The last time I wrote for The Bull Elephant I spoke highly of the libertarian-conservative grassroots alliance that took the RPV by storm in 2012. Though I lack the space to explain the cause, last year I switched gears from attempting to fix the GOP from the inside to growing the organization that has supported liberty and justice for all since its inception in 1971; the Libertarian Party. But before I left, I listened to Republicans in Virginia, Maryland and North Dakota drone on for years about outreach to minorities, the inner cities and the poor, yet rarely saw a Republican walk a single city block.
I myself am no stranger to the inner city. After my parents divorced when I was a baby, my mother and I lived for a short time on the 3300 block of East Baltimore Street, Baltimore where I attended the racially diverse Highlandtown Elementary School.
David in Highlandtown
I am also no stranger to poverty. My mother struggled to care for my wheelchair bound grandmother and I, though she always seemed to have just enough spare change to buy me a Yoo-Hoo at the laundromat to keep me content. Nor am I a stranger to deadbeat fathers. Although he was around, my father had a hard time paying $100 a month in child support and his attitude was the opposite of nurturing.
So for years if you had seen me sitting uncomfortably in my chair at Republican meetings while old white suburbanites railed about ‘them,’ it was because I AM one of ‘them’! Again, I lack the space to explain how poorly the Democrat Party has let down the inner-city black community, but lets face it; liberals aren’t the majority of the readers at TBE so lets skip to the light at the end of the tunnel.
I met Terry Hurst at his first Tidewater Libertarian Party in November. A fellow politico and I attempted to dissuade him from running, and yet every time we explained how difficult running would be, how much time it would engulf, how little might get accomplished, Terry was undeterred and asked, “When do we start??”
Three months later, this honorable and caring navy vet has yet to disappoint me. He started with a whirlwind tour all over the state to meet Libertarian leadership. Terry also lobbied Richmond in support of the anti-corruption “Burfoot Bill” SB1487 which unanimously passed Tuesday.
In the last few weeks alone Terry has been meeting with leaders from the black community, attended an LGBT-police forum and spoke fervently against the drug war at a local Republican meeting and had their ranks nodding in agreement. He has been canvasing the streets for signatures to get on the ballot and he and his team ran a booth last Sunday at local event “Engage Norfolk” sponsored and hosted by a Democrat. This father with a full house of five certainly has no fear of reaching across both aisles, speaking his mind and standing for what he believes in his heart, and from the level of his intensity and passion, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, the man is just getting warmed up!
Ladies and gentlemen, the Libertarian Party of Virginia has a serious candidate down here in Norfolk and he’s certainly no hot mess. If you are interested in bringing the message of Liberty and free markets to those who have yet to hear it, I invite you to visit his website at TerryHurst.com and his Facebook site to see how you can get involved.
Inspired by Terry, I will be communicating with and bringing resources and knowledge to the impoverished of Norfolk and invite you to join us, for as Plato said nearly two and a half thousand years ago:
It is the task of the enlightened not only to ascend to learning and to see the good but to be willing to descend again to those prisoners and to share their troubles and their honors, whether they are worth having or not. And this they must do, even with the prospect of death.
35 comments
Self-righteous Mr. Dull has all the answers, apparently. The poverty-stricken inner city Democrats of Norfolk should feel very fortunate that he is descending from his throne of all-knowingness to mingle with mere peasants and explain to them how wrong and misled they are in their views and beliefs. Has he not considered that those with different life experiences may have a thing or two to teach him – most notably, a sense of humility? I do not know much of this candidate he admires, but this article certainly isn’t doing much for Terry Hurst’s image. I hope he gets a new PR person, and soon!
haters gonna hate. statists gonna state
The issue or problem I find with most well meaning self proclaimed libertarians is that they frankly don’t really understand the actual well documented and fundamental pillars of their purported political philosophy and therefore the party it represents. They might actually want to spend less time lecturing Republicans, Democrats and general independents of all stripes on their faux pas, misconceptions and general all around lack of understanding of the human condition and spend a little more time on outreach to others that really have read and intellectually internalized what it is they really represent (I’m frankly not too optimistic regarding this as the clique goes – ignorance is bliss).
For example one of the major tenets of the libertarian philosophy (notice I don’t say political process because I don’t believe a really workable one exists) is the key belief in the notion of Spontaneous Order as the organizational backbone of human society. What is this? Well the Libertarian creed proposes that spontaneous order (including political order) is that process by which the required order in society that is necessary for individuals to survive and flourish actually arises (this is the critical term) spontaneously, out of the actions of thousands or countless millions of individuals who coordinate their actions with those of others in order to achieve their purposes. Sort of a worldwide, universal, goal orientated vulcan mind meld that gets everyone to agree to agree.
The rule of law is not an agreed upon sets of cultural traditionally codified laws establishing human rights and obligations granted by your creator and set forth in a social contract (e.g. our US Constitution) but rather the rule of law means that individuals are governed by generally applicable and spontaneously developed legal rules (spontaneous order), not by arbitrary (in the libertarian view) commands (articles of the US Constitution and it’s subsequent amendments for example); and that these spontaneous rules should protect and allow the freedom of individuals to pursue happiness “in their own ways”, not aimed at any particular result or outcome (e.g. Constitutional social order or the general well being).
You might ask then if you can swallow the concept of spontaneous order as an organizing concept for society, what exactly is it that holds this vast mind meld together in a semi coherent day to day societal lifestyle? Well that is where is gets even more circuitous as libertarian’s propose that a society of true liberty under their concept of law can only exist where individuals are free to pursue their own lives so long as they respect the equal rights of others (a decent generalization). The glue here then with this generalization is all is well as long as I respect your Spontaneous Order and in turn you respect my Spontaneous Order. Sort of a live and let live governing mechanism assuming Spontaneous Order bubbles rarely if ever over lap or intersect like in a venn diagram to cause potential areas of disagreement.
If this unlikely event does occur Libertarian’s once again fall back on the recourse to yet one more SO mind meld to resolve conflict and so on and so on. If you ever need an example of an argument reducto absurdum this is it in spades. As this political philosophy has never actually worked anywhere in an actual human society (a libertarian political model that is) in the long cycle of documented human history what in the end it amounts to is a rambling and often incoherent thought exercise for unemployed and/or underemployed philosophers, politically disgruntled college students with minimal employment prospects and humanist crusaders with little practical grounded experience in actual human behaviors and the historical actions that result from them
There are some grounded lessons to draw from this though. First, those that truly espouse the libertarian political beliefs are most certainly not Republicans (based on the Republican party creed) but they also aren’t even supporters of constitutional governance as it currently is established within the tenets of the US Constitution and our Republic. Second, to represent a political party you need to at the very least be able to justifiably support a workable set of principles of societal governance and I for one don’t buy the concept of Spontaneous Order as anything other then an entertaining mind game. Finally, and perhaps most important, the Republican Party needs to politely and with understanding and tact send these individuals on there way out it’s party tent door.
Political dabbling time is over and we are facing a far left menace in this country today that is anti constitutional, anti free speech , anti religious and core statest in the most extreme definitions of the term (e.g. fascist) and I frankly don’t care if this particular collection of real existing reprobates and quasi political insurgents that have arisen out of the ashes of the post Obama administration have developed a spontaneous order or not (from a libertarian perspective) they need to be reined in. If libertarians want to play entertaining mind games they are more then free to do so, just don’t waste any more of our time when there are real substantial issues to face on the American political landscape.
Always enlightened by your words. Thanks!
Why are we not voting for you on November?
Me being an outsider I’m up for listening to others views and yours appear to be righteous not self righteous.
Thank you again.
“The issue or problem I find with most well meaning self proclaimed libertarians is that they frankly don’t really understand the actual well documented and fundamental pillars of their purported political philosophy and therefore the party it represents.”
I can see this will have little to do with the article I wrote and more to do with your attempt to marginalize my life experiences in an attempt to show the people who read the comments section that limited government is bad. Maybe you should write an article instead of posting in the comments section
“For example one of the major tenets of the libertarian philosophy (notice I don’t say political process because I don’t believe a really workable one exists) is the key belief in the notion of Spontaneous Order (or SO) as the organizational backbone of human society.”
Are you knocking the free market dude?
“The rule of law is not an agreed upon set of cultural traditionally codified laws establishing human rights and obligations granted by your creator and set forth in a social contract (e.g. our US Constitution) but rather the rule of law means that individuals are governed by generally applicable and spontaneously developed legal rules (spontaneous order), not by arbitrary (in the libertarian view) commands (articles of the US Constitution and it’s subsequent amendments for example); and that these spontaneous rules should protect and allow the freedom of individuals to pursue happiness “in their own ways”, not aimed at any particular result or outcome (e.g. Constitutional social order or the general well being).”
Are you saying that’s what libertarianism is about or are you arguing against? Because I’m pretty sure the rule of law is founded on the law of the land and the supreme law of the land is the constitution, which was written by a bunch of classical liberals (aka libertarians). So not sure where you’re coming from with this.
“Sort of a live and let live governing mechanism”
Yeah, kinda like the teachings of Christ and Buddha?
“As this political philosophy has never actually worked anywhere in an actual human society (a libertarian political model that is) in the long cycle of documented human history what in the end it amounts to is a rambling and often incoherent thought exercise for unemployed and/or underemployed philosophers, politically disgruntled college students with minimal employment prospects and humanist crusaders with little practical grounded experience in actual human behaviors and the historical actions that result from them”
ROFLMAO! Now you have completely lost any respect I had for your opinion. Are you actually saying the libertarian philosophy put forth by the founding fathers didn’t work? That it wasn’t responsible for the largest middle class in human history? Wow dude, just wow! But okay, I’ll read on, for shits and giggles
“There are some grounded lessons to draw from this though. First, those that truly espouse libertarian political beliefs are most certainly not Republicans (based on the Republican party creed) but they also aren’t even supporters of constitutional governance as it currently is established within the tenets of the US Constitution and our Republic.”
Reagan said “If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism” and the Republican creed is EXACTLY what libertarians want out of government. We just understand Republican leadership doesn’t care about the creed, which is why the Tea Party exists in the first place! What rock have you been living under for the last 8 years???
“Political dabbling time is over and we are facing a radical left menace in this country today that is anti constitutional, anti free speech , anti religious and core statest in the most extreme definitions of the term (e.g. fascist)”
You just described both the Democrat and Republican parties.
“If libertarians want to play entertaining mind games they are more then free to do so, just don’t waste any more of other’s time when there are real substantial issues to face on the American political and electoral landscape and realize your cult isn’t one of them.”
Our “cult” got 4 million votes last November. We tripled our votes from 4 years ago while both the Republican and Democrat nominees got LESS votes than 4 years ago. People like freedom and the only party that still stands for individual liberty and free markets just happens to have a new face.
Found you on Facebook. I see you’re a paid staffer in DC. Thanks for generating web traffic for my article kid!
Appreciate the post , and the link to the 2014 post.
It is hard to put yourself out there, posting on blogs
Or doing the hard work of promoting libertarian candidates .
Stay the course, support Terry Hurst.
Don’t look back , comments will always be there…
Good and bad.
thank you sir. I appreciate the love. #RepairTheWorld
So for 46 years you guys have been at this, how many delegates, state, and commonwealth officers you got? Reps? Senators? Governors?
Maybe this will be your year, that Sarvis guy always makes a difference.
What have you done besides run your mouth on social media “Rochinante” ?
Besides that? Helped to elect more Republicans then ALL the commenters have done to elect ALL the Libertarian office-holders, see, cuz there aren’t any.
I so appreciate and admire conscientious, principled people like Terry Hurst. But unless there is some “wow factor” involved, I see his run for office as a libertarian as tilting at windmills. Why not bring that energy and resolve to the Republican party, where eventual success might be more likely. Hope we will see more from David Dull too.
I predict Mr. Hurst will join the ranks of the other equally successful Libertarian officeholders.
I think it’s mean and cruel to indulge, recognize, and encourage Libertarian snowflakes.
Fake name profile hating on something he doesn’t understand. Did you even READ the article son?
Right, it’s the anonymity. Read the article praising libertarian futility, pointed out that folly.
Where’s your article?
Why? I fear my comment wisdom redpills too much already.
You should visit his website before you judge
Sailblazer, the Norfolk GOP is chaired by an arrogant old white guy who pisses off republicans, but he is up Wagners ass… So there is no effective GOP in norfolk.
We had the same problem in our area, but we took effective action instead of just complaining about it.
my article was LITERALLY about taking effective action. its like you didn’t even READ it “sailblazer”.
David, my comment was to Turbo, not you … but thanks for the all caps. Really shocked by your aggressively defensive reactions to comments. Probably better not to submit articles, if the comments are so upsetting.
you should DO something with your life other than troll in the comments section of a blog.
Mr. Dull, I think that you have just set a TBE record for ad hominem attacks on those who took the time to read and comment on your article.
lol! says the guy hiding behind a gamer tag?
Seeya snowflake.
Greattach job, outreach matters! I’m thinking about visiting the Islamic Center of Hampton Roads for my next article
Good one, that’ll be rich!