This Time Bomb is Poli-Ticking!

This guy gives me hope for what the Free State Project is trying to accomplish.  I am fairly certain he would have heard about this via the internet but then again, who really knows?

That Brits / Europeans are looking to join the Free State Project also speaks major volumes against the European socialism that the Democrats are trying to realize for the United States.  There are many forms of oppression in this world and in my opinion big government is the worst of the lot.

One of the things that I really enjoy in writing about libertarianism is that I get to meet many different and interesting people. Recently I came across a gentleman who is a libertarian minded independent running for State Auditor in Massachusetts. Kamal Jain, a man who’s interests range from technology to history to philosophy, has also shown quite a keen interest in politics.

"The State Auditor is to government and politics what an umpire or referee is in sports: They shouldn't play for any of the teams." Kamal Jain

I asked Kamal some key questions about his opinions on the Massachusetts State Auditor’s Office, libertarianism and running for office as an independent with libertarian leanings. And Kamal Jain didn’t disappoint – he provided some very straightforward and insightful answers that deserve our consideration. So without further ado…

Gary Dale Cearley: What is wrong with the office of the State Auditor right now?

Kamal Jain: What’s really wrong with the State Auditor’s Office, and this has been the case for more than two decades, is that the office serves the state government, first and foremost. While I can’t really cite the current auditor for failing to perform his formally-listed duties, he has not seen fit to act as a true, independent auditor working for the people of Massachusetts. The State Auditor is one of six statewide, constitutional office holders elected by the citizens of our state, and as such should be working for the people by auditing and reporting to them what the state government is doing, how well they’re doing it…and how much it actually costs. When I share even just a little of my research with people, their eyes get big and their jaws drop – they cannot believe how big and expensive it all is.

Gary Dale Cearley: How can the state auditor’s office be improved by the election of a libertarian?

Kamal Jain: The State Auditor is to government and politics what an umpire or referee is in sports: They shouldn’t play for any of the teams. While my personal beliefs tend to be libertarian, I am running as an independent because an auditor must be neutral and, like Caesar’s wife, beyond reproach. In my lifetime, we’ve only ever had partisan officeholders for State Auditor. Our current officeholder is a Democrat who has been in office since 1987. When you consider the overwhelming majority the Democrat party holds in our state legislature, and this in running the state government, you can see the conflict of interest. We also had quite a few years of Republican governors prior to Deval Patrick’s victory in 2006. The referee shouldn’t play for one of the teams.

Gary Dale Cearley: How can, you Kamal Jain, increase the liberty and freedom of the people of Massachusetts through the office you seek?

Want to get something done? Ask a busy man!

Kamal Jain: There is a verse from scripture which says “The truth shall set you free”; that’s a universal thing, regardless of one’s religious views. After observing and researching government spending for years, I’ve come to the realization that if the people of Massachusetts knew what I’ve been able to find out only after going through literally thousands of pages of audited financial data… They would be very upset, and would quickly demand smaller, more accountable, more responsible government. What we have for state government today is reckless and irresponsible, and it has only been able to get this bad because the politicians and bureaucrats have been able to hide a lot from the people. Just the way Enron’s auditors were able to hide a lot from their investors.

Gary Dale Cearley: As we all know, the odds are stacked against libertarian candidates, whether “Big ‘L’” or “small ‘l’”, for office and these odds against tend to increase the higher profile the office. What can we libertarians do to change this?

Kamal Jain: After having been active in politics for about 14 years, including having run for office twice and talking to lots of people, the most difficult thing for Libertarians is an image problem. The mainstream media and entrenched political duopoly of the Democrats and Republicans have been able to marginalize Libertarians and get people to believe that all Libertarians are “way out there”. This sometimes presents a challenge to those running for legislative or executive office, like Governor, where the possibility of a victory concerns some voters. The office of State Auditor is actually something which most voters want an Independent in, or at least someone other than the two parties who run the government itself.

Gary Dale Cearley: How bad is pork really in the state of Massachusetts and what do the citizens of the state need to do to eliminate it?

"By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty" (Massachusetts State Motto)

Kamal Jain: The problem of “pork”, government patronage and waste, is hard to gauge without a full analysis of state spending and government operations. That is something which the establishment has prevented from happening. Surveys of voters estimate waste at around 40%; informal polls of government workers, not managers, put it at around 50%. The truth is probably somewhere between those numbers, but we’ll never know without an actual audit of the entire state government. But the problem is more than just one of pork. There are many things which the state government does that were once handled locally, either by people themselves, churches and charities, or local governments. The thing in common among those solutions was local control and accountability. In other words, there are entire parts of state government that aren’t just wasteful. They should be returned to local control.

Gary Dale Cearley: Are you campaigning with any other libertarian candidates for office? What I mean here is: Are you coordinating with any other candidates to hold joint events, cross endorsements and things like that?

Kamal Jain: At this time I am not campaigning with any other candidates for any office, though I have spoken with a number of candidates from several parties. As I’ve said, I’m running as an Independent, on a platform centered around government transparency. If other candidates for office want to get on board the transparency bandwagon, it can only help the people of Massachusetts.

Gary Dale Cearley: How do you participate in the Campaign for Liberty?

Kamal Jain: I’m a member of Campaign for Liberty, and periodically attend regional meetings. It’s been great to see how many people from across the political spectrum were captivated and inspired to get involved through Ron Paul’s run for President last year.

Gary Dale Cearley: Speaking of Ron Paul, are you active in using social media in your campaign for office? If so, then how so? And have you been able to tell whether this effect is positive or negative, large or small?

Kamal Jain: We will be using Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Break-the-Matrix and other social media as the campaign ramps up. There is definitely a benefit to being active on those platforms, but a lot of voters still get their information and updates from more traditional sources such as print and broadcast media. Since my campaign is a grassroots, non-partisan effort, the impact of social media will likely be significant – and something we use to our advantage.

"Many people are fed up with politics as usual, and this is causing people to abandon the old-regime Democrat and Republican parties in large numbers." Kamal Jain

Gary Dale Cearley: How many in your family are libertarians? And how many are party members?

Kamal Jain: Formally, none of my family is “libertarian”, though I think a few members have generally libertarian beliefs. As far as I know none of them are actually party members.

Gary Dale Cearley: How did you come to be active in the Libertarian Party?

Kamal Jain: I found out about the Libertarian Party back in 1996 after I took the World’s Smallest Political Quiz. That got me to find out more about the LP and become active in MA.

Gary Dale Cearley: What future do you see for the Libertarian Party in Massachusetts and in the United States?

Kamal Jain: Many people are fed up with politics as usual, and this is causing people to abandon the old-regime Democrat and Republican parties in large numbers. Newer parties like the LP are gaining some membership both in Massachusetts and across the nation as a result, but I think party politics is a dead-end game. At the end of the day, we must respect and interact with one another as individuals, not as members of one party or another. As long as we label others and ourselves, it remains difficult to truly value differences.

I just wanted to share a photo of me with my favorite drawing!  This drawing you see me holding was a gift from Frances Byrd of Machine Politick fame, who is based in Atlanta, Georgia, back home in the good ole US of A.  A while back I interviewed Frances about her art because I found it so interesting.  I thought correctly that her art would be of interest to others in my blog community, which did prove to be that case.  Sometime later Frances sent me a drawing of Lady Liberty, of whom we both are big fans.  I was thinking about it this morning and work and it occured to me that I had yet to send Frances a picture of her gift in my office…  So I hope she sees this one!

The gift from Frances Byrd - Liberty!

The original hangs here in my Bangkok office near my desk above my book case.  It has given me the opportunity to explain to my staff and to any visitors that I might have what freedom and liberty means to me.  For that alone I am very thankful!

I would just like to end this quick posting with a short plug for Frances:

If you like contemporary art from a talented artist with a hard core libertarian angle I suggest you look Frances’s work over!

The lunatic fringe in politics…  Almost everyone would agree off handedly that it is a very lonely place to be.  But what makes one a “political lunatic”?  I bet you think we already have someone from the “lunatic fringe” running things, dontcha?  Lot’s of folks think we have one in the White House now and some thought he was in the White House last year – but let me remind you…  Those aren’t the lunatic fringe in my book.  They are only lunatics.

How do I make a difference, you might ask?  I would have to give you two examples side by side to best show you where I am coming from on this issue.

Lysander Spooner, the lunatic fringe of 19th Century American politics...

Take for instance Lysander Spooner and say, Pol Pot.  Lysander Spooner was considered on the lunatic fringe whereas Pol Pot was simply a lunatic. The main point that we should all keep in mind that it is damned hard to be called the fringe when you are running things.  Now Lysander Spooner on the one hand was by and large a peaceful man.  There were exceptions in his life where Lysander crossed the lines of no longer being a peacenik.  For instance Spooner’s plotting to kidnap the governor of Virginia to sue for John Brown’s freedom after Harpers Ferry is maybe the most notable exception but Spooner also believed and openly expoused that violence was required, even a duty of all free men, in the eradication of slavery.  Many of us today would think nothing wrong with either position yet this would be a case of hindsight being 20/20.  In Lysander Spooner’s day, even in the northern states this was considered being quite the radical.

And for many of these kinds of political positions Lysander Spooner was considered more than a bit of a loon by his contemporaries.  He also believed that the United States Constitution had no legal bearing over the common citizen because they themselves neither personally ratified it nor appointed anyone to ratify it on their behalf.  And though Spooner was very active in promoting the abolitionist positions, which were minority beliefs even in the Northeast, which was their hot bed, Spooner didn’t see eye to eye with many of the leaders of the movement, including his own brother.  And Lysander’s position as an outcast continued in post-Civil War America as well.  He spent lots of time during the Reconstruction as well as during the hard economic times to follow in developing broad ideas and solutions that would help the nation come to a reasonable and responsible economic path that took human rights into consideration well before this was in vogue.  Lysander Spooner was considered one of the great great political and economic thinkers of his time and yet at the time of this writing the vast majority of Americans have never heard of him.  Nobody really followed him politically, he had no party backing, and he was all but forgotten by the American society that he so cared about by the time that he died in 1889.

Pol Pot: Political lunatic by a sane man's reckoning

Pol Pot on the other hand ruled a whole nation and he will never be forgotten.  But for reasons of ill notoriety.  Pol Pot never freed anyone.  Just the opposite.  He enslaved all of Cambodia physically and politically.  Pol Pot claimed to rule for the people but the people referred to him as “Brother Number One”.  Pol Pot had all opposition, real or imagined, eliminated in the most brutal ways imaginable.  His ideology destroyed the family and wrecked two budding generations.  He ransacked his country socially, politically and economically.  Again, he will never be forgotten for the tragedy of his rule – and he should never be forgotten for the evil that came from his ideology either.  He will always carry the greatest measure of blame for the broken nation that he left behind.

How is it that we almost always seem to get it wrong?

I think the answer falls somewhere around one word:

Populism

Populism separates the wheat from the chaff.  As far as I am concerned those who claim that their politics reflect the will of the people should be damned.  Populism is just a word for the weak to be ruled by the strong.  When the focus of governing power is on the individual then the despots of the world often are faced with the fact that it has impossible for the Pol Pots of the world to rule.   People are no longer sheep.  You see, men like Lysander Spooner, whose ideas would hold much more water than even Barack Obama’s in such a society (even when they do not hold public office) are far too concerned with the individual rights of man to ever trample on those rights.  On the other hand Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, Josef Stalin, Ho Chi Minh…, well, they insist that everyone be concerned with the will of masses and “patriotism”.  They use this to subjugate the rights of the individual and by extension to control the entire social strata.  As leader, these bastards define and re-define the rights of society and trample the rights of man – individually as well as en masse.  This becomes so much easier for them to do when the rights of the people do not stand on the shoulders of individual rights:  There is no foundation to uphold anyone’s rights.  This is exactly why it has always occurred clearly to me that those who are most interested in the rights of the individual seem to be the only ones truly interested in the rights of man as a whole.  This is why we need more of these political outcasts like Lysander Spooner – whether the average Joe cares or not.

Most of us have been worried about the political state of things for quite some time yet they cannot fathom where the fundamental cracks in the structure lie.  It is so easy for the left to blame the right and then the right to blame the left, depending upon who is the incumbent and who is the opposition.  It is clear thought that the leaders we have currently helped put in office seem not to be nearly as concerned with the rights of the individual but yet they are concerned with the rights of society, creating more and more obligations and entitlements.  The preceding administration trampled the rights of the individual in the name of national and global security.  I am here to tell you that we can never, ever have a stable society without the due recognition that all rights are built upon individual rights – without them society always breaks down.  This is why government and more government is never the answer to most problems that society faces.  More government solutions only compounds problems and makes the problems unnecessarily more complex.  Once we understand that we can know without any doubt whatsoever that those who believe that the rights of society outweigh the rights of the individual have chosen sides whether they know it or not.

Understand it or not, see it or not, admit it or not, they have chosen the same side that Pol Pot chose…

“Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.” George Washington

I have been wondering over the past few decades why it is that freedom loving people, when you speak with a cross section of people, seem to be a sizeable portion of the American population but when it comes down to getting people elected and affecting public policy we get pushed right out the door by the establishment.  We wind up getting lost in the Republicrat tug of war.  ”It just isn’t right,” I keep thinking to myself, “Are people just liars when it comes to their true beliefs or are they so jaded that they’ve lost the fight in them?”

But the more I wonder about this the more I keep coming back full circle to the idea, or the fact, I dare say, that free thinkers really aren’t a small minority. We are just politically isolated.

Why do I say that?

I could blame special interests.  They definitely play their part.  But the fact remains that free thinking leads to independent thinking and independent thinkers are the hardest ones to rally behind a cause.  We are worn down by our own fragmentation to the extent that most of us have given up and feel it is pointless to try to change the system.  We either choose the “lesser of two evils”, as Libertarians are apt to say or we just drop out totally.  At the end of the day it is much easer to drop out or even to follow than it is to lead just as it is much easier to be instructed what to do than to think for yourself.  It is much easier to be the private than the general.  No, we aren’t lacking in numbers.  We are lacking in committed leaders who can bring us together.  And one of the main reasons that we are lacking in leaders because it is much more difficult to rally the troops when the troops ain’t stupid and can think for themselves.  As my grandfather, Billy Bob Smith used to say, “A dog can herd cattle but it takes a man to herd the dog.”

What we need is a young Ron Paul.  One who is wearing our colors and speaking our language with charismatic charm.

I am convinced these folks are out there right now.

Who will step forward?

Nah! I am not writing a post about religion and politics?  No way.  I am however wondering how on earth we are going to get by in a system where we have lost our way as a nation: The way of the Republicrat

We are now hand and basket with our government in an incredible funk that has our country and our citizens in the worst financial situation, I believe, in our history as a nation.  I didn’t think it could get any worse after the George W. Bush administration but Barack Obama seems to be going to great measures to prove that he is the undisputed champion of putting every American alive (and many not yet born) into a morass of debt.  He also has proven that his campaign rhetoric was for real.  He really does intend to thrust us into the moral servitude of a socialist system.  Even in the Great Depression were not looking at such a dismal future ahead of us.  When I think of how long this self perpetuating nightmare has been in coming and how long it would take to get out of it I get the shivers.  And guess what?  We keep putting the same people who got us into this mess, the Republicans and the Democrats, back into office so I don’t expect that we will be escaping the cycle we have created in our lifetime.

Republicrat thinking has been behind this mess.  I sadly speak with many Libertarians who, on a policy level of thinking, fall into the groupthink on this.  They lack the courage of conviction when it comes to making the decisions that we as citizens are often required to make.  These decisions range from ballot measures, voting on candidates as well as taking part in local politics whether it is town hall or politics at the local board of education.

But for libertarian minded people there is a way to help you achieve clarity when thinking of these issues…

I am no fan of the evangelical side of religion.  I grew up in such a church.  But I do believe that they have an expression that could help some of us more libertarian, small government minded people out there.  What is it you may wonder?

What would Jesus do?

Yes, that phrase that you see all of the time on the back of bumper stickers all over the United States and Canada.  What does Jesus have to do with making political choices in this day and age?  Well, not much I think.  But the phrase itself has massive possibilities in helping people think clearly about small government action.

You see, we as Libertarians have a long list of brilliant thinkers when it comes to the economy, running a government and persuing our freedoms in general.  We have Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, Ron Paul, Ludwig von Mises, Lysander Spooner, Thomas Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, Friedrich von Hayek…  The list goes on and on!

So what I recommend is that you chose the one you know best or the one who is most aligned with your way of thinking then substitute the name “Jesus” for your libertarian hero.  And the next time you have a ballot measure in your state when considering the options, if you find yourself confused, ask yourself the question “What would (my libertarian hero) do?”  If you agree with this answer then take that choice.

I personally like to use Thomas Jefferson for this exercise because he had to make decisions in many areas of governance and I generally agreed with most of his choices.  Again, you can choose anyone living or dead.  Just make sure to choose one who you tend to agree with.

I would like to start by saying to the country of my birth, the country I love “Happy Independence Day!”

Now let’s turn our attention to saving her, shall we?

I am always very happy to wish my country a happy birthday but this year is much more melancholy than I want to be.  I stop to think of the direction that we have taken with the last two administrations.  First I am saddened and then I am angered.  I am incenseed at how we seemingly don’t have any freedom loving politicians anymore but even as lamentable as their lack of love for freedom is their lust for our money.

Ron Paul has been branded a maverick but has anyone stopped to wonder why Ron Paul is such a maverick?  He really shouldn’t be and that I fear is a very bad sign for our country.  The majority, if not all, of the politicians should be as protective of the purse and of our freedoms as this man.  And why is Barak Obama, a man who has spent his entire career in non-profit organization’s and in government, a wealthy man?  Yet somehow he seems to be hero of the hour not only in America but around the world.  Another major point on the negative side in my book!

How out of control we are and how irresponsible the people we have elected are.

After having a disasterously out of whack deficit left over from George W. Bush’s administration the common sense course of action should have been immediately to correct this on going fiscal irresponsibility.  But then Barak Obama and the Democrats step in to “save the day” and now we have massively boosted our national debt to even higher epoch proportions that many of us would have sanely thought unimaginable.

If a citizen or a private corporation carried this percentage of debt they would be declared bankrupt by the authorities and the courts would take over their spending activities until the issues were straightened out and settled – and in many corporate cases this would mean dissolution.  That being so, then tell me this:

Why can’t we do this with the government?  Why can’t we invoke the courts as a class action suit as citizens to stop this incredibly indefensible irresponsible spending?

This is something we who want to save our country from descinding into the abyss should seriously consider.  Why? Because our citizenry definitely don’t plan to elect responsible leaders from the office of the President on down.  Our whole entire nation seems to have forgotten that not only does authority come with responsibility but citizenship itself comes with responsibility.  If that is the case, save us from ourselves!  Let the government coffers go into receivership.  At least we would have a balanced budget and some semblance of fiscal protection for a short while.  If we don’t take this drastic action for our own selves then do it for the collective responsibility that we have our children.

I really hate lawsuits and strongly believe in arbitration but with our current government being so callously arrogant in believing they can spend trillions of dollars, money that we don’t have, and then turn their eyes toward more and more massive spending without abandon I personally believe that nothing will stop them other than the courts or a coup.  Of course, if the courts were to administer the government’s money until the budget was balanced we might not get the spending we want but we definitely would at least have it under control.

I understand that we citizens elected the government (even though I voted for “the other guys“) and the elected government has the legal authority to direct money at their discretion to program after program, programs which again many in my opinion are even unconstitutional.  But this is lacking now in responsibility.  I believe the government, especially this newly elected administration, acts almost as a crime syndicate when they operate, believing they have the right first to tax and then to go deeply into debt in our names! I am not alone in these beliefs either.  This really irresponsible gargantuan spending has to stop and only drastic measures will make them understand.

I don’t give anyone the right to create debt to me and my children.

Do you?

I really, really, really want to be part of the Free State Project.  But it seems up until now I can’t…

Why?

Because I am an expatriate.  I have lived outside of the boundaries of the United States for two decades.  I don’t miss participating in elections (I’ve always voted!) and I take part in the political debates.  I am a big “L” Libertarian and have been for many years so I see the Free State Project as something that I really would like to do.  One of my customers has even successfully made the move from the Akron, Ohio, area to New Hampshire in the past year.

I’m jealous!

Maybe there is some help for me after all though?  I am looking for a trusting porcupine who might do me the favor of “loaning” me his / her address.  What do I mean by that?  Let me briefly explain.

I was born and raised in southwestern Arkansas and with the exception of a brief move to Coushatta, Louisiana, I spent my early years in Prescott, Arkansas.  My family is there.  I graduated high school there.  But when I was 18 I moved away to join the Navy.  After the Navy I moved to Los Angeles for a short time before moving to South Korea.  Since I moved to South Korea I registered as a voter at a friend’s house in Walnut Creek, California, and after this friend sold his house I re-registered at another friend’s address in Venice, California, and have voted with Venice as my home of record ever since – even though I moved around from Seoul to live in Saigon, Hanoi and now Bangkok.  So if I could find a kind hearted home owner in the Free State I would gladly give up my California registration and register in New Hampshire and do what I can for libertarian causes, even if it is mainly via the ballot box and the occasional blog.  It doesn’t involve doing anything outside the boundaries of the federal election law.  The only difference to my status quo would be a New Hampshire home of record so instead of sending an absentee ballot to California I would be sending it to New Hampshire – greater supporting the cause of freedom.  I just know my absentee ballot is worth much more in the Free State than the left coast republic.

Are there any kindred spirits who would be interested in helping me to help the project? Let me know through my personal website or through Facebook (you can search “Gary Dale Cearley” or find me at the Free State Project).  I am waiting to hear!

Recently I became aware of an Atlanta area based artist who has been bucking the political art trend, abandoning the “liberal chic” art world for a more in your face style.  Her name is Frances Byrd.

After observing Frances’s artwork I felt that this is close to what art that Ayn Rand herself might have produced has she become an artist rather than philosopher and writer.  Byrd’s artwork explodes with frustration in our political system.  For me it was refreshing to see this kind of angst used by an artist who was standing up for the rights to man to himself be free, not a slave of the establishment.

I would have to agree with Frances that most of the artists, whether they are overtly political or whether they are subtly so, artists inundate us with a politic of collectivism – that the individual matters not in the grand scheme of thing.   But I was curious to hear this from Frances Byrd in her own words, so I asked Frances what, as an artist, bothers her most about the politics of today’s art world?

“The thing that bothers me most about the art community is its lack of tolerance for other people’s point of view” said Byrd, “Artists preach open mindedness and freedom of speech. What many of them really mean is they want everyone else to be open minded to their point of view. I’m not upset that most artists are liberal. I’m upset that they can’t accept any other opinion from an artist. As a political artist with a libertarian perspective, I find that most artists are offended by my work.”

To tell the truth, I have seen what Frances Byrd is talking about in our daily lives.  I have people almost question my sanity when we talk about the “two party system”.  A gong goes off in my head when I hear people tell me how they hate the two choices they have  and that they are considering not even voting so I politely invite them to consider the Libertarian candidate for a change.  This is the part when they tell me they don’t want to waste a vote on someone who has no chance to win!  What was it Einstein said about the definition of insanity?  Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome…?

Bringing this back around to art, there is no better reflection of where a society’s values lie than to look at both contemporary art and at the media.  I was just in the United States last month and all I could hear was “Obama this” and “McCain that”.  I remember on my way to the airport to return to Asia that on one particular AM radio program, the name of which I can’t recall because I’d never heard it before, when three commentators were discussing Obama vs. McCain on the economy and one made a radical “free market” statement one of the others quipped “Be careful now, or you will find yourself voting for Bob Barr!”  And the three had a chuckle.  That is the only point in the talk show that the Libertarian candidate’s views were discussed.  For shame!

Frances Byrd’s point that the art world is no different.

I would assume that this has something to do with the fact that many libertarians tend to be business owners with left brain focuses but it could also do with the biases that come with the “training” that many artistic types undergo in Liberal Arts faculties at many of our colleges and universities.  So even when one takes a look at the ratio of artists with liberal convictions compared to libertarian convictions we will be forced to see many more of the lefties out there.

But the question remains for those libertarian leaning artists – how can these artists support libertarian causes?

“In my experience, there are not that many artists working from a strictly political perspective,” said Frances, “I think the best way for an artist who doesn’t express their politics through their work to support libertarian causes is to become active in politics some other way. The most important thing anyone can do is to be knowledgeable about their representatives in government. Do some research; find out how they vote before you make a choice. Just because a politician wears the label Libertarian, doesn’t mean they support Libertarian ideas. Not all Libertarians agree on all subjects. Make an informed decision. Spread the word, and help change your government one step at a time.”

This won’t necessarily bring about more artwork with a libertarian feel but it does increase the activism out there.  This activism is where we as a group of freedom lovers become the “sand in the shoe” to those Republicrats who simply use the system as their life line for special interest pet projects and pork barrel politics.  We libertarians do our best to get the word out through non-traditional media.  And Frances is putting her money where her mouth is on this as well.  She is voting for Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party’s candidate.  Why?

“Before Barr entered the race, I felt like there was no one to vote for this year,” explained Frances, “I’m tired of voting for the least offensive candidate. We have a Democrat and a Socialist running on the major party tickets this year. Bob Barr is the only choice in this election.  For the first time, I have contributed to a campaign and done volunteer work on Barr’s campaign.”

Some people would say that everything we do or produce is political – that whether we intend for outcomes to have political effect or not that political results are inescapable products of thought and action.  But should artists be accountable to the public for their “political outcome”?  Do artists have a responsibility to be political?

Frances Byrd’s take on these questions is interesting.

“I think artists need to create art that serves their own needs first,” said Frances, “Trying to produce work that other people want doesn’t do anyone any good. Producing art for the sake of shocking people is ridiculous. If an artist is interested in producing political art, they should know something about the subject they are rendering. The thing that bothers me most about political art is the blind emotion behind it. Everyone and their brother are painting George Bush in devil horns. I want to see political art that means something and makes an individual statement. As far as responsibility is concerned, I would say stick to your principles and don’t worry about what is popular. Art is a good way to spread your opinion and awareness of the problems with our government. The biggest responsibility in political art is to engage the viewer and add something to the political arena, rather than saying the same thing everyone else is saying.”

So what’s behind Byrd’s MachinePolitick website?

“I came up with MachinePolitick as a marketing tool. I thought it would be good to have something that would stick in people’s heads and I kept coming up with the image of the gears. Machine fits because I’m always generating ideas and doing research and I want to use my art to fight back against the overbearing nature of our government. I used politick because it is defined as: ‘to engage in or discuss politics’. The combination of words fits my personality, and the combination of the name and logo make a strong image that engages people and makes them wonder what I’m up to. I decided to combine the image of the gears with the flag to appeal to people who are patriotic or interested in returning our government to its intended role in our lives.”

What is Frances up to lately?  “Well, some of my current projects include a series on Obama’s blueprint for change and a comparison of Hillary to Eva Peron,” says Frances, “Ucoming projects will include works on Che Guevara, congress, the similarity of Republicans and Democrats and whatever strikes me.  I’ll eventually touch on the writings of Ayn Rand and the founding fathers after the [2008] election.”

Frances Byrd was good enough to send some of her latest work, new to the public.  She explains these in her own words:

Eradicating Independence

“This sculpture is my second attempt at multimedia work. It is a companion piece to How to Deconstruct a Federalist, my first multimedia sculpture.  I look forward to doing much more work in multimedia now that I am growing comfortable with it. My Scarlet Liberty and How to Exorcise Conservative Thought are the related paintings in the series. They are all part of a series on the mentality of artists and the petulance and cliquish nature of the art community.”

“This piece is meant to be a self-portrait, with the figures representing me. The heads of each figure are filled with concepts of freedom, liberty and independence. As a Libertarian, I tend to offend both conservatives, and liberals depending on the subject of my work. I have found, however, that liberals tend to react to my work by either patronizing me or insulting me. I get the impression that I have violated some unspoken code of conduct. Because I have no inclination to fit in, this is of little concern to me. I feel that we all have a right to our opinions and individuality.”

The Gaping Maw of Entitlement

“This painting was inspired by a conversation I had with a performance artist one day. The general idea was that we, as artists, have a right to ‘expose’ people to our art who would not seek it out themselves. Of course, that comes with the expectation of being paid for our work, although money is evil.”

“The entitlement mentality reigns supreme! I think the imagery of the painting expresses my feelings on the subject pretty well. The world owes us nothing for our art. We are not special because of our creative abilities. We have no right or duty to force other people to experience our art.”

“As with anything else, if there’s a market for a piece of art, it will sell. No government intervention is needed or appropriate. I do not support the NEA.”

“This piece is a companion to the paintings titled: How to Exorcise Conservative Thought in an Artist, Mr. Moral Superiority, My Scarlet Liberty, Give Me Your Money, ‘cause I can’t Sell my Work Otherwise. The sculptures How to Deconstruct a Federalist and are also part of the series.”

“This painting, as well as the others in the series, is meant as a criticism of the typical artist’s mentality. It’s easier and preferable to have the government dole out someone else’s money to you because you need it. The hypocrisy and unfairness of such behavior is infuriating to me.”

Mr. Moral Superiority

“This painting was inspired by a conversation I had with a couple of artists who feel that we have a duty to provide the world with culture and preserve the community’s historic integrity. The general idea was that we, as artists, have a right to ‘expose’ people to art and culture. The gripe was about the gentrification of poor communities by big business and yuppie culture. I’m trying to figure out who has a right to deem a particular art form as culture, or to force it on people who don’t want it. People have a right to be ignorant and uncultured. As for gentrification, that’s a subject best left to the people involved. As much as I prefer historic homes to high rise condos, I recognize a person’s right to sell their property to a developer if they wish. The developer has the right to do with that property as they wish. The only solution is for private citizens to buy the property and restore it. As ugly as high rise condos and shopping centers are, they serve a purpose and typically improve the neighborhood by driving out crime and providing jobs close to people in the neighborhood who would be commuting to the same kinds of jobs farther away.”

“This piece is a companion to the paintings titled: The Gaping Maw of Entitlement and Give Me Your Money, ‘cause I can’t Sell My Work Otherwise. They are all meant as a criticism of the pompous and self-serving attitude of many artists and patrons who hold themselves superior to the common man.”

Recently I had responded to a letter to the editor in the Tulsa Beacon which was also picked up and commented on by Third Party Watch (and I even put it on my own website just in case the others eventually take it down).

It is an interesting read if you think that John McCain is the only candidate with something to fear from Bob Barr’s campaign.

I would like to add also to this that Ralph Nader isn’t out of the woods with Bob Barr.  Many people voted for Ralph Nader as a “none of the above” vote.  They did this on name recognition alone.  But at the same time as Nader was a known commodity in the race he garnished much more news than did Michael Badnarik, the previous Libertarian candidate and he gained far more media attention than Michael Peroutka of the Constitution Party and David Cobb the Green Party candidate.  I believe as the Libertarians gain speed on this many of the people who still don’t like the Republicrats will come our way.

And, by the way, I am not from Tulsa!