Libertarians and the Occupy Movement
I recently had a conversation on Facebook with someone I had
met through our local Occupy Harrisburg group. I posted “We do not forgive, we
do not forget, expect us!” as my Facebook status. Many of you will recognize
this as the internet meme of the global hacking collective known as Anonymous. In the comments, he began attacking Ron Paul,
and while my status had nothing to do with Ron Paul, I was told me that he
believed me to be obsessed with the guy because I had a profile picture of
myself with Ron that was taken back in 2007. It’s not the first time I’ve heard
this type of rhetoric from people in the occupy movement, and so I wanted to
take a moment to talk about why I’m interested in the occupy crowd, and how I
believe libertarians stand to gain by defending and even promoting some of
occupy’s ideas.
I like most libertarians believe that Government, instead of
being a servant of the people, has become a servant to massive corporations,
and the global banking system that owns them. I believe I hold this value in
common with most people within the occupy movement. I like Jefferson, believe
that the banks are much more powerful than even standing armies, and I believe
corporations have become such a problem in this country only because Government
has aided them and allowed them to grow corrupt. I believe that eliminating the
corrupt banking interests, starting with the private Federal Reserve Bank
should be the number one priority of a free people.
I like most libertarians believe we need to stop the endless
war overseas that is killing so many innocent people, not to mention irreparably
harming the name of this great nation, and plaguing our children with hopeless
debt. I believe we need to massively cut the budget of the Department of
Defense, and I believe we need to bring our troops home and defend this country
from those who wish it will. This also is a view I believe I hold in common
with the occupy movement.
I believe we need to end this senseless war on drugs. Libertarians
and most Occupy members tend to agree with me here. The war on drugs much like
any other war has claimed thousands of lives, ruined countless families and,
just like our military action overseas, is costing an obscene amount of money.
Further the drug wars are motivated by racism, fuels violent criminal cartels,
and puts drugs in the hands of kids.
I am a supporter of marriage equality. Who you marry is your
business, if you don’t like gay marriage don’t get one. This is yet another
thing that I find I have in common with most people who are involved in the
occupy movement, and is a cornerstone of libertarian thought in that, if a “crime”
has no victim, it shouldn’t be illegal to begin with.
All these common viewpoints are just some of the reasons why
I stand in support of the occupy movement. We are however not without our
differences. Determining exactly what needs to be done to fix the issues is something
I often debate, but I do so with the understanding of the need for solidarity
in order to be successful. United we stand and divided we fall. If you’re
reading this, and you believe that we’re better off together, and you believe
that even though we have our differences, we can work through them and prevail,
like this. Let’s show those who would have us argue amongst ourselves that we
are better than that.
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