CodeSlinger had left a comment on a post about the ‘Occupy Toronto’ demonstration which I think deserves a post of its own:
Xanthippa:
By contrast, I found the crowd at Occupy Victoria very receptive to my libertarian message.
I didn’t go there to speak. I went to find out, first hand, what these people want. And what I discovered was… they haven’t got a clue.
I heard a lot of crowing about coming together, and a lot of whining about being oppressed, but no one had any idea what to do about it.
I didn’t go there to speak. But I couldn’t help myself.
So I spoke to the crowd about the importance of individual rights and freedoms.
The kind of rights that have nothing to do with what’s written on some piece of paper.
The rights we are born with. The rights nobody can take away from us.
The crowd applauded enthusiastically.
I remarked that we had heard a lot about tyranny and abuses of wealth and power.
But none of these abuses would be possible if we lived in a place that respects the inalienable rights and freedoms of every individual.
The crowd cheered wildly.
I said that we had heard a lot about collective action and direct democracy.
But a collective is made of individuals, and democracy is nothing but mob rule unless it respects the inalienable rights and freedoms of every individual.
The crowd roared its approbation.
I told them that this is the underlying cause and cure for all the diverse concerns of the assembled people.
This is what unites us.
This is the one thing we all need. We need to take back our –
Inalienable. Individual. Rights and freedoms!
And to do that we must set our government one simple task:
Protect the equal rights of every individual equally!
And beyond that – leave us the hell alone!
The crowd thundered unanimous agreement.
I didn’t go there to speak. But I’m glad I did.
Because it proved that these people are not as stupid as they are made out to be. They know truth and sense when they hear it. They just don’t hear it very often.
I went there to find out what this movement is all about.
I came away absolutely certain that now is the time to clearly and forcefully bring the libertarian message to the people of Canada.
The people of Canada are more than ready to hear it.
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 
October 16, 2011 at 20:48
Holy crap. So they had an #occupy protest at Toronto and . . . a Tea Party broke out.
October 17, 2011 at 20:33
Colour me a little skeptical.
No question CodeSlinger gave a great speech. It would have sounded great to an aimless throng of “Occupiers” hungry for …. something (leadership?). But how many really grasped the significance of his words?
Xan says: even if they did not recognize the immediate significance, I do hope CodeSlinger’s words fell onto fertile ground. Perhaps, in time…
October 18, 2011 at 15:02
JR:
Yes, times are tough and people are clamouring for leadership.
But here’s the point: the crowd was more responsive to my message than to the left wing organizers of the event.
The crowd can still tell the difference between the road to freedom and descent into slavery.
That’s why it’s so important to put a credible, dynamic libertarian in front of that crowd.
We must harness this momentum.
Now.
Because if we don’t, the collectivists of the left and right certainly will.
October 19, 2011 at 14:55
Good points. Better the mob hears (and chants back) a libertarian message than a totalitarian one.
I have a hunch, though, that most of those inclined to libertarianism are gainfully employed and otherwise productivly occupied – which explains why they, so far, show little appetite (or have the spare time) for attending any demonstration, much less those promoted by professional leftist agitators like Adbusters, Klein, Chomsky and SEIU.
Nevertheless, as you say, it may be important to somehow get people motivated to counter (ideally, drown out) the collectivists. In the USA it’s the Tea Party. Here?
October 20, 2011 at 03:18
JR:
The political left and right are two opposing forms of collectivism. But, productively occupied or not, individualists tend not to gather to form rallies, demonstrations or any other kind of crowd.
As Xanthippa so aptly put it, organizing libertarians is like herding cats.
On the other hand, the typical Canadian is a joiner. He wants to belong to something. Until now, depending on whether he saw corporate malfeasance or government misconduct as the greater danger, he belonged to the left or the right. And to do either he had to abandon reason and deny his own nature.
But he has been lied to, cheated, used and betrayed so often by both sides that he no longer trusts either of them. He is now desperately seeking something new to belong to.
So I say, forget about herding cats and reach out to the common man.
Give him something he can belong to without having to give up knowing what he knows and being who he is.
Let him stand together with his peers and demand recognition and respect for his inalienable individual rights.
October 20, 2011 at 21:17
Hooh boy, CodeSlinger, now you’ve got my head spinning over the formal definition of “collectivism”. Thanks a bunch! Anyway, from now on, instead of saying “collectivists”, I’ll be more careful and specify “lefty collectivists”.
October 22, 2011 at 03:06
Totalitarians to the left of me.
Fascists to the right.
Here I am.
Stuck in the middle, herding cats…
(with appologies to Rafferty and Egan)