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A Deeper Meaning to the Kent Snyder Fund-Raising Effort
Butler Shaffer
Lew
Rockwell.com
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Regular readers of the LRC website are familiar with the efforts
to secure donations from libertarians – as well as others
who have been inspired by Ron Paul’s ideas – to help
the family of Kent Snyder pay some $400,000 in medical bills generated
by Kent’s recent death. Kent – who was 49 years of
age at his death – had been both the instigator and head
of Ron Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign.
I have found most people to have very charitable attitudes, particularly
when it comes to aiding specific individuals in situations such
as that now faced by Kent’s family. Given this young man’s
highly-energized devotion to the cause of liberty, that should
provide enough motivation for libertarian-minded people to contribute
to this effort.
There is, however, a more significant reason for making such
donations; one that goes to the deeper meaning of what the Ron
Paul campaign has been about. We are all familiar with Ron’s
efforts to put the American state on a low-calorie diet; to eliminate
the income tax; to end the meddling and interventionist foreign
policies that continue to embroil us in seemingly endless wars;
and to dismantle the police-state apparatus that have metastasized
since 9/11.
(Article continues below)
Those who have paid close attention to Ron’s campaign –
in which Kent played such an important role – are also familiar
with the decentralized nature of both fund-raising and campaign
efforts conducted on its behalf. The mainstream media continued
to shove Ron offstage until his supporters undertook their Internet-driven
"money bomb" campaigns that raised many millions of
dollars in two 24-hour periods. Ideas and principles are not the
currency in which the media trades, but money – the system
the Watergate-era advised us to follow if we want to understand
politics – is something to which the statists pay close
attention. Suddenly, Ron could be mentioned with some respect.
The deeper meaning to the Ron Paul campaign is to be found in
this real-world demonstration of the powerful nature of decentralized
decision-making; in how vertically-structured power systems are
being replaced by horizontally-networked efforts by people who
presume to exercise no coercive force over others. To this day,
most of the politically-minded people do not understand these
dynamics that did not originate with the Ron Paul campaign, but
were reflected in it. How can thousands of people – most
of them contributing $50–100 – spontaneously generate
millions of dollars on behalf of a campaign, and with no one in
"authority" directing the efforts? How can an individual
come up with the idea of a "Ron Paul" blimp and, using
the Internet to help with the financing of the project, bring
it to fruition within a matter of weeks, all without a big, centrally-run
organization to coordinate the effort?
My writings, on this website and elsewhere, focus on how the
social systems that make up our society are undergoing major transformations;
moving away from the model of the vertically-designed, authoritarian
pyramid, to horizontal networks in which we associate with one
another in peaceful ways. The effort to help the Snyder family
overcome this $400,000 burden is an example of this change in
our social behavior.
The politicians will continue to use this plight as evidence
of the need for more government intervention into the realm of
health-care, the continuing "remedy" that is at the
very core of the problem it promises to overcome, and with the
costs further escalating. But those of us who see the benefits
to be derived from voluntary, decentralized ways of living in
society with others, have the opportunity to not only live our
beliefs, but to communicate to others that such methods are practicable.
If you are aware of how much attention came from the multi-million
dollar Ron Paul "money bombs," imagine the impact of
a $400,000 "money bomb" that benefits not only Kent
Snyder’s family, but the millions of other people who would
thus be presented with the example of non-political alternatives
for cooperating with one another in problems that are common to
us all. Think of how much more this effort would mean to the real-world
enjoyment of personal liberty than is to be found in the emptiness
of a ballot-box where we are asked to vote for establishment candidates
who promise "change" that alters nothing.
If you would like to participate in this non-political "money
bomb," go to this site. If you would prefer mailing a contribution,
you can do so c/o:
Joseph Becker
2674 So. Patton CT
Denver, CO 80219
Help make a noise to which even Hillary would have to pay attention.
Let her and the other people-pushers know that we do not need
their self-serving intrusions into our lives; that, in emergencies,
free men and women will take care of one another!
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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