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ANNOUNCEMENT THREAD
Years ago, as a student and member of the College Republicans at my alma mater, I had the blessing to meet and become friends with several like-minded students, men and women who believed in the power of "the smallest minority", the individual.
Years ago, as a student and member of the College Republicans at my alma mater, I had the blessing to meet and become friends with several like-minded students, men and women who believed in the power of "the smallest minority", the individual.
Advocates for individual freedom, small government, free market economics, and what, kids just barely old enough to remember 9/11, were brought up to believe were the ideals of our Founders and of this city on a hill, shining as a beacon of liberty to the huddled masses.
In 2015, I stood no more than 50 feet from Donald Trump at CPAC as he shouted incoherent lines about building a wall and birth certificates, and was subsequently laughed at (perhaps my interpretation of the laughed was wrong, but I don't believe so).
Within the same year, I was asked by Buzzfeed to appear in a video of Republican youth dispelling stereotypes about the party.
I went in and spoke about what I thought was the natural endgame of the Republican ideology: that America was a place where all could strive towards the American Dream, that the GOP was not a party of racists, that we promoted and truly loved liberty and freedom.
I soon was forced to admit I was wrong.
I thereafter, to ease my own conscience, registered to vote as a Libertarian, and as I saw the GOP continue down a horrifying path, proudly cast my first ever presidential vote for a Libertarian.
The more I read and saw from other Libertarians, the more I realized they truly believed in the ideals I had grown up on, which I rarely saw implemented in practice before then. Actual freedom. Actual equality. Actual responsibility.
This was a party who truly believed in that idea of a city upon a hill, of the rights of every man, woman, or child to dared to dream the same dream I held so dearly.
Growing up, I was told I had to believe very specific things, in a very specific way. Gay people made condemnable choices. Immigrants were leeches on our way of life. The Middle East must be crushed because they hate us for our freedoms. All under the name of "patriotism."
I was wrong for all of that, and I am ashamed I ever held such beliefs. I wish I could have forced away those lies, and I wish I'd had the courage to stand up for what I knew was right, even as I teased the boy I was madly in love with for being gay (as far as I know, he wasn't).
There is no greater element of the human experience than freedom. It has been the goal our grandparents have dreamed of for countless generations, through time immemorial. I want to see us achieve that goal for our children.
So that is why, in 2021, I'm running for Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of California.
As Chair of the @LPofCal Bylaws Committee, a member of its Operations and Social Media committees, and Vice Chair of the largest county affiliate (Los Angeles), I am ready to serve alongside whoever our next state chair will be.
This past year has brought the very visible hand of government upon our lives in a way I could never have imagined. I'm not a COVID denier or think it's a hoax, but I can't sit back and pretend that these actions are not done arbitrarily and for little greater purpose than power.
Yes, we are in a bad public health situation. But people are capable of making respectable choices. Would you believe that when the LP gathered for it's national convention in Orlando, in July, when Florida was the #1 hotspot, that not one person got sick?
People are suffering, not able to pay rent, to feed their families, watching businesses they risked everything for to be closed for no valid reason, and meanwhile our Governor violates his own rules and makes a giggly apology video each time he gets caught.
Sure, Gavin, we all make mistakes, but the cops don't burst into your office when you do. They don't threaten your job and families like ours are. The commoners are not worthy of your attention.
I believe we can bring California back to what our great state once was in our legends. A place where anyone could make it, could come to see their dream realized, to make a new life for themselves and their families. That has always been what California is about.
I hope to see those of you who are with us already join me in this endeavor. I hope to see many more faces come to our movement. I hope to see liberty in our lifetime.
I'll end this with a quote from another Fordham alum, Vince Lombardi:
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
Well, let's get to work.
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
Well, let's get to work.
