Please take a moment to watch this speech by Adam Kokesh.
TweetFree State Activism Needs Balance – Please Don’t Alienate the Public!
January 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Last night I was watching the Youtube video Free Keene From the Free Keene Stigma and it fostered an interesting question: is it better to practice reform that goes largely unnoticed or better to practice activism that gets negative publicity. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, so answering the question is not as simple as it may appear.
For those of you unfamiliar with Free Keene, it is a offshoot of the Free State Project which encourages activists to move specifically to Keene rather than just New Hampshire. In the video, it appears activists who are a part of the general Free State Project and Free Keene (and possibly others) are having an open discussion on the activism tactics used. The fact that such an open forum takes place and does so civilly is encouraging. Free Keene has become the hub for civil disobedience within the movement.
Many Free Keeners have used tactics that have gotten negative local publicity and have even captured national headlines at times. The Keene City Counsel drinking game, public nudity, feeding the homeless, public marijuana use (YouTube video), and many other acts of civil disobedience are among the most notable. The “drinking game” contested open container laws (no alcohol was involved), feeding the homeless challenged the public ordinance, public drug use challenged the victimless crimes and the public nudity challenged unfair sexism in America. The Free Keene movement relies primarily on civil disobedience as activism, which is where many free staters disagree. In fact, many activists in Keene, New Hampshire, have intentionally been arrested because of acts of civil disobedience.
Some activists feel that acts of civil disobedience fall into a negative public light, which is not easily disputable. There are other ways to go about activism that have less of a negative stigma, such as protests, running for office, petitioning, and so on. They argue that these alternative forms of activism shed a more positive light on the liberty movement.
The concern is that by practicing acts of civil disobedience that offends sheds a negative light on the movement and may alienate the people the movement needs to reach. Free Keene has falling into a negative light with some locals, though the movement has also created some support even from local law enforcement.
While acts of civil disobedience do make headlines, they may indeed create negative publicity, unintended consequences, and could hurt the movement. If we alienate the locals, how are we supposed to build the movement locally? If blatant disobedience is received negatively, how can we expect repeal of unjust laws? While I believe civil disobedience can be a valuable tool, I think these questions are worth asking. Activists need to choose their battles carefully. For example, feeding the homeless, if done charitably and not simply to disobey, absolutely can be seen in a positive light and could be beneficial to the movement. Acts of civil disobedience such as public marijuana use is also a great tactic not simply because it combats an unjust law, but because unjust drug laws are beginning to be recognized by the public. In my opinion, the city counsel drinking game hurt the Free Keene movement. Yes, the members involved were technically in the right; they had open containers that had merely water but looked like an alcoholic beverage bottle. However, I can’t help but notice that the video reminds me of people disobeying just to challenge authority and without much foresight. They very likely created enemies within the Keene city counsel. The need to be making allies and engaging the members of the community, especially the leadership, in civil dialog that helps them question convention and consider the liberty movement in a positive light.
When choosing activism tactics and deciding if a group should pursue civil disobedience, I think there are three things that must be considered: image, intent, and consequences.
Consider how the movement will be portrayed publicly by the media. Consider how locals will react to the civil disobedience. Consider how one’s actions will effect the view of the public on the movement as a whole. It is undeniably important to keep a positive image for the movement as a whole if we intend to persuade others to join our cause. I believe the public is more open-minded to our message now than they have been in some time; if they think that liberty activists break laws just to cause trouble, I think this hurts more than helps.
I believe it’s also important to question one’s intent when practicing civil disobedience. Yes, the law may be unjust. If one practices civil disobedience because the law is unjust or because they feel they have an obligation to fight an unjust law through civil disobedience, I absoutely support you. This is one of the best reasons for any type of activism, in my opinion. It appears that some activists have participated in disobedience for the sole purpose of garnering more press. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, one must keep in mind the image of the movement in the public, as I mentioned above. Additionally, we should consider the type of activists this may attract. Civil disobedience just to disobey is perhaps the worst kind. I’m not accusing members of Free Keene of doing this, just to be clear. However, I think that if one disobeys just because they like to challenge authority, they need to reconsider their motives. It’s not about disobedience or merely challenging authority; it’s about long-term, pro-liberty reform. Please keep the end goal in mind – liberty in our lifetime.
Lastly, keep in mind the consequences. Falling into a negative public stigma (both locally and nationally) should be avoided. This alienates us and hurts the cause. While practicing civil disobedience, jail time is a very real possibility. To those in Free Keene, I admire your willingness to spend time behind bars to make a statement. Don’t forget that you can do very little activism while locked up. We need our activists free, not in a cage. Civil disobedience may also attract particular types of activists and reformers. Civil disobedience that garners a negative public light will attract members who enjoy that sort of thing. While this is not inherently a bad thing, it should be kept in mind because it will shape where the movement goes from here. Is this really going to be a peaceful revolution, or a violent one? One can peacefully practice civil disobedience. However, constant lawbreaking will more often than not lead to arrests, not reform. If civil disobedience is the primarily method of activism, it is very possible that sects of the movement could become alienated by the public and promote violent revolution or secession because of alienation. These should be methods o last resort only under completely tyranny. Peaceful revolution and reform should be the goal.
In my opinion, I think balance is best. I admire the fact that some activists are willing to disobey and are willing to spend time behind bars. I also admire those of you who are taken a different approach and are making allies and working within the system. For our movement to succeed, I think that a variety of techniques must be used and that achieving a balance of them should be a common vision. We need people to practice civil disobedience. We also need people to run for office. Achieving a blend of activism that exercises everyone’s strengths while creating a positive balance is the best way to go.
Keep up the fight Free Stater’s, I hope to make a visit this summer.
TweetThe Importance of Scaring Your Senator (and other elected officials)
January 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Scaring you Senator (or other Representative or person in power) is a very good thing. Politicians have made a career out of “serving” in office. Because of this, getting re-elected is always their number one priority. A better system would be to have term limits for public offices, but that seems unlikely within the foreseeable future. Scaring your senator or other representative is a great way to support certain legislation (or the repealing of legislation), as well as remind them that are in a position of power to represent the people.
Because their number one priority will always be to get reelected, they will typically do what they think the majority of the population in their governance will support. If they think it could cost them their job, it’s likely they’ll support just about anything! If they aren’t afraid of those they represent, they will support or not support initiatives based on their personal views. (Or perhaps their “private interests?”) They will always tend to be weary of supporting legislation they think will make them fall into an unfavorable light in the public’s eye. Marijuana legalization and decriminalization are good examples. Congressmen tend to not support such efforts because they fear they will get bad press. They want to appear tough on drugs because they think that will get them the most votes, perhaps even if they support legalization/decriminalization. What if your congressman that not supporting a particular effort – marijuana decriminalization, to stick with this example? Perhaps they would feel obligated to support such a proposition because they fear not getting reelected. In fact, I think it’s all but guaranteed.
Part of the problem is apathy. It appears so many Americans just don’t care about what their government does unless it has drastic personal effects on them. For those that do care, complaining about the government isn’t enough; if you don’t do something your voice goes unheard. And let’s face it – an individual vote is just a whisper in a stadium of bullhorns.
Side note: If we can cure political apathy we will have no problem recreating the government we want.
Voting is okay, emails are good, but alone they aren’t enough. We need to start making phone calls, stopping by their office and make peaceful demonstrations. We need to get angry and let them know. Throughout history governments have risen, fallen, and been reformed. Without action, the only reformation governments will have will be to shift more power to those who have it already. Politicians need to be reminded constantly that they are in a position of power to serve and represent the people. They seem to forget this far to easily. We shouldn’t be afraid of the government, they should be afraid of us.
TweetKey Activism Strategies for Building a Free Society
January 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Over the past few years, we’ve seen a increase in individuals who are passionate about advancing the cause of liberty and who want to see a free society in our lifetime. This is absolutely possible, but it will take a lot of work. With the expansion of the internet, we’ve seen hundreds of new blogs show up supporting our cause. Though the media greatly favors the Republican-Democrat machine, we’ve also seen liberty-minded philosophy begin to show it’s face in the media. Furthermore, pro-liberty candidates such as Ron Paul have gathered tremendous support. This is encouraging, but if more people who shared the pro-liberty sentiment became passionate about the movement and got involved, imagine what we could accomplish.
Oftentimes the problem is that people want to get involved, but don’t know what to do. You might simply not know how. I’ve compiled this list to give you some ideas of what you can do to help achieve liberty in our lifetime. These methods are some of our best methods towards political reform. Some of these ideas anyone can do – if that’s the case, please take the time to take action. Once the masses start taking action and loose their apathy, that’s when we may begin to see real progressive.
Contact your representatives
Letting your elected officials know what you think on particular issues is one of the easiest ways to make an impact. Federal, state, and especially local governments can be positively influenced simply by citizen’s letting their congressmen and local government know what they think. Remember, governments are their to serve us, the people – we’re not meant to serve the government. If you disagree with a law that may go into effect, make sure you let your representatives know and tell them not to vote to approve something that’s detrimental towards a pro-freedom society. Contacting your representatives can be as simple as sending an email, though faxing or phone calls are likely much more effective.
Write a letter to the editor
Writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper is a fantastic and easy way for you to share you opinion. If you do this, you can bring issues into the light of the media. Additional, writing a letter to the editor or participating in a newspaper forum let’s readers know that they are not alone in their beliefs. If they know other people care about liberty, they are much more likely to get involved and take action themselves! Doing something as simple as writing a five hundred word post to your local newspaper could have indirect, extended benefits. When writing the letter, try to take a non-extremist point of view. Try to identify with the reader. Most newspapers have a limit on how often you can submit a letter; consider submitting one at every opportunity you have. Aim for submitting one every two months or so. You can also submit to more than one newspaper.
Start a blog (or write a post)
Starting an online blog to share your opinion on political issues is another key way to get involved. Your reach is greater because anyone in the world can read what you write. You can also write as often as you want, whereas when writing a letter to the editor you can only do so every few weeks or months. You can create a blog for free at Blogspot, WordPress.com, or any other free blog hosting service. You can also set up a blog or informational website with your own domain name for as little as $7.50 for the domain name and $5.00/month for hosting. If you’re interested, we can also work out a joint project (where I buy the domain and host the blog for free). If interested, contact me at support@forwhichitstood.org. Additionally, if you think creating and updating a blog frequently is too much of a committment, you can write a guest post here at www.forwhichitstood.org. Once you’ve worked out how you want your blog set up, try to update your blog frequently. Posting between two and four times a week is ideal, but once a week is okay as well. The more often you post, the better. Share your blog with family, friends, and promote it online. The more people who read what you have to say the better. When posting, avoid ranting and practice persuasive writing. Write quality posts; it’s better to write one quality post a month than five poorly written articles.
Start a protest
One of the most visible forms of activism is protesting, but this one takes more commitment to pull off. Protesting is a great way to share your opinion with the populace and bring issues into focus that the public may otherwise have ignored. Protesting is especially beneficial if you can get the attention of local media (or better, national media). To protest, you need to find a group of like-minded, passionate people who care about our cause. Once you have a group of at least five people, recruit others, plan your protest, and take action. Consider contacting your local media and share the story to gain more exposure. If you have trouble finding like-minded protesters, consider finding people on facebook, craigslist, or see if your area has a chapter of pro-liberty organizations (such as Campaign For Liberty). If you’re on a near a college campus, try to get students involved. When planning your protest, make sure to create signs that accurately convey what you want to say. Also pay attention to the location and the time of the protest. Schedule it for a day where you have good whether, and consider one of historic significance. Location is also extremely important; find somewhere extremely busy with a lot of automobile and foot traffic. Engage passersby in dialogue. The more people who see what you’re doing, the better. That’s the point! Making protests a regular occurrence is an often overlooked tool that has potential for real growth in the pro-liberty movement.
Run for local offices
Many people are weary of running for a political office because of the time commitment or because they think it isn’t viable. Running for a political position in your local community is one of the best ways to get involved, and it’s often easier than most people think. It’s by no means easy, but the smaller your area the easier it will be to get elected. Getting elected in a community of 30,000 would be much more practical than in a major city, but large cities can still be done. Find more information on running for local office on your city’s website. Electing more libertarian (or pro-liberty) candidates to local office is one of our best long-term strategies. Many people think the idea of electing a libertarian president isn’t practical, but electing dozens of liberty-minded individuals to local offices is absolutely feasible. The more people we have in political positions, the faster our movement can grow. Once more individuals who support our cause are elected, it could likely snowball, creating more awareness for libertarian ideals and inspiring others to run for political office.
Share your opinion: start conversations and recommend resources
Do not keep your opinion to yourself! Generating discussion on liberty and towards political reform should never be undervalued. We need to get mad, and we need to get others mad. Political apathy is a very real problem, and is partially to blame for the loss of liberty we’ve seen in America. Talk to your friends about the issues we face and how the government is getting to big. Share your opinions on self-ownership and liberty and how limited government means more freedom for the people. Share videos with your friends that argue for our cause. Recommend a good book. Discuss the issues on online forums. Start a conversation with a stranger or coworker. Be bold about your position and your views; if they see how passionate you are – how much you truly care about what you’re talking about – they’ll be more apt to take you seriously and listen to what you say.
Practice civil disobedience
Practicing civil disobedience is a great tool, but it takes a special kind of person to participate in this niche of activism because of the risk of imprisonment or social consequences. I have enormous respect for those who practice civil disobedience. It really shows how much they care about their cause. When practicing civil disobedience, there is a very real risk of being arrested or imprisonment. However, as freedom-loving individuals we must realize that in a police state we must stand up to the cops at some point. We must stand up for our rights and fight unjust laws. I would even argue that it may even be a moral duty to disobey unjust laws, or at least express one’s opposition towards them. Civil disobedience can come in many forms. Peaceful civil disobedience is always best, as it preserve the public view of our cause. Some examples of civil disobedience are refusing to pay taxes, avoiding the draft, participating in sit-ins, and public drug use. Get creative. Group civil disobedience has a lot more pull than one individual. Again, keep in mind the risks involved if you choose to practice this form of activism. Remember, dissent is the highest form of patriotism (Thomas Jefferson).
Participate in jury nullification
Jury nullification is one of the most overlooked methods of activism, but is potentially another great took for changing unjust laws. Most people don’t know that they can practice jury nullification, and some may not even know what it is. Jury nullification happens when the jury makes a ruling despite obvious weight of evidence. It’s a verdict that goes against the common law, usually become the jury (or a member of the jury – you!) view the law as unjust or immoral. If the public consistently practices jury nullification on an issue (cannabis convictions, for example), it shows a public distaste with the current law, which can aid in the laws reformation or dissolution. A jury is often instructed by a judge not to make the ruling basted on their conscience, but only on the evidence. However, trial by jury is intended for the defendant to be judged by a jury of one’s peers; if one’s peers disagree with the law, it makes little sense to convict the person in question or to continue to practice such a law. Obviously, everyone cannot participate in jury nullification; you can only do so if you’re elected to a jury. If you are, however, practicing jury nullification can be a great tool.
There are many more things you can do to help advance the cause of liberty. The above are just a few of the bigger opportunities. If you think of other ideas for practicing activism, please leave them in the comments section below. Please, please get involved. Find like-minded people and participate in this peaceful revolution. End your apathy, and do your best to help cure the apathy of others. Find what you’re good at, and use that to help build a free society.
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