My speech to the 2015 annual convention….
What’s a Libertarian and How Can I Be One?
Aloha. It’s my pleasure to be a Libertarian and first I want to thank some of the individuals who have helped to keep this political party going for the last few years in Hawai’i:
Tracy Ryan, Larry Bartley, Ken Schoolland, Cindy Marlin, Jeff Davis, Joe Kent, Anthony Higa, To Berg, Eric Weinert, Mike Last, Fred Fogel, Michael Kokoski, Bronson Ka’ahui, Patrick Brock, Raymond Banda, ai Takayama, Alain Schiller, Jon LaLanne and Al Frenzel. I appreciate each of you.
In the Libertarian Party of Hawai’i each of us “challenges the cult of the onmi-potent state”. Why do we bother to work for more freedom and liberty? Why do we want it so much? Simple; because we don’t have it. The default system of life on planet Earth is poverty, disease, slavery and death and we each must work hard and be smart to stay optimally healthy, wealthy and relatively free.
As a Cannabis Minister I’m usually advocating for the First Amendment and religious freedom, but I want to highlight the Fourth Amendment today:
“The right of the people to be secure in their PERSONS, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searches and the person or things to be seized.”
The human right that controls all other rights is the absolute ownership and management of one’s own body. Without complete ownership of our body (our PERSONS) you and I cannot have or hold other rights. Throughout history kings and dictators claimed ownership of everyone’s body as a way to control all people and their actions.
In a great burst of free will by some brave and enlightened people hundreds of years ago the drafters and signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the united States reversed that flawed and coercive form of government resulting in possibly the greatest advancement of personal freedom seen on Earth in recorded history. But now government again claims the power of kings seizing ownership of our bodies, our communications, our writings and photographs, and even our children if they can be vaccinated by government decree with zero exemptions allowed.
Why does the government communicate to us with our names in all capital letters, as in ROGER CHRISTIE instead of Roger Christie? As far as I know the all capital letters version is called a nom de guerre, or ‘war name’ and it is legally different than our given family name. It’s a subtle form of ownership by ‘them’ over ‘us’. This is just one example of government exerting legal ownership of our physical bodies and I suggest that as Libertarians we seek and secure certain, legal ownership of our own bodies as a priority. I repeat; it’s only with certain, secure legal ownership - in writing - of our physical bodies and that of our children until age eighteen that we can have and hold any other meaningful rights at all.
At this point in time I’m convinced that Homo Sapiens are a ‘slave species’ genetically engineered from Homo Erectus plus some of the genes of a race of demigods called the Anunnaki (Anu, Enlil, Enki, Ninmah, Zeus, Marduk, Poseidon, Apollo, etc.). Please be skeptical and look them up for yourself: A-n-u-n-n-a-k-i. That being said I do think that we each have a great measure of free will and I’m very grateful for what we do have. And we want more of it; that’s why we’re Libertarians.
Witness the success of Larry Ellison. As far as I know he was an orphan who was adopted into a loving and supportive family. He took advantage of a good education and made himself into one of the richest people on Earth with his company called Oracle Computers and now, in addition to a host of other accomplishments, he owns most of the Hawaiian island of Lanai. That’s some terrific success and one quantifiable measure of the amount of freedom we do have. And yet we want more because there are all too many examples where are freedoms are rapidly being taken-away and our privacy reduced to a quaint, old concept.
My experience is that there’s some relative and valuable freedoms to be had as citizens of Hawai’i and the U.S.A. especially if one doesn’t mess with the ‘insiders’ too much. I’ve heard it said that ‘they don’t care how much we know about them; but they do care about how much we care about how much we know about them’. I think that’s true and worth repeating for our own personal safety.
I like to say that I’m a ‘qualified Libertarian’ meaning that I support most of the platform and principles of the Libertarian Party of Hawai’i, however let me make it clear that I resist unfettered, predatory capitalism as I seek to end the master-slave relationship wherever I find it.
There are many potentially powerful and important things we can do as a group and we’ll talk about some of those issues as we progress throughout the day. However, in my opinion the most important things we can do as a libertarian are done by individuals on our own. Some of these are:
1.) Find and exercise a personal spiritual practice that works. I truly believe that spirituality is the software that runs our physical hardware, our bodies and our life. I found through my experience of being arrested and indicted, denied bail eight times and denied a fair trial for operating The Hawai’i Cannabis (THC) Ministry that as I blessed my challenges I received measurable, unexpected blessings and valuable epiphanies that likely would not have come my way otherwise.
2.) Have a small flashlight easily available in your pocket or purse for quick access in an emergency situation. I helped the Russian Ambassador to Qatar escape from a potentially troubling and embarrassing situation in Doha, Qatar a few years back when we were both attending an event. The lights went out unexpectedly and the place we were in went totally dark. Fortunately I had a squeeze light in my pocket and in a second or two I had it out and I lit our way to safety when everyone else was left to stumble around in the dark. That was a very liberating and memorable moment, a practical example of being a responsible libertarian.
3.) As much as possible and practical we need to be our own fire department and police department to keep ourselves and our families safe. Be prepared for emergencies. Have a fire extinguisher readily available at home and in the office, or on the job. I’m also a big believer in the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, so I recommend legally owning and having a gun or a rifle loaded and stored safely, but readily available to defend yourself, your family and your home.
What else? Bless your challenges and look for the good in them; magic can happen when we do this. Have good manners. Good manners open doors that battering rams can’t. Extend your love as far as possible. We each have a bottomless well of love available to us to use and share as we see fit. Please exercise your love and your heart more than you’re used to and watch the great results you get. Be brave! I like to say that “we can only be the land of the free if we are first the home of the brave”. Here’s to an exciting and successful election year ahead. Thank you.
Roger Christie
November 8, 2015
Hilo Hawaiian Hotel
Hilo, Hawai’i
