On The Front Lines
OldSpeak Exclusive: Lew Rockwell, Former Ron Paul Chief of Staff, Weighs in on Police Militarization, American Imperialism and Turning America Around
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – OldSpeak, an online publication of the Rutherford Institute, hosts an exclusive interview with Lew Rockwell, former congressional chief of staff for Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), founder of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and editor of the major libertarian website www.LewRockwell.com. In his interview with constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, Rockwell speaks frankly about his observations about the growth of the police state, American imperialism, and his advice for Americans who want to know what they can do to rein in a runaway government, all of which are discussed in his new book, Against the State: An Anarcho-Capitalist Manifesto.
Click here to read “Against the State: An Interview with Lew Rockwell.”
Decrying the double standard that allows the government to operate above the law—murder, lie and steal—while punishing the citizenry for the similar behavior, Lew Rockwell sounds off to OldSpeak about the need for Americans to say “enough is enough” and stop condoning the government’s activities, whether it be police state tactics such as militarized police and weaponry, surveillance, drone killings, or war. “Government actually does depend on the consent of the governed,” stated Rockwell. “Government is a minority. They need us.”
When asked what advice he would give to Americans who want to move away from an increasingly repressive government and towards a system that would grant more freedom, Rockwell calls for nonviolent resistance as was seen in the Soviet Union: “People just refused to go along, and when that happens, even though the government seems like an extremely impressive, extremely impregnable operation of huge walls surrounding a city of power, everything can come down.” When it comes to getting people organized, Rockwell encourages Americans to turn off the TV and remember that knowledge is power: “The first thing is you have to learn. Once you have learned some economics, once you have learned some history, once you have learned about the nature of politics, you can’t be fooled and other people will come to you for leadership. They will look to you for advice, and that is the way a movement is built.” As for whether there’s any real hope that Americans might be able to turn things around and return to a time of limited government, Rockwell declared, “We are living in a time right now when things are getting worse, but all is not lost. I deal a lot with young people, and I see huge changes among young people, not only in this country but in other countries as well. They are not buying the government lies anymore. Part of it has to do with their worries about their own economic future—worries about student debt and all the horrible things that the federal government has done to them—but they are not buying the lies. They are looking for another way.” The congressional chief of staff for Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) from 1978 to 1982, Lew Rockwell served as a consultant and vice president of Paul’s exploratory committee for several of his presidential campaigns. In 1999, Rockwell founded his website, lewrockwell.com, to “help carry on the anti-war, anti-state, pro-market work” of libertarian economist and political theorist Murray N. Rothbard. Prior to launching his website, which has become one of the top 10,000 most visited sites in the world, Rockwell founded the Ludwig von Mises Institute, a libertarian organization in Auburn, Alabama, which has consistently called for limited government and peaceful international relations. Rockwell’s new book, Against the State: An Anarcho-Capitalist Manifesto, proclaims that the state need not always have the powers it presently retains.
