'We Need a Libertarian Che Guevara': Activist Starchild

"We need a libertarian Che Guevara," says libertarian activist Starchild, who makes a living as an erotic services provider.

Approximately 9 minutes. Camera by Zach Weissmueller and Adam Hawk Jensen. Edited by Weissmueller.

[sparx]

I'm from San Francisco and I've voted for Starchild every opportunity I've gotten!

[successfulbuild]

"They’re concerned about freedom from rather than freedom for because of the reasons you stated. As they grew up with privilege, they’ve never known prejudice, poverty, and oppression. They don’t understand that there are still people in this country fighting for the basic rights and privilege that they accept as being their normal reality."

[successfulbuild]

"The thing is libertarianism wasn’t always this way. According to Chomsky, libertarianism began as a socialist workers movement in Europe. The founding father of American libertarianism was Henry David Thoreau who was very liberal and not pro-capitalist. I wrote about Thoreau’s libertarianism in another recent post:"
_
Interesting reading.

[freesk]

Starchild is so cool!
I remember seeing him dressed as the statue of liberty at an LP convention! :)
He lacked credentials, and I remember happily joining the majority when it welcomed him in to the ranks of the voting...

[larrycpo]

Libertarians dont defend the rich, wealthy, etc. We defend the individual, period.

[realrockvince]

Let me get this straight: about a week ago, Reason TV gave the Nanny of the Year Award to the City of San Fransisco, then they interview a guy who says San Fransisco is "libertarian"?

[CasualMisinformationSpreader]

@successfulbuild
You are a Java programmer now??? What, C++ was too fast for you? Or did you keep forgetting to take out the garbage?

[SkepticalGuy]

Reason, can you show me "proof"(not that I don't believe you) where it states that Rothbard lived in Government rent controlled housing? Thank you.

[BanjonotBenjo]

Who is Ron Paul? Reason still hasn't asked this question.

[JETZcorp]

The idea of saying we need a Libertarian Che, is that we need someone who can stand as such a symbol of the movement that they get their likeness painted on railcars, put on T-Shirts worn in high-schools, etc. I nominate Murray Rothbard.

[MarmaladeINFP]

@successfulbuild Glad you enjoyed it. :) I've liked Thoreau ever since reading him in high school, but back then I didn't understand the context of libertarianism behind his ideas. It's interesting that both Thoreau and Adam Smith thought it was dangerous when economic disparity becomes too great. Upper class right-libertarians never seem to understand this.

[hanzo]

@residentzombie Is it true that he backs the Patriot Act and wants to make it perminent and supports the war on drugs? I'm trying to find info on him as we speak.

[StarchildSF]

"fitobcnfito" - You failed to address my specific point about current government rules favoring homeowners and the wealthy by driving up the price of housing, and how libertarianism would solve that.

It makes no sense to describe a proposal that would make housing more affordable, as giving power to capital, or giving owners a chance to "control demand."

"And what's with the baseless name-calling? You can do better than that! I'm trying to be civil and engage in a real dialogue with you here.

[successfulbuild]

Thomas Jefferson, our icon of freedom and personal liberty set the national policy toward Native Americans that would last for over one hundred years. He began the trail of tears which would destroy cultures and result in the reservation system.

[alvincay]

This guy is why most sane people are afraid to embrace the libertarian party

[StarchildSF]

"fitobcnfito" - You say libertarians fail to mention "the lack of liberty due to economics".

But do you really think that having money is what gives you freedom? Janis Joplin said "freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose". It seems to me that by equating freedom with material prosperity, you are putting too much value on money and material possessions.

Now *some libertarians might argue that money is freedom because it gives you more *choices*. As a leftist do you agree?

[StarchildSF]

"successfulbuild" writes, "Ortega was forced to ally with the Soviet Union only after the United States had cut off all of their other options through economic sanctions."

Riiiight. Ortega had no communist or socialist tendencies -- left to his own devices he would've had nothing to do with the Soviet Union. The fact that he led a party that "originated in the milieu of student and Marxist groups in the late 1950s and early 1960s" (according to Wikipedia) is just a coincidence.

[StarchildSF]

Julian Assange is the perhaps the closest thing we have to someone who personifies to the world the brave, noble, revolutionary spirit that people who admire Che Guevera think they see in him (not realizing Guevara was in real life a cruel executioner and bumbling soldier).

Like all of us Assange no doubt has his flaws, but he's got a long way to sink before descending to Guevara's level. Meanwhile, his story to date has been such that he could well become a "Che-like" libertarian icon.

[StarchildSF]

"freesk8" writes, "Starchild is so cool! I remember seeing him dressed as the statue of liberty at an LP convention! :) He lacked credentials, and I remember happily joining the majority when it welcomed him in to the ranks of the voting."

Thanks for your kind words. That would have been the party's 2006 national convention in Portland, when Aaron Starr managed to get the voting procedure modified so that myself and a fellow SF activist were temporarily denied delegate status.

[UnderseaCaveman]

I can't think of anything more antithethical than "Che" and "Libertarian"....(hint: do no harm, don't kill people for terror).