Not Kokesh for "Not President" (Part 1 of 2)

For a long time I said very little about Adam Kokesh’s presidential campaign, in order to avoid the inevitable drama (which we’re seeing now). Even if something is a bad idea, as long as it’s harmless, why bother to stir up an argument about it? However, at some point something can move beyond being merely pointless, and become genuinely counter-productive. I believe that is the case now with his campaign.

Click on the link above to view a debate Adam and I had about this, hosted by Jeff Berwick (of Anarchast). The purpose of this article is to more thoroughly examine what things, good or bad, Adam’s presidential campaign is likely to accomplish, politically and philosophically, to determine if the whole endeavor is useful, useless but harmless, or actually destructive. (After this and the next article, I will be done spending time and energy focusing on it.)

First, let’s set the background. As I explained in my other recent Steemit article (https://steemit.com/anarchy/@larkenrose/voting-for-anarchy), I think that a political campaign by an anarchist could potentially do some good, if (and only if) the entire goal is to demolish the legitimacy of politics, mock the process, and to spread the ideas of self-ownership, non-aggression and voluntaryism. But as it stands now, Adam’s campaign does nothing of the sort. Instead, it puts peoples’ hopes in the outcome of an election, and the possibility of President Kokesh signing an “Executive Order” to make the U.S. “government” cease to exist. To be blunt, never in a million years will that happen, and having that be the stated goal is both philosophically hypocritical and tactically delusional.

Mind you, in the past Adam has done a lot of things which have done a fine job of spreading the concepts of true liberty. But this campaign isn’t one of them. I suggest he drop his political aspirations, and get back to spreading the pure, uncompromising message of self-ownership, non-aggression and a stateless society.

QUESTION: POLITICALLY and/or LEGISLATIVELY, what will Adam’s campaign accomplish?

ANSWER: Absolutely nothing. There is exactly no chance that Adam will be elected President. None. Nada. Zip. To pretend otherwise—to think that someone who identifies as an anarchist is going to have sixty-some million Americans vote him into the White House—is just absurd.

For starters, the electoral process is massively rigged, to the point where Ron Paul, who is far more popular, well-known, likable and trustworthy than Adam, and who had massive genuine grassroots support, never had a prayer of winning. Both parties, the establishment and their lapdog media, did everything imaginable to ignore, squelch, ridicule and/or demonize Dr. Paul, to the point where he never had a chance. Can you even imagine what they would do with a candidate who has called himself an “anarchist”?

And even if the game wasn’t rigged, there is still no chance Adam would ever win. Even most anarchists (myself included)—the people who should theoretically be his “base”—would never vote for him (because we know that voting for a master is pointless and contrary to everything about voluntaryism). And obviously statists won’t vote for him either. To most Americans, anything slightly outside of what they are accustomed to, with Ron Paul being one example, is viewed as “extremist.” It is downright silly to think that the same population that voted Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump into office is going to turn around and vote someone into office who promises to do away with the entire federal “government.”

(Since there is exactly no chance of Adam ever being elected, I don’t need to explain in great detail his profound misunderstanding of federal law, and how Executive Orders work. Suffice it to say, no, you can’t dissolve any governmental department or agency, or undo any legislation—much less dissolve the entire federal “government”—by signing an Executive Order. In fact, other than pulling troops out of combat, by himself and without the cooperation of Congress, the President can do damn near nothing of any significance.)

BUT ADAM’S CAMPAIGN ISN’T JUST USELESS; IT IS HARMFUL.

Pushing his political/legislative agenda wouldn’t just do nothing; it would be hugely counter-productive, because, to whatever extent he was successful in duping well-meaning people to throw their time, money and energy into his campaign, he would be using up massive amounts of resources from decent people in a completely futile effort. And if he gets their hopes up with his ridiculous predictions that he might actually win, all it will do in the end is leave a lot of freedom advocates disappointed, frustrated, exhausted and depressed (not to mention poorer).

That is what the political system is designed to do: give the people a completely useless outlet for their discontent and righteous indignation, letting them pointlessly bang their heads against the wall, voting and petitioning and campaigning, while never getting themselves an inch closer to true freedom. To try to drag freedom-lovers back into the circus known as “politics” does a huge disservice to those people.

QUESTION: PHILOSOPHICALLY, what will Adam’s campaign accomplish?

Let me again stress that, if he was using the campaign to spread the principles and concepts of voluntaryism, bashing and de-legitimizing politics entirely, I wouldn’t be criticizing it this way. But his main campaign website (www.kokeshforpresident.com) says little to nothing about the concepts and principles of self-ownership, non-aggression and a stateless society. Instead, it is full of mushy, vague, unprincipled, semi-statist rhetoric, and is all about trying to get votes, hoping (and apparently expecting) to actually get himself elected, in order to implement his plan. As such, the entire campaign is not only a waste of time, but a giant philosophical contradiction and distraction from what actually matters: getting people to give up the belief in the “authority” of the state.

Let’s consider an average statist who visits Adam’s campaign web site, and consider what impression that person would get, and what, if anything, he might learn from it. Ironically, the first thing the visitor would see is a picture of Adam doing a military salute: the universally recognized gesture symbolizing subservience and obedience to authority. And, of course, the visitor would see, loudly and boldly, that this person is trying to get elected President of the United States.

After the politician-esque, substance-free introduction, the average statist would then go look at Adam’s “platform.” This is what they would find:

Notice the complete lack of any mention of anything about the philosophy of voluntaryism/anarchism. Instead, it’s all about his master plan for when he gets elected. Again, since he has no chance of winning, I won’t bother covering in great detail all the ways in which his plan is inherently bogus, such as:

• To become President he has to swear to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” even though he admits that his Executive Order is “absolutely unconstitutional … it is a rejection of that authority entirely.”

• An Executive Order cannot abolish the federal “government.” (E.O.’s can do one of two things: carry out power which Congress has already delegated to the President, or create dictates applicable only to federal employees.)

• The President can’t just resign and fabricate a new office called “Custodian of the Federal Government,” any more than he could resign and appoint himself Supreme Ruler for Life.

• To think that he personally gets to decide how to divvy up both the stolen loot and the power and control, including some power being “in some ways transferred to state governments,” is ignorant, arrogant and statist all at once—not to mention dictatorial.

And if, after examining his “platform,” the average statist then proceeds to the page “About Adam,” he will again get no lesson in the underlying principles of voluntaryism, but will instead read about Adam’s upbringing, his military background, and his activism, including his radio show and book, and the fact that he has managed to get “arrested over three dozen times.” That page ends with “Famous Kokesh Quotes.”

On the bright side, this includes saying that taxation is theft, and that “government” is “fundamentally immoral because it is based on violating the rights of individuals.” But that is as close as it gets to explaining anything like a voluntaryist philosophy, while also throwing in vague, contradictory mush like this:

“We don't have to be forced under a single government to be united in American values.”

“The way that we move forward is by localizing government down to the community level.”

And the page ends with a video of Adam explaining how he wants the “movement” to go from being a “debate club” to being a “political force.” His comments here sum up everything wrong with his campaign: “Stop arguing philosophy. Stop arguing ideals. Stop being that debate club. Instead, say we are going to create practical policy that immediately improves everyone’s lives based on our principle.”

From all of this, it is obvious that the focus of his presidential campaign is not about the principles or the philosophy, but is first and foremost about himself, and getting himself elected, and trying to implement his political/legislative agenda, by trying to seize the reins of authoritarian power himself, in order to (supposedly) free us all.

As such, his campaign and his related message are beyond a waste of time—they are delusional, self-centered, confusing and contradictory, and at their heart, do little more than reinforce, strengthen and legitimize the notion of political “authority,” in the name of using it to free the people, using a plan that has no chance of success on a practical level, and (as it is now, anyway) no chance of success when it comes to changing people’s minds. As I said in the debate, no, we don’t need Emperor Kokesh riding in on his white horse, whipping out his magic pen to sign a magic executive order to free us all. That will never happen, it doesn’t need to happen, and getting people to focus their time, money, energy and hopes on that is the exact opposite of what will actually serve the cause of liberty.

(In part two (https://steemit.com/anarchy/@larkenrose/not-kokesh-for-not-president-part-2-of-2), I cover some of the things that came up in our debate, because some things were said which should throw up red flags for anyone paying attention.)