In the wake of a grand jury’s refusal to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, new protests sprung up last night in several major cities as the issues of race and police conduct were thrust to the forefront yet again.  It seems the tire tracks from the National Guard leaving Ferguson were still fresh when the decision was made by a New York State grand jury not to indict.

These protests, however, were different.  In Oakland, as protesters stood stationary with their hands up, police yelled at the 200-person crowd that “You cannot protest here!”  In NYC, cops in riot gear made dozens of arrests of protestors who were laying on the ground.  The real question with this case—and the Ferguson ruckus that started it all—is not whether the cop was white and hated blacks.  It is not even if the men who got shot were criminals.  It is simply this:

How much security do you want your government to offer you, and how much liberty are you willing to give up to get it?

I saw people who claim to love liberty and freedom, calling for the National Guard to come in and impose martial law.  I saw cops hitting protestors who were standing there doing nothing but holding their arms up.  I also saw some protesters acting like animals, while others cautioned discretion and better conduct.

What a lot of people refuse to understand is that we do not have to agree with their reason for protest.  We do not have to agree with their worldview.  We do, however, have to agree that they have the right to be there.  They do not have the right to destroy property, to fight and throw things and act like destructive little demons.  But a crowd of people who feel that they have been grievously wronged by the government has the right to stand up en masse and say that. Last night, I saw peaceful protests and marches, for the most part.  I saw cell phone livestreams where people in the crowd were talking about policing their own if necessary.  I saw people standing up against what they feel is a massive infringement of law enforcement on their rights.  I don’t have to agree with them, but that doesn’t matter.  If they want to stand up and hold the government accountable, so be it.  If they can do that without starting fires and harming each other, that is.  If they want to carry signs and march, hold speeches and chants, and rant on camera about how white cops are all shooting every black man they see, that is their right.  In fact, it’s so important that it’s the first one on the Bill of Rights—or as I like to call it, The List of Stuff The Government Isn’t Allowed to Mess With.  Those of us who call ourselves three percenters should be willing to stand and defend their right to protest.  Instead, I saw liberty-minded people openly calling for more control.  Fix The Problem, Government.  Keep Us Safe At All Costs.

True liberty means applying it even to those we don’t like, or don’t agree with.  While we were fighting on Facebook and Twitter about how much of a hoodlum Michael Brown was or how badly Darren Wilson needed to die, the government was tightening the noose.  National Guard snipers?  Acoustic and microwave weapons?  Rubber bullets shot into houses?  How is this okay?  Why were the people standing there chanting rounded up and arrested?  Why were people laying on the ground picked up and dragged off like sacks of feed?

I am all for cops defending themselves.  I am all for law and order.  Looters should be arrested, and they should pay for their actions.  But I also saw a lot of folks just standing there; just chanting and holding their signs and calling out their government.  That is actually a good thing.  Government MUST be held accountable.

Gavin Seim recently wrote:

The Browns, Darren Wilson the rioters, the police. They are tools that are being used to divide people. The issue of liberty is always the same. Neither “side” had any part with liberty last night. You need to realize that to understand what’s coming and what the bigger picture is. This was not an accident.

Both sides of the political spectrum are playing into the hands of the those that are really behind this mess. The stooges for race bait, freebies and hate are doing exactly what tyrants want because they work in mindless rage against each other rather than against the real enemy, tyrants and lawlessness.

The conservatives are doing a similar thing. To counter the craziness, they welcome more government intervention. I was seeing this even from liberty minded friends. The media played along as usual. Effectually silencing the real conversation and giving big government the legitimacy it needs.

How can they keep the peace? Oh that’s easy, they will “protect” us. They will send in National Guard and more support. Next they make more laws and get more aggressive. It does not stop. Remember the Patriot Act?…

Lawlessness must be stopped, even if that lawlessness comes in the form of a rioter with a stolen iPod in one hand and a Molotov in the other.  Lawlessness must be stopped, even if it comes in the form of a police officer, faceless and nameless behind his riot mask…’just following orders.’

“The question is, will you be duped, or will you stand for liberty?”