Our Current Areas of Focus

Jul 22, 2011   //   by Nicholas HootoncloseAuthor: Nicholas Hooton Name: Nicholas Hooton
Site: http://nicholashooton.com
About: Nicholas Hooton is an editor and strategist for Utah Liberty Alliance.See Authors Posts (85)   //   Activism  //  2 Comments   //   663 words   //   Permalink   //     //   Tweet

Our team of (currently) five has been discussing our strategy and focus areas. For our strategy, we have decided to adopt a two-sided approach.

Many libertarians and anarcho-capitalists (especially those who are LDS) choose to engage in political activism, e.g. writing to representatives, assisting with campaigns, voting for candidates and initiatives, etc.

Many agorists and voluntaryists choose rather to engage in counter-economics and peaceful non-compliance, e.g. free exchange without taxes or regulations, supporting free alternatives to services “provided” by the State, etc.

We have decided to support, encourage and assist both of these strategies in any way we can in order to promote the most action and participation possible.

We arrived at our three current areas of focus based on their relevance to the people of Utah, their importance to achieving our vision, and our ability to tackle them with each of our two strategies. These areas of focus are:

1. Education

The State maintains a coercive monopoly on the education industry and mandates participation in it through compulsory attendance legislation. This forces our children to participate in a very poor and often harmful system.

The majority of the State’s revenues come from the income tax, and the majority of the State’s expenditures go to the public education system. Eliminating this system would eliminate the State’s justification for maintaining an income tax.

Those who wish to engage in political activism can encourage legislation to end compulsory attendance and permit private institutions to operate free from State coercion. Agorists can promote voluntary alternatives such as unschooling, homeschooling, private institutions and vocational instruction.

2. Police Abuse

As the State’s unquestioning agents, law enforcement officials (LEOs) stand as the most clear and present threat to the individual rights of the people of Utah. LEOs will enforce the law regardless of any harm it may inflict on people, regardless of whether it is right or wrong. They will use violent force against those who engage in peaceful acts such as drug use or gambling. LEOs receive greater protection under the law than the rest of us, receive comparatively mild punishments if convicted of crimes, have a lower likelihood of being convicted at all, are armed to the teeth, and will protect their fellow LEOs at the cost of justice and public safety.

A fantastic trend has been growing recently of individuals engaging in counter-surveillance and filming police officers while they perform their public duties. We want to be a resource and forum for such activism and encourage its widespread participation in Utah. We will publish videos of and stories about police officers engaging in poor or atrocious behavior. We encourage Utahns to get out their phones and start filming any time they see a police officer performing their public duties. This can protect the victims of their actions and delegitimize them in the eyes of the public.

3. Drugs

The “war on drugs” is one of the most significant sources of civil rights violations in recent history. The State is violence, and the only justified use of violence is self-defense. When the State uses force to take away the lives, liberty and property of peaceful drug users and traders, it is not morally justified. In fact, the war on drugs has only increased the violence and crime associated with substance abuse, all while justifying increased spending and taxation to fund it.

Political activists can educate and encourage State officials to favor policies that focus on scientifically supported policies that emphasize harm reduction. Agorists can engage in counter-economics but also promote peaceful, private efforts to assist addicts and provide them with the help they need.

Open to Suggestions

Having focus areas should in no way imply that we are abandoning other areas. Far from it. We welcome any suggestions and feedback and encourage any help we can get with our mission.

2 Comments

• 
  Dallin Crump August 1, 2011 at 12:45 pm

  Excellent areas of focus!

  A related suggestion: CopBlock.org would be a good website to add to the links page, as it is dedicated to holding police accountable through counter-surveillance.

  Reply
• 
  Nicholas Hooton August 1, 2011 at 4:58 pm

  Suggestion taken. Funny, I subscribe to Cop Block in Google Reader and have even done some editing work for them, but for some reason spaced putting a link to them here. Thanks!

  Reply