How Do We Change the System?

As a believer in anarcho-libertarianism, my views are more about society after achieving a libertarian society instead of stopping at a constitutional government. Due to this, I am always asked why would I want to think about that, or told I probably won’t be alive when the time comes so why discuss such an issue. In a way, I am in a minority within the growing minority that is the libertarian ideology.

Obviously, my ideology, and the entire base libertarian ideology, is shunned completely by the media and statist paradigm. I laughingly did a search for anarcho-libertarianism, and ended up with some guy’s rant about “anarcho-libertarians taking over the republican party.” Well, here is the thing. The guy obviously does not realize that libertarians and those of similar ideologies have been moving to co-opt the party for a while now. Ron Paul was a libertarian and has publicly come out as a voluntarist. He has made it his goal to push liberty within the party. The fact the site supports Romney displays his lack of understanding of freedom and individual liberty, let alone classical liberalism. Still it is good to ask two fundamental questions: Why would libertarians or anyone want to co-opt any political party? And does the efforts taken offer any intrinsic benefits, with or without success?

To change the system of government, we must first gain a much louder voice. A voice that simply "being that other party" tends to lack. Generally, we do not even have to switch parties to assist gaining that voice. There is a growing number of youthful individuals that have read Dr. Paul's works, and realized the current political hierarchy has screwed them over. They are the ones hearing the need for candidates that care about the next generation, and are running. Running to spread the message of liberty; and to remove the status quo from office. Win or lose, there are massive benefits that comes with their candidacy. They are educating those who have not been taught what liberty truly means, and the evil government has become.

Education has always been key to any campaign and political movement; especially, the liberty movement, as true understanding of the US constitution, let alone, people’s natural rights have been black-bagged and co-opted by government education facilities. Campaigns always need to get the word out on who the candidate actually is, and what they stand for. Since government education has robbed students from understanding their basic freedoms, liberty candidates have to work twice as hard as the usual “keep the ball rolling” candidates.

Liberty education is done through two processes, literature and voice. We need to offer liberty oriented content in all forms of written word possible. Recommending other content like internet radio, podcasts, and audiobooks are other great resources. This sounds easy, but spreading the message takes time and patience. Having a passion behind your efforts also helps.

A good way to spread both vocal and literary liberty content is through the use of social networking. I personally have turned my Facebook into a news blog of sorts due to my constant sharing of political news. Sharing news is a good way to educate people on the tyrannies of government and show why it isn’t needed. You can also share resources that promote self-education, self-reliance, and other media promoting liberty. Remember to also recommend books and physical literature.

Creating pamphlets and educational cards are other forms of literature to use. You can use both forms of media as a way to either promote one specific message, or promote the reader to expand their knowledge on multiple topics through resource links and suggested reading. You can also use cards as invitations to speaking events, or liberty oriented meetings. If you trust the people around you, book sharing is another option, but not always recommended due to various issues that can come up.

Being vocal can be the most powerful form of education, as your voice can project the passion you onto the listener. Stand up, speak your mind, and be heard. Let the power of your voice bring people to your campaigns, and learn the understanding of liberty. Create audio recordings, and podcasts of speeches given and share them with the public through mediums like Facebook, YouTube, etc. Creating podcasts, videos, and other media that allows the public to see and hear what you have to say.

Now, not everyone is good at projecting your voices and standing in front of a crowd. There are ways to boost your ability to do it though. You can take a college class on Public Speaking, speak-up during any meetings involved with, or even use your family and friends as practice audiences.

Liberty candidates have to do everything stated above, as well as explain to citizens why and how their way of thinking will benefit them. This can be hard due to the media’s lies, as well as poor education in economics and various other subjects. They need to spread who they are every chance they can, and almost everywhere they do. Make to to go around and talking to business owners; smallers news outlets; offer online newsletters; business cards; candidate specific websites; etc., all help. Getting candidates known wins races.

We also need to focus on getting established radio shows and networks like LRN.FM (Liberty Radio Network); Free Talk Live; 1787 Radio Networks; The Liberty Underground Show; Freedom Feens; Bad Quaker; Porc Therapy; etc., played on more radios; cell phones; and computers around this county. These are great to get random people interested in liberty, as they might find the current discussion topic odd and continue listening instead of switching to another station. Sometimes these listeners will call into a show and question the hosts on what they are talking about, and why they think the way they do.

With an increasingly louder voice we can accomplish quite a bit. Our ground game will become more effective. We will force the media to give our candidates; activists; protests; grievances; and most importantly the message of liberty the attention it deserves. It will get more people listening to the message. Even if they disagree with the message now, the message will stick with them. Sometimes the random person will do like a new listeners to a liberty-oriented radio show, and ask questions.

Changing the system we have now definitely must happen. It will take time, but our time is coming. We will restore the republic. We will become the nation our founding fathers created again. The liberty movement is pushing ahead, and picking up steam the more supporters we have. Our voices is starting to be heard in all corners of not just this country, but around the world. There is a growing push for liberty that has never been seen in history before.

Both the Republican and Democrat Parties are scared, trying to run our candidates into the ground, even if they are running within their parties. Educating the voting public is making the establishment quake in their boots. Local elections are being won, not just by election, but through opening minds. Things are progressing in ways the establishment never expected.

At the end of the day, our actions and determination to educate the voting public is what will bring liberty back to this country. The passion of the people involved will inspire those who follow the established shepherds to research and discover themselves.

This is How We Change the System.
   by Matthew Schnackenberg

Why Anarchists and Libertarians Need to Work Together.

In today’s media circus, It is a common that pundits call the Libertarian philosophy of limited government an “anarchist message,” because they cannot wrap their heads around the differences in philosophy. Unbeknownst to mainstream pundits, there is a difference between the libertarian philosophy and anarchist philosophy.

Those knowledgeable in political philosophies know that there it is a difference between the two philosophies. The Anarchist philosophy is the belief in no government; with believers want to see the state eliminated completely as soon as possible. The libertarian philosophy is to limit the size and power government has over the individual, without eliminating it completely.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a rift between Libertarians and Anarchists because of the differences in philosophy. Both sides believe in the non-aggression principle so arguments rarely escalate to violence, but even so both groups need to come together more in order to scale government down to the point where both sides can determine if or when to kill it off completely.

One argument I have heard from anarchists is that if enough people stop paying taxes, while stating their sovereignty, they will somehow be safe from the current state of world affairs.

Logically they are far from correct course of action. With the United States growing its totalitarian power anyone refusing to pay for the growing police state is bound to be thrown in prison for the rest of their lives without question. The private prison system would love to have a few more residents in their cells.

I understand that Anarchists believe government is evil, which it is, and hate doing anything involving government including voting. Here’s the thing, if you avoid all government interaction at this stage of the game, your fight to reduce and eliminate it is pointless. We need to scale government down at all levels; local; state; and federal. The only way to do this is if we run for election, and/or vote candidates that at minimum believe in limited government. The more libertarian and anarchist candidates scale government back the sooner the option to keep or eliminate government will come up.

Of course, educating the populace to understand the benefits of limited or stateless societies needs to happen while we scale government back. We need to educate as many people as we can so society matures to the point where it can manage on its own and survive when/if the thin wire of governance is snipped.

Let us work together, Libertarian and Anarchist, to tame the beast of government. Let us temporarily forget our differences, and bring liberty and prosperity back to this land once again.

A quick view on political philosophy

The federalist belief was to chain government mischief down with the constitution. The libertarian belief is to chain it down and break its legs. The philosophy of anarcho-libertarianism goes a bit farther and works to dismember the body of the beast of government a little at a time till society is mature enough to kill it completely. - Matt Schnackenberg

Tax Incentives and Energy by Matthew Schnackenberg

                Here in Florida a bill numbered HR 7117 is currently sitting on Gov. Rick Scott's desk. The bill is to provide tax incentives for companies and farmers in Florida to build renewable energy plants.  As a libertarian I do take issue to the idea of handing out money to any company as a subsidy or tax break. You want to do business within our state; you pay taxes like the rest of the companies in the state.

                Tax incentives for energy of any kind are not new. According to the firm Earth Track, the US federal government gives incentives to oil, coal, and nuclear companies ranging for an absurd $41 billion to much lower yet still unnecessary $6 billion. Compare this to the incentives of all renewable sources - which include wind, solar, hydro, and other sources - receive a modest $6 billion combined.  These numbers also do not include state and local subsidies.

                Now, I believe all incentives need to end completely, but unlike the wishes of those following the libertarian philosophy of limited government and free-market economies, there is no way this will happen anytime soon. As many people know, many Democrats will never back off their pushes for green energy subsidies as long as there are fossil fuel subsidies, and many Republicans tend to be knee deep in oil lobbyists' pockets so we will never see a push from their side to end oil subsidies.

                As a libertarian myself, I will be overjoyed if HR 7117 is vetoed as it will save taxpayers more of their hard-earned money. Of course, I never like to simply view situations like this from one prospective. A person can never truly be able to judge how things might play out if you hide yourself inside your philosophy and never look from the prospective of those affected by this bill.

                With the massive incentives stated above for oil and nuclear resources, there is an obvious display of favoritism when it comes to which resource our elected officials have chosen for us to use. This creates unbalance within the energy market and tilts it unfairly towards a select few energy sources artificially priced lower. This reduced competition and removed the consumer from the marketplace. 

                The most logical solution is of course the one that cannot currently happen; which is ending all subsidies so that the free-market decides which energy sources become the more prominent in society. This would allow for the most unsafe and costly sources of energy to either be revised to become more efficient or disappear from the market completely.

                Ultimately, the only solutions left is either allow the continued disparity in the energy market continued by favoritism caused by both the state and federal government or allow the state to at least allow a bit more balance to the energy market within the state of Florida. This is a very tough call to make as the taxpayers have already lost no matter which way Gov. Rick Scott goes. 

                While I personally dislike Rick Scott for his shady operation as governor of this state, I think I am willing to support his decision no matter which way he goes with this bill. Vetoing the bill eliminates additional taxpayer burdens, but does not allow for a fairer marketplace within our state that could easily create some much-needed jobs. Signing the bill into law will create more opportunities for job creation with new businesses opening, current businesses expanding operations, and more consumer choice, but at the cost of increased tax-burdens on the people. Both are fairly equal when weighing the positives and negatives revolving around this bill.

                From a libertarian's prospective, increased taxation is increased theft, but I have also seen how the government is already creating a huge disproportioned mess that disallows fair competition. Taxpayers are already burdened by the debt created by pre-existing subsidies that are bound to rise as oil prices raise due the dying Federal Reserve note aka the dollar. We should support a fairer market until we can eliminate all subsidies whether it is by slowly removing them one by one starting with the most burdensome or removing all federal subsidies at once by the elimination of the DOE. We should never support the government giving a wad of money to one market of companies and ignoring their competition. 

                History dictates that any internal improvement project and tax incentives at any level of government tend to end in dismal failure leading to massive debt. Sadly, we are at the age were internal improvements and tax incentives are everywhere. As libertarians and like-minded constitutionalists, we have a duty to be shepherds to lead this nation back to its roots. Along the way, we will have hard decisions to make, like supporting or disapproving bills like HR 7117. Our overall goal is a society and market free from government influence. As we battle towards our goal, we should consider ways to temporarily balance areas of the market until we can remove government completely. For Florida's energy market, HR 7117 could be that temporary answer until we can eliminate federal overreach.