What a treat it would be to live in your home and engage in voluntary transactions without being monitored or stolen from. Being in charge of your own methods of self-defense without anyone’s permission. Sustaining you and your family in any form or fashion of your choosing without harming anyone. Well, that is what the Libertarian Candidate for Governor of Texas, Patrick Smith, covets. The available tools of Tyranny are being used as a counter strike. Spreading the message of Voluntaryism and the non-aggression principle is essential.
I had an opportunity to ask a local jury nullification activist, Eric Haley, about Patrick.
“Patrick Smith is one of the most morally and philosophically consistent ancaps that I know. I admire the work that he has done over the past few years with his YouTube channels and voluntaryist meetups to try to expand minds and deepen people’s understanding of the voluntaryist philosophy and self-ownership. He’s not only well spoken, and very intelligent, he is also great at debating and finding logical fallacies. He’s a family man and all around great guy, who strives to live 100% by the non-aggression principle. He is one of my role models and I believe he is the best candidate that I know to take on the role of spreading the ideas of liberty to the masses, which is why I decided to support him in his campaign for ‘not-governor’ and why I became a ‘not-delegate’.”
I contacted Patrick for an interview.
First, we got to know him a little more when he shared this brief history about himself with us. Patrick is an unschooling dad of three and a husband to his wife, Breanna. He is currently a technology entrepreneur with a history in the Powersports, automotive, and cryptocurrency spaces. He lives for the competition and freedom of capitalism. He is also a philosopher, which he would tell you is just a fancy word for someone that is annoyed by inconsistency and loves a good debate seeking the truth. Patrick is also an activist seeking to spread the ideas of freedom, consent, and the non-aggression principle around the world through his youtube channel, Disenthrall, and locally, by organizing the 2nd largest Voluntaryist meet-up group in the world where he lives in Dallas.
His belief in the rightful authority of government began to weaken when he went on ride-alongs with Fort Worth police and saw the things they actually do to people in the name of their authority. His trust in the competence of government was destroyed by his time as a contractor for a few federal government agencies. Various other abuses lead him to question what the actual source of their authority was. First, he thought it was god, then the constitution, then natural law. Finally, the discovery of the ideals of the Non-Aggression Principle through people such as Napolitano, Stephan Molyneux (classic), Lysander Spooner, and Walter Block lead him to the consistent positions he lives by and promotes today.
Nowadays, he is testing if it’s possible to be a 100% Non-Aggression Principle compliant candidate in the Texas gubernatorial race for 2018. He’s created quite a stir by being the first candidate to run for Not-Governor and he is seeking Not-Delegates at NotGovernor.com/Join for the libertarian convention in Texas in order to free Texans from the control of the government that claims to derive powers from our consent.
I asked him a few questions to see what his stance was:
1. Which 3 gov. Agencies would you abolish first?
“State, County, and City… Oh, I’ll and tell the feds they’re fired while I’m at it. I’m absolutely serious about this, my sights aren’t aimed at specific agencies, they’re aimed at levels of government entirely. Federal influence would be locked entirely, state government influence would cease to exist in order of their threat to people’s safety and property. I’m not opposed to fighting to end city coercion either. People are sick of this unethical form of control over them.”
2. Would you immediately pardon all the non-violent offenders?
“If there is not a victim then there was not a crime. And unlike these people in the “justice” and “law” industries, I’ll tell you that the “state of Texas” cannot be a victim because concepts cannot be injured nor be paid restitution. No victim no crime. In fact, people that participated in the kidnapping of peaceful people for victimless crimes might need some justice themselves.”
3. Would you shut down the prisons? Where would you place the violent prisoners?
“I wouldn’t shut down the prisons. I would prevent theft from occurring to pay for it. The workers inside of the prison are free to serve their community by continuing the job. The community outside and around the prison are free to contribute to it voluntarily. I would never stop someone from doing that. The theory goes that governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed. If this is true then the majority consent to paying however much they are paying to keep the prisons functioning. “
4. How would you treat a disaster without accepting federal aid?
“Well the entire point is not for me, or anyone, to ride in and start dictating solutions… That’s just more government. I think one of the proudest “Texan” moments I’ve had was watching the huge numbers of regular people pooling and shipping resources and manpower down to the recent disaster in Houston. If anything the word I got from my friends involved in those efforts was that the feds just got in their way if not flat out obstructed them… I don’t think anyone expects anything different from the feds, but even if they were effective; it’s never acceptable to extort money from everyone else in the country even to give to those in need. If people want to help, they will… And luckily the people around here are more giving in times of need than anywhere else in the world.”
5. When and where would you auction off all the unnecessary property of the State? How would you return the money to those it was stolen from?
” Again, the entire point is that people ought to lead themselves, and not have some jackwagon come in and dictate what we “Ought to do”, however, our principles dictate that we first go through and make a best possible effort to return all stolen property that we can find rightful owners for immediately, let people reclaim their property and undo all the years of eminent domain theft. Next, we’d have the task of reclaiming land occupied by the feds as they would lose their consent to exist in this area, not that they ever had it to begin with. For the rest, it can get somewhat complicated, and I have some ideas, but I think the people of Texas should be the ones to decide… I think auctions could be cleared on a blockchain of some sort and I suspect that people will want the funds left at the end just divided up for checks to be cut.”
6. Where would you live since you would not reside in the tax-funded governor’s mansion? What other policies and or goals do you have?
“My goal is to make Texas the place on earth every human looks to when they want to learn how freedom is supposed to work. Texans are more than capable of handling themselves. It’s time to let these rulers know that government is an old, obsolete, and abusive technology whose time is over. They no longer govern with the consent of the people. After I oversee the peaceful disbursement of “public” *cough*STOLEN*cough* property including the governor’s mansion and fire all the politician parasites and road pirates, my plan would be to live in my home in peace and newfound prosperity, to continue my activism with the great friends I have here.”
7. What is your stance on the immigrants coming into Texas?
“Well, unlike Mrs. Glass, a so-called “ libertarian” who somehow thinks its ok to continue forcing people that live here to pay for her plans to control peaceful people attempting to enter the area, I will be returning “public” property to its rightful owners. That means that the people who own property here will finally be the ones making the rules for their property. If you don’t want certain people around, well that’s your property, no one should be able to stop you from making that decision for yourself. And if you want people to have free access to your land for business or any other reason, that’s your property, no one has the right to tell you otherwise.”
With the answers and the philosophies presented here, we see a complete self-ownership candidate. Using the available tools created by this authoritarian state to infiltrate and inject the ideas of true freedom is a way to strike back at the foundation of this Goliath. Another would be to delve into the factual research of exiting the system by correcting our nationalities and expatriate from the gripping tentacle of this draconian kakistocracy. This method would be a spear coming from a different direction with the target being the current overreaching state and federal governments. The vision of Mr. Smith’s trek is a good one and I hope his message is heard loud and clear.
Here is his announcement video.
