This is the Great Libertarian Moment: Are You Ready?

The time is finally here, folks.

Unfortunately, the mood isn’t one which calls for the joyous Ron Paul “it’s happening” meme.

We are looking down the barrel of the most disastrous scenario for individual rights since the Japanese were unlawfully interned under Roosevelt. With the globe under the threat of a new virus which we can’t seem to get in front of, the people are panicking… libertarians included.

Within panic lies is the opportunity for government – any government – to infringe rights with the public’s approval. We, as libertarians, believe that 99.99% of people cannot take rights from the 00.01%. Unfortunately, this happens all the time, be it guns, assembly, speech, and on and on.

Was anything ever done about the rampant 3^rd Amendment violations committed during Hurricane Katrina during the Bush administration? No, nothing was done.

During a time of crisis, we said the government can take property for military activities (quartering of troops). Given that we willfully gave up the 3^rd, why won’t we give up the 1^st or the 2^nd amendments? The propaganda is already out there which seeks to get patriots to stand down, as it’s okay when Trump does it because he’s using this chance to go and get the bad guys. You’d like to think people aren’t so foolish to think that when we’re quarantined there will be a global mission to take down bad governments and pedophiles. But people believe the Earth is flat, Michelle Obama is a transvestite, and that we are ruled by a race of reptilian overlords.

If you have faith in the general intelligence of others, you are going to be disappointed.

If we have an election this year, Libertarians are going to have to be the ones standing on a lonely island. The rhetoric from Democrats and Republicans is going to be to cast blame at the vulnerable and then back at each other. They will talk about closing borders, nationalizing healthcare, putting regulations in place to keep us safe, limiting travel, expanding TSA screenings to include quarantine powers, injecting the economy with cash, raising taxes on the rich, expanding transfer payments, increasing government jobs so there will be greater job security for more Americans, and on and on and on. Some of those will be proposed by Democrats and some will be proposed by Republicans. Some they will mutually agree on.

We need to be the ones to blame both of them. We need to be the ones who let our constituents know about members of Congress dumping stocks following a briefing in late January. We need to be the ones who make people aware that the economy collapsed because of the Democrats and Republicans. We need to make the point that their ridiculous power grab and childish taunting of one another made finding an early solution an impossible endeavor. Libertarians must make it absolutely clear that these bastards love themselves far more than they love us and far more than they love this country.

Pandemics are difficult to prepare for, and this one caught us off guard. What should anger us to the core of our being is that with $23 trillion in debt and government involved in every aspect of American life, they didn’t prepare for this. Trump decimated our pandemic response abilities in 2018 while simultaneously presiding over further handouts to the military industrial complex. Through all of his administration’s lauded regulation cuts, he failed to cut the regulations which stifle our medical community. This reckless spending which has been going on for two straight decades has made it so there is no safe place for people to put their money. Savings account interest rates fail to keep up with inflation, forcing people into an unstable market for any chance to create a retirement. Tariffs had already damaged agriculture and increased food prices prior this madness. What will it cost to feed a family of four next year?

Libertarians must make it clear that the reason so many people are vulnerable, the reason why so many people died who didn’t have to, and the reason why we will have descended into a recession, is government. Our government is so busy trying to do everything that they cannot properly manage public safety. Instead of bombing umpteen countries, maybe we should have had a large supply of ventilators for use in a respiratory-based outbreak? Instead of paying millions of people to stand around and look useful, maybe we should have cut spending and preserved the value of the dollar? Maybe instead of overregulating state governments, the federal government should have created sound standards and practices for managing an outbreak while allowing for society to proceed normally? Maybe if Congress wasn’t in the pocket of Big Pharma, people wouldn’t worry so much about getting a vaccine? Maybe if congressional seats weren’t sold to the highest bidder, we would have had the moral compass to manage a crisis?

When the smoke clears, it is my desire that Libertarians will campaign on these ideas and be the voice of reason in a world gone mad. To gain that level of trust, though, we have to start now.

While the rest of the nation is hiding, and living in fear of the next day, libertarians need to be the ones who are out doing. We need to be pillars of strength for our families and our communities. If you take this opportunity and seize it, our communities will begin to know what we’re about. We are not about leaving people to suffer. The libertarian message is one of compassion and charity. Our message is of service to one another in a voluntary fashion because it is the right thing to do.

This is the time to start food drives, to reach out to seniors, to make sure infants and children have necessities, and to make sure everyone stays calm. We need to make moves to stimulate local economies and keep people working. We need to be visible. We need to be uniting and not divisive, because if there was ever a time to make the case that it is a battle of average people against a disturbingly unethical ruling class, the time is now.

It is time for us to become leaders, because our leaders are about to be exposed for the hypocritical, self-serving bastards they are. It is not something which we should isolate as one side or the other, as they are on the same side; the side which opposes everyday people and the health and financial security of our families.

Be a leader.

Take a stand.

Make it known that you’re mad as hell, and you’re not going to take it anymore.