THE GUILDMASTER EXPLAINS HIMSELF
By Ronald C. Tobin E-Mail: [email protected]
It has occurred to me over the past several months that I have not really sat down and explained just why I am so fervent regarding my philosophical stands, my outlook on life, my attitudes towards nation states, indeed, as to just what it is that makes me a libertarian anarchist activist. Granted, this could be a long story, but I will keep it brief here. Those interested in additional dialogue are free to contact me and I will be happy to elaborate. Or at least I will indulge you, happy though perhaps I will not be. That is just part and parcel of explaining.
I know I don't fit into the 'typical' category for an activist. Most tend to be young, from broken homes, dress differently to prove their non-conformity, go marching in the streets, definitely look like they are 'out of place' if they do mingle with mainstream society, and so on. Many of these young activists have the fire stomped out of them by social pressures and end up throwing in the towel by age 25, perhaps age 30 for some of the hardier ones. Thank goodness a handful never does give up entirely.
As for me, well I will turn 43 on 13 May, 2004. If anything, I am more radical NOW than when I was in my teens and 20s. I was a precocious child, and my concern with the world at large really started in 1973 at age 12, during the Yom Kippur War. Despite occasional efforts to unplug and bouts of burnout, I have stayed 'plugged in' ever since. I had a good childhood, my parents were involved but gave me a lot of leeway to make my own decisions and think for myself and pay the consequences at a young age. My parents, incidentally, will mark their 44th Wedding Anniversary in June of 2004.
I am not about to claim I was a model child. I did not fight often because I generally lost. At age 10 I was beat up by a girl the same age (she started it and I never really figured out why). While I never stole from a store, I did not stop others from doing so in my presence. I only ditched class a handful of times and was never caught, so I never did any detention. As my old friend and Guild Member Stephen Vautrin can attest, the weirdest activity I engaged was in high school (during the 10th grade, Spring of 1977). That was when I created a fake organization called the Student Protection Agency of Canyon High School. Mind you, I was not supposed to be running this group, I was supposed to be opposed to it, trying to stop it in its tracks. Under the organization imprimatur, I wrote several threatening notes, including notes against myself! It was an elaborate hoax, I even wrote a handbook and named names, including several teachers. I had fun for a couple of weeks, but then one student did get wise and turned me in, and I confessed everything to the vice-principal. All that he made me do was apologize to the people I had tricked with the hoax. Still, there was fallout for several months after that. I am sure that, if a student today were to do anything similar, at the very least they would be suspended, likely expelled and perhaps even arrested.
So, why did a generally high achieving student like me pull such a stunt? Truth is, I did it for attention. The misfit was bored. I learned valuable lessons from that hoax, especially how to watch out for other hoaxes and deceptions, which certainly abound.
Starting in the Autumn of 1969, I became a member of the Boy Scouts of America. I remember it well: one fine day, while I was playing in my bedroom, my father came in and asked me if I wanted to be a Cub Scout. Without even looking up at him I said, "OK." So that adventure began. I went through the Cub ranks (then Bobcat, Wolf, and Bear), went into Webelos at age 10 and then went into regular Boy Scouts a couple weeks before my 11th birthday. Applying myself accordingly I advanced through the Scouting ranks (then Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, and Eagle). I became an Eagle Scout at age 14. I eventually earned a total of thirty-nine merit badges and attained the highest recognized rank of Eagle Scout with Silver Palm.
I enjoyed a lot of what the Scouting program offered: the hiking and camping, learning skills, gaining self-confidence, and so on. Even in Scouts I was a misfit, but not nearly as much as was the case in the outer world. As a teen, I really believed in the 'God and Country' aspects the organization is famous for. No doubt parts of what I did in Scouting helped put me on the road to libertarian anarchist activism.
I would have to say that the first cracks started to appear in my senior year at high school. Yes, I was in public school, but fortunately my parents had encouraged me to think for myself at a young age, so I was already doing most of my studies for personal benefit, far away from the classroom. I was a Republican then, though I was opposed to the existence of personal behavior laws (I thought drugs and prostitution and gambling should be legal, period). I wrote an essay for my Comparative Political Studies class, in which the teacher had asked us to outline our political beliefs. The one sentence I remember writing is "I'm a Republican, because they are the Party of big business, and I support big business." I knew the teacher was a liberal and I thought my statement would anger him. It did not. He simply commented on the paper, "They SAY that they are, but are they really?" Thus was planted the first serious seed of doubt. Could he have a point? Hell yes.
After I graduated from high school in 1979, I took a trip to Europe, which I did again in 1980. Fabulous learning experiences for a young man. I had thought I was worldly, but I discovered I had been rather naive about many things because, after all, I had been protected in many ways.
1980 was the first pivotal year. Back then, I was a gung-ho supporter of Ronald Reagan, and I voted for him because, among other things, he promised to put an end to the Selective Service System. I thought the Republicans had the best programs and intentions for the nation. I had not yet heard of Libertarians and Objectivists and Ayn Rand. During the Summer of 1980 I had many intense political discussions with a close friend. Back then, I was fond of calling myself a 'Statistical Moderate.' I thought it represented a prudent mix of conservative and liberal values. My friend was a staunch liberal, and she maintained that being a moderate was wishy-washy and that I needed to sit down and think and figure out where I really stood on the issues.
Well, I did do that thinking and soul searching and then, when September 1980 rolled in, I started work on what became The Neo-Federalist Manifesto.  Yes, at the ripe old age of 19 I wrote a political manifesto. Turned out there was nothing moderate about my politics. They were very conservative at that time, save that I was opposed to victimless crime laws and I actually supported very strict gun control. I also advocated creating a North American super-state of Canada, the USA, Mexico, and the Caribbean islands. I also advocated creating colleges to train professional politicians, and have the country be run by the intelligentsia - people with verified I.Q.s of 125 or greater. I am now glad to say these ideas went nowhere, only a handful of people actually read the Manifesto (less than 100) and no one ever tried to implement it.  This is good.
1981 was also a pivotal year. It started with me in charge of the miniscule Neo-Federalist Association of America. I wrote lots of essays that year, revised the Manifesto at least twice, but two events overshadowed all else: THE THOUGHT was established in May and in June I first ran across the works of Ayn Rand. Her works had a profound impact on my thinking from the very beginning. I gradually became disillusioned with Reagan, especially when he decided NOT to get rid of Selective Service registration. That and other events proved to me that politicians were not generally trustworthy and their words should be taken with a grain of salt. By the end of the year the Neo-Federalist Association had disbanded and I was on my way to becoming a doctrinaire Objectivist.
While I did resume public activity in June of 1982 with my new Objectivist organization, the AFNA Philosophical Society, it was not really a milestone year. The next year, 1983, was truly a watershed year in my development. In this year I met Lorraina Valencia, visited prisoners for the first time, became thoroughly disenchanted with the GOP and became a registered Libertarian, and so on. I first met anarchists that year, though at that point I was still convinced that government was necessary, even if it was, in fact, evil on its face. 1984 was just a ramping up, I ceased to be a doctrinaire Objectivist and wore the label of minarchist Libertarian proudly. That was the year I ran for statewide public office in Arizona, for the six-year seat on the Corporation Commission. I ran on an abolition platform and received over four percent of the vote - more than enough to throw the election to the Democrat, who never did thank me.
After my run for office I really started to sour on electoral politics. Not because I did not win - I was truly not expecting to - but because it just rang so hollow. Politicians making promises they had no intention of keeping, just make me wince. Put on top of that the sheer hypocrisy of government run wild, trampling on individual rights no matter what the Constitution or the Bill of Rights said, and frankly it started to dawn on me that this trend was only going to get worse. Change through the ballot box? I no longer believed that such was a viable notion. The system was beyond redemption.
After a disastrous financial and personal relationship collapse, I moved back to California in March of 1985. After months of soul searching, I became a libertarian anarchist in the Summer of 1985. Were it not for the two brief periods where I tried out libertarian royalism (which I basically did in an effort to find a viable bridge between the ultra-statist police state of today and the ultimate goal of the stateless society. I figured that taking steps was the way to wean the populace from statism. I know better now), I could say I have been one for almost nineteen years now. I can say that I have been devoted to the libertarian anarchist cause without question for well over five years, now having reached the point where I am encouraging people to quit voting and even to leave the moribund Libertarian Party, because freedom will never be won out of the ballot box. Trust me on that one, because I did try.
So, how does this explain my rather radical positions? What I hope all understand is that I fervently embrace my principles. I practice what I preach. I say what I mean and mean what I say, and all that I really ask of others is to do the same. Nothing irks me more than people claiming to uphold a principle but then doing precisely the opposite, time and time again. Hypocrisy just sets my blood boiling. Growing up, I really believed in what the United States CLAIMED it stood for, and I was proud to be an American. I really believed in God and Country, and that meaningful change really was possible through the ballot box. When, over the years, I discovered that what the United States SAID and what it truly DID were two entirely different things. I discovered I had been wrong, that in fact I was helping to perpetuate a web of lies. No country knows deceit better than the USA. No nation has broken more treaties. The USA is the biggest bully on the planet, just open your eyes and read news reports from other countries and you (if you are an American citizen residing in the Imperium) will be in for a very rude awakening. It sure as hell was for me, believe it.
So, that is why I am in my forties and remain an activist. It is said that, if one remains an activist past the age of 30, one is likely to remain one on some level for a lifetime. I can see the truth of that. Among the members of the Philosophers Guild and the contributing writers to THE THOUGHT are many such individuals. We have contributing writers in their teens, we have contributing writers in their 80s, and every age group in between. Suffice it to say that I may well be eccentric, and I am certainly NOT normal, but I am not alone in being a seasoned activist.
Well, that was longer than I thought it would take, so I will conclude with this: I am the way that I am because I believe fervently that I was lied to as regards what America is really all about. I was sold a bill of goods that turned out to be, quite frankly, a crock of shit. Nothing unique, but it goes to show that there is no sense in trying to reform the system, or trying to go back to what the Founding Fathers originally intended. The slate needs to be wiped clean, which is why I advocate the peaceful creation of the stateless society. I intend to leave this world in better shape than I found it in. I predict many profound changes in the next twenty years, and it is my intention to see to it that they are for the better. So, pen in hand, I carry on. I will give speeches and even march in the streets when I think it is appropriate. There is no way to just 'patch up' things between the USA, and myself, it goes far beyond that. I consider that I, and many others, were betrayed, and it was done with malicious intent. There is no forgiveness in my heart for that.
With that, I hope that I have made a satisfactory explanation of myself. Questions and comments are welcome.
[This article originally appeared in the September-December 2003 issue of THE THOUGHT.]
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