The political climate in the United States continues to follow a dangerous path. Those in power are using increasingly more violent rhetoric. Liberals are encouraged to hate Conservatives and the “right” is expected to attack the “left.” The madness is not only sickening, but dangerous. On September 29th, 2019, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, escalated this tone even further. In response to calls for impeachment from Congress and the media, Trump quoted Pastor Robert Jeffress in a tweet. Jeffress said that, “the only impeachable offense that President Trump has committed was beating Hilary Clinton in 2016.” The quote did not stop there; “If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office… it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.”
This tweet was just the beginning of the calls for civil war. Media, from The Washington Post to CNN, talked, wrote articles, and took to news desks pushing the idea. Groups that support Trump are reported to have taken it as a signal to prepare. Those opposed to Trump also have taken his tweet seriously. Again, they have set the blue team and the red team at each other to distract the populace from the crumbling government excesses that occur every day. Some media have tried to claim that there is no alternative to this division.
Adam Kokesh, frontrunner for the Libertarian Party nomination for President of the United States, has taken the lead in offering another way. He has proposed a solution to the divide and conquer tactics of the old parties who maintain a stranglehold on Washington DC. Kokesh, a Marine Corps combat veteran who was involved in the first battle of Fallujah, has seen enough war oversees to know that all war, civil or otherwise, must be avoided. His plan to peacefully dissolve the federal government returns power to the states and gives communities the freedom to make decisions that impact their lives daily. On a recent interview on Fox Business, Kokesh said of his plan “Localization is the cure for polarization.” He has, on many occasions, offered an easy solution to the issues that divide us. “People in San Francisco should not be making decisions for people in San Antonio,” is a statement that he uses to show that localizing government recognizes our differences. On the other hand, he points out that, “We don’t have to be forced under a single government to be united in American values.”
This past weekend, Kokesh spoke to a coalition of ten conservative states and one liberal state put together by Yes California. This growing community, led by Marcus Ruiz Evans from California, has a goal of supporting California’s right to peacefully secede from America so that California can pursue it’s own policies unfettered by the federal government. This action would enable conservatives to enjoy an America where they don't have to worry about Californian values being forced upon them.
Kokesh lead the panelists, who all said American states must have a conversation about the ability to peacefully divorce and coexist, no matter their political beliefs. Together, they offered alternatives to the ever increasing polarization and ratcheting up of violence in political discourse. During his speech, Kokesh spoke about the right of all people to vote for their future and said it did not matter how a community decided to organize, so long as they did so voluntarily. He offered principles and ethics in a political world clouded by force and aggression. The impact was felt amongst the other panelists as they continually referred to his earlier comments, regardless of whether they were conservative or liberal.
It is time to return to a world where the thought of civil war is returned to old history books. Liberty is a force for uniting people and localization is the mechanism through which it can be realized. With the help of people like those who spoke on Yes California’s panel, Adam Kokesh and people across this country, we will Finally Free America.
