The path to freedom is not clearly marked. To me, Liberty means freedom to act. Unless coercion is used, the actions of others cannot impede one’s own pursuits. I value a varied approach to achieving liberty, which is why I am disappointed to see Skeptikos go.
In his parting post, he references 3 bits of activism in which I took part (I made 2 of the 3 videos), and then claims that Ian’s disregard for some people’s criticism is the motivation behind “wildly irrational decisions” (read: “unpopular actions”).
Anyone can point out what is and is not popular. I realize that today violent solutions to complex social problems are more popular than peaceful ones, and that people dedicated to peace will face a chorus of discouragement. However, I’m encouraged by the words of Jack Kerouak when he said, “Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.”
The world is not molded by people who talk but by those who act. Since action reveals confidence in one’s ideas, my hope for Skeptikos as well as anyone with criticism is that his dismay will ignite a flame of action which burns brighter than ever before. Show me how it’s done. May you be guided from within rather than from without. Best wishes.
Will May is a great inside-the-system activist, and I’m sad to see him leave Free Keene. I invited him to blog here a long way back and he eventually took me up on the offer. Since then, he’s provided some really great content, despite the fact that unlike the rest of the bloggers here, he supports some level of coercion against peaceful people. Still, I thought it would be good to have someone blogging here who comes from a different perspective, and it was.
Sadly, he’s fallen into the trap that many politics-only activists have in the past. He has identified some activism that he doesn’t like (holding certain government workers accountable) and has decided that the reason he fails at his activism is because of the actions of other people that he can’t control. Since he’s frustrated, as he admits, he has decided to throw up his hands and call it quits from this blog.
Like many people who have decided that someone else is the source of their problems and frustration, he is lashing out verbally on the way out the door. (more…)
It’s a view you rarely never see on this blog, but it’s a view held by myself and a serious portion of liberty activists in the Keene area. (Not to mention the overwhelming majority of Keene residents.) Lately it’s been the senseless pestering of city bureaucrats, the quixotic school outreach, and his involvement in the war on grandmas. Yes, he does other things which are more legitimate and professional, but, for as long as I’ve been in New Hampshire, it seems that Ian has always been vocally supporting activism that’s jarringly wrong-headed.
I joined this blog in 2010 in order to openly criticize certain activist tactics that struck me as counterproductive. At the time, I was worried that the suppression of criticism was creating an atmosphere of groupthink— a situation where the systematic lack of criticism leads groups to make wildly irrational decisions. Since then, I’ve changed some hearts and minds with regards to criticism, and caused people to look twice at things they’ve taken for granted. This has been very satisfying.
But, where it really matters, I have failed. (more…)
Call John Webb from the Cheshire County (Keene, NH) Attorney’s Office and demand that Cheshire County does the right thing and drops the criminal charges against Ian Freeman, Derrick J. Freeman, and Kelly Voluntaryist for their peaceful actions taken at the Cheshire County Superior Court on Monday, February 27. (more…)
I was grateful to have the opportunity tonight to appear as a guest with A New Way of Life‘s Susan Burton on “Reentry Radio” and discuss with her and co-host Ed Garrett the idea of not taking plea deals. Susan is the lady who was featured in the excellent New York Times piece, “Go to Trial – Crash the Justice System“.
After I saw the article I reached out to share with her that what she wanted to see happen was already happening here in New Hampshire – people refusing to take the plea deal and loading the system up with cases. I linked her to our downloadable, printable trifold, “Don’t Take the Plea Deal“, which exists in both a NH and national version.
A couple of days later, I was contacted by Ed Garrett, who is also on her show, and invited to come talk about the flier and what we are doing up here. It was a detailed conversation about the risks and potential rewards of not taking the plea deal, and we covered a lot of ground in about an hour, including talking briefly about Jury Nullification, the Free State Project, and more.
While hundreds more voters did come out to vote in this year’s school board election, (in comparison to last year) the supermajority of registered Keene voters decided to abstain. Only 2266 people cast a ballot last week in Keene. (16.2% of 14,402 registered voters) The people in the state society claim as justification for their aggressive actions that “we voted for them”, but that’s hardly if ever true. Most people don’t vote. However, that doesn’t stop them from foisting their violent system on us. This is why any plans to stop voting will not stop the aggression. Just look at any town where 0% turn out (it happens). The government people don’t take this as non-confidence in their system, but instead they see it as an endorsement that the voters just think everything is peachy, so they just go right on oppressing people. The only thing that will stop them is noncooperation.
Of those who voted, 11.5%, or 262 people, voted for me. That’s with virtually no campaigning and a radical message of turning ownership of the schools over to the teachers and staff. Thanks to everyone who voted for me – no matter what your reasons.
Will May is a great inside-the-system activist, and I’m sad to see him 
I was grateful to have the opportunity tonight to appear as a guest with 
