Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Many thanks to Ben Lowrey for inviting me to come onto his program. We had a lovely discussion over cooperative communities, corporatism vs. the free market, the harm of the Drug War, and world events to come that will impact the liberty movement. Thank you Ben!

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“What will happen if the dollar collapses? Hyperinflation will then become worldwide. I said, If. I should have said, When. It is very near total collapse already. Once the house of card falls, it will fall very quickly indeed. Money will not be worth the paper it’s printed on.” — Swami Kriyananda

Ron Paul has been predicting this dollar collapse since he was elected to Congress in 1976. In fact, he was motivated to run for Congress after President Richard Nixon disconnected the U.S. Dollar from gold in 1971. Ron Paul’s record speaks for itself. However, don’t take my word for it. Please, watch this video and see for yourself:

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

How can we shift society to understand the importance of liberty?  

The best way to encourage a societal shift to a culture of liberty is to demonstrate a free society on a daily basis. The Free State Project and Southeast Liberty Project are two projects in the liberty-movement dedicated to bringing liberty-minded people together in one geographic location. This can increase activist mobility, effectiveness in changing local policies, etc. This is a good start.

Secondly, one must research economic history to understand that the wealth of society today has come through voluntary economic interactions. When looking at history through this liberty perspective, one will recognize that the chaos in history – whether it be economic panics, wars, or assaults on peaceful individuals – have largely been provoked by government policies.

Really, it’s akin to convincing people that before the War on Drugs, not everyone was shooting up heroin and smoking marijuana. If you suggest repealing the War on Drugs, someone may claim, “Then everyone would be doing heroin and cocaine!” A good response would be, “Is it the War on Drugs today that is keeping you and everyone else in society from doing heroin and cocaine?”

This is a movement that attempts to enlighten people to what individual liberty is through education and practice. We cannot shrink the size of government and end these overseas endeavors if we continue to believe the role of government is to protect us from cradle to grave, attack brown people in another country, and regulate every facet of our lives, businesses, and economy. For this vision of liberty to become a reality, people must individually awaken to the reality that they can take better care of themselves than the government, that they can interact with other human beings without government intervention, and that peace cannot be accomplished through a coercive government empire (such as what the U.S. has in place today).

This is currently a movement of education, practical solutions to reach a high-minded goal, and a dedication to practice the principles of peace, non-aggression, and voluntary cooperation in our daily lives.

Can Ron Paul Compromise and Bring People Together? 

The original Tea Party was organized by Ron Paul supporters in 2007, and it was a clear anti-war and anti-debt endeavor. The modern Tea Party movement inspired by Sarah Palin, etc., is not affiliated with the Ron Paul campaign. In fact, they generally support Herman Cain or other candidates who support more of the status quo.

Ron Paul received over 300 cosponsors – both Republicans and Democrats – for his Audit the Fed bill. Paul has worked with Dennis Kucinich, arguably the most Leftist member in Congress, on legislation to end the U.S. imperialism overseas. Paul currently has a growing amount of Democrat and independent support with the new Blue Republican initiative, which has received encouragement through the Huffington Post.

Ron Paul has proposed this as a very reasonable compromise: cut the militarism overseas (which will save hundreds of billions of dollars annually), and use those funds to tide over people who are reliant on government’s welfare programs. At the same time this is going on, give young people the option to opt out of these government programs. This naturally will result in a society focused on individual responsibility, self-sufficiency, etc. However, it would ensure that the elderly and all others reliant on government programs in the present would receive the care and funds that they need.

This is by far the best compromise I have heard from a presidential contender: cut the foreign spending, take care of people at home, and let people voluntarily opt out of the government programs if they so choose.

Paul has a clear record of reaching out to those who may disagree and coming together on common ground. He has done this despite being laughed at and mocked by Republicans in 2008; consider, also, that very few representatives in Congress have been willing to compromise and come together to the degree Ron Paul has since becoming a U.S. Congressman in 1976.

What about Barack Obama? 

One term of Barack Obama has done enough to show me that he is not any better than Republicans. If he did what he promised on the campaign trail in 2007 – end the Iraq War, abolish the PATRIOT Act, etc. – I would consider voting for him. However, his voting record as a Senator and record as President has proven him to be hypocritical in his campaign rhetoric.

Obama extended the PATRIOT Act until 2015, entered the U.S. into more wars, has brought no troops back to U.S. soil, has rapidly expanded spending and debt, hasn’t proposed or supported auditing the Federal Reserve, didn’t close Guantanamo, pushed the DOJ to go after medical marijuana dispensaries, supports the War on Drugs, continues to allow raids on raw milk firms, takes in multi-million dollar donations from corporations, supported the bailouts, etc. There’s nothing he’s done to earn my trust.

In short, I see the two parties as two heads off the same ugly, indefensible, tyrannical monster. Occasionally you’ll get someone like Ron Paul who cares more about principle than party, but it is extremely rare in a field as corrupt as politics.

I’d much rather vote for third party candidates such as Ralph Nader (who’s also worked with Paul), Cynthia McKinney (also worked with Paul), or Chuck Baldwin (worked with Paul) than a deceptive politician whose prime concerns are approval ratings and maintaining the status quo. A vote for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil.

Whether Obama or another Republican (other than Paul) gets elected, the dollar will collapse and the entire system as we know it will come to an unspeakable crash. Both political parties have expanded the wars, violated civil liberties, increased government control of the economy, and ignore the Constitution just about 100% of the time. Thus, it makes little difference to me if Obama or Romney, Bachmann, or Perry are elected. I will vote with my conscience and tell my children and grandchildren I did everything in my power to support Ron Paul and spread the message of liberty.

Will you join me? 

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There is no rule book or set constitution for communities to adopt. There is nothing mandating that communities have to be collective socialist communes where no one can so much as own their own shirt. Communities are basic structures, they are whatever people create of them. Some individuals might prefer a community that focuses on promoting entrepreneurship, others a community that centers on building birdhouses and widgets. Regardless of the intended community focus, the key concept is an intentional community provides a foundation for like-minded individuals to come together, collaborate, and work toward a common goal.

Libertarians often try to change things through a legislative process in government, which is a great and noble goal. However, the libertarian movement dedicated to individual liberty, free markets, and voluntary interactions must face the reality that the beast of an overextended government is not easily tamed. Focusing the majority of your energy to change an overextended government through the government may not be the best course of action. Libertarians, and all those dedicated to individual freedom and responsibility, must take it upon themselves to directly bring about an alternative lifestyle or society that promotes and protects libertarian ideals.

This is an area where libertarians can, believe it or not, learn from the Green movement. The Green movement has spent billions of dollars lobbying government and attempting to elect government officials who promise to promote environmental causes; this is a similar approach to many libertarian groups and movements today. What’s noteworthy, however, is how some in the Green movement have seen the need to do more than lobby government to achieve their goals of environmental stewardship, instead working to create voluntary ecovillage communities focused on environmental education and preservation. These ecovillage communities provide a hub for true environmentalists to come together to directly engage in environmental preservation, grow local food, and practice sustainable living techniques.

In the same way that some in the Green movement are starting ecovillage communities around the world, libertarians should shift their energy and consider beginning libertarian communities. Libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, and voluntaryists can do much more than just talk about the ideals of a truly free society, they can create a free society one person at a time. Two libertarian projects, The Free State Project and Southeast Liberty Project, are already using the principles of communities to further the goals of the libertarian movement. All great ideas and projects must start small; rather than trying to save an entire forest, start with saving several trees. Cooperative communities are a valuable addition to the libertarian tool chest; the tyranny of an overreaching government can be chiseled away by creating practical small-scale alternatives to the state.

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