Free Hugs - Rallying Behind Peace
The twentieth anniversary of 9/11 saw libertarians across the country unite in support of a strong and simple message, End The Damn Wars and Bring The Troops Home. Members of county, state, and national Libertarian parties came together, partially celebrating the end of the occupation of Afghanistan, partially lamenting the losses of the last twenty years and the horrors that modern American foreign policy is still unleashing all over the world. Organizers hosted events ranging from rallies to marches to music and a range of speakers in several state capitols, large cities, and Washington, DC.
One such event, put on by the Libertarian Party of Sacramento County and the California Mises Caucus, had a crowd of around 60 people gathered on the steps of the capitol building in Sacramento, Ca. Music from yours truly kicked off the Bring Home Our Troops Rally, culminating with speeches from Libertarian Party of LA County Chair Angela McArdle, Gubernatorial Candidate Jeff Hewitt, and Veteran activist Adam Kokesh.
Angela McArdle started off on a somber note, describing the struggle of not only the soldiers at war and returning home, but also those caught in the crossfire of the war on terror and the dangers of the blowback of continued fighting overseas. The candidate for Libertarian Party National Chair strongly spoke out against the obvious lies perpetrated on the American people in order to perpetuate military action overseas as well as the expansion of domestic spying powers, as well as the current situation in Yemen and Afghanistan. She then transitioned into a discussion of the parallels between the War on Terror and domestic Covid policy, “We’ve got the War on Terror, the War on Germs, the War on Drugs. Really it’s the war for our minds … I hope that Americans have the same sense about the war on Covid that many of us have now when we look back and think about how absurd the threats about weapons of mass destruction were in Iraq.”
Jeff Hewitt spoke out against recent remarks by President Biden, exclaiming “I'm sorry Mr. President, in the last 245 years it has been about nothing but freedom.” Hewitt went on to express the importance of Libertarians getting elected at the local level. As Riverside County Supervisor he has the experience to prove that, even during a declared emergency, a local politician can fight and keep their jurisdiction safe from tyrannical overreach. Hewitt also commented on the lack of congressional action during any of the US military conflicts since World War 2 and the importance of anti war voices from all political parties in higher office. He finished with a brief word on the California recall election of Governor Gavin Newsom, and described the success possible from being outspoken and principled in order to change public policy.
“Don’t tell me the war in Afghanistan was a failure because it is the greatest disservice you could do to its victims, to suggest that the architects of this policy were somehow well intentioned. No. The war in Afghanistan was a massive success. Quite possibly the most efficiently profitable war crime in human history,” remarked Adam Kokesh, who pointed his attention directly at the false narratives conveyed by the US government and media. The connection between domestic health policy and foriegn terror policy was not lost on Kokesh and neither was the lack of action on rolling back the policies created after 9/11 now that the war in Afghanistan has finally come to a close. In the middle of a riff of jokes he asks, “So how’s that two weeks to flatten the curve going for you?” On a more serious note, Kokesh quoted from Ron Paul’s famous “What If” speech from 2009 and described the abhorrent financial costs involved in drone bombings as well as the equally abhorent targets such as weddings, before listing his own “what ifs” regarding Covid policy. Adam also spoke to the necessary courage we need as a nation, “...not of violence, but of conviction.”
“It’s a war on love … they have fear and violence and oppression and we have love … they will lose every time.”