Rich Paul’s letter from Jail: Libertarianism

August 7, 2010 by James Schlessinger Jr · 8 Comments
Filed under: Essay, Jailed Activist

Libertarianism is a political philosophy based on the idea that no person or group of people has the right to aggress against the Life, Liberty, Property or Pursuit of Happiness of another, either by force or by fraud. Libertarians know and accept that aggression cannot be eliminated from the world, and our philosophy does allow for the use of force in defense of self or others. The question which, for us, settles the issue of who is right or wrong in and violent conflict is a very simple one, probably familiar to readers from childhood: “Who started it?” The person who ‘initiated force’ is the person who is wrong, every time.

Simplicity is one of the great strengths of Libertarianism. It allows a person to understand the legal consequences of his actions without consulting high priced lawyers or studying huge tomes filled with their ever changing statutes. This is probably the reason that there are so few Libertarian lawyers. Simplicity is the enemy of any privileged class.

Some people believe that they should, in some cases, be permitted to do violence against people who do things they don’t like, even though these people are harming only themselves. They argue that a person who takes drugs, for example, might possibly someday do some sort of harm to someone else, so he should be punished before he has the chance. Of course, this belief is absurd. Punishing someone because they might someday aggress would require, if applied consistently, the punishment of every person, since any human might someday commit an act of aggression. The law, however, should punish only criminals, not potential criminals.

Still other people believe that a sufficiently large majority should be permitted to do violence against a sufficiently small minority, in the democratic tradition. The belief that numerical “might makes right” is the ‘moral’ basis of democracy. The idea that the majority is always right can be easily dispelled with a simple thought experiment. Imagine a true democracy which consists of 9 men and 1 woman on an island. The men vote that the woman must have sex with all of them. According to the democratic ideal, this is perfectly acceptable, since the men outnumber the poor girl, and should she refuse their demands, then she is a criminal. This is why Benjamin Franklin described democracy as “Two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner,” and why America was founded as a Democratic Republic, not a democracy. Sadly, modern America is closer to the democratic than the republican ideal. (Note: Please do not confuse these words with the political parties similarly named. The connections are lost in the mists of time.)

Libertarianism is, in my humble opinion, the only truly moral political philosophy. Whether it is expressed through a minimal State–like that specified by our Constitution–or through anarchy–private arrangements in the absence of any State–it is the only political philosophy which can bring peace and harmony to our society. If you would like to learn more about this philosophy, please check out the short youtube video “The Philosophy of Liberty,” the Free State Project, the Libertarian Party, or meet some real live Libertarians and the 4:20 rally which occurs every afternoon on the Keene Common, or the Night Cap which occurs every night around 11:00pm in the same place. You may also write to me at the address below:

Rich “420 Guy” Paul
C/O Cheshire County Jail
Cell Block ‘D’
825 Marlboro Street
Keene, NH 03431

Guest Comic by The Muslim Agorist

July 17, 2010 by Dale Everett · 2 Comments
Filed under: Anarchy in Your Head, Essay, Free Press, Hypocrisy, Living Free

Click to Enlarge

This comic was inspired by a controversy over the Shire Society Declaration. The construction of the declaration was begun with a work by Libertarian author, L. Neil Smith. Many changes were made after a lengthy discussion, but they remain quite similar according to a number of people. I haven’t actually read the original work and I got turned off to the discussion for reasons described here. I did ultimately find myself in enough agreement with the final product to sign it. Read more

The Keene Divide?

June 13, 2010 by Ian Freeman · 24 Comments
Filed under: Essay, Response

Some of the local critics seem to think that the “free staters” in NH are organized from the top down, with Free State Project founder Jason Sorens at the top, issuing commands as our dear leader. It doesn’t work like that. The FSP is just an organization designed to bring liberty-lovers to NH. What they do when they arrive is up-to-them. Perhaps to Sorens’ chagrin, he is definitely not in charge. No one is. Sorens has always been openly critical of the Keene brand of outside-the-system activism and recently posted a link to the recent anonymous Sentinel editorial attacking Free Keene on the FSP forum with the subject, “Keene residents tiring of Free Keeners”. While that may be a true statement, it ignores the people in Keene who appreciate the liberty activists, of which there are many. The newspaper’s editorial and echo chamber comments section is not necessarily representative of how things really are. Now, why would that be?

Perhaps it’s because Read more

Andrew Carroll’s LTE: “Why I Moved Here”

May 24, 2010 by Ian Freeman · 13 Comments
Filed under: Essay

Heroic civil disobedience activist Andrew Carroll recently had his letter to the editor published in the Keene Sentinel. As usual, the comments area has erupted into controversy with anonymous haters trying to claim liberty activists are racists and that we want to force people out of NH. Feel free to weigh in over at the Keene Sentinel. By the way, Andrew is running for State Rep this year as an anarchist democrat. Here’s his facebook page for the campaign and his letter to the editor:

While I was serving at the restaurant where I work the other day, one of my tables consisted of a wonderful couple who shared my passion for politics.

They self-described as Democrats, but at one point during our conversation complained about the excessiveness of property taxes in this state and nodded their heads in agreement to my call for a smaller, more local government.

They even laughed when I told them the story of my friend who was open carrying in Manchester and a cop asked him, “Why would you carry a gun in the most dangerous ward in all New Hampshire?” Read more

Sentinel Publishes My Reply to Pam Martens’ Hit Piece

April 17, 2010 by Ian Freeman · 10 Comments
Filed under: Essay, Issues, Response

Here’s the original confused, fear-ridden letter from Pam and my reply as published in today’s Keene Sentinel:

I see that Pam Martens has brought her misinformation to the pages of your fine newspaper and felt inspired to respond, as one of the much-maligned “free staters.”

Pam wrote:

“A majority of Free Staters currently in New Hampshire have indicated they want to replace public education with home schooling and private schools; they want to end all government regulation of businesses, from licensing manicurists, to getting drivers licenses, to elimination of planning and zoning boards. They don’t believe government should be able to mandate taxation to pay for schools, roads, Social Security or any social welfare programs like nursing homes.”

First, I highly doubt Pam has spoken with a majority of free staters, as there are more than 800 of them here in New Hampshire. Of course, the New Hampshire liberty movement is much larger than that. So-called “free staters” are merely the backup for the already existing liberty lovers here, many of whom are natives, unlike Pam.

What she doesn’t understand is that most liberty-oriented people I know are in favor of many of the things she talks about, minus the coercion. I’m fine with schools, roads and helping the poor. In fact, I contributed a significant amount to the United Way during last year’s funding drive, because I believe in charity.

However, government is not charity. It is force. I cannot support using the evil means of aggression to achieve good ends of helping people in need. We can help people in need without aggressing against our neighbors. Read more

Varrin Swearingen Responds to Pam Martens

April 12, 2010 by Ian Freeman · 19 Comments
Filed under: Essay, Response, Update

Varrin Swearingen (president of the Free State Project) has had his response to Pam Martens’ attack piece published in the Keene Sentinel. Here’s a link to his letter to the editor – as you can see Varrin is already under fire by anti-freedom commenters.

Here’s the text of his letter:

Pam Martens calls for an “untrammeled debate” on the issues (“We have a right to speak our minds,” Keene Sentinel, April 4), but before getting into any specific topic, we need to address the elephant in the room: Where do our rights come from?

Mrs. Martens writes, “rights are derived … from engaged citizens in a participatory democracy.”

She believes rights are granted by society, and denies individuals any natural rights of their own; what some might call “human rights.”

Her opinion conflicts with the simple idea that each of us has our own inherent, unalienable rights, and that government, democratic or otherwise, should be limited to protecting those rights. Read more

Cannabis Culture’s Feature Article on Keene’s 420 Celebrations!

April 9, 2010 by Ian Freeman · 5 Comments
Filed under: Announcement, Civil Disobedience, Essay, JJ's Fun House, Noncooperation, Personal Freedom

Thanks to Jodie and Marc Emery and the rest of the great crew of Cannabis Culture for publishing this awesome feature article all about Keene’s cannabis freedom movement, starting with Andrew Carroll’s arrest last year and going through the Nashua crackdowns. Not only that, but they allowed JJ from the Free Keene Press to write the piece! They included activists’ photos as well as videos from OTN and Anarchy in Your Head. It’s an amazing piece that is going to help put Free Keene on the cannabis activism map!

If you found this website via Cannabis Culture, please take a look around – there’s a lot more happening here than cannabis freedom activism.

Here’s the text of the piece: Read more

Concentrated Civil Disobedience and Noncooperation are the Keys to Liberty

April 6, 2010 by Ian Freeman · 18 Comments
Filed under: Civil Disobedience, Essay, Noncooperation

Before I begin, I’d like to share a brief quote from an article by the Keene Sentinel’s Phil Bantz:

“At least 95 percent of all cases are settled by plea negotiations,” Keene defense lawyer Paul G. Schweizer said. “Plea bargains are absolutely essential to the judicial system.”

Without plea deals, the courts, jails and prisons would become clogged with defendants and inmates.

“As a practical matter, we would have to build 10 new courthouses in Keene if we took everyone to trial,” he said. “We would have to hire five times as many police officers and prosecutors. The judicial system would come to a screeching halt.”

Please take a moment and think about that quote. It reveals an Achilles’s heel of the state. Their system is counting on you to go with the flow.

“Just take the plea, pay up, and we’ll make this go away.”, say the government aggressors. Naturally, people eagerly take the “deal”. I can’t blame anyone for wanting to minimize the harm that the state is inflicting upon them and their loved ones.

However, I’d like to encourage them take a longer view. Read more

A Visitor’s Thoughts on the Keene Liberty Movement

March 1, 2010 by Ian Freeman · 3 Comments
Filed under: Essay

BJ from Kentucky came up to visit us here in Keene in December and was blown away by the experience. Here’s what he wrote:

“There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper, and it would vanish — it was that fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter.”

– Emperor Marcus Aurelius Caesar, in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator

In our time, there is a dream that once was, and is no longer there, much like in Marcus Aurelius’ Rome. The founders of the United States of America had something like this in mind when they separated themselves from the British empire. Even in its flaws, their great plan was noble, and for a time it seemed to work.

Then something went terribly wrong. Why? Because there was government, and lots of it. This was a fact I had come to realize years ago, but had felt like there was nothing that could be done to save myself or others from the inevitable police state. Then I heard the whisper, of a dream that was set into motion, and finally one day, I decided it was time to see for myself if this dream really could come true.

Late into the night on December 24th, I set out on the road, headed for Keene, New Hampshire. It was to be an 800-mile journey with long hours and seemingly endless freeways. The purpose of the trip overshadowed any notion that the task at hand would be arduous or unworthy of the attempt. I was going to New Hampshire to explore the nature of the third American Revolution. Yes, third: The American Civil War was the second, and although a failure, was a response to government becoming more vast and intrusive.

The Free State Project is a very simple idea that basically asks those people who believe in freedom and liberty to move to one place where they can be amongst like-minded people, and hopefully reverse the trend toward larger and more powerful government. The idea is to get at least 20,000 people to move there, to join in the activism already taking place, or begin their own. Once 5,000 people had signed the pledge, a vote was taken, and New Hampshire was chosen as the location.

My arrival into Keene was somewhat anticlimactic, as I’d driven all night, and had not slept. So at first I was too busy being tired to admire the scenery around me. This would soon change, as I’d no sooner driven into town and posted on the online forums that I was there, than welcomes and offers to assist me began coming in. Read more

Principles Versus Pragmatism

October 9, 2009 by Dale Everett · 2 Comments
Filed under: Anarchy in Your Head, Essay, Hypocrisy, Noncooperation, Personal Freedom, Rant

I was recently accused of hiding behind my principles. The implication was that I was making a poor decision pragmatically speaking in order to adhere to some lofty and impractical principle. But principles are pragmatic. At least they ought to be. Otherwise what good are they? If your goals are noble, what better way to determine principles than based on whether they help you achieve your goals?

We often confuse expediency with pragmatism. You can make a choice that provides immediate return and seems the pragmatic choice only to pay a higher price later. A person who commits a crime is getting some immediate reward but has an ever-increasing risk of being caught each time. He’s gambling. He’s also shitting where he eats by destroying the sense of trust in his community. Lying is similar. When you get caught in a lie, which is likely just a matter of time depending on how often you attempt it, you seriously undermine your reputation. Worse yet, if you lie now expecting some immediate gain from it, even if you correct yourself in the future, anything you say thereafter will be circumspect. Even when you get away with it, every lie you tell for some immediate benefit undermines your veracity because you know you’re a liar. Conversely, knowing in your heart that you are consistently honest and sincere shows through in the power of your convictions. It’s a rare talent to be able to lie convincingly.

(Read On…)