Peter Quinones

So, Tell Me, ‘Do You Hate the State?’

This is a simple question. One you should ask yourself often (some of us ask and answer it everyday). Murray Rothbard’s short article quoted in the title is a masterpiece, but was written in 1977. The last remnants of the gold standard had just been done away with and the remaining soldier/diplomats in Vietnam had come home a couple years prior. We are living in a different world but the question is as relevant today as it was in 1977, maybe a little more so.

Afghanistan is the longest war in American history and is responsible for the death, maiming and torture of countless tens of thousands of Afghanis. That number could be over 100,000 and the people who started it, and refuse to end it, will make sure we never know the real total. The Americans who are sent to fight in Afghanistan suffer the same fate – killed, maimed and sometimes tortured. Often times that torture is mental, in some cases caused by “following orders” of the State, and has resulted in 22 veterans a day committing suicide. Of course those veterans not only served in Afghanistan but also Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Ethiopia and on and on. No matter what you’ve been told, soldiers aren’t peacekeepers. They serve one purpose. Expansion of elitists’ power. By defending and supporting the State, you defend what soldiers are sent there to do.

Many Americans continue to be locked down in their homes. Businesses have been forced to close or operate using guidelines that make it impossible to remain open (“It’s a private business, bro, they can do what they want!” Except open I guess). Wealth has been decimated. Stores that have been open for generations are gone. And if you point this out, people run to default responses like, “you don’t care that people are dying,” or, “you want to see my grandma dead!” But when peer-reviewed studies disputing that lockdowns had any effect are highlighted by “Cathedral” news outlets, they are ignored. The experts are telling you they got it wrong, but they’re not apologizing. Why? Because they don’t care that you lost your nest egg, home, business or loved one to suicide. By defending and supporting the State, you defend the “experts” who did this.

So, they got the lockdowns wrong, the masks are shown to be ineffective, and it has been ten months of a two-week lockdown to “flatten the curve.” After all of the chaos and guessing on their part, after governors sent the infected back into nursing homes to spread the virus to the demographic most affected by it, after every measure they took harmed people more than it helped, they expect us to trust a rushed to market vaccine developed by companies who suffer no liability if it’s ineffective or harmful. And this is where libertarian/anarchists/whatever drop the ball. Medical freedom is one of the most important issues to sovereign individuals and so many are afraid to advocate for it lest they be called kooks or “anti-vaxxers.” If you do not have the ability to decide when and what can be put in your body are you free? Please stop and answer the question. I don’t care that the State exists and claims ownership over the commons. That’s just autistic, Libertarian BS! Are you really free if you can be forced to accept something into your body you don’t want there? Maybe ask a rape victim? “bUt iT’s A pRiVaTe cOrPoRaTioN rEqUiRiNg it! Shut the hell up! By defending and supporting the State, you defend its ability to force anything it wishes into your body and use “private companies” to do it.

I could go on and on with examples but I hope these hit close enough to home. Most people know someone lost, hurt or traumatized by the “terror wars.” Many know, or are themselves, the people destroyed financially and/or emotionally by the lockdowns. And I hope most of you are questioning a vaccine that would almost assuredly have gone through several more trials and tests even in a “libertarian society.” Again, do you hate the State? Do you see costumed morons running around the Capitol building where all of these horrors are planned and clutch at your pearls? If you do, if that’s your first impulse, you’re on the side of the blood-soaked monsters. Why would you want to be there?

Libertarian Messaging For 2021: Part 2

Let’s just jump right in since you can go to part 1 and see my yada, yada qualifications and such. Here’s the Tweet:

Screenshot 20201204 070450 Twitter

End all corporate bailouts/welfare

For those of you who remember the great recession of 2008, or have read about it in books such as Tom Woods’ classic, Meltdown, you recall that the majority of the people were against the bank bailouts. Did that stop your “betters” in DC from bailing out their biggest campaign donors? No, it did not. Did any of you who lost a house or savings or any wealth you worked your ass off for get a bailout? None of us did. And the elite power brokers, working in tandem with the politicians you elected, grew richer.

This year those same people told you to stay home, be afraid and threatened you if you left your house. Many people have defaulted on their homes. Others have lost their nest egg. Even more are suffering psychological damage due to isolation. When the CARES Act was passed, what was there for you? $1,200? If 100,000,000 people received that amount, that is one hundred twenty billion dollars. If 2.2 trillion was given out, where did the other 2.08 trillion go? To corporate cronies who saw record profits in 2020 while you were wallowing in lock-down misery.

When you realize that this is how crisis’s always play out, how can anyone with a straight face ever say we have a free market again. You’ve been had people. This corporate welfare must end. There was no welfare for the small business owner who was devastated in 2020 and continues to be with no end in sight. End this!

Support self-defense by armed citizens against rioters and/or cops

As more people grew to see that the government was their enemy this year, beginning in the end of May, many in certain areas saw a greater threat where the state stepped in and told good people that if you act in self-defense, we will prosecute you. The riots that started in the wake of the death of George Floyd were a perfect example of how not only are police, and the government, not here to protect you, but they will actively persecute you if you seek to protect yourself from roving mobs of criminals. The very nature of self-defense outside the law allows you to use as much force as needed to protect yourself, your family and your property.

That was taken away from certain groups even in states where gun ownership is prolific (Washington, Oregon). These politicians and power-brokers must never be allowed to do this in the future, AND, should be held accountable for their recent actions.

Many this year have also woken up to the fact that not only are the police not here to protect them, but in many cases will actively follow the decrees handed down by politicians without question. This includes enforcing laws in which there is no victim but allows police to escalate conflict, up to and including violence and even murder. In the case where a police officer is putting the life of innocent people in jeopardy, armed citizens must be allowed to protect themselves, or another. This is logical and accords with natural law. Without the ability of sovereign individuals to be able to protect themselves from government workers trespassing upon their rights, we must admit that we live in a police state where every encounter with a state agent is a hostage situation.

Resist the cathedral always

So, what is the “Cathedral?” It has three parts but the first must be explained in order to understand how they work with the other two. The first is what I refer to as the “Public Servant State.” That is, the millions of public “servants” who have positions of power no matter what party controls the White House, congress or the judiciary. We’re talking specifically about those employees at the State Department, CIA, FBI, Pentagon, etc., who wield power and influence no matter who the show pony in the White House is. In the last four years many have come to call them the “Deep State.” They plan the wars, make policy and never suffer any consequences.

How do they do this? With the help of the other two groups, the corporate press and the universities. In recent history, many people, especially those who identify with the Right, have come to have a radical distrust for all three. Many have woken up to the fact that the press is a mouthpiece for the CIA. Watch panels on every cable news station and there is almost always a “former” CIA or FBI agent present. Many just don’t trust the corporate media anymore. Add in the universities where more and more parents are waking up every day to the fact that they are indoctrination centers in which their children are being brainwashed to embrace Marxism and socialism which inevitably leads them to looking to the State as their mommy or daddy and you see how they work together.

Thaddeus Russell shows in his forthcoming book on American foreign policy that every war in the 20th century saw its genesis in the halls of academia. Thomas Sowell, a Harvard graduate, is quoted as saying, “in any great disaster, there’s a Harvard man in the middle of it.”

These three working together must be called out constantly and there is no better time to communicate this as there is now, even more so than 5 years ago, a segment that knows that this collusive force is dangerous and must be resisted.

Libertarian Messaging For 2021: Part 1

This is a continuation of my pieces on the LP and what it would take for me to support them. The great Dave Smith made a Tweet yesterday in which he laid out what the libertarian message should be for 2021. Since he is confined to 280 characters by Twitter I thought I’d go through each and say how I would communicate them in a little detail. Here’s the Tweet. I’m only going to hit the first three points today.

Screenshot 20201204 070450 Twitter

End the lock-downs immediately and open the economy completely

Where in the hell do politicians have the right to tell you that you can’t leave your house and open your business or go to work, and if they do have this right, how do you still believe you live in a “free country?” If they do, change that right now! This is the most tyrannical period a “free people” have ever experienced in this country and that’s not being hyperbolic. After 9/11 you were allowed to leave your houses, encouraged to engage in commerce and 3,000 people were slaughtered in one day! Open your eyes to what has been done to you and take notice of how the culture has changed around you. Fear has become the front and center spirit of the zeitgeist and you are not seeing it. If you have children who are in their formative years what do you think the lasting effects of this prison of the body and mind is having on them? Why have you allowed politicians you know deep in your heart are corrupt to destroy your finances and everything you’ve worked so hard to build?

End all foreign wars

You are being ruled by blood-soaked monsters. The majority of you believe that US troops do not belong in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Most of you don’t even know about the continued wars/bombing in Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Chad, Niger and so many others. Is this where you want the wealth extracted from your pay to go to? Can you even find these countries on a map? Do you trust those politicians you know are corrupt to have your best interests at heart when mounting these military actions, some of which technically could be called genocides? How does it make you feel to know that while you are having your wealth decimated by government imposed lock-downs, etc., that Boeing, Northrop Grumman and other “private” companies are getting rich off of your tax dollars because they build the bombs, planes and ordinance needed to keep these so-called military actions” going? Why is the military protecting people in other countries while the enemy at home, the government who has stopped your life because of a virus, is ignored?

Audit/End the Fed

My fellow Americans, why is an unaccountable, secretive organization in charge of the money supply when your beloved Constitution says that is the job of the Congress who, if they aren’t doing their job properly, you can fire through your vote? Do you even know what the Federal Reserve does? It literally creates money out of thin air. The more money there is, the more worthless it is. If you had what you thought was a rare book, and all of a sudden a stash of 100,000 copies were found, how much is your “rare” book worth now? That is a simple example of what has happened with Federal Reserve money creation. When the 2.2 trillion dollar CARES Act was passed earlier this year (did you vote on that by the way?), do you think that money was sitting in a vault somewhere? No, that was created with key strokes on a computer. Do you think 2.2 trillion dollars being pumped into the economy will not eventually affect the value of the dollars you hold? The Federal Reserve is the enemy of your prosperity and must be first audited, so you can see the damage they’ve done, and then ended when you come to the realization that you’ve been had!

More to come on messaging for 2021.

The Libertarian Party Will Never Have Political Power

Just give it up already. Those who are holding onto the dream that the LP will be able to wield any significant political, or cultural power have not thought this through. An ideology of non-aggression and voluntary interactions has no place in the political sphere unless they are willing to become like the other two parties. Their message is that we are not like them. It is one of incompatibility when it comes to Machiavellian power structures.

The purpose of politics is to seize power and centralize it to your party. The Left knows how to do this even when they aren’t in power and the Right fails even when they hold all the cards. As Curtis Yarvin puts it,

“Progressives see power as an end; conservatives see power as a means to an end. As soon as conservatives get even a sliver of power, they start trying to use this power to create good outcomes. This is irrational.

The rational way to use power is the progressive way: to make more power. Your power grows exponentially. Eventually you have all the power, and can get all the outcomes you want.

There is not one progressive idea which does not yield a power dividend. I cannot think of a conservative idea that does. If one did, the progressives would steal it. Then the conservatives would persuade themselves to oppose it, and all would be well.”

Anyone paying attention knows this. In our lifetimes the Left has grown their power – especially over the culture – to an insurmountable level. The Right has become what the Left was 25 years ago, and they always play catch-up. I hear echoes of Michael Malice saying, “Conservatism is Progressive driving the speed limit.”

What does this all mean for the Libertarian Party? It should be obvious. What is described above IS politics. It is the dirtiest, slimiest, most reprehensible way of gaining power over mankind. To argue against that is to be naive beyond measure. An ideology promoting the Non-Aggression Principle entering into the American political realm is like a kindergartener entering a UFC match. The outcome is inevitable.

And don’t think I’m just talking about the 202-area code. No, local politics is just as bad. If you’re walking in there as “the good guy” the inevitable “bad guy” will rear their head and take you out. And if you’re a Libertarian and you are “consistent” in your ideology, you won’t fight dirty because once you do you are out of the realm of libertarianism. You’ve just became “The Swamp” (even the local Swamp).

Once you understand this you realize that the old argument about whether the purpose of the Libertarian Party is one of “education” or “getting people elected” to institute political change is easily answered. You are a party of education. And one that will always be a joke in the eyes of those who understand the Machiavellian nature of politics. But is education even possible if you won’t do what it takes politically to even get on a debate stage ignoring the inability to centralize all power to you if you do get elected?

Maybe there are better ways to spend your time rather than tilting at windmills.

The ‘Private’ Dilemma

There is an issue that “Libertarianism” refuses to take a nuanced approach to that will inevitably further marginalize it in the eyes of the general public. When it is brought up the “consistent” libertarian/anarchist retreats into the world of informal fallacies, most notably the “false dilemma” fallacy, in which it is assumed by the participant that there are only two opinions to hold on the presented subject. This is usually characterized by canned answers such as, “they’re a private company bro, they can do what they want,” when a company is allegedly acting on its own accord, and in one example, temporarily bans the nation’s oldest newspaper from their platform.  

When people such as this author presents evidence that a certain platform will delete accounts on the orders of the American and Israeli governments, they are met with the same vapid response about private companies, yadda, yadda, yadda. In the mind of some who claim to be all about private property, but also preach an anti-State message, it becomes clear they haven’t given consideration to the fact that government actors (GAs) have planned out these schemes with the express intent of making it so that the libertarian/free market type is forced into a corner of not wanting to abandon their principles while GAs construct a system of tyranny around them that they refuse to criticize. 

What is even more maddening is that when someone tries to sound the alarm on this loophole the GAs have found, many are met with the insane response that they want the government to do something about it so that makes them statists. Did you hear what they said? The government is the one using this to their advantage. Can thought lacking nuance be abandoned for five seconds so that a third way can possibly be found besides the two that have been defaulted to?  

How about loudly speaking out against this arrangement (GAs)? Unfortunately, many are not only so steeped in one mode of thinking when it comes to that “private company bro,” but they also may not want to be seen as being “anti-business” like their blood-enemies the socialists. Where is that going to leave you? Technically, the monopoly power provider in a certain neighborhood may decide they don’t want to do business with the local “white supremacist” (whatever that means anymore). If they turn their power off in 100-degree heat is it just a “private company bro?”  

Libertarian/ANCAPS need to address this exploding phenomenon of government using “private” companies as a shield to carry out their war on everything from free speech to mask enforcement. At present, the Right is ramping up efforts to repeal Section 230 which would effectively allow the government to regulate social media platforms, or any contribution sites, as if they’re the public square. This author sees the government as the problem in almost all instances and never the solution. That does not mean these “private” companies should be let off the hook for their collusion. On the contrary, everyone needs to start calling them out on it. That would be a good start for the “libertarian.” 

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