Did anyone catch Lew Rockwell on Fox’s Freedom Watch?
No!
I’ve seen a few episodes though. I’m not sure why Fox tolerates it. Just to keep Napolitono off the TV?
Found it:
Ok, well, here is the setup. Napolitano has this guy from OK, RJ Harris, who is running for Congress in the 4th District (OK) as a Republican. A Constitutional Republican.
Napolitano keeps referring to him as a libertarian, even the graphic they flash on screen says libertarian not Republican.
Anyway, Lew is on the phone, and as he is leaving gets to speak (eloquently as usual) about the state and political action. He makes a great case about avoiding political action and withdrawing ideological consent from the state. Basically, anarchism.
This guy running for Congress gets to respond later, and he goes off because Lew basically said, “don’t vote, don’t donate to politicians”.
Anyway, it was great. For all the crying certain libertarian groups do about LRC or Austrians, Lew reached more people on that broadcast than some of these other libertarian groups will reach in an entire year, and his message was just as radical as the biggest anarcho-fanatic.
Lew comes on a couple minutes into this segment
Then towards then end, the other guy gets going.
And it runs into this next segment,
Lew needs more airtime on the show.
I’m of the half full opinion. [:P]
I was wondering when Lew would finally say something radical (but honest). This is why I would rather have this show stay on the internet, because I don’t see how Lew would be allowed to make such radical statements on the airwaves.
I love how lew doesn’t tone down his rhetoric, but I wonder about its effect.
If anyone else were to say that the government was a “gang of thieves” we would assume it was hyperbole, because even though thats what government is, we know the speaker doesn’t actually want to treat them as criminals.
I wonder if lew describing things as they actually are makes him undecipherable to people used to langauge that never actually says what it means.
I saw it, the younger guy on that show seems to have agreed with Lew somewhat on the issue. I am of the opinion that the worst thing that could happen for libertarianism is for Republicans to start appealing to them and being strongly associated with the philosophy (more toxic than even being associated with Democrats). I think this is the strongest the movement has ever been, and it is a genuine “grass roots” thing right now, if Republicans absorb it, it will spell the death of anything significant that could happen in this country as far as the free market cause is concerned.
Let’s not kid ourselves. This isn’t a philosophical argument with other ideologies anymore. The ruling class has stopped arguing and has simply started seizing all power. (Maybe Hoppe’s argumentation ethics got to them and they realized the pointlessness of debating their position.)
The time has come to organize and mobilize the people, as many people as we can rally to us, and prepare for deliberate action. This is a race for our lives. If we don’t stop them this year then we will be enslaved.
And that is exactly what is happening right now. I just heard that stupid Sean Hannity guy talk about how Obama took us from free-market Capitalism to Socialism in less then 100 days. I’ve never heard such stupidity in my life. The media only knows conservatives or liberals. Any progress that will be made by libertarian movements will be capitalized by conservatives; like the tea parties.
I think someone said that web show had viewership around 150,000 (I could be wrong). If Lew only got through to 1 in 1,000, it is tremendous progress given that he only spoke for a minute or two.
I’m loving how radicalism is sneaking into the mainstream. Earlier in the show, Napolitano introduced Lew Rockwell as his mentor and some other flowery phrases. This is really great stuff.
Even if people regard it as hyperbole, this sort of language when repeated, has the habit of slipping into casual discourse. One of the most important things that we can do is to mock and expose the state.
Libertarianism of the Rockwell brand, and less so the Ron Paul brand (boy did he ever work his supporters up by mentioning secession on MSM) are too radical to become a part of mainstream conservatism, which today is mostly softcore militant nationalist fascism. You can see the lessons learned from decades of trying to break through, of catering to right and left in turn, from battles lost.
The rhetoric today is unapologetic, fearless and pointed. It’s not a lot of abstraction about liberty and theory. The state is a criminal, it’s power is the power of the gun, it is a violent institution. By keeping the debate on this focus, partisan ideology is completely meaningless. Even reformism is meaningless, which was Lew’s point in the video.
They can not absorb it. It’s not minarchism.
Do you really feel it is this dire? I see a lot of small victories laying the foundation for future glory. As you said, the statists can no longer afford gradualism, and the more radical they become, the more room there is for radical opposition.
The tea parties were never a libertarian expression. They were designed by closet conservatives, racists and minarchists. Thorsmitersaw went to remind people that taxes are theft, but generally they were about reformist politics with a substantial dose of white middle class frustration that Obama might be a muslim deceiver who is going to let up on foreign genocide.
We’re completely bypassing them. If you listen to the MSM, then you’re not tuned into revolution radio. It would be like going to an ice cream shop and ordering a steak dinner. The Hannities and Rushes of the world are gatekeepers. They lost the last couple elections, they might lose a couple more, and by that time, a lot of conservatives will have defected from the GOP. The GOP for all intents and purposes, is a dead horse, which is why Arlen Spector flipped shirt colours in the Senate. He’s the first carpet bagger, but he won’t be the last.
Turn off Hannity and start supporting libertarian media if you want to change things.
Everybody does know Lew Rockwell is on his show every week on Wednesday, correct? He wasn’t only on yesterday. Ron P. is also on every Wednesday as well as Peter Schiff. They may have missed one show, but that’s the extent of it. And that show has been on for over two months now I think.
Small victories where? In our rights? Is anything in our lives improving?
The only victory is that the establishment media is collapsing, but that doesn’t make our situation better, it just makes theirs worse.
You’re a few decades too late.
Small victories everywhere. Libertarian education, activism and participation is soaring for everyone engaged.
No, your rights still suck. But you’re not alone anymore.
I don’t know how you can see the swollen crowds at LvMI events, Ron Paul’s rally for the Republic, the proliferation of LvMI web clones around the world, and not see that the pushback, while in it’s infancy, has begun.