This Is What Democracy Looks Like...
The God that Failed, disappoints in ways we couldn't imagine, even when it works flawlessly.
On August 19th, 2017, a small group of conservatives and libertarians had planned to meet at the Boston Common to hold the third of their quickly becoming quarterly free speech rallies. They regularly gathered on the Parkman Bandstand, which was more than big enough to accommodate the 20-30 individuals who attended the rallies to hear from some of Boston’s more controversial minor political figures, often times with participants and sometimes speakers peeling off to join the Saturday anti-war rally of another 15 politically motivated souls at the front steps of the state house a quarter-mile away. The previous two events had been serene, peaceful, and quiet, as the small group of rambunctious supporters of absolute freedom of speech gathered to listen to whoever wanted to speak, Right-wingers, leftists, anti-war protestors, libertarians, union organizers, all were welcome, and all were allowed to speak freely. And that was the plan for the 3rd rally as well. With listed and advertised speakers including Indian Immigrant and US Senate Candidate Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, Local Left Anarchist superstar and Living meme Vermin Supreme, and conservative influencer Cassandra Fairbanks.
Or at least, that was the plan…
The weekend prior, a group of individuals, including Chris Cantwell, The Proud Boys, and a litany of popular right-wing influencers and celebrities, descended upon Charlottesville for the infamous Unite The Right rally, which ended in the deaths of three people, 49 other injuries, and 11 arrests. While there had been rumors that some of the speakers from Charlottesville had intended to come to Boston, there was no official connection or relationship between the two events, aside from their 7-day proximity on the calendar. Nonetheless, in the wake of the events in Virginia, the Mayor of Boston gave a televised address where he lamented that “Nazis” and “Bigots” were being allowed to hold a similar event in his city the following weekend, and vowed to deploy a show of force and show zero tolerance.
As predicted, less than 50 people showed up to attend the Free Speech event, but what was surprising was that over 40,000 protestors showed up, traveling from all over New England to counter-protest the event. I was among them, having made the drive down from New Hampshire myself not to protest, but to film, photograph, and document the event as the self-described independent journalist I aspired to be then. The outrage and motivation drove 40,000 normal people, from their normal weekend routines, to spend a Saturday screaming at strangers for daring to differ in their political beliefs. Their singular intent was to stop the exercise of free speech that they were told should be distasteful.
The truth is, the “Nazis” on the rotunda included about 30 people listening to an Indian man running for senate, a leftist troll, a representative of black lives matter, and a communist union organizer, while Boston police held a raging crowd of 40,000 strong at bay just out of earshot and sight so they couldn’t witness what they were opposing.
That afternoon, the Boston Police made the decision that they would escort the remaining rally goers off the plaza in protective custody, due to the many instances of politically motivated violence that had been taking place on the common that afternoon, I myself had been assaulted several times because it was assumed that as a white man with a beard and a recently shaved bald head, I must be a racist.
But when they began to evacuate the rally-goers, 40,000 protestors joined in unison in a celebratory cheer of victory, chanting over ad over “This is what democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like…”
And that is the root topic we’re getting around to discussing tonight, Democracy.
What Churchill called “The worst system of government, except for all the others.”
What Hoppe so eloquently labeled as The God That Failed.
A god whose evident Failures include rising unemployment, expanding public debt, insolvent welfare systems, and no legitimate political recourse.
What Hoppe failed to consider as the most evident failure of democracy, might be the tyranny of its practice in its truest form - the rule of the mob, the oppression of the few for the comfort of the many.
I remember standing there on the Boston Common that day, hearing the chants echoing throughout the city, and thinking to myself yes, this is what democracy looks like. The death of liberty, and suppression of the individual, where any incongruent thought is crushed, displaced, ignored, and suppressed. The tyranny of the majority would celebrate the death of individual freedom. And I thought briefly of Natalie Portmans Character Padme in Star wars when the chancellor was granted supreme executive powers by the senate. "So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause?”
Well, Last night I sat down with Kate Crosby to discuss another failing of democracy, and that is the fact that the will of the people is often ignored by the systems designed to rule and oppress them. Kaitlyn Crosby is a Libertarian, and she decided she was going to run for office, Mayor specifically, and unlike most Libertarians who take on such a task, she won. The people of Austin PA spoke and decided they wanted her to be their next mayor, and that was a step too far for those whose legitimacy is threatened by the notion of a candidate supporting individual liberty. Before she could even take office and be sworn in, the unelected bureaucracy went to work to disqualify her from office, and remove her from the position she was elected to serve.
Subversive #73: “Democracy” feat Kaitlyn Crosby
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Summary
Democracy is the will of the people to elect those they deem fit for public office, or so we used to think. Libertarian Kaitlyn Crosby sought the office of Mayor in Austin, PA, and unlike most Libertarians, actually won against an incumbent Republican. But that was where the story started, as before she could be sworn in and take office, the state decided to step in and invalidate the vote of the people on a technicality. Because this is what Democracy looks like, the illusion of choice and control.
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