This Tuesday, January 16th, libertarian activist Adam Kokesh was arrested on various drug related charges during a traffic stop conducted by Texas Highway Patrol. This incident occurred within an hour of the announcement that he had officially completed his registration to run for “not-president” in the 2020 United States presidential race.
Roughly thirty minutes prior to the stop which resulted in his arrest, Kokesh had been stopped by another officer and issued a warning for tag and registration violations for his RV, affectionately referred to as, “No Force One”.
The second stop was, allegedly, the result of a speeding violation and conducted by a much more insistent officer than the first. During the course of the stop, a drug sniffing dog was brought in to do a search of the outside of the vehicle. Unfortunately, the dog alerted during the sweep of the exterior which gave officers probable cause to search the camper. As is the case with drug sniffing K-9s, it is impossible to tell whether the dog was actually alerting to the presence of drugs, Kokesh’s own dog, or because of a false alert command given by the officer. Many would argue that the alleged possession of drugs found inside the vehicle would indicate a legitimate hit however, as dog’s can’t speak, we’ll never definitively know.
Here is the full length video of both encounters:
Operating under the false premise that the police are working to “serve the community”, begs the critical question: What was really accomplished by arresting Adam Kokesh?
The frivolity and immoral nature of the war on drugs has long been understood in libertarian and voluntarist circles. Additionally, this reality has become more widely accepted by the general public in recent years. Adam was not found to be under the influence of drugs at the time of the stop nor was he in possession of drugs equaling an amount large enough to trigger a trafficking charge. So, was the purpose of this stop to get a dangerous driver off the road? Was it to stop some high level drug kingpin from corrupting the youth of our nation? Was the arrest a mechanism by which to deliver justice to all the non-existent victims of a single individual’s alleged personal drug use? Was a massive blow delivered to the availability of the drug supply on the streets of Texas? Of course it wasn’t.
Some might argue that the stop was politically motivated and meant to intimidate Adam and his supporters from continuing the march towards freedom. While that is a possible and even probable explanation for him being stopped by THP twice within an hour, we will likely never be able to prove that is the case. Even if it is 100% true, was it effective in any way whatsoever?
The only thing that was accomplished here is that a group of armed thugs wasted a bunch of tax payer money flexing their pathetic, jackbooted little nuts just to cause trouble for a man who’s true crime is attempting to upset the power dynamic between the slaves and their masters. I can assure you that this incident will not dissuade Adam Kokesh or his supporters from continuing their fight in the slightest. If anything, it’s even more motivation to continue with our mission to free people from the chains of state power and corruption.
Be sure to donate to Adam’s campaign or at least leave an encouraging word on his Facebook page!