Gary Johnson 2012: The Libertarian Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Impact

“The revolution will not be televised.”

This phrase accurately describes the libertarian movement, as it continues to penetrate the American psyche in the forms of Ron Paul and Gary Johnson. Every day, a growing segment of the population, which is young, educated, and internet native, joins the ranks of the libertarians and their allies. And every day, the regime which currently controls the United States — those inner party officials, media mouthpieces, and corporate backers — continue to lose legitimacy, support, and ultimately, control. Over the next few years, these elements will become increasingly impotent, as they lose the ideological and technological race for supremacy against a new generation of Americans who are not dependent upon systems controlled by the corporatist state.

First, the party duopoly has begun to experience trouble in the recruitment of loyal party followers. Mainstream Republicans are unable to replenish their ranks due to an overall shift in demographics, as well as their open hostility towards actual small government activists who seek involvement in the party. Democrats, while being considerably more successful than Republicans, have shown themselves to be increasingly desperate in their tactics. They have chosen to follow an Orwellian model, perpetuating a Keynesian economic cycle of poverty and dependence which, in return, makes the population more susceptible to racial, sexual, and class-based bribery. Relying on either a small aristocracy or the impoverished masses will result in failure for the parties, as the middle class – that class of tradesmen, managers, and entrepreneurs who have served as the agitators and revolutionaries of centuries past – has become aware of the movement which truly represents their socially liberal, fiscally sane views.

Second, the major media outlets are no longer trusted by the bulk of Americans, as their partisanship and willingness to obfuscate any inconvenient facts have obliterated any sense of credibility they may have once possessed. Just as Nazi propagandists assured their population that Germany was on the verge of total victory, even as Soviet soldiers flooded the Reichstag, American media has become equally divorced from reality, even going so far as to state that the Great Recession has been “over” since 2009. But these media giants cannot force Americans to ignore the rising prices, persistent joblessness, and the conflicting narrative between “the economy is fine” and “we need stimulus to fix the economy.” Nor can they black out the existence of the libertarian movement, which finally broke through in Ron Paul’s 2008 campaign with the help of the internet. Today, libertarians continue to attract increased attention, as Libertarian presidential nominee, Gary Johnson, sues both the FEC and CPD for illegally blocking opposition parties from receiving their due campaign funds, and participating in debates. Should he succeed in landing a spot in the debates, the collapse of the duopoly will be significantly hastened, as the “lesser of two evils” myth is dispelled, and a good option becomes visible.

The current government and its puppet industries cannot halt the rising libertarian tide. A parasitical system, the mixed government-corporate structure breeds inefficiency and contempt just as it begins to accumulate wealth and power. It will exhaust its own population, lose its trust, and become dependent exclusively on the crude violence of intimidation and taxation. But by that point, it will have lost. Without a means of competing with individuals in the private sector, without a means of controlling the flow of information and ideas, the regime will simply be swept away as a useless relic. But these changes will never be broadcasted on the major networks. The revolution will not be televised.