Kokesh Off the Deep End

Last week Adam Kokesh, the man planning an armed march on Washington DC, was arrested. It appears as through he doesn't feel the hole he's dug for himself is yet deep enough because now he's advocating individuals in all 50 states perform an armed march on their capitols for the purpose of intimidating the politicians:

“A new American revolution is long overdue. This revolution has been brewing in the hearts and minds of the people for many years, but this Independence Day, it shall take a new form as the American Revolutionary Army will march on each state capital to demand that the governors of these 50 states immediately initiate the process of an orderly dissolution of the federal government through secession and reclamation of federally held property. Should one whole year from this July 4th pass while the crimes of this government are allowed to continue, we may have passed the point at which non-violent revolution becomes impossible.

Adam is starting to look like an agent provocateur with his advocating the threat of force against the state. Long time readers of this blog know that I oppose violent revolution because it ends in a great loss of life (regardless of which side "wins") and usually results in a more tyrannical state replacing the previous one. What makes this open letter from Kokesh more interesting is his previously stated political beliefs. During the height of the Occupy movement Adam took it upon himself to describe the non-aggression principle to participants at one of the occupations:

I believe his letter walks the thin line between initiating aggression. While one could accuse politicians of aggressing against the population of the United States in truth it's the enforcers such as the police who perform the actual aggression. Still, an armed march on state capitols isn't likely to result in the abolish of the federal government. Although I won't tell people not to march on their capitol I feel it is important to point out an alternative method of abolishing the federal government.

The alternative I'm speaking of is called agorism. Agorism is a non-violent method of collapsing a state through the use of counter-economics. Instead of using violent to abolish the state, agorists without resources from the state. The state cannot get around the first law of economics, scarcity. Every resource acquired by the state was done through theft and agorists simply avoid the thieves by performing economic transactions off of the record. Imagine how ineffective the state would be if it took in no income, sales, or use taxes. Now imagine if every fine issued by the state was met with a court battle. What validity would the state have in people's eyes if welfare was provided by voluntary mutual aid societies?

I believe Adam suffers from a martyr complex. He wants to be sacrificed to the state in the hopes it will inspire a revolution that will forever remember him as the man who delivered this country from tyranny. I'm not convinced that any revolution would be sparked by his sacrifice nor would I support any such revolution because I'm not convinced it would lead to anything other than a new tyrannical state. Until a non-state network is setup to provide services currently provided by the state it is unlikely that we'll be able to replace statism. A revolution would simply lead to the same (or worse) shit under a different name. I urge anybody considering Adam's proposal to read An Agorist Primer [PDF]. Before picking up your rifle and waging violent war with the state learn about the alternatives. You never know, you may like less violent solutions better.