A Rededication

As I mentioned in my last post, despite the great recession, in the late Oughts libertarianism seemed to be on the rise.

Obama was going hard left, especially in the first two years with a Democratic Congress, and paired with the blow-back from the excesses of the post-9/11 security state and Edward Snowden's revelations, I'd argue some healthy skepticism of government began to take root.

End the Fed activists got at least as much attention as OWS and the Tea "Party" folks, acknowledging all their other flaws, at least opened dialogue about better tax policy. Weed got more legal. Civil rights were getting tragic but necessary airtime. In some way things little "l" libertarian seemed to be looking up.

But I fear at some point, between 2012 and 2016, some elements of that libertarian movement, and the generally-smaller-government-GOP lip service people, began to be interpreted by some more extreme fringes as being an anti-government movement.

And that has been noticed by the Trump organization.

A guy like Trump, who needs cover to do Russian things like hollow out the State Department (our spies), found value in the anti-government masses.

--

I'm only now beginning to fulfill my promise back in 2010 when I founded this site to post more often. For various reasons I was never able to start.

Or maybe you can say I only appear on the internet when there's real drama, kinda like how Roger Rabbit can slip out of handcuffs only when it's funny.

I'm not some libtard with Trump Derangement Syndrome or whatever weaponized nonsense is floating around Twitter today.

I believe in the 2nd Amendment (and the safe, responsible gun ownership that this right requires).

I believe in less government, not zero, mind you, but reduction the minimal amount necessary to enforce our rights and freedoms that our outlined in the Constitution and the principles that founded this country and run through the threads of case law that built our once great and free society.

I support sensible deregulation and lower taxes and debt reduction and many of the things Republicans used to stand for economically.

And I'm here to tell you that Donald Trump does not support these things.

Oh, sure, he talked a big game to tax cuts, but in the end Trump lost interest and settled for some direct handouts to close associates rather than the widespread restructuring that GOP Classic had been pining for.

The NRA is nothing to Trump but a vehicle for Russian spies to infiltrate the GOP. I mean, have you ever seen Trump hold a gun? Even Obama knew how to hold a rifle.

Trump has personally and in policy been running up the debt as only a failed real estate mogul could. His tariffs are the archaic relics of the time when patriots were throwing legit tea parties, and they're impacting our economy negatively through inflation this very minute (an inflation Trump seems oddly okay with, given his criticism of the Fed's moves to contain it).

Oh, and he basically sold out the entire fucking country to our decades-old rival Russia led by the perfect embodiment of everything a freedom-loving American should be against.

--

Look, I get it.

You signed on early at some point because you hated Hillary (like I did, so much so that I threatened to leave the country if she won back in 2008. The Clintons and their imprudently-outdated seizure of the DNC bear some responsibility for this mess, let's be real).

Or maybe you bought in on any number of stops, when he talked about bringing back your job or talked about loosening the reigns on the internet or talked in a way that pissed off liberals so thoroughly (which, I'll gladly admit, the night of the 2016 election I felt a little pang of joy that Hillary lost. I voted Gary Johnson. I regret now both that feeling and that vote).

But what you must realize is that Trump only took advantage of these sentiments. He doesn't believe in these only-vaguely Republican things he says. It's largely little more than talk. He speaks more clearly by his actions, and his actions only align with his GOP promises when they serve one of two things: his own enrichment and/or the benefit of Putin.

So, with this in mind, I hereby rededicate this site to outreach.

Between now and Tuesday November 6th, 2018, I intend to lay out all the reasons why Donald Trump is no Republican, no libertarian, no small government advocate, and no American.

I intend to offer a refuge from past mistakes, a candle signal in a window, a car waiting outside the cult compound with the engine running ready to spirit you away to freedom.

I have a great many conservative family members and friend and colleagues and former colleagues and, unfortunately, former friends. I've observed several otherwise-reasonable libertarians follow down this dark path, often with good intentions. Guys, if you're out there, you must... MUST take a moment to look around and see what's going on.

Trump is no Republican, no conservative, and certainly no patriot. He's not someone who you'd trust to run your business or recommend to you an accountant or to marry your daughter. No mea culpa necessary, just honestly ask yourself if it's true.

But it's not too late. You're not all in yet. If you want deregulation, or tax cuts, or jobs, we can work it out, but only if we reject this dire attack that is currently, actively underway. Winter is coming. This is bigger that R vs. D, it's bigger than your next real estate deal or lobbying victory or your plans to retire next year.

It's a battle for the very existence of this wonderful, beautiful, flawed like any other but fucking free country. Make no mistake, this is a fight for the continued existence of the United States of America.

We need you.

America needs you.

Afterward, we Americans can agree (or agree to disagree) on the issues that face us, and still have a country in which to conduct this business and argue these issues and peaceably, freely, and proudly thrive like we have for 240 years before Donald Trump was (maybe) elected to the most powerful office in the free world.

Those of you who still support this fraudulent little "p" president, I implore you, I entreat you, please, take one minute, just 60 seconds, to look deep in your heart and ask yourself: are these tax cuts, these walls, these momentary gains, these comforting but somehow wrong feelings really worth it?

Is it worth it to allow ripping children from their mothers' arms? Those same mothers that worked as your nannies and your day laborers and your cooks for so many prosperous decades?

To violently separate your country from all the great nations of the world, where many of you still have dear friends and family?

To rub salt into the racial wounds that had
been
so
fucking
close to healing?

To cede dominance on the world stage as a guardian of liberty and a refuge for all persecuted people, regardless of national origin?

Are these things that Trump will inevitably fail to deliver (because, above all, he is a proven serial failure) really worth becoming the last generation to know a free, sovereign, happy United States of America?

The Battle for the Soul of Libertarianism is the Battle for the Soul of America

America is unwittingly engaged in a Second Civil War.

It doesn't have borders or battle lines or jumpy ol' minstrel tunes but this evening, as papers are shuffled and keyboards are clicked in the dimly-lit corridors of the Federal Government, the country that you and I and nearly everyone you know grew up in is no less at risk of being eliminated than it was the day that South Carolina voted to secede.

The government is being changed, not just in policy but in its very structure, in culture, in personnel and in purpose, in such a significant way that, unless some base of opposition coalesces via the 2018 midterm elections, be it from the left or the right (I'm looking at you, John Kasich), the United States of America will make a significantly dark shift toward a radically different, fundamentally totalitarian government structure, form, and existence.

Wait, I Thought Libertarians Were On The Trump Mega Cruise Travelling At Unsafe Speeds Through Icy Waters Of The North Atlantic!?!

Reason Magazine declared 2008 was the libertarian moment. Right-leaning libertarians more similar to the Tea Partiers really entered the public view around that time, at the tail end of the Bush Administration. Rand Paul and Jeff Flake and a few other vaguely libertarianish mainstream candidates were rising and it looked like a more radical, un-Bush, young, conservative-but-cool movement was rising to prominence.

But the free movement of people across borders and free trade and free association and free expression are libertarian foundations as well. They're also American values. The America that both welcomed and compelled countless immigrants and slaves to its shores. The America that offered refuge from, say, the pogroms of Imperial Russia that still exist in living memory. 

I began calling myself a libertarian when I learned the term because, by its simple definition, libertarian seems to be the spirit and inspiration behind the founding principles that guided our Constitution.* The term itself is only a few decades old, and has been completely bent out of shape since Reason's announcement of mainstream acceptance, yet I don't feel its meaning has been lost.

Libertarianism, simply stated, is a surprisingly uneasy marriage of conservative economic beliefs and liberal social or civil rights positions. Libertarians generally believe the government has a specifically limited, not anarchic, but limited and vital role to play in our society; such as enforcement of contracts, maintaining a military loyal to the state rather than any particular elected official, upholding the rule of law (including the prosecution of fraud, which at times can appear to be at odds with some looser definitions of Laissez-faire capitalism, like rent-seeking and corporatism and emolument clause violations endemic of the Trump Administration).

But why? What is the point of all that? Why is a government of the people not above the people so vital? Why do we require the rule of law to apply equally, to hold no person, no prince, no separate class higher than any other? What is the ultimate point of libertarians' belief in self government and self reliance and self responsibility?

The reason all of those freedoms are important, why these things matter in our everyday lives, is that they are required to safeguard liberty against the ever-present and malicious threat of outright tyranny.

And I'm here to tell you, my fellow libertarians and conservatives and liberals and friends and countrymen: those safeguards, those rights, those freedoms that every American patriot that picked up a gun and fought for American causes and for the Constitution and for every fucking beautiful red white and blue thing that countless millions sacrificed their lives and their limbs and their blood for, every single one of them is under attack, right now, at this late, late hour.

It's not fake news. Everything going on is very easy to verify and publicly available.

It's not just some partisan attempt to undercut the President. Prominent members of all political persuasions have had the courage to speak up and speak against, especially in the recent weeks following Trump's cowtow in Helinski.

It's no shadowy conspiracy. They are acting completely out in the open, which is why so many continue to be caught off guard.

Make no mistake, our Republic is under serious and grievous attack in the most unconventional way this Republic has ever seen.  It's a war for minds and emotions and our very contact with reality. It's the way wars are now fought in the 21st Century. Why kill millions when you can enslave hundreds of millions? Weaponized nonsense is the new normal.

It is the prevention of this mental mass-incarceration that libertarianism was made for: as a defense for a free people from slipping back under the yoke of slavery and despotism and thuggery that they had only just escaped from a few short centuries ago. All the tax cuts in the world don't mean anything if you no longer live in a free country in which to enjoy the bittersweet fruits of those modern breads and circuses.

Will this be our generation's enduring legacy? That we were the ones who let tyranny take hold of mankind once again; after a brief, imperfect, yet real and living and wonderful experiment in liberty that was able to sustain and constantly improve for 226 years; only to be snuffed out by a puffed-up salesman in an oversized suit?

This website will not go so gently into being voted off of the proverbial island. Since the site's founding in 2010, and since the moment I understood what it means to be an American, growing up in this great nation, the United States of America, the son of a United States Marine, Metafederalism has and always will stand by the United States of America, and look to defend it from all foes, both foreign and domestic.

And to that end, to ensure the survival of a free country in which I hope to exercise my libertarian principles, this site unequivocally stands in opposition to the continuing deconstruction and decimation of the United States of America being perpetrated at the behest of a hostile foreign power by Donald J. Trump.

I beg everyone that reads this, please, sacrifice just a little time to your country before November, put away Facebook and Twitter for just an afternoon, and ignore the reality television circus, shut off Fox News, and please, tune in to whatever the opposing side is and just listen for a little while with open minds.

Because I swear to you, with every ounce of honesty and hope and love in my heart, that if you don't wise up to the fact that Vladimir Putin, and the Russian state he dictatorially controls, poses a very dangerous and immediate threat to the very existence of our country, to the very existence of free people around the world, and that November 6th, 2018 may very well be the free world's last practical chance to halt the looming march of despotism, well, as Albert Finney put it in his 2002 portrayal of Winston Churchill:

"History may well cast its verdict with those terrible, chilling words:"

'TOO LATE"

*(The same principles that cruelly averted their eyes from slavery for far too long. It was too interwoven into American history not to merit being addressed here, but I intend to argue in future posts that slavery had always been at odds with what are considered libertarian principles, and had only been allowed to exist for foul political reasons, tragic institutional inertia, and because of the relative and dire ignorance of the time.)