The Libertarian Heathen

March 29, 2017

In my experience, those who claim to be the arbiter of “who is a Libertarian” tend to be the least Libertarian people I know. I have great friends with a more left-Libertarian or anarchist view, and we all consider each other Libertarian. Our differences make for sarcastic humor on Facebook, and great debates over beers.

I think if you want to be fair, it is pretty obvious the former LPF Chair created any and all of the PR issues people blame on Augustus. Had he not gone on the crusade, it would have been a pretty run of the mill campaign, but for some metalheads, punk rockers, a few pagans, and (gasp!) maybe a few guys with ’40s era haircuts voting for the LP for the first time.

Adrian Wylie, disgraced former Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Florida, literally created all the negative press, which Paul Stanton, the cultural Marxist wing of the LP, and Adrian’s cronies kept alive. The blame for any bad public relations can be laid squarely on them and their ANTIFA supporters who keep the wounds open.

Everyone expects the other party to mudsling in an election, but when your own does it there is an extra air of legitimacy that made the whole controversy larger than life. I am pretty sure nobody thought the LP was full of Nazis before the disingenuous opponents of Augustus Invictus had a slanderous orgy of ad hominem insult.

At least we learned through the experience that the party – all the way up to and including the National Chairman – is rife with cultural Marxists and ANTIFA terrorists, and we can now purge them – pun intended. Nick Sarwark refused to condemn the threats against the Mid-Atlantic Liberty Festival, as he refused to retract his support for the Berkeley rioters.

What Will Coley said about his debate in a video widely circulated on social media was perfect. If you wish to repudiate someone for ideas with which you disagree, stifling debate is the worst thing you can do. Put the conflict front and center, and let the body politic hear both sides. For those who do not like my friend Augustus, they should be comfortable with the idea Coley is more than qualified to give Mr. Invictus a run for his money. It will be a great debate, and I look forward to it.

I cannot refute in strong enough terms this idea that debating an opponent somehow gives them credibility. I think the entire concept represents a lie told by those who know their opinion is based in emotion, and cannot bear rational or factual scrutiny. The only mechanism by which you “give credibility” to someone through debating them is when their views defeat the opponents view. Thus, we can only assume the opponents of the upcoming debate at Mid-Atlantic Liberty Fest do not carry the strength of their convictions. They diminish the credibility of themselves, not bolster that of Augustus Invictus.

The shameful spectacle of protest and attempted boycotts, which morphed into threats of violence, forcing the cancellation of the first venue for the Mid-Atlantic Liberty Festival, do real harm to the libertarian movement. We have spent years fighting for debate access, demanding others give the Libertarian Party credibility.

The Republicans and Democrats find all sorts of excuses to oppose our ability to debate them. “The LP are not a legitimate political party!” “The LP represents a small fringe political movement, and are not a real party!” “Libertarians are crazy people who want free drugs and no roads!”

They sound exactly like those trying to prevent Augustus Invictus from debating Will Coley. “Augustus is an extremist!” “Augustus is not a real Libertarian!” “Augustus is a fascist!”

It is a sad and pathetic display of hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty. The longer I am in this party, the easier it is becoming to determine who is a “real libertarian”. Real libertarians are fighting the state, not joining ANTIFA in quixotic witch hunts against imaginary Nazis and fascists. Real libertarians love to debate; even argue! They might even go out back and settle it without making a NAP motion if they lose. They carry the courage of their convictions and will not try to destroy an event, but will rather champion their own viewpoint. They will call me brother regardless of who I am friends with, because they know the shackles of slavery weigh equally as heavy on a white nationalist, a reformed Republican, or a left-wing libertarian. They fight for the issues they believe in, and let me fight for mine if we disagree, and we earn each other’s respect – not for adherence to rigid dogma, but for being here, in the trenches, fighting. Fighting while others forge their own chains. Fighting while others seek favor from the slavemaster.

Civil debate and discourse are essential to the elevation and progression of political science. It is the means by which we chart our course through the dark night that is slowly setting in. It is the means by which we can create consensus, or exhaust a philosophical or ethical contradiction and agree to disagree. Anyone who does not understand this concept is the enemy of liberty. They are the problem, and not the solution, and represent the only members of the party who are “not a libertarian”.