Part Of The Problem - Dave Smith - Learning The Liberty Lessons Of 2020
Aired: 2021-11-18
Duration: 01:08:24


=== Government Overreach and Surveillance (09:40) ===

[00:00:00]  Fill her up.
[00:00:02]  You are listening to the Gash Digital Network.
[00:00:08]  We need to roll back the state.
[00:00:10]  We spy on all of our own citizens.
[00:00:12]  Our prisons are flooded with nonviolent drug offenders.
[00:00:16]  If you want to know who America's next enemy is, look at who we're funding right now.
[00:00:22]  Every single one of these problems are a result of government being way too big.
[00:00:26]  You're listening to part of the problem on the Gas Digital Network.
[00:00:30]  Here's your host, Jay Smith.
[00:00:34]  What's up, everybody?
[00:00:35]  Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem.
[00:00:38]  I'm, of course, the libertarian Tupac, the most consistent motherfucker you know, and he is COVID Jesus, the fire, the king of the cocks, Robbie Bernstein.
[00:00:48]  What's up, my brother?
[00:00:49]  I'm doing good.
[00:00:50]  How are you, Mr. Smith?
[00:00:51]  I'm doing good.
[00:00:52]  We tried to do an episode last night.
[00:00:54]  We had some tech problems.
[00:00:55]  Fake news.
[00:00:56]  We never have issues.
[00:00:57]  We're professional operations.
[00:00:59]  It always goes great.
[00:01:00]  No false starts.
[00:01:01]  Last two recordings with you at the studio and at home, there's been tech issues on your side, and I'm starting to think it's you.
[00:01:08]  No, it's the optimum people.
[00:01:09]  How dare you scapegoat me when we clearly know that optimum's at fault?
[00:01:13]  Is it optimum both at your place and at the studio?
[00:01:16]  I don't know.
[00:01:16]  I don't know.
[00:01:17]  Maybe now they're starting to collude.
[00:01:18]  Yes, there's an argument.
[00:01:19]  Okay, we got an argument there.
[00:01:20]  There we go.
[00:01:21]  Big business.
[00:01:22]  We've always opposed it.
[00:01:24]  All right.
[00:01:25]  So I, so I said this yesterday in the episode that is never to be, but I started by saying that there was a thing I kind of wanted to talk about that I was almost a little bit hesitant to discuss.
[00:01:41]  And then I ultimately erred on the side of like, now let's do it.
[00:01:45]  And it's for many different reasons that I wanted to talk about this.
[00:01:49]  And there were a few reasons that I didn't and that I was kind of holding back.
[00:01:54]  But ultimately, I was like, now, you know what?
[00:01:56]  I think it's important enough that I should talk about this.
[00:01:59]  We should try to learn the lessons from this stuff and move forward.
[00:02:03]  If you've been following my Twitter over the last 48 hours, you might know what I'm getting at.
[00:02:08]  But let me get into all of this right here.
[00:02:10]  And I'll just preface by saying that I think the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, which as of us speaking right now, the jury is still out.
[00:02:19]  You got to decide these things quicker, dude.
[00:02:21]  It's annoying.
[00:02:23]  Yeah.
[00:02:23]  Well, we'll see.
[00:02:24]  We'll see what happens with it.
[00:02:26]  I mean, it's like I said before, I mean, if you're watching the trial, I think the argument that he acted in self-defense is overwhelming.
[00:02:34]  And the idea that there's not at least reasonable doubt as to whether it was murder or self-defense is, I don't see how anyone could possibly, you know, see things that way.
[00:02:45]  However, in these trials, things are very highly politicized.
[00:02:51]  And we live in an incredibly politicized, polarized country.
[00:02:55]  And you just don't know what type, you know, who on the jury is what, you know, what views they already came into it with that they're just not going to be persuaded from.
[00:03:07]  You also have the element of, you know, the not so vague implicit threat of riots, of retaliatory violence against you or your family or things like that.
[00:03:20]  There's been rumors that some of the jury are concerned about this.
[00:03:22]  Again, I take that with a grain of salt.
[00:03:24]  Who the hell knows?
[00:03:25]  But I'd be nervous if I was Kyle Rittenhouse or one of his family members or something like that.
[00:03:34]  I wouldn't just be confident like, oh, this is a slam dunk.
[00:03:36]  We won.
[00:03:37]  Well, Kyle should have made the pitch and go, listen, if they're out there and they're threatening you, I got your back.
[00:03:42]  And clearly knows how to handle the guns.
[00:03:43]  So, you know.
[00:03:45]  I was just thinking, what if he gets off and then there's riots and then he shows up to the riots and kills two more people and then gets off again on self-defense and then there's riots and then you're going to be able to get it.
[00:03:57]  Sounds like a good sequel.
[00:03:58]  And then you're pushing three and it won't work.
[00:04:00]  No, it never ends, though.
[00:04:01]  It's just for the rest of eternity is Kyle Rittenhouse getting off, riots resulting, him going to the riots and killing people in self-defense every single time.
[00:04:10]  I'm just saying we might be stuck in a time loop.
[00:04:12]  That's that's my point.
[00:04:14]  We might have to convict him just to break out of this.
[00:04:18]  All right.
[00:04:18]  So, anyway, so the Rittenhouse thing, it has me reliving or revisiting the summer of 2020 a bit and just thinking about that time, you know, and what it was like just a few months, you know, after the lockdown started, and then very shortly after that, when the rioting started and was all over the country and out of control, and what a crazy time that was for the country.
[00:04:48]  And while that's going on, then, of course, you have, you know, the Libertarian Party's presidential run and all this stuff.
[00:04:55]  So I've been thinking about this for the last week or so.
[00:05:00]  And then maybe it was the day before yesterday, I saw that there was this statement that had been put out by one of the chapters of Black Lives Matter about the libertarians, specifically about Spike Cohen.
[00:05:17]  And the reason why I was somewhat hesitant to bring it up is because I don't, you know, first of all, I don't want to trash Spike.
[00:05:27]  And that's not like what the purpose of this is.
[00:05:30]  I really like Spike Cohen.
[00:05:31]  And I think that he's been nothing but cool to me as a person.
[00:05:35]  We got to hang out a bit when I was at Freedom Fest out there.
[00:05:39]  Really enjoyed hanging out with him.
[00:05:40]  I think he's a really good dude.
[00:05:41]  And I think he's a good libertarian.
[00:05:44]  And I also think he's gotten a lot better since the campaign.
[00:05:49]  I just think he needs a new name and haircut.
[00:05:52]  Listen, he addresses that and he's okay.
[00:05:55]  Yeah.
[00:05:55]  And this is from somebody, Rob, who needs a new name and new haircut.
[00:05:58]  So it takes one to know one.
[00:06:00]  Okay.
[00:06:00]  So if he says, you know, you carry that.
[00:06:02]  You carry that with you.
[00:06:04]  But anyway, and he, I really do think he's gotten better since the campaign.
[00:06:09]  And I don't know.
[00:06:10]  I mean, I'm not like inside his head.
[00:06:12]  I don't know exactly what happened in the campaign.
[00:06:16]  There were certain posts of his that he didn't say till after the campaign, but he was like, look, I didn't put those up.
[00:06:25]  Those were put up by other people.
[00:06:26]  And I ended up kind of like having.
[00:06:27]  What changed is he was supporting Joe Jorgensen, who was grandma pants and tried to appeal to the woke.
[00:06:32]  And so he got caught in, you know, not being a libertarian and appealing to the worst of our society.
[00:06:38]  Well, you know, I don't know.
[00:06:39]  I guess maybe he got caught up in that or some people around him got caught up in that.
[00:06:43]  You know, I don't know exactly what happened there.
[00:06:46]  During the campaign, I just assumed it was all coming from him.
[00:06:50]  And there was such a blatant, you know, kind of like concerted effort to appeal to those people that I thought, you know, this must be coming from him.
[00:07:00]  There's no way this would be coming from somebody else and he wouldn't have approved this.
[00:07:04]  But maybe I was wrong about that.
[00:07:05]  I don't know.
[00:07:06]  Anyway, after, you know, I've spoken with him on the podcast and off the podcast about some of this stuff that, you know, the things that I was very critical about in the campaign afterward.
[00:07:16]  And I'll say since then, he's been much more reasonable from my perspective.
[00:07:22]  And so, again, look, I'm not trying to take shots at him.
[00:07:25]  I think probably the best thing to come out of the 2020 campaign is that Spike Cohen kind of made a name for himself and that he's now another libertarian guy out there.
[00:07:35]  And he can go, you know, like be one of our messengers.
[00:07:38]  I think that's good.
[00:07:40]  And I'm also not just doing this just to give like an I told you so.
[00:07:44]  The reason, although, you know, I'm sure I'll find time to fit that in.
[00:07:49]  You know, it pays to be right about everything.
[00:07:53]  But the reason I'm bringing this up is just because like I think it's like it this is important to learn.
[00:08:01]  And if we're going to have a liberty movement that is really the force that we want it to be in this country, which I think is much needed, I think we have to learn this lesson because I think this is this is this will be a deal breaker for our ability to really grow and win more people over.
[00:08:25]  So that's where I'm coming from with all of this.
[00:08:27]  So what happened was, and I'll just, let me read it for read it verbatim.
[00:08:33]  So I'm not like, you know, misrepresenting what was said or anything like that.
[00:08:39]  So let me see if I can just pull this up here on my phone.
[00:08:41]  And I was going back and forth with one of the leaders of this chapter of Black Lives Matter on Twitter, and I just stopped because it was just like too ridiculous.
[00:08:52]  I'll read those tweets as well.
[00:08:54]  But okay, so Black Lives Matter 757 is the name of the organization.
[00:09:04]  And it's, you know, it's a local chapter of Black Lives Matter.
[00:09:10]  Now, the reason I remember them is that when Spike was on the podcast the first time during the campaign, I, you know, we discussed this and I raised some of my concerns and that, you know, with the idea of like just saying we support the movement Black Lives Matter, which was the messaging coming out of the campaign.
[00:09:36]  And I know Spike had been to a couple Black Lives Matter.
[00:09:39]  Liberty Party needs to be pro-socialism.

=== Blue Blocks Sponsorship Mention (02:55) ===

[00:09:41]  Right.
[00:09:41]  Well, well, look, I mean, look, let's be like as fair as possible.
[00:09:46]  I do, I can understand where like, look, when Black Lives Matter first started under Obama, when it first started, the first things I said about Black Lives Matter were that like I was sympathetic to them.
[00:09:59]  Like, I understand you're, oh, you're like against the police and against police brutality.
[00:10:03]  Like, yeah, okay, I get where you're coming from on that.
[00:10:07]  And I think that if the, you know, like I'm a, I'm a pure libertarian.
[00:10:11]  If, if a group of people don't want the state police presence, and then they have every right to not have that.
[00:10:19]  They have a right to have their own security and their own, you know, freedom.
[00:10:23]  So I'm, but by the year 2020, with the most, you know, like the longest sustained and the most property damage of any long sustained riots in my lifetimes, it was a little bit different of a situation.
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=== Failed BLM Outreach Strategy (15:15) ===

[00:12:36]  Anyway, you know, we have to relive this entire thing.
[00:12:39]  But one of the things that I found troubling about what Spike said during the campaign was that he was like, basically, he was arguing with me at the time.
[00:12:48]  You guys can go back and listen to this episode.
[00:12:51]  If you're a subscriber, I guess it's in the archives now.
[00:12:54]  But what Spike was saying was that, look, we like, I have all of these, all of this data indicating that this strategy is working out really well for us.
[00:13:06]  And this is a really good idea.
[00:13:08]  And he said, look, I just went and he used, he touted this as an example that he just went and got the endorsement of this group, BLM 747.
[00:13:18]  That, and, you know, he, me and him kind of had a little bit of an argument or a little bit of a disagreement.
[00:13:24]  And I, it wasn't a debate.
[00:13:26]  I mean, I was having him on the show to promote him, but he was basically saying that, like, look, I can't go to these to some Black Lives Matter, you know, meet, you know, whatever event, and tell them, no, no, no, listen, I'm right about everything.
[00:13:44]  This is what's, this is what's actually happening here.
[00:13:47]  And he said, I can't say tell them that it's not about racism, it's about statism, because then they'll just turn me, tune me out.
[00:13:54]  So, what I did was I listened to them and I asked what they wanted.
[00:13:59]  And they kind of told, they kind of told me what they were all about.
[00:14:01]  And then I told them that I support all of that stuff.
[00:14:03]  And he walked out of there with their endorsement.
[00:14:06]  And I'll say, even at the time, that kind of rubbed me the wrong way.
[00:14:12]  Like, look, I've brought a lot of people over into the liberty world.
[00:14:19]  I've introduced and converted and persuaded a lot of people to be libertarians.
[00:14:25]  And that to me is not how you do it.
[00:14:28]  Now, at the same time, who's to say the way I do it is the only way to do it.
[00:14:32]  You know what I mean?
[00:14:33]  So, like, maybe.
[00:14:34]  And when he was sitting there saying, well, I got their endorsement, I go, all right, well, I mean, I guess that is something, you know.
[00:14:39]  But anyway, so this is what they tweeted the other day.
[00:14:46]  How big of a chapter is this?
[00:14:48]  Like, is there 757 chapters?
[00:14:52]  Is this one of them?
[00:14:52]  I don't know.
[00:14:53]  They got like 7,000 Twitter followers.
[00:14:55]  So nothing huge, but you know, it's something.
[00:14:58]  But so, in many ways, what was more important to me was like, what, right, just winning over this group.
[00:15:04]  It's like, well, what signal did this send to everybody else, you know, in order to win over this, this group?
[00:15:09]  But regardless of that, so Spike had posted his post was: after reviewing the prosecution and defense's evidence, it's clear that Kyle Rittenhouse defended himself.
[00:15:22]  In my opinion, it was a bad idea for him to go there in the first place, but that doesn't justify him being assaulted or killed.
[00:15:29]  He didn't trespass or start confrontations.
[00:15:32]  And then he added to that: he said, if anyone can show me evidence that Kyle didn't defend himself, I'd be happy to see it.
[00:15:39]  Sounds reasonable.
[00:15:40]  Yes.
[00:15:40]  Not like a, you know, Him saying what is obvious, I think, that it looks like Kyle acted in self-defense, um, but that he with some caveats: with I don't think he should have been there, and I'm open to evidence to the contrary.
[00:15:56]  That was Spike's take.
[00:15:57]  Not like this, not like a hardcore he was a hero, or not like what some other libertarians have been saying, like he took out the trash.
[00:16:04]  Oh, this guy was a commie pedo.
[00:16:06]  Okay, done, nothing like that.
[00:16:08]  Just saying, look, I think the evidence points to this.
[00:16:10]  So, so yes, I agree.
[00:16:11]  I think a reasonable statement by Spike Cohen.
[00:16:13]  And Black Lives Matter 757, they tweeted, they took a screenshot of that and tweeted.
[00:16:20]  And it is for this very reason that we are cutting ties with Spike Cohen.
[00:16:24]  Sometimes you have to give folks a chance to show their true colors.
[00:16:28]  This is why we stay independent and don't support political, quote, parties, end quote.
[00:16:34]  Leave people right where they're weird at ASE.
[00:16:40]  Leave people right where they're weird at.
[00:16:43]  Ace.
[00:16:44]  Okay, I don't get that part at the end.
[00:16:47]  But also, by the way, I don't, I'm not quite sure why parties was in quotes.
[00:16:53]  Anyway, I mean, it is a political party.
[00:16:55]  I don't understand anything that they stand for.
[00:16:57]  But so, so that's what they said.
[00:17:00]  Um, and you know, I, you know, I responded something about it and I said, I was like, you know, if nothing else, doesn't this show you what a failed strategy the whole Black Lives Matter outreach was?
[00:17:15]  And when I'm saying that, just to be clear, I'm not saying it was a bad idea to do outreach to any group.
[00:17:22]  You know, if you could convince someone in Black Lives Matter to become a libertarian, then sure, you know, do that.
[00:17:29]  But the way that they did this outreach was just so terrible.
[00:17:32]  And again, I got to say, and this is not a knock on Spike.
[00:17:37]  This is just, I think the rest of libertarians should try to learn from this shit.
[00:17:41]  Is that I don't think it's right that if you want to convert people or you want to like, if you want to like radically change the way people look at the world, which is what we need to do, I don't think the answer is I'm going to listen to what they say and then tell them they're right about everything and that I stand for what you stand for.
[00:18:04]  I think your job is to be the leader, that your job is to get up there and say something that's so fucking awesome that if there's a few people in the crowd there who care about truth and like excellent points, they go, God damn, that is an excellent point.
[00:18:19]  And convince them that they want to be one of you, not convince them that we're one of them.
[00:18:26]  Like there's a very big difference between those two things.
[00:18:29]  There's a very big difference between me convincing someone else that they should want to be one of us and me convincing someone else that I'm already one of you.
[00:18:38]  That's very different.
[00:18:39]  And so, and you see, this is the problem with that strategy, right?
[00:18:43]  Is that if you get their endorsement, but you got it because you convinced them you were one of them, verse you got their endorsement because you convinced them they should be one of us.
[00:18:55]  So when you convince them you're one of them, what happens as soon as you defend Rittenhouse?
[00:19:00]  They go, ah, there's your true colors.
[00:19:03]  You're not one of us.
[00:19:05]  And Spike's not one of them.
[00:19:06]  Spike's a libertarian.
[00:19:08]  Spike believes in the right to defend yourself.
[00:19:10]  So like, I don't know what to say.
[00:19:13]  Like, this is, you know, and this was touted as like one of the big, like, oh no, dude, like Black Lives Matter really isn't all bad.
[00:19:21]  Yeah, I know the national organization is Marxist or whatever.
[00:19:26]  And I know there's violence in the streets, but look, there's this one really great group and they believe in gun rights.
[00:19:30]  That's what they're set.
[00:19:31]  And yet they'll side with the state, this evil criminal justice system, trying to throw some kid in jail for life for defending himself.
[00:19:43]  So, and this was supposed to be the good ones.
[00:19:45]  You know what I mean?
[00:19:46]  Like, this was supposed to be the ones like, no, look, it's not all like that.
[00:19:49]  Here's an example of a really good little local chapter of Black Lives Matter.
[00:19:54]  So, you know, I'm just, I think it's, it would be, it would be wrong.
[00:20:00]  I would not be doing my job if I didn't mention something about this.
[00:20:03]  And to Spike, like, if this gets back to him, this isn't an insult to you, man.
[00:20:06]  And like, I'd expect you to do the same if you thought I was fucking up in some way like this.
[00:20:10]  So, and, and please do.
[00:20:12]  Um, but yeah, I don't know.
[00:20:15]  I mean, I really think we should learn the lesson, which to be fair, I think the vast majority of libertarians have, but there's still some out there who are not accepting this.
[00:20:26]  And it's like, yeah, dude, it was a mistake.
[00:20:31]  It was a mistake to say we support this movement.
[00:20:36]  That's different than saying, like, you sympathize with this movement or they have some legitimate grievances.
[00:20:42]  I would not have been against saying that.
[00:20:44]  I would not have been against saying, like, yeah, black people who are not fans of the cops, they've got a point, you know?
[00:20:50]  Like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be against saying that.
[00:20:53]  But to just say we support the movement and we're going to go there and just tell them that they're right about everything when the movement consists of a lot of stuff that we really don't support, that's going to get you in trouble.
[00:21:05]  I think it was a big mistake.
[00:21:07]  I'm not as diplomatic.
[00:21:09]  So you're essentially saying pandering has a shelf life.
[00:21:12]  Yeah.
[00:21:13]  Because otherwise you got to double down on your pandering and then you don't have any, then you're not standing for anything.
[00:21:19]  Or at some point, you have to actually, you know, stand for what you agree with or what you care about.
[00:21:24]  And then they realize, oh, that guy was just pandering to us.
[00:21:27]  Yep.
[00:21:28]  So I let me see what I responded.
[00:21:37]  Well, I tweeted, I guess I tweeted, so what exactly was the upside of outreach to Black Lives Matter?
[00:21:44]  Oh, wait, hold on.
[00:21:45]  That wasn't my first one.
[00:21:46]  Let me try to get these in order.
[00:21:47]  Sorry.
[00:21:49]  I don't know.
[00:21:49]  Maybe that was my first side.
[00:21:51]  So I responded to somebody out there and I said, so what exactly was the upside of our outreach to Black Lives Matter?
[00:21:57]  The national organization is Marxist garbage.
[00:21:59]  The movement was riddled with violence and rioting.
[00:22:02]  Then we're told there are these local groups that are great, like 757, who will trash you for defending self-defense.
[00:22:09]  You know, like what, what is it here?
[00:22:13]  So in the middle of these, these riots, we're going to celebrate the movement.
[00:22:19]  And then, you know, what do we get for it?
[00:22:22]  Like, forget even what you believe, just as like a calculation, like a strategic calculation.
[00:22:26]  What was the benefit for this?
[00:22:29]  And, you know, it's interesting because I got, as what always happens, like it reminded me, it took me back to the summer of 2020.
[00:22:37]  Is that when I'd say this, it really like infuriates a certain wing of libertarians.
[00:22:45]  And I'm more than okay with that.
[00:22:49]  Maybe I'll get into this a little bit later in the show, but like I'm okay with that.
[00:22:53]  And in fact, I see this as like a necessary step in getting this movement and the party to where I want it to be.
[00:23:01]  It's an unfortunate one to some degree.
[00:23:05]  But so, you know, you get these people who kind of respond in this way where they'll be like, you know, first off, it's just kind of like the typical thing.
[00:23:14]  And some of this I know we discussed, you know, a lot in 2020, but you get this thing where it's like a typical thing where people will be like, oh, so what?
[00:23:23]  You just don't think Black Lives Matter or something like that, which is just like the, it's just like the dumbest shit ever.
[00:23:30]  And, you know, and there's like these easy retorts to them.
[00:23:33]  It's so easy.
[00:23:34]  You're like, okay, well, do you think all lives matter?
[00:23:36]  That's racist, Dave.
[00:23:38]  So why aren't we saying that?
[00:23:39]  It's like, okay, so you literally believe the words of both of these movements.
[00:23:43]  So then you can't make that argument unless you're supporting the other side as well, right?
[00:23:47]  But it's funny, I'll still see some libertarians and be like, well, why wouldn't we reach out to a group that was all about ending qualified immunity and all about, you know, all of these things.
[00:23:56]  And you're like, were they all about that?
[00:23:59]  Is that what they were all about?
[00:24:01]  I've heard a lot of libertarians tell me that Black Lives Matter was all about ending qualified immunity.
[00:24:07]  I don't think I heard them say that once.
[00:24:08]  I've never heard a Black Lives Matter organizer say that.
[00:24:12]  You know, like I've never once.
[00:24:14]  And go.
[00:24:16]  I mean, like, if you know somebody who was an organizer or involved or in the organization or just marching there, just ask like, ask that person, ask them, what's more of a priority to you?
[00:24:26]  Ending qualified immunity or equity.
[00:24:32]  See what you get back.
[00:24:34]  Like, don't, let's, let's just not pretend like that that's what this was about.
[00:24:38]  This was the Joe Jorgensen tweet, right?
[00:24:44]  Which, you know, of course, has become infamous now.
[00:24:49]  But the Joe Jorgensen tweet at the time.
[00:24:52]  Hold on, let me see if I can find it.
[00:24:54]  Yeah, it shouldn't be that hard to pull up.
[00:24:56]  All right, here we go.
[00:24:57]  So Jorgensen, of course, famously tweeted, it's not enough to be passively not racist.
[00:25:03]  We must be actively anti-racist.
[00:25:06]  Hashtag Black Lives Matter, hashtag vote gold.
[00:25:10]  I say silence is violence, which is why I protest the library.
[00:25:13]  There you go.
[00:25:14]  But like, as if like that was going to work, like, what a strategy.
[00:25:17]  Yeah.
[00:25:18]  Hashtag Black Lives Matter, hashtag vote gold, right, guys?
[00:25:21]  We're all coming right over to me.
[00:25:22]  Not, again, not leading them.
[00:25:24]  Hashtag being your opinion.
[00:25:26]  I'll agree with you.
[00:25:27]  Exactly.
[00:25:28]  But not telling you, like, look, here's, let me tell you the truth.
[00:25:32]  And that's why you got to come over here and support me.
[00:25:35]  It's, I'll say what you believe, right?
[00:25:37]  And that's why you support me.
[00:25:38]  Like, this shit is just never going to work.
[00:25:40]  And of course, it's just wrong and insulting.
[00:25:43]  And it's so many things.
[00:25:44]  You know, we've taken this apart.
[00:25:45]  Hashtag, I think your life is special and I want you to feel great all the time.
[00:25:49]  Yes.
[00:25:49]  Now, here's the, but here was the one that in some ways we probably didn't talk about as much, but this was the Joe Jorgensen's other tweet about it, where she said, Black Lives Matter means standing in solidarity with a morning black community as we fight together to end qualified immunity.
[00:26:07]  And you're like, what?
[00:26:10]  No, that's, you can't just decide that's what it means.
[00:26:13]  I mean, like, this would be as ridiculous as me just, you know, being like, like, if I first off, you know, I was like, we, we need to drain the swamp.
[00:26:25]  It's not enough to be against corruption.
[00:26:28]  We must make America great again.
[00:26:31]  Hashtag MAGA, hashtag vote gold.
[00:26:34]  And you were like, wait, what?
[00:26:36]  And then people were like, wait a minute, but we're not really like Trumpist nationalists.
[00:26:40]  Like that's not what we stand for.
[00:26:43]  And I went, make America great again means standing together in solidarity as we end the Fed.
[00:26:50]  And you'd be like, I mean, that'd be nice if that's what it meant, but it doesn't.
[00:26:56]  And for you to just like pretend that that's what their movement is all about, it's like, no, it's not.
[00:27:02]  And, you know, then the other thing that I got a lot of, which again, I will say it's, it's way better.
[00:27:07]  Like we, the, the libertarian movement has been very, has been cleaned up to a large degree since the summer of 2020.
[00:27:18]  But there were a bunch of people coming out here, like either pretending the violence wasn't happening, downplaying it, excusing it away.
[00:27:28]  I had one person tweeted at me that I said something about how the movement was riddled with violence in that in that last tweet that I read.
[00:27:38]  And someone said to me, let me see if I could find it.
[00:27:45]  They said, so I said, I tweeted back at him.

=== Violence Within the Movement (08:42) ===

[00:27:52]  He said that I was making blanket statements, that they're all Marxists.
[00:27:57]  And I said, the national organization was garbage run by Marxists.
[00:28:02]  The movement on the ground was riddled with violence and rioting.
[00:28:05]  These are not blanket statements.
[00:28:07]  They're facts.
[00:28:09]  Which is true.
[00:28:10]  Like the national organization, the founder said she's a trained Marxist and a bunch of them are trained Marxists.
[00:28:17]  And the movement was riddled with violence and rioting.
[00:28:20]  And particularly well-trained because she made a lot of money off the movement.
[00:28:24]  So in terms of Marxist school, she got like an advanced degree.
[00:28:28]  She did it right.
[00:28:28]  She's a great Marxist and a great capitalist, which is rare.
[00:28:31]  You don't find both too much.
[00:28:34]  So, and then, and then this person responds.
[00:28:36]  I don't want to put anyone on blast or say their names, but this person responded and said, or maybe the mainstream media has made them to be what you are claiming.
[00:28:44]  You can decide.
[00:28:45]  Right.
[00:28:46]  Because every time you watch CNN, they talk about how BLM is a Marxist movement.
[00:28:51]  It's unbelievable.
[00:28:52]  And I just said, I said, are you serious?
[00:28:54]  The corporate press was completely behind Black Lives Matter and excused away all of the violence.
[00:29:00]  You know, I said, I guess we're just imagining, I said, I guess we all just imagined the billions in property damage.
[00:29:06]  Like, as everyone remembers, the CNN was describing them as fiery, but mostly peaceful riots while there's fires in the back and stuff like that.
[00:29:15]  And like, and then I got a whole bunch of other people who I can't believe people still use these arguments, but well, they'll, they'll post these, um, they'll post these studies and be like, oh, you know, like 94% of the protests were peaceful.
[00:29:31]  And they, they will have people who actually like have put together these, like, well, here's where all the events were and here's just how many of them became violent.
[00:29:39]  And look, it's a small percentage of that.
[00:29:41]  Now, the way they measure these things is a bit weird.
[00:29:46]  When two countries are at war, I bet 70% of those populations aren't involved in war.
[00:29:51]  Yeah.
[00:29:51]  Well, that's right.
[00:29:52]  Maybe even 90%.
[00:29:53]  How many soldiers actually go out and fight?
[00:29:54]  The countries are still at war.
[00:29:56]  Well, there's been a bunch of people have made jokes about this, you know, over last year when they were doing this, but they say, you know, the O.J. Simpson was mostly peaceful.
[00:30:04]  There's only that one person.
[00:30:05]  They're mostly non-rapists.
[00:30:07]  Mostly don't write.
[00:30:08]  Yeah, mostly of not violent.
[00:30:10]  I'd be like, every violent person is mostly not violent.
[00:30:14]  No one spends like, no one spends 12 hours and one minute a day assaulting people and then go, he was mostly violent.
[00:30:22]  I mean, even just taking into account the time he sleeps, you know, like, oh, it was totally non-violent.
[00:30:27]  It was like seven hours in a row.
[00:30:29]  He wasn't violent at all.
[00:30:30]  Right.
[00:30:30]  So it's just a ridiculous way to measure things.
[00:30:34]  And then, of course, also there were a lot of other people I saw commenting on this study, or not a lot, but several other people who I were like, yeah, they were like, I saw this study put one down as peaceful that was in my area and it was very violent.
[00:30:46]  Like businesses were looted and all this.
[00:30:48]  So I don't even think they're accurate with the way they put these things together.
[00:30:51]  But the major point, the major assassinations.
[00:30:55]  Yeah, exactly.
[00:30:56]  But the major like takeaway from all this is that it's like, no, look, you don't get to.
[00:31:03]  If you have a movement and there's a bunch of violence with that movement, you don't just get to say, well, that's not part of it.
[00:31:11]  The movement's about this, but it's not about that.
[00:31:15]  And this would, all these people would see this right away if it were a right-wing movement or if it was anything like that.
[00:31:21]  Like it would just, it would be obvious right away.
[00:31:24]  Right away, you would look at it and you would be like, oh, yeah.
[00:31:27]  I mean, you can't just say, like, you know, whatever, like, you know, if there's like a KKK rally or something and they're like, well, we want to protect white children, and then they're going around terrorizing black people.
[00:31:39]  You can't say, well, what are you against protecting white children?
[00:31:42]  Like, oh, that has nothing to do with it.
[00:31:43]  That's just a few of them late at night.
[00:31:45]  Like, I don't know.
[00:31:46]  It was 95% peaceful people.
[00:31:48]  Just it's like, no, that's not.
[00:31:50]  Sorry, you have to own all of that if you want to say you're on board with this movement.
[00:31:54]  And if not, you can denounce that, denounce the movement, and then say, but I do think they have some grievances that are legit.
[00:32:03]  And if they, if we put this into practice, that probably none of this stuff would be happening, or at least most of it wouldn't be happening.
[00:32:09]  That I think is fine.
[00:32:12]  But yeah, I heard other people, someone else, and you see a lot of this stuff where people's emotions and their kind of pre-programmed, like the way they've been propagandized, you can just see it coming out.
[00:32:29]  And you can see it if you're not in it and you're kind of, you know, red-pilled on the situation or removed from it, you can see it very easily.
[00:32:36]  But, you know, people have this attitude where, so they'll say things like one person said to me, they go, yeah, but I've seen videos of organizers of Black Lives Matter who were trying to tell people to stop the violence, telling them not to loot, not to assault people, not to set buildings on fire.
[00:32:55]  And I was like, yeah, I've seen those too.
[00:32:59]  And good for those people.
[00:33:01]  But I've also seen videos of organizers encouraging the violence, making excuses for the violence.
[00:33:08]  There was a book written about, you know, the case for looting or whatever, something like that.
[00:33:12]  I mean, there's like, so, okay, yeah, like, I'm not saying that didn't happen, but it's not as if, like, if a fucking group, you know, like, again, once you're like in a movement, if you don't get to just say, like, well, there were some people who were against the violent aspects when there's, you know, like people are being murdered, assaulted, terrorized, businesses are being destroyed.
[00:33:36]  You don't get to just say, yeah, well, some people were against it.
[00:33:38]  Like, okay, fine.
[00:33:40]  But a whole lot of other people clearly weren't.
[00:33:43]  And for us to just come in as a political party and say, we're on board with them, you know, and I just don't like, you know, and I'll say one more and then we'll move on because I have talked about this.
[00:33:52]  I'm just reliving the summer of 2020, but it's also, and this is kind of what I mean about the idea of how people are programmed and where the propaganda is, is that like, you know, you just, it seems kind of obvious that a lot of this is a real racial bias.
[00:34:12]  And a lot of these same people who claim to hate racism and claim to hate collectivism and all this other stuff, it's like they'll be like, well, look, the group is called Black Lives Matter and they're against police brutality.
[00:34:30]  So we're against police brutality and we should be on board with them.
[00:34:34]  And it's like, yeah, but dude, if there was a group called, you know, White Income Matters and they were against taxation, okay?
[00:34:47]  They're like, we are against taxation.
[00:34:49]  That's what they say.
[00:34:50]  We're against taxes and white income matters.
[00:34:54]  And did you know that taxes disproportionately affect white people?
[00:34:58]  You know what I mean?
[00:34:59]  That they pay a disproportionate amount of the income tax.
[00:35:01]  And that's why we're like, white income matters.
[00:35:04]  And then they were like, also, by the way, there's this national organization called White Income Matters that said they're trained Nazis.
[00:35:15]  But like, whatever, don't like stress about that.
[00:35:17]  We're not them exactly.
[00:35:18]  We're just, we have the exact same name and we work with them and they come to a lot of our rallies and stuff, but like, whereas like whatever.
[00:35:24]  And then every night it devolved into white people going into black neighborhoods and terrorizing them.
[00:35:30]  And they were showing up at restaurants full of black people and demanding that they stand up and say, you know, sounds like the Klan's making a comeback, dude.
[00:35:38]  Yeah.
[00:35:38]  I mean, like, if you were to, if you had this whole thing, just make it the same thing, make it the mirror image of everything that was happening in the summer of 2020.
[00:35:46]  And then I were to say to you, like, I were to seriously take the argument to you and be like, but dude, I mean, I don't know.
[00:35:52]  I mean, we're against taxation too.
[00:35:55]  So I support that movement.
[00:35:57]  Wouldn't you be like, that's fucking nuts that you would say you support that movement.
[00:36:02]  Like, no, I'm sorry.
[00:36:03]  You can't support that movement.
[00:36:05]  Like, you could in some way go like, you know, like, I think in this example, the first thing to say would be like, this movement is fucking horrible, but like, yeah, I'm for, I'm for repealing the income tax.
[00:36:17]  Like, yeah, let's repeal the income tax.
[00:36:19]  And then they won't have anything to, you know, complain about.
[00:36:22]  And then, yeah, let me denounce all these other horrible things about this movement, right?
[00:36:26]  So just on the argument alone, the merit of it falls apart if you're not like programmed into already being predisposed to believe this shit.

=== Libertarian Intellectual Lineage (11:35) ===

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[00:38:09]  All right, let's get back into the show.
[00:38:11]  So anyway, many of us at the time were like really saying, like, you know, like, hey, this is a really bad idea.
[00:38:20]  This is a really bad idea to go down this path.
[00:38:23]  And here, this is actually, when we were talking about it yesterday, I started with this comment, which was the other day.
[00:38:34]  And this kind of got me thinking about a lot of this stuff.
[00:38:37]  But so I responded to Jack Posebiak, who has name I might be butchering, but he's the right-wing journalist guy.
[00:38:50]  And he said, he tweeted, he said, I don't know who needs to hear this, but Tucker Carlson and Scooter Downey warned us the FBI was launching a domestic war on terror.
[00:39:02]  And I responded by saying, Ron Paul warned that the original war on terror was destined to be turned inward.
[00:39:08]  I mean, as long as we're playing the who gets credit for warning us game, let's get real.
[00:39:13]  The Ron Paul people were right about everything.
[00:39:15]  War, spying, inflation, debt.
[00:39:18]  Republicans went with Mitt.
[00:39:20]  So that was my response to him.
[00:39:21]  And this tweet blew up.
[00:39:22]  I got like 10,000 likes on it now.
[00:39:25]  And one of the responses to it, which I really appreciated, was Jesse Kelly, who's been on the show before.
[00:39:31]  I've been on his show.
[00:39:31]  I'm going back on his show tomorrow night.
[00:39:34]  And he tweeted, and Jesse Kelly is a very popular political pundit, a right-wing guy.
[00:39:42]  You know, has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
[00:39:46]  And he tweeted, I've never been more wrong about anything than I was for the Patriot Act.
[00:39:52]  Every person who warned me back then was where it would go was right.
[00:39:56]  And I was wrong, very wrong.
[00:39:59]  And I really appreciated that.
[00:40:01]  And I tweeted back at him that I really respect, you know, like the willingness to admit that.
[00:40:05]  And I probably should have added in the tweet too, just some things I've been wrong about in the past too, just, but I thought of that later.
[00:40:11]  But I'm just like, there's not that much.
[00:40:14]  But, but, you know, now there's things.
[00:40:18]  But the point is this, right?
[00:40:21]  When the smoke, when you stick to principles, even when it's uncomfortable to do it, and even in the middle of the chaos, but you stick to your principles.
[00:40:30]  And if you're able to see through the chaos and the confusion, it ends up looking really good afterward.
[00:40:38]  And this is why someone right here, right, on so somebody who was supporting the entire Bush doctrine, well, the most anti-Bush doctrine guy, the guy who was saying, no, we shouldn't fight the war on terror.
[00:40:50]  We shouldn't have the Patriot Act.
[00:40:52]  We shouldn't create the Department of Homeland Security.
[00:40:53]  We're against all of this.
[00:40:55]  That guy, I can say, well, he called all of this shit 10 years later.
[00:41:01]  And that guy can go, you know what?
[00:41:03]  God damn it.
[00:41:04]  He was right about all of that shit.
[00:41:06]  Okay.
[00:41:06]  That's like, there's power in that.
[00:41:09]  This is part of the reason why our show is blown up so much.
[00:41:12]  Because now, you know, at the time, when you're saying that like, you know, you're like, now there's Trump's not in bed with the Russians.
[00:41:19]  He's just not.
[00:41:20]  And Adam Schiff, I know he's the head of the House Intelligence Committee, and he says he has evidence.
[00:41:25]  He doesn't.
[00:41:26]  He's a liar.
[00:41:27]  And at the time, it's kind of like, oh, all right.
[00:41:28]  I don't know.
[00:41:29]  You're going out on a limb.
[00:41:30]  But now that looks pretty damn good.
[00:41:31]  You know what I mean?
[00:41:32]  And now we look pretty good on where we were on COVID.
[00:41:35]  And we look pretty good on where we were on Trump Russia.
[00:41:38]  And we look good on where we were on all this shit on the fucking riots and on the lockdowns and like all of this.
[00:41:43]  And that's the benefit of sticking to principle even when things are difficult, even when it's difficult to do.
[00:41:54]  And so this, I guess, is kind of the point of all of this, of where I'm going, is that the major problem right now in the liberty movement is that it's not associated with all the stuff that we were right about, which are the really serious things.
[00:42:14]  And this is if you talk to people, especially if you talk to like bigger, you know, like influential media figures, this is why everybody's not jumping on board with us yet.
[00:42:28]  Is that we're, it's not like you look around and you see what an opportunity we have where it's like, you know, the government just destroyed the country over the last 19 months based off bullshit pseudoscience.
[00:42:44]  They've destroyed the currency as a result of the necessity of if you're going to lock down the economy, what, you know, well, their answer was just print money, right?
[00:42:54]  They like all of these things, the war on terror being turned inward, like all of these things that libertarians were just right about.
[00:43:01]  These are very serious things.
[00:43:04]  But because of the blunders of the last two LP campaigns, what libertarians are kind of known for is like Trump derangement syndrome and woke shit.
[00:43:18]  And that is like what people won't get on board with.
[00:43:21]  Instead of if when I talk to someone, and this is part of the reason why I say, like, someone like Tim Poole is so excited about what we're doing in the Mises caucus and all of this stuff and my potential, you know, run and all this stuff, is that he goes, right?
[00:43:37]  Like, when I start talking to him at first, and understandably so, he's like, well, what is the Mises?
[00:43:44]  Or he's like, well, what are libertarians all about?
[00:43:46]  And in his mind, he's like, well, libertarians, what are they about?
[00:43:49]  Like, we must be actively anti-racist, open borders, fucking, you know what I mean?
[00:43:55]  Like Trump derangement syndrome.
[00:43:56]  Like, this is, this is what they are.
[00:43:59]  And it's like, no.
[00:44:01]  And I'm sitting there and I'm going, no, I represent this school of libertarian thought.
[00:44:06]  And here's what we're all about.
[00:44:07]  We're all about ending the Federal Reserve crony banking system, ending the military-industrial complex, ending the COVID restrictions, ending corporate giveaways.
[00:44:16]  That's what we represent.
[00:44:18]  And he's like, hmm, okay.
[00:44:21]  I'm all on board with everything you just said.
[00:44:24]  So that's like the real issue here is that like, that's why I feel the need to bring this shit up.
[00:44:30]  That's why I felt the need to go so hard.
[00:44:32]  That's ultimately why I didn't support the Jorgensen-Cohen ticket.
[00:44:36]  Because it's like, no, I'm not.
[00:44:37]  Look, we're not winning either way.
[00:44:40]  The only game here is to create a movement.
[00:44:43]  And no, this is going like some people here who are like influential people with followings in this liberty world have to say, nope, that's not what we are.
[00:44:54]  We are actually this other thing, which is much more correct and serious and important.
[00:45:00]  Like, that's not what it's about.
[00:45:01]  And I don't care how many fucking like of the woke libertarians I piss off who want to, you know, like lecture me about transphobia.
[00:45:10]  Like, I don't care about any of that stuff.
[00:45:11]  We're not getting sucked into that conversation.
[00:45:14]  People hate that conversation.
[00:45:15]  They're over it.
[00:45:16]  It's manufactured nonsense.
[00:45:19]  Like, you know, like, it's just not what's important.
[00:45:23]  And it's not what's going to create a big movement.
[00:45:26]  And so that's a big part of what my mission is.
[00:45:31]  And this was always in my mind when I was getting into these like battles with the loser brigade woke libertarian types was like, I was like, no, I want this fight.
[00:45:46]  Like I want it to be seen.
[00:45:48]  And like, and it, and it played perfectly.
[00:45:50]  It really just played perfectly into my hands.
[00:45:52]  And they're, none of them are very bright.
[00:45:54]  So they don't really see it coming.
[00:45:56]  But it's like, oh, first off, they help us fundraise.
[00:46:00]  They help us like increase our enthusiasm because people see them.
[00:46:04]  And they're just, they just want them to lose.
[00:46:07]  Like whatever side they're on, they're like, I just want that guy to lose.
[00:46:10]  So let me go support this side.
[00:46:12]  Also, I just make better arguments than any of them.
[00:46:15]  So I win every time I debate with them.
[00:46:18]  It's not really saying much for me.
[00:46:19]  It's not a big brag.
[00:46:21]  It's just, that's the reality of the situation.
[00:46:23]  But on top of that, I need it to be seen by all these outsiders who think that libertarianism is just poisoned by wokeness, that those woke libertarians hate my guts because then I actually have a leg to stand on to say, no, look, see, I'm clearing all this shit out.
[00:46:42]  This is why they hate me because what I represent is that real shit, that Mises, Rothbard, Hoppe, Paul, Rockwell, real shit.
[00:46:52]  That's, that's what we're about.
[00:46:54]  And it's not about any of any of this other fucking nonsense.
[00:46:59]  Anyway, so that was kind of my thoughts that I've been having in my head recently.
[00:47:06]  You make that the slogan?
[00:47:07]  Dave Smith, the real shit?
[00:47:09]  Libertarian Tupac, bringing that real shit.
[00:47:12]  By the way, give that pose again so someone can meme it.
[00:47:16]  There you go.
[00:47:16]  Money kids out there.
[00:47:18]  Put that together.
[00:47:19]  Put that fucking make something cool happen with that, you fucking weirdo internet people.
[00:47:23]  Um, but that was just, it was like it in a way, you know, like, and I did feel bad when I saw it because it's like, I just felt like it made it, it made Spike look bad.
[00:47:34]  And I felt bad for that.
[00:47:35]  Like, I don't, I don't want him to look bad.
[00:47:37]  I think he's a good dude.
[00:47:38]  And I also don't want good people on my team to look bad.
[00:47:42]  I want to fucking, I want all these, I want like important, influential people to be seeing Spike and being like, oh shit, that guy's making really good points, which they would see.
[00:47:52]  Like, if they watched him on Kennedy or something like that, they'd see, oh, this guy's making really good points.
[00:47:56]  Like, that's, and, and that's what I want them to see of him.
[00:48:00]  So it sucks to see him get burned like that.
[00:48:03]  But it's also like it was kind of a moment of seeing it where you're like, yep, of course, of course.

=== Cuts Clothing Sponsor Segment (03:03) ===

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[00:48:11]  And why is it that, you know, and you know, someone like, like Spike, and this is the truth, is that, and I guarantee this, if there was a black kid who was in the exact same situation as Kyle Rittenhouse, he would have defended him and said, yeah, I think this kid is, I think this kid acted in self-defense.
[00:48:29]  But because, you know, he did it for a white kid and I guess was kind of in opposition to a Black Lives Matter riot.
[00:48:42]  Then all of a sudden they have to denounce him and cut ties with him.
[00:48:46]  Like this is just so shitty.
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[00:51:13]  Anyway.

=== Republican Budget and Culture War (14:43) ===

[00:51:14]  Just conceptually, if the people that are pro-BLM but anti-the violence at BLM, so then they should be on the same side as Kyle Riddenhouse, who didn't go to object to the protesting.
[00:51:25]  He just went to object to the violence and to, if anything, try and make the protesters safer as they didn't have to deal with fires or medical ailments.
[00:51:34]  So, look, Rittenhouse is actually on your side here.
[00:51:37]  Well, that's right.
[00:51:37]  And I unless you're pro-violence, unless you actually like the violence.
[00:51:40]  Well, that's a really fair point, man.
[00:51:42]  Like, why would you, if there is this huge portion, you know, of people who were all about protesting, but really opposed to the violence, then, like, yeah, you would think you'd see a little bit more of that.
[00:51:53]  And, like, I said during the um during the height of it, that if I was involved in a protest and it was devolving into violence against innocent people every night after the protest was over, I'd stop protesting.
[00:52:07]  So, I'd be like, I don't know, I don't want to give cover to these people.
[00:52:10]  Like, this is awful.
[00:52:10]  I don't want to be associated with any of this.
[00:52:13]  Um, and it was a really horrible shit.
[00:52:16]  It's unbelievable how much people like downplay it, like, as if that doesn't mean anything.
[00:52:20]  Like, so I mean, I remember all the videos of people, you know, unconscious people being soccer kicked on the ground and businesses.
[00:52:27]  How come those, how come there haven't been any lawsuits, or maybe there are and they're just not in the media, but where's all the uh, the arson lawsuits or the people that were beat up in front of their stores?
[00:52:37]  Like, did they put all their uh resources into trying to prosecute Rittenhouse?
[00:52:41]  Where's all this other well?
[00:52:42]  I honestly think there was no real political will, they weren't treating it like January 6th and breaking out the facial recognition technology and all this shit.
[00:52:50]  Is there a lawsuit that could be brought against the cops for that then?
[00:52:53]  Like, that they didn't know the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court has already ruled that you can't like sue the cops for not defending you.
[00:52:59]  Like, they don't have what about not like if you're an insurance agency and you've insured property and now you got to make the payment, why can't like, are you, are you, or are you able to get private detectives and find out the person that did it and then just hold them financially liable?
[00:53:13]  You know, like I'm almost surprised that doesn't I don't know, but I know there was a story of a dude, I think it was in New York City who got stabbed while the cops watched.
[00:53:22]  Yeah, that was on that's a great video on from cracked magazine that goes way back, but there's a great video about it and it went to the Supreme Court and they basically ruled that, yeah, that no, he didn't, the cops don't have an obligation.
[00:53:34]  Here's my next business: Ridden House, hit me up when you're done with this trial, you're free and clear.
[00:53:38]  We're going to become private detectives, we're going to work for the insurance companies, we're going to find the people that committed the arson, and we're going to, we're going to jewel lawyer up.
[00:53:45]  Not going to be any violence involved.
[00:53:47]  We're going to pull all these people into court and we're going to find them financially liable.
[00:53:50]  It's my new business venture.
[00:53:52]  There you go.
[00:53:53]  I'm excited to see how this blooms.
[00:53:55]  Once the war with Optimum is complete, you'll move into your next phase of life.
[00:54:00]  But I don't know, to be honest, I mean, I'm sure there have been like, you know, arrests made and stuff like that during the whole thing, but I think a lot of those people got beat up.
[00:54:08]  It was wild scenes.
[00:54:09]  It was like a mob.
[00:54:10]  No one, and they have them were masked up.
[00:54:12]  You know, no one knows exactly who did what.
[00:54:15]  So a lot of people got away with it.
[00:54:17]  But that's what it is.
[00:54:21]  Anyway, you know, someone asked me the other day, and I thought it was a fairly reasonable question.
[00:54:29]  This is when, so this is, again, reliving some of these Twitter exchanges, but you know how it is with these Twitter things, you start to, you know, you can't like really get all of your thoughts out.
[00:54:39]  So it's like some of these things were just sparking, you know, thoughts in my mind.
[00:54:47]  But somebody who, when I, when I was having that exchange with Jesse Kelly, they were kind of jumping on me when I was saying, well, look, I mean, you know, Ron Paul was right about all this shit, and the Republicans went with Mitt fucking Romney.
[00:55:06]  So, you know, what does that say about them?
[00:55:10]  And let me see if I can find it here.
[00:55:13]  Yeah.
[00:55:13]  Yeah, so he said, so when I said the tweet about Ron Paul warned about all of this and the Ron Paul people were right about everything and the Republicans went with Mitt Romney, he said, A, that's not how the primary would go today.
[00:55:26]  B, who did the LP go with?
[00:55:30]  And they said, it doesn't matter because it's 2012, it's 2021, not 2008 anymore.
[00:55:36]  And the Republican base is not remotely the same.
[00:55:42]  So, you know, I responded to him where he was like, you know, I was saying it was 10 years ago.
[00:55:47]  This isn't, I'm not like bringing up ancient history.
[00:55:50]  I'm not going 100 years ago and saying like, oh, like, you know, this fucking, you know, this guy back then got it all right and you guys didn't support him or something like that.
[00:56:01]  The topic of the tweet that I was responding to was who called it?
[00:56:04]  Who got this right?
[00:56:06]  And they're like, oh, last year these guys warned us.
[00:56:08]  And I'm like, well, 10 years ago, this guy warned all of you guys way before them.
[00:56:12]  I don't think that's crazy irrelevant.
[00:56:14]  And then I said, like, possibly like, it's not how the primary would go today.
[00:56:20]  It's like, maybe, maybe not.
[00:56:23]  But the base might go with someone like Trump who would still appoint someone like John Bolton to be his national security advisor.
[00:56:31]  You know, I mean, yeah, there's been improvement, but let's not pretend that like none of this matters.
[00:56:36]  I'm not going to pretend 10 years ago didn't happen.
[00:56:39]  And I'm not going to pretend that like Ron Paul is the, is where the libertarian is where the Republican Party is at today.
[00:56:45]  I don't think it is.
[00:56:46]  I think Donald Trump is, for the most part, where they're at today.
[00:56:51]  And then I also said to B, I was like, you know, he said, who did the LP go with?
[00:56:55]  I'm like, yeah, I don't care.
[00:56:57]  I don't care if it's making them look bad.
[00:56:59]  Yeah, they went with the wrong people.
[00:57:00]  The LP should not have gone with Johnson Weld.
[00:57:03]  Like, I debated the chair of the party at the time about how they shouldn't have gone with him and should never go with someone like that again.
[00:57:10]  And I won the debate, at least by the Oxford style rules and by the internet.
[00:57:16]  And that guy isn't doing so good anymore.
[00:57:20]  And like, so, you know, I was like, yeah, like, I don't know.
[00:57:24]  I don't have blind like allegiance to a political party.
[00:57:28]  And then he asked me, why go with the Libertarian Party?
[00:57:33]  Which I didn't get a chance to respond to, just because I can only be on Twitter for so long.
[00:57:38]  But that did, it did stick with me.
[00:57:40]  And I think I've made this point before, but I thought I would just like, you know, once again, in light of all of this, it's like, why go with the Libertarian Party?
[00:57:48]  And to me, like, there's there's almost like two parts of this, right?
[00:57:55]  So the part number one is like why I think it's valuable to have a big liberty movement in the country and why, like, why that matters.
[00:58:11]  And then part two would be why I think the Libertarian Party is the way to do that.
[00:58:15]  Okay.
[00:58:16]  So part one is honestly fairly obvious to me.
[00:58:21]  And a lot of people like will try to, or not a lot of people, but some people will try to argue that this is feudal or doesn't matter or whatever.
[00:58:30]  But I think that's silly.
[00:58:32]  It's pretty obvious that like, if you want to live in a more free society, you're going to have a much better chance of that being reality if more people want to live in a more free society.
[00:58:48]  It's fairly straightforward, right?
[00:58:50]  Like it's, it's a fairly straightforward thing.
[00:58:55]  Like culture does have an impact on politics.
[00:58:59]  And that is why the ruling political class spends so much energy propagandizing the people because they know that.
[00:59:09]  I mean, look at how much they've affected the culture through this COVID shit.
[00:59:13]  That's what they go after.
[00:59:14]  They go after affecting the culture.
[00:59:16]  And then it makes it much easier for them to have, you know, whatever policy they want.
[00:59:21]  And the policy affects the culture, but the culture also affects the policy.
[00:59:25]  And so when if you want to have a change in the policy, well, you either have to take over the government or have an impact on the culture, right?
[00:59:39]  Now, if you're talking about at a local level, I think it's good to try to take over the government, you know?
[00:59:48]  If you can take over your own local government, I think that's great.
[00:59:51]  And that's a huge focus of what the Mises Caucus is all about.
[00:59:54]  It's basically all about kind of national messaging and local action, politically speaking.
[01:00:01]  And I think that's great.
[01:00:02]  And like there are cases where this really works.
[01:00:04]  And whether it's with the Libertarian Party or the Republicans or even the Democrats, like that's almost irrelevant to me.
[01:00:10]  So whatever in your area is easier to win.
[01:00:14]  I mean, political parties are just vehicles.
[01:00:15]  You know what I mean?
[01:00:16]  It doesn't, that doesn't really matter.
[01:00:19]  But there are examples where things are really better.
[01:00:22]  I mean, Texas passed constitutional carry and a bunch of states have decriminalized mushrooms and marijuana and stuff like that.
[01:00:31]  I mean, that's nothing to laugh.
[01:00:32]  That's like real human beings whose lives get ruined over these stupid laws are now not ruined over these stupid laws.
[01:00:41]  Like that's a big deal.
[01:00:43]  But when it comes to a national messaging campaign, that is where you have the most opportunity to really create a liberty movement or really invigorate or reinvigorate a liberty movement.
[01:00:58]  And it's also where you have the least opportunity to actually take over government.
[01:01:03]  It's just not going to happen.
[01:01:06]  And I think we should give up on the idea of pretending it will.
[01:01:11]  Like that's not what this is about.
[01:01:14]  And, you know, and the guy said to me, he goes, why don't you go, look, dude, I love what you do, but just run for president as a Republican.
[01:01:22]  And then there's so many of the Republicans would love what you have to say.
[01:01:26]  And then you can actually win.
[01:01:28]  You know, like the Republicans, you can actually win with them.
[01:01:31]  And it's like, okay, well, first of all, it would be, I can be the LP nominee if I want to be.
[01:01:41]  Republican nominee, that's like a crazy long shot.
[01:01:45]  You know what I mean?
[01:01:45]  Like, it's like, would be unbelievably difficult to make that happen.
[01:01:51]  Even just to make the debate stage or something like that would be incredibly difficult to make happen.
[01:01:56]  But if the goal here were to become president of the United States, and then I'm going to roll back everything and do all, I mean, look, think about, first of all, just think about the fact that look what happens when Donald Trump got in there.
[01:02:14]  You really, you realize pretty quickly how little power the president actually has to get through any of his agenda that's not in the interest of the entire bureaucratic, you know, establishment, deep state corporate press conglomerate, right?
[01:02:30]  Look how many ways they have to box you in and to undermine you and all of this shit.
[01:02:35]  So it's not as if you could just get in there and do that.
[01:02:38]  But you think about it like this, like what if, I think Michael Malice made a point like this on Glenn Beck's show.
[01:02:46]  If Donald Trump had gotten in and just proposed we go back to the budget of before Obama.
[01:02:56]  Just imagine that.
[01:02:58]  Imagine he proposed, we're just going to go back to the budget of 2007.
[01:03:04]  There'd be no chance he could get that passed.
[01:03:08]  And that is, by the way, that wasn't a small budget.
[01:03:09]  That was still the Bush war budget.
[01:03:11]  Yes, it was huge.
[01:03:12]  Bush had a tremendous expansion of the size and scope of government in his eight years.
[01:03:16]  But then all the, even for all the Republicans, right, there's all these like Republicans and conservatives who'd be like, Obama was a big spender and we hated the spending under Obama.
[01:03:24]  But what would happen if Trump were to propose, let's go back to the spending episode, the entire system would turn on him.
[01:03:33]  He would probably have successfully been impeached and removed.
[01:03:36]  You know, forget all this other stuff.
[01:03:38]  They just wouldn't allow that to happen.
[01:03:39]  It's the biggest gravy train in world history.
[01:03:42]  It's a honeypot.
[01:03:43]  Like there's no one's, no one's allowing you to do that.
[01:03:46]  No, no, you're not cutting trillions out of the budget in the first year.
[01:03:50]  That's not happening.
[01:03:52]  But we don't want to go back to George W. Bush.
[01:03:55]  We don't want to just repeal Obama and go back to George W. Bush.
[01:03:59]  We want to go back and repeal, you know, we don't even want to just go back to Lyndon Johnson and repeal the Great Society.
[01:04:07]  But we don't just want to go back to FDR and repeal the New Deal.
[01:04:11]  We want to go back to Woodrow Wilson and repeal the progressive, Teddy Roosevelt.
[01:04:16]  We want to repeal the entire progressive revolution in this country.
[01:04:21]  And that's just not going to happen from taking over government at a national level.
[01:04:27]  But what can happen is you have enough of a mass movement in this country that demands liberty to the point that they're not able to successfully get away with this shit anymore.
[01:04:40]  And at least then you could have some type of splintering off, some type of, it's either going to be one or two things, some form of decentralization, either the federal government just has to step back and local governments kind of step up or secession or something in that area.
[01:04:57]  So that's what you can hope for.
[01:05:00]  So that's why this is the time to use a third party is because you can now in the internet age, if you have connections with the big platforms on online, you can get audiences that dwarf the traditional media, the corporate press.
[01:05:16]  You can speak to them directly for long and long periods of time and you can inspire people that way.
[01:05:24]  And so if there's something like if you're a libertarian and you're like, okay, well, we want to spark a big liberty movement.
[01:05:32]  And you're like, okay, well, there's this daunting, damn near impossible task of taking over the Republican Party or the Democratic Party.
[01:05:39]  But then there's this third party, which bears our name with a bunch of people who claim to stand for the same values we do and just a small contingency of people who hate real libertarians.
[01:05:52]  Let's just go take that and then we can do this whole thing.

=== Sparking a Liberty Movement (02:26) ===

[01:05:57]  So that's the argument.
[01:05:59]  But in order for it to work, we have to like, we have to refocus, like we have to revive the Ron Paul memory.
[01:06:10]  And when people think of libertarians, we don't want them thinking of all of these mistakes that the LP has made.
[01:06:17]  We want them thinking of the Ron Paul camp because that's what you want.
[01:06:22]  You want when people think of libertarians, you want them to think of, oh yeah, the people who warned us about everything and were right about all of the things that are destroying the country.
[01:06:35]  The people who were like, oh, we shouldn't fight the war in Iraq, not to mention in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Yemen.
[01:06:43]  We shouldn't have bailed out the banks.
[01:06:45]  We should have never inflated the bubble to begin with to have to bail out the banks.
[01:06:48]  We should end the Federal Reserve and either be on a, you know, we should be on some type of, you know, gold standard or, you know, Bitcoin standard or something like that.
[01:07:00]  We shouldn't, we shouldn't have a Federal Reserve, a central bank.
[01:07:04]  We shouldn't have a militarized police state.
[01:07:07]  We shouldn't have any war on terror that could be turned inward against our own people.
[01:07:13]  We shouldn't be giving corporations giant bailouts.
[01:07:15]  We shouldn't be propagandizing our children in government schools.
[01:07:18]  Like all of these things, this can win.
[01:07:21]  And I don't mean win votes.
[01:07:23]  I mean, like, this can win people.
[01:07:25]  This can actually win.
[01:07:26]  These are really serious things that really matter.
[01:07:29]  And in order to do that, you have to completely shed all of this other bullshit.
[01:07:37]  No, you do not associate us with telling you that you're supposed to be anti-racist or some shit like that.
[01:07:42]  We're not just repeating the dog, the dominant dogma of the big government, big corporations alliance.
[01:07:49]  That's not what we're here to do.
[01:07:51]  We're here to challenge that whole alliance, not say, well, we believe all the same stuff you do.
[01:07:57]  Because that doesn't lead to a revolution, does it?
[01:08:02]  All right.
[01:08:03]  Anyway, so that's my rant.
[01:08:04]  That's my rant for today's show.
[01:08:06]  Most right party in the history of rightness.
[01:08:08]  Dave Smith bringing the real shit.
[01:08:11]  There we go.
[01:08:11]  All right.
[01:08:12]  Thank you for listening.
[01:08:13]  We'll catch you next time.
[01:08:14]  Oh, Chicago.
[01:08:14]  Get the Chicago.
[01:08:16]  I'm seeing Robbie the Fire.
[01:08:17]  Doing live podcasts.
[01:08:18]  And then I got a whole tour going on.
[01:08:19]  RobbieTheFire.com slash shows.
[01:08:21]  Go check it out.
[01:08:22]  All right.
[01:08:23]  Talk to you guys soon.