June 28, 2013

By: Kelly Diamond, Publisher

I’ve been trying to think of a way to incorporate my Porc Fest experience with current events, and have come to the conclusion that it might not be possible. 

So rather than pretend there is a link, I’ll just warn you now that this blog is going to be a bit disjointed.

Last week was the tenth annual Porcupine Festival in Lancaster, NH.  I didn’t attend the entire week because it was raining and I only live a reasonable driving distance away.  There were the campers, the visitors, the venders and the speakers.  I wondered around, passing out GWP cards to folks, sharing ideas about globalization and diversifying offshore.

People were stepping out of Jeff Berwick’s presentation just to check on the spot price of a troy ounce of silver even! 

I saw a few things going on, that showed me there’s still quite a road to travel in terms of economic liberty.  First, there seems to be a “silver bullet” mentality toward preferences.  For example, there are those who are adamant about using silver.  Others who are adamant about using BitCoin.  And others still who believe these stores of wealth are safeguard enough for the impending fiscal disaster that is the US Economy.

Make no mistake: I’m for ALL forms of trade, using whatever floats the boat of the ones engaging in commerce.  But if there is ONE thing I’ve learned about investing that has been my true north without fail: diversification is the real safeguard.  Diversification can present itself in competing currencies and various mediums of exchange.  But, it can also present itself in various stores of wealth.  Even the most statist statist of all statist in the US will tell you to diversify your retirement investments.  Their idea of diversifying, of course, is to simply put your USD in different accounts.  Still, the principle is sound.  My only variation on it is to think bigger than just home-country accounts.  Hell, think bigger than accounts and look into real estate and businesses!

It was cool to be able to talk to a few folks and get them thinking bigger and broader.  I’m kind of preaching to the choir in terms of the whole economic iceberg situation, but there are some hungry minds out there who are waking up and are eager to listen to solutions.

Second, there seemed to be a huge disparity among the libertarians.  There were the ones who are hustling it, looking for multiple streams of income, setting off every idea they had into motion.  And there were the people who stagnated in their one Agorist trade.   Don’t get me wrong.  Agora Valley was awesome.  It was basically an unregulated farmers’ market with various folks selling some amazing and really interesting things!  It was even cool to see non-agorist vendors who accepted virtually any form of currency! 

One guy in particular who was an electrical engineer by day, came by and sold tacos for one night.  He accepted anything BUT FRNs!  His rational was sweet and simple: You can’t get rid of the dollar if you keep taking it.  Which immediately alerted me to the conflict inherent in “End The Fed” t-shirts for $15 USD.  Ha ha ha…

It demonstrated two things: 1. The free market can allow you to make as much – or as little – as you want; and 2. Diversification equally applies to streams of income, not just stores of wealth and currency as sound financial advice.

Also saw something else that just blessed me from head to toe: there were folks who would go out and scan the road 5 miles in either direction for cops… then come back and post a big poster updating the status.  I left the first day, and there was a sign saying “Speed Trap 2 miles to Right” and a guy taking pictures of cars coming in to see if they were undercover.  See!  No matter what your stripes, you don’t deserve the government all up in and stifling your business.

Open carry EVERYWHERE!  I never felt so damn safe in my life, than to be surrounded by a bunch of Non-Aggression Principle embracing individuals carrying guns.  And guess what?  Despite the total lack of sobriety in that compound, not a single shot was fired!  Not a single brawl to my knowledge.  Just good times.  There were unregulated businesses, guns, and substances all in the same little acre of land and damn it: it was FINE!  People would leave their goods totally unattended, and no reports of theft.  Just beautiful!

And here, I think, is where the tie-in to current events comes in (I honestly didn’t see this coming until I started typing!): I would rather be on a muddy little hodge-podge camp site, where people freely and voluntarily go about their business; where people look out for one another against the shared enemy that is the state; where people carry their guns and smoke their pot and drink their raw milk; where people respect each other’s property rights; than I would in this pretentious bank-run hyper-regulated police state!

The natural elements and mosquitoes notwithstanding, that’s still more preferable than a society whose ideas of “order” are exacted by big banks who happen to be in the pockets of every politician and judge with an ambition.  Behold activist Jeff Olson.  He decided to protest all the big bank corporatism by writing anti-big-bank slogans all over a few Bank of America locations’ sidewalks… in water-soluble chalk.  Olson described the writing as being “always on city sidewalks, washable chalk, never crude messages, never vulgar, clearly topical.” 

However, the bank locations are suing as if it was THEIR property, and the judge has ordered that no mention of “the First Amendment, free speech, free expression, public forum, expressive conduct, or political speech during the trial.” This man currently faces up to 13 counts of vandalism amounting to up to $13,000 in fines and 13 years in prison.  Truth, once again, is silenced… legally and by way of a loophole: there is case law indicating that vandalism is not a form of free speech.

This man, who simply called out the cronyism so obvious within our system, is facing a greater sentence than a rapist or child molester.  Think about that the next time you want to argue that our laws are there to protect us.  From what?  The truth being prophesied in water soluble chalk?  But protesters are being more than just marginalized.  Those who speak truth to power are being more than just shamed or reprimanded.  They are being raked across some really treacherous coals!  Remember the three elderly Catholic protestors, one of whom was a nun in her 80’s that I wrote about?  Or the entire piece on the apparent War on Dissent(ers)? There are some countries where no one knows what happens to their “criminals”.  Is that where we are heading? 

If you get nothing else from this, remember: being a patriot does not mean being loyal to your government, it means being loyal to the principles of freedom and liberty, even if the enemy IS your government.

The liberty movement might be a little scattered in spots.  It might have a long road ahead since there is much “undoctrinating” and stealth navigating to do.  But clumsy as it is, it’s demonstrably more moral than state-bank collusion and supposed “law and order”.  I’m seeing a serious conflict of interest in representative forms of government.  Their best interests rarely are my best interests…