I returned from PorcFest on Sunday and had a terrific time visiting with past friends and finding new ones. We had originally winged from Arizona on the previous Monday with minimal interference from Thugs Standing Around and even traveled through TSA pre-screen with out even signing up for it. I always travel with a Glock so I was surprised that it was so easy. On my departure from Manchester, I even saw the overweight TSA agents who hassled Davi and I back in February in an incident the TSA still denies occurred.
We traveled the two-plus hour trip to Lancaster from Manchester with our driver, Riaz, who was a recent émigré from Florida and happy to be in a less policed state. We stayed at the hotel at Rogers Campground the entire week. Lilo and I got to see and mingle with all the modern rock stars of the libertarian universe such as Carla Gericke, the President of the Free State Project and Nick Gillespie of Reason magazine. I got to meet Tony Stiles and appeared on Jeff Berwick’s Anarchast, Ernie Hancock’s show and Free Talk Live. Got to hang with my new best friend, Ben Stone and the crew at Michael Dean’s Freedom Feens. Michael even caught my demo of a modified clutch flag on the stripper pole at Buzz’s Big Gay Dance Party on Friday night at PorcFest. Buzz does an amazing job on this party, where everyone is free to be whatever or whoever they are. A truly free experience. Lilo and I enjoyed talking and dancing with Angela Keaton from Antiwar.com, as well as a lot of other fun individuals romping about.
Got to see Larken Rose again and meet Josie the Outlaw in the flesh.
Jeff Tucker was there in all his sartorial splendor and did a magnificent job in the rendition of Ayn Rand’s play that was featured at PorcFest. Robert Anthony Peters was there, my close friend from Tucson who has toured the liberty festivals with me for years. He is one of the only libertarians on Earth who truly groks the relationship between art and liberty.
I met an amazing assortment of interesting folks and reunited with others I had met on the liberty trail over the years. I could hardly traipse around the grounds without running into someone I knew or striking up a conversation with someone new.
Being an Apple user, I had been using PowerPoint (Office for Mac) to put together my talks for the event and discovered that two of the files were corrupted with no redemption. I managed to simply do the talks extemporaneously but it simply angered me that Bill Gates, a formidable enemy of human liberty and fellator of the state, had attempted sabotage. He failed.
On Wednesday I gave my first speech, Zerogov: Limited Government, Unicorns and Other Mythological Creatures. A tour of my evolution to abolitionism, the Constitution as an engine for big government, why abolitionism and an invitation to join the Brotherhood Without Banners. The speech was heavily attended and I had great questions and responses after the conclusion of the speech.
Abolition and the Stoics A history of the most practical philosophy in the world and its relationship to liberty. During this presentation on Thursday, I had to give it absent the PPT slides but still managed to have a fairly stimulating discussion and great questions. This speech is the germ of a book idea I will be working on in 2015 to connect the ancient Stoics to modern abolitionism. I have to work on it next year because I am finishing my novel this year and completing my Lysander Spooner project this year.
Later, I teamed with my pro-life colleagues to debate the most divisive issue in libertarian circles for the Michael Dean sponsored PorcFest Abortion Clinic. After the debate, Antigone Darling crowned me as the most ardent pro-life expositor she had ever come across, I wear the admonition with pride. After the debate, Michael Dean sponsored a beef fest to get all the Freedom Feens together at Ben Stone’s camp site for a splendid dinner of steak cooked by Lou. The best steak ever.
On Friday, I spoke on Police State USSA A tour of the American Stasi state, the growing murder culture of cops, incentives to police violence and remedies for the existential problem of the police state. The speech went swimmingly and I got some more great comments and audience participation.
I conducted a four-hour seminar on Irregular Warfare: History and Practice on the history and modern implications of asymmetrical warfare, insurgency, counterinsurgency and guerrilla conflict. We filled the tent and about two dozen people actually stayed with me to listen for nearly four hours on a perfectly nice summer day in sunny New Hampshire. All the speeches will be on the net soon, so if you missed them, please look them up and catch up on the newest thoughts on liberty.
I am consistently amazed at just how bright and rocket-scientist smart libertarians, anarchists and abolitionists are. They may, for the most part, be rather modestly financially successful but the brain trust is quite incredible. Whether the solution to roads in a private society, why Rothbard is right or how the abolition of criminal law per David Freidman will make the world a better place.
Lilo and I had a great time getting tippled in the Courtesy Tent where the booze flowed freely for the speakers and sponsors, with great bonfires at night. The new species of anarcho-hippies that danced and played around the tent camps at Agora Row were a hoot to watch and experience. Even older as we are, we are welcomed there with open arms, as is everyone.
If you haven’t been, I highly recommend considering a trip to NH next summer.
This is not a revolution; this is the purposeful evolution of man at the atomistic level. PorcFest, the Free State Project and the abolitionist movement are the seedbeds of the philosophical terraforming of planet Earth.
I want to go again.
Evolve.
Bill, I enjoyed the part of your irregular warfare talk that I was able to attend, and plan on watching the rest of your talks when they are available on youtube. I have not read your work until then, but am interested in reading more.
That was a good recap of your experience at Porcfest, thank you. I also thank you for that well done and very cogent discussion you and Jeff Berwick had on his Anarchast show; it’s a superb companion for your recent interview with Adam Kokesh on AVTM. I keep both handy on my ‘education, not indoctrination’ YouTube playlist for ready reference.
I agree with those who’ve suggested concentrating on a couple of areas in one’s writing and discussions, and those two videos are most helpful to me since two topics I find myself focusing on often are police accountability and the awful coercive indoctrination gulags passed off as ‘public schools’ by the mainstream. The latter subject truly offends me, even though I’m pretty thoroughly physically disabled and will almost certainly never have kids of my own since it is the literal poisoning the well of the future. I plan to be around for quite a while and the thought of those unfortunates as my neighbors and community members is alarming…not to mention the waste of all those young minds skewed and distorted in the name of cranking out good little worker bees for the convenience of the State and its sycophants that my studies of Austrian economics and related disciplines have attuned my awareness of.
I enjoy your professional approach and demeanor a lot, while never a military person I do have many friends who are or were part of Leviathan’s enforcement arm and my 20 years as a professional aviator have given me an affinity for that kind of straightforward attitude. You balance that nicely with your dry humor in the same way that, say, William Grigg or Becky Akers do so your content’s never dry or tedious…my compliments.
I’ve had a lot of distracting turmoil in my life over the past few years, but it’s rapidly diminishing and I’m looking forward to doing more writing and blogging in an effort to contribute to spreading the word on the benefits of liberty and self government…I hope I can do it as effectively as you’ve done with your writing and speaking. Please keep up the fine work!
Great seeing you again, looking forward to the new books!
I keep hearing Stoicism come up among Libertarians this summer. Wish I could have been there for that talk.
Rich,
I hope more and more people are making that connection between Stoicism and abolitionism, I don’t claim the discovery, as soon as they post the video, you will be able to see it and I will be sure to send it to you.
Hi Bill,
Thank you for coming to Porc Fest. It was the first time hearing your stuff and very much enjoy listerning and giving feedback. Thank you for answering some of my question even some like the what to do when you are in a place that forces you to vote. Anyway I hope to come back to the USA for Porc Fest but if not well it was fun.
Anyone interested in liberty-minded people should go
Anyway thanks from your friend Down Under
John
P.s I still need to get an amazon ebook to read your book, will be getting soon
G’day John,
What a pleasure to hear from you and I hope to see you again the future. Be sure to correspond.
Bill
I will be sure to correspond in the future I have been a little lazy since I got back. I will be sure to email tomorrow
Dear Bill – i’m late to the party, i know – sorry. But it hasn’t made my search for a video or transcript of your debate defending life at porcfest last summer any less urgent. There is *nothing* more beautiful than a man defending pregnant mothers and their progeny. Please share the video and/or transcript!
No one recorded it but a great time was had by all opposed to infanticide.
Awww, that’s highly disappointing. Such an important topic (youtube would be a perfect repository for it). Thank you for your quick response.
You know, Lily, if I came on your world famous broadcast, I could elegantly reprise all my arguments and discussion on that.
I’d love to have such a vehicle. You would be a star (but then you should be used to that). I hope there will be an opportunity one day for such a valuable reprisal. I look fw to it, and will see if such a thing can be arranged via alternate means. Meanwhile, should you be so inclined, a summary of your arguments posted to your website would be stupendous, for which i would be most grateful. Have a marvelous day!
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