RE: Not Kokesh for "Not President" (Part 1 of 2)
Running for political office is a good way to get a message out to people. I have been involved in the libertarian movement since the 1990's as a result of being exposed to Harry Browne running for President as the Libertarian Party's candidate. I have talked to libertarians all over this country, both in person, and online, and I've asked many of them how they got involved in the libertarian movement, and the #1 answer I get is because of a campaign, and the two candidates I have heard the most are #1) Ron Paul (by far), and #2) Harry Browne.
A heck of a lot more people know who Ron Paul is than know who Larken Rose is. I'm not saying that I don't think that Larken has done valuable work, because I think that he has, even though I have a couple of disagreements with him (more in the strategic realm than in the philosophical realm, but the fact remains that the majority of the public has no idea who Larken Rose is.
I really see no problem with a person running for political office as long as they run on a fairly strong pro-liberty platform (as in they call for large, across the board cuts in government). I will say that I think that it is a waste of time for the Libertarian Party to run candidates who stray so far from libertarian philosophy that they really shouldn't even be called libertarians, like the last three Libertarian Party presidential tickets. Bob Barr, Gary Johnson, Bill Weld, etc..., were not really libertarian, and running candidates like this is actually counterproductive.
Libertarians are not in a position where they can realistically contest for President, so the point of running is not to win, it is to get the message out, and to build the movement.
If Adam Kokesh's campaign can get more people questioning whether we really need a federal government, that's a good thing. If Adam Kokesh can get more people to read his book, Freedom, that's a good thing. If Adam Kokesh can get more people to watch his large library of videos on YouTube and DTube, that's a good thing.
Also, the more people that are exposed to Adam Kokeh;s campaign, the more people who will look into libertarianism, and the more people who will discover other figures in the movement, like Larken Rose.
I agree with all of this:
"If Adam Kokesh's campaign can get more people questioning whether we really need a federal government, that's a good thing. If Adam Kokesh can get more people to read his book, Freedom, that's a good thing. If Adam Kokesh can get more people to watch his large library of videos on YouTube and DTube, that's a good thing."
However, his campaign is NOT ABOUT THAT. His actual campaign, if you look at his own web site, is about trying to get elected in order to sign a bogus Executive Order that would accomplish nothing. For the zillionth time, if he was focused on actually spreading the message of non-aggression and self-ownership, instead of focusing on a political solution, I wouldn't have most of these objections.