Don't Hurt People and Don't Take Their Stuff: A Libertarian Manifesto by Matt Kibbe Page B

the political world across this country, and that paradigm shift is the rise of the grass roots. In the Texas Senate race, when we started I was literally at 2 percent in the polls. Nobody in the state thought we had a prayer. My opponent was the sitting lieutenant governor, who was independently wealthy. He ran over $35 million dollars in nasty attack ads against us. And what we saw was just breathtaking. We saw first dozens, and hundreds and then thousands and then tens of thousands of men and women all across the state begin rising up, begin knocking on doors, begin making phone calls, and going on Facebook, and going on Twitter, and reaching out and saying, “We can’t keep doing what we’re doing. We are bankrupting this country. We are threatening the future of the next generations if we keep going down this road.”
    It was breathtaking, the grassroots tsunami we saw. Despite being outspent three to one, we went from 2 percent to not just winning, but winning the primary by fourteen points and winning the general by sixty points. It was an incredible testament to the power of the grass roots, and I think that’s happening all over the country.

    DAVID SCHWEIKERT: I’ve had a handful of brutal political elections. It feels like every time I run I end up having the establishment folks against me, because I’m not sure that they want some of their little special deals examined or taken away. And what you’re finding is that the activists, the public, because of that access of information through the Internet, are sort of learning, “Oh, this is reality. This is my alternative, and there are options that do work.”
    THOMAS MASSIE: We look at communist countries and socialist countries and see how the Internet has changed them, or the countries that are led by despots. When they get the Internet, they sort of start coming around and there are revolutions there. That is happening here, we just don’t notice it. But it’s happening slower, because we’ve got a peaceful process for doing that.
    RAND PAUL: Our Facebook [following] is now bigger than several of the news networks’. I’m not saying that to brag, I’m saying that because there is power in Facebook. There is power in Instagram. There’s power throughout the Internet. It really has led to an amazing democracy.
    MIKE LEE: And I think it’s important to point out, Matt, that that is not our power. That is power that we have from the people. It is power that we have only because we connect to the people, and only to the extent that we connect to the people. What has changed is that, with the power of social media and other new channels of communication, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the small handful of media outlets that have in the past been the exclusive conduits of information about what’s happening in Washington no longer have a monopoly. The cartel is broken, and with the breaking of that cartel, the people are empowered. And they’re empowered by a new generation of elected officials who are there to stand for the people and not for their own perpetual reelection, and not for the perpetual expansion of government. That’s a game changer. That’s how we bring about the restoration of constitutional government.
    MK: Do you think something different is going on in terms of the relationship of Americans with their federal government?
    RAND PAUL: Yeah, and I think the people are probably ten years in advance of the legislature, and probably always are. The grass roots and the public react in a way, but it takes a while for their will to get transmitted to Washington. Why? Because incumbents win almost every race around here. So there are people who were elected in 1980. They’re still representing the people in 1980 who first elected them. Each successive election becomes easier, and they’re not listening as carefully to the American people. So, the new people, we’re listening pretty carefully. We just got elected.
    THOMAS