, and Matt Battaglioli (to name a few), are venturing out into the forefront of statism (college campuses) and spreading the true message of freedom: anarchy. Kal and other members of LRVA have put together an extensive playlist on YouTube documenting all of their interactions, which provides a format for others to start “Liberate” communities in their area. The “Spreading Anarchy” playlist also provides education on the rhetoric as well as providing the viewer with responses to tough questions.
LRVA also does a weekly “Couched” podcast, where members meet at the Nevermore Anarchy Garden and discuss important issues in the style of an open forum.
There are a few reasons why LRVA is something to be thankful for. First off, it is encouraging face-to-face discussions on tough issues, which is paramount in restoring our Liberty, instead of just impersonal “debates” that go nowhere and fail, for the most part, in reaching hearts and minds. Secondly, LRVA started their own anarchist community, in which the members can grow together, philosophically and methodologically. Lastly, it provides a blueprint for others to emulate wherever they live, right now.
Free Keene
Free Keene is a part of the largest political migration destination in the world, known as the Free State Project. I hold some disagreements with some of their tactics and strategies, as they promote reformism, from time to time, yet there are some good things that have come out of Keene.
Keene has been essential in providing transparency within the judicial branch of the New Hamsphire government, especially considering that they are in court, as defendants, quite a bit. They seem to prefer the “teasing the bear” approach to civil disobedience and, as a consequence, there is a constant flow of Free Keeners in and out of jail. The archive of their court documents is currently being assembled on the LUA website, but with the sheer amount of cases and documents, it will take some time.
Additionally, Christopher Cantwell, who also lives in Keene, is doing a lot of good as well. His radio show, Radical Agenda, is one of the few that covers extremely controversial topics, such as those social justice censorship warriors. He is willing and ready to call-out any hypocritical, philosophically inconsistent pseudo-libertarians.
Cantwell also partook in a daunting adventure with his Anarcho-Lobbying series. For this project, Cantwell went to the legislature in Concord, New Hampshire, earlier this year and attempted to grassroots lobby the politicians and bureaucrats. As Kyle Rearden from The Last Bastille blog has documented, it was a mathematically provable failure, but there are some good things to be taken away from this endeavor, namely the transparency Cantwell provided which allowed Kyle to judge the efficacy of grassroots lobbying in the first place.
Lastly, Free Talk Live is a great outlet if you want to quickly get the word out to other libertarians through a nationally syndicated radio show, much like a clarion call.
Most importantly, Free Keene is crucial in their efforts to providing transparency in “local” government, and the popularity enjoyed by Free Talk Live enables it to quickly mobilize people, if need be. Despite some inconsistencies, Free Keene, overall, is certainly something we can be thankful for.
Cody Wilson
Cody Wilson is a crypto-anarchist from Austin, Texas. He has accomplished a ton in just the past few years, namely, his 3D printed firing pistol, the Liberator, as well as the “Feinstein Mag”. The most important part of these two projects was the fact that they were available for download all over the world, even in countries where firearms are banned; at least, until the federal State Department forced him to take it off of his organization’s website, Defense Distributed. Luckily, once something is on the internet, it can never be taken down. The designs are still available on multiple file hosting websites.
After the Sandy Hook shooting and the concomitant threat of gun control measures, Wilson’s 3D printed pistol and firearm accessories showed the State that this is something that they cannot stop. People all over the world will always retain their right to self-defense, such as through copying design specs, in spite of the State’s efforts to strip it all away.
Bitcoin & Dark Wallet: “Let There Be Dark”
Bitcoin is certainly something that we can be thankful for. No, it’s not perfect, and most, if not all, of these exchanges require a bank account, but it has the potential to be a vital tool in our arsenal to both free the markets and escape the inflationary fiat currency, known as Federal Reserve Notes (the American “dollar”).
Don’t forget, the late, deep-web marketplace, Silk Road, only accepted bitcoin. Silk Road was another major pushback against the State by showing that the government’s efforts in stopping voluntary, consensual black market transactions, is futile.
In my endeavor to become unbanked, purchasing bitcoin has been a struggle, but I still see it as a viable option and something that can be built upon.
One of the greatest additions to bitcoin, is surely Dark Wallet. Dark Wallet will, for the first time, provide anonymity for bitcoin transactions, and will stop the regulators attempts in controlling this crypto-currency, in its tracks. It is still in its alpha stage, but the long-awaited beta version will hopefully be available soon.
This is just the beginning for bitcoin and, I predict, its efficacy will only become more and more prominent, in time.
Withdrawing Consent: Unregistering from the Voter Rolls
One of the questions that is always asked of those in the alternative media from their respective audiences is, “What can I do?” I didn’t use to have any answers, other than “education,” at least as a starting point towards something else.
Fortunately, there are now tangible options and solutions that cater to market preferences. The first, and probably the easiest to do, is to cancel your voter registration.
Government voting has never set anyone free. In addition to that, for philosophically consistent libertarians and anarchists, it is a violation of the non-aggression principle, and also self-ownership, because, when someone goes into a voting booth, they are violently forcing their beliefs upon others, by way of the State. Politicians (those who imagine themselves to be our rulers) enact legislation, which is then enforced by your local police extortionists, at gunpoint. There is nothing “liberating” or “democratic” about the institution of voting, and the best thing one can do, ethically, is to withdraw consent.
Liberty Under Attack has gathered the legal citations for how to cancel your voter registration, for 39 out of the 50 states. There is no excuse anymore: either you advocate for freedom, or you acquiesce to the slavery of all mankind. You can’t be free with “elected” rulers.
On the “Cancel Your Voter Registration” page on the LUA website, there are two success stories, thus far. Kyle Rearden was able to cancel his voter registration in Texas and I was also able to do so here in the Communist State of Illinois. The proof is available for your delectation.
If any of you decide to repeat what we did with “your” state government, please submit whatever proof you’ve received back from that government to LUA so we can further demonstrate that cancelling your voter registration works, in several tax farms across America.
The Economic Means
In his book, Our Enemy the State, Albert Jay Nock explained that there are the political means and the economic means of making money. Too many people who claim to want freedom, want to use the political means of making money, and the results have shown that this is not possible.
With Kyle Rearden’s “An Illusive Phantom of Hope: A Critique of Reformism,” anthology (and audiobook), finally completed, there is no need, or any excuses left, for the political means to be used anymore by libertarians. Although, sadly, through apathy or lack of knowledge, various dissidents and activists will continue to use the failed political means, simply because demagogues like Naomi Wolf told them to.
On a more positive note, there are many forms of direct action available to us, which have the likelihood to provide actual results. A few means of direct action include agorism, homesteading, survivalism, using bitcoin, and silver stacking, among other things. Obviously, examining the sheer breadth of direct action is beyond the scope of this article, besides addressing related issues such as efficacy and “legality”.
The excuse of using the political means because it’s either, “that or revolution”, is a false dichotomy and is wrong in every way, much like how the Federalists told Americans during the 1780s that with regard to their proposed federal constitution, “take this, or nothing”. The economic means are already available to us if we are going to be serious about restoring our Liberty, so we better utilize them.
Personal Reflection
When I founded Liberty Under Attack three years ago, I wasn’t hopeful for much. I did a lot of research, watched a lot of documentaries, and I was constantly angry, and felt hopeless, whenever I thought of the difficulties towards restoring Liberty.
Times have surely changed. There are quite a few things that I can recognize now as being positive steps forward.
The first acknowledgment I made a few months ago, when I became a voluntaryist, was that there are significantly more of them than I could have ever thought. The amount of liberty-minded people is increasing significantly, and the amount of people “jumping” off of the sinking minarchist ship, definitely gives me hope. In the fullness of time, it turned out the Anti-Federalists were right about the perils of the 1787 federal Constitution, and I am eager to create something infinitely better than just another “constitutional cage,” which would only be broken once again by authoritarians.
I also completed my round of political field trips, locally here in Bloomington. I’ve attended criminal court proceedings, where I saw citizens being ran through the violently coercive gauntlet; I served as a juror, where I was forced to take part in tossing a fellow citizen in prison for the crime of “felony scratching”, which she is currently “serving” for the next four years; I attended a McLean County Board meeting, where they utilized the war on drugs in order to expand their power; and lastly, I sat-in on a local “Libertarian” Party chapter meeting, where they vetted an aspiring political ruler.
Those field trips assisted me in solidifying my belief in anarchy as the only true way to freedom. I witnessed the State in its natural habitat, and got a high quality series of articles out of it. Best of all, I didn’t have to read books on libertarian theory in order to truly understand the State as it operates normally as part of its daily routine.
My hope is for others to emulate what I did by going on their own political field trips wherever they live and witness tyranny firsthand. Contrary to what some would believe, it is a truly liberating experience. Whatever illusions some might have about “local” government can be challenged by becoming an eye-witness to the political means at play.
Additionally, Liberty Under Attack Radio on FPRN has been a major success for Matt and I. We’ve had on great guests, like Ralph Epperson, Kal Molinet, and Kyle Rearden; we’ve had great discussions, on topics ranging from depopulation to the anarchic schools of thought. We can interact with our audience and their interest in what we are developing is encouraging.
It is truly an amazing experience, yet this is only the beginning.
Finally, I personally, have survived 5+ police extortionist encounters (“bluecoats”) and only one time, have I been taken in handcuffs. Thankfully, and quite luckily, I am still alive to write this article.
Conclusion
When one looks at the world around them, it can certainly be daunting. The struggle that we have in front of us is surely not going to be an easy one. There is a time and a place to cover such topics, but there is also a time for reflection and meditating on positive steps we have achieved, while continuing to remain focused on our end goal.
Becoming free in one’s mind is the first step, and philosophy can be a major help, and is crucial to understanding the world and the values we choose to live by.
Hopefully some morale has been restored by this article, but we must remain vigilant. This endeavor in restoring our Liberty is far from over.
Postscript: I am sure I missed some other positives, but for the sake of length, I figured this would be sufficient. If others want to build off of this article, I highly encourage them to.
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