Speaking Truth to Power

Everybody asks me the same question. Whether they’re my critics, my supporters, my friends, my enemies, or total strangers, the question remains the same.

"Why would an Anarchist run for office?"

It’s a good question, so I want to address it thoroughly. If you boil the answer down enough, it’s quite simple: Because I can. You see, unfortunately in our society, we are not granted many opportunities to challenge the cult of the omnipotent state. Most ideas that come immediately to mind that would promote the cause of Anarchy will also land you in jail. Running for office is one of the few outlets we are still allowed to use for venting our frustration with our government. I believe that the goal of bringing about liberation in our lives is too important to be whispered about in our living rooms and speakeasies, it must be shouted from the rooftops! For this reason, I choose to indict the system by the most public means at my disposal.

Some mistake me for someone who wants to change the system from the inside, but that is unrealistic. The tracks are already laid, the throttle is maxed, the handle broke off miles back and the government is barreling like a locomotive toward tyranny. The only hope we have of avoiding it is to derail the train. I do understand the apparent conflict of interest in seeking a position you don’t believe should exist, and while I would accept the position if elected and use it to further spread the message of liberty, that is not my primary motivation for seeking the position. My primary motivation is to speak truth to power.

“Speaking truth to power” is a phrase that some claim originated in the civil rights movement, others claim it began during the opposition of the Cold War by the Quakers. Either way, it came to mean taking a bold stance against injustice by voicing your opposition directly to those responsible for it as often as possible.

That wholly describes the goal of this campaign.
You see, your so called representatives in government actually believe that they rule over you with your consent. Even though politicians are the most despised and ridiculed class of people the world over, they think we respect their decisions. Even though less than half the eligible populace bothers to vote in their elections, they think that they have our support.

The time has come for someone to shake them out of this daydream, to inform them that they were sorely mistaken about the docile impressions their constituents seem to have made on them previously. The time has come for their ivory towers to feel a bit less opulent and a bit more claustrophobic, so that no door might be closed in Washington DC without hearing the baying of the wolves behind it! The time has come for their fair warning that the next time a chink appears in the armor of their precious empire, whether it be financial collapse, social unrest, or political upheaval, we will be there, torches and pitchforks in hand, ready to topple their power structure, rip them from their decadent nests, and cast them out into the cold world that we know and endure.

How can we, as lovers of freedom, stand idly by while our precious liberty is stripped away? How can we suffer this outrage in silence? Will you go quietly into the twilight of human dignity? Are you made of weaker stuff than your forebears who stood up and demanded the rights you hold dear today? I say NO! I say we can be the generation that breaks the cycle. I say we can create for our children a world free of the oppression we’ve inherited. I think that if we have the bravery to speak truth to power, that we can bring about the dawn of a new era of human freedom in our lifetimes.

Jeff Wood, Libertarian for US Congress