About this episode
David Hathaway is sheriff in a county of Arizona that borders Mexico. He does not believe the government is the way to solve our problems, but he's in office for now so no tyrannical person will be. He's doing what he can to protect everyone in his large family as well as his ranch and personal freedom. He has refused his governor’s offer of troops to patrol his portion of the border. He works to show everyone in and near his county God's love.
His consistent experience with the church and other freedom-lovers spewing wild hate when it comes to the wall led him to write a book on immigration and several articles for Lew Rockwell and the Libertarian Institute.
Jesus instructed us to love our neighbor and our enemy. So regardless of how you view them, it makes no sense to attack people for crossing a man-made line in the sand. But a lot of Christians and anarchists who stand on principle for many other issues completely change their tune when it comes to the wall and Mexico.
Many of us are hoping to someday be a part of a voluntary society. We often ask: would a sheriff be a part of that? David shares his thoughts. Also, we all know the mainstream media hides the truth from us. But they are pretending so hard that COVID is terrible, they’re completely ignoring the fact that suicide and overdoses killed more people during the lockdown than this “epidemic” did directly. This is tragic and affecting so many families, but people hide in the shadows, not realizing they are, unfortunately, the norm.
Episode Timestamps:
3:36 Illogical inconsistencies
Anarchists and the border
Some Austrian economists
In favor of national borders
While we’re in the nation-state phase
Tax-funded border enforcers
Scott Horton agrees
We shouldn't have tax funded, coercive structures in any parts of our life, if we want to have a voluntary system
Will Grigg
Wrote a blurb for David’s book
Passed away
100% principled Christian anarchist
Was against the state-funded border
5:48 Arizona citizens’ response to what David is doing on the border
The biggest pushback is from conservative churches
They love to work with him on other issues
Across the country, Christians have decided we must do whatever it takes to keep these people out
Send troops
Knock heads
Shoot em
Lock em up
Take away their property
Maybe because they love Trump so much?
He is like their messiah
They associate this issue with him
25 years ago, Raegan had the opposite stance
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” - Raegan
Because walls and tanks don’t promote free enterprise
Now, we even do southbound inspections
To make sure you’re not trying to flee the US
People talk about Jesus and love one minute
The next minute, they’re angry and violent towards people crossing our border to find a better life
They can’t see the conflict there, somehow
But Jesus said love your neighbor and your enemy
That’s everybody!
9:51 Scriptural support
Sermon on the Mount
Love your enemies
Good Samaritan
Culturally and ethnically different people are still neighbors
Jesus’ position is so clear
None of the conservatives who oppose David’s stance will discuss it
They just get angry
12:40 War
We cannot serve 2 masters
They take Romans 13 and say
It would be wrong for me to throw a bomb at someone
But if the government does it, it’s okay
They were instituted by God
They’ll shut up if you ask them if they think the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was of God
Or if Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were ordained
Rom 13 refers to true authority
13:48 Radical beliefs
Jesus and the early church were radical
We need to all go back to being radical
“It’s a radical thought to take His Word seriously.” - Craig
Tiberius
Proclaimed Rome to be a Christian nation
Before he did that, the army would do pagan rituals before battle
After, they continued to do rituals, but claimed to be praying to Jesus Christ
So everything the military did seemed legitimate to the Christians
But for 3 centuries, the church did not follow the state
They wouldn't even allow anyone who was associated with the state to attend their gatherings
Then they got involved with Constantine because he offered some protection from the endless persecution they were facing
Polycarp
Was taught to honor the government as long as they are doing us no harm
17:37 Opting out
“The reason we pay taxes is not because it's legitimate, what the government's doing. It's just to live peaceably with all men.” - David
It's like turning the other cheek
The government is coercing us into giving them a lot of our income
So we just peacefully do what they ask
But we can peacefully protest in other ways
We can homeschool
Render unto Caesar
But what is Caesar's?
Nietzsche says that the government owns nothing
Everything the government owns is stolen
Which makes it not legitimately theirs
They don’t have a rightful claim to anything because they got it through coercion
So we pay taxes to protect those with weak faith from thinking we’re hostile
We want to stay friends with people who believe in taxes
What would Jesus do?
Ask them questions
What do we do when people disagree with us about something important?
Ask them questions
Get their head spinning
Make them actually think through what they’re defending
That’s how we change what’s going on
20:57 Foreigners
Red herring
Keeps people from noticing our country’s problems
“They don't want you to complain about the actual tyranny and the freedom they're taking away from you and your own country.” - David
In wartime, we’re “allowed to” hate people from our enemy country – even if they’re US citizens
Past: Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, German…
Germans hated Polish
Now: Syrian, Afghan, Iraqi, Iranian, Russian…
We complain about them
Call them barbarians
This is always been a tactic
The Romans declared the Germans to be barbarian, and people still believe that myth to this day
Then, we won’t notice or complain about our own barbaric government
But we're the ones bombing their weddings and children
25:36 The governors on the border
Both Ducey (AZ) and Abbott (TX) are trying to replicate Trump’s formula
They assumed all the sheriffs on the border would gladly participate
Posse Comitatus
The military cannot function as police within the US
They can support the police, if invited
David told them no.
This is a negative image of us at the border
It hurts our shopping districts
It hurts tourism from bigger cities like Tucson and Phoenix
They wanted to bring not only razor wire
But troops with machine guns
Feels like East Berlin
2 of 4 Arizona border sheriffs invited them
Good political move to get re-elected
The governors asked the lower 48 to please send officers and military to help guard
David is saying no to that too
Those people can’t function in a different state without being deputized by a local sheriff
Outsiders do not know the terrain or local people; who’s dangerous or not; everyone will have on their own, different uniforms; different radio frequencies
It’s not a safe situation
Could end up with friendly fire
Who knows how long David will be able to resist the big guys as a little local sheriff?
28:52 What does a wall do?
Raegan told Gorbachev it
Is a symbol of totalitarianism
Prevents free markets
Lots of feds and the biggest border patrol station in his county
The biggest port of entry in Arizona
Quiet, low-crime area
Not because of the wall and patrols
But maybe the governors think they’ll run for president, and people will like how they strengthened the border
30:56 David’s political campaign
Wanted a campaign slogan about the golden rule/Good Samaritan in 3 words
“A Helpful Neighbor”
In English and Spanish
To be welcoming to everyone on either side of the border
Didn’t interview about non-existent crises to get elected through fear
Didn’t promise to control anyone
Simply focused on helping people
Won by a landslide
Had 4x the number of votes of the runner up
People were clearly glad to hear something so uplifting
33:10 News
Not from the evening news
Too much anger and division and fear
Reputable podcasts!
Plus a local news email
Which includes political nonsense with its information
He does interviews, but won’t watch the channels
David and his wife do not wish to become depressed
Mainstream news bogs you down
And they lie so much!
How do you know the podcasts aren’t lying?
Their message is consistent
Their viewpoint doesn’t change daily
Their goalposts, like for ending Corona, don’t move
Mainstream media is full of “court intellectuals”
They are chosen because their science leads to the government having more control over our lives
35:58 Police in a voluntary society?
Maybe it would be like having a sheriff, since he’s elected
No, sheriffs are funded through theft, aka taxation
The government arbitrarily decides how many patrol officers and other personnel and equipment might be needed and taxes the public accordingly
There’s no way to know what a market-funded security entity might look like
But we can be sure that the market would determine what gets established
Democracy is not legitimate
It doesn’t provide just outcomes
If 2 wolves and a sheep vote for what’s for dinner every night, the sheep will always lose
Sheriffs historically
Common law
Sheriff was the only law enforcement at all
City police forces were created in 1800’s
London, then NYC
3-letter federal agencies came in 1900’s
No provision in the constitution for anything like them
FBI was never supposed to have weapons
If you think politics means anything, you would say the sheriff is the only legitimate law enforcement
Not as a patrol position
But a judge
And executor of justice
Police never catch bad guys by patrolling
They only take statements after the crime
A police or security force is only necessary in a voluntary society if the market demands it, and then only to the extent that the people want
42:01 Taxation is theft
We never signed a social contract agreeing to give up our income for services
If asked, most people would say no
And go find a different way to get their needs met
42:45 David’s reasons for being sheriff
Even someone wrapped up in politics can see that only local solutions make sense
Main reason: If I don’t, some guy who will do what they want will be in office running mine and my family’s lives
If I’m sheriff, no one is telling the people in my county how to live
Not planning to influence anything beyond local politics
I don’t think the state is the answer
I make LP people sad
In a nutshell, to protect family and property from tyranny
45:00 Unintended consequences to lockdown
Craig's baby brother drank himself to death
He was so afraid of the virus
He isolated himself completely
Nobody's talking about the high numbers of suicides and overdoses that came during COVID
Rand Paul asked Fauci if he had thought of the consequences of a lockdown
Fauci essentially just said “Nope. It's really important that everyone participate.”
Good economics will look at more than one factor; it'll take them all into account
The suicides and overdoses were 3x higher in David’s county after the lockdown started
These outnumber deaths directly attributable to COVID
The county north of David's just had their highest count of suicides and overdoses ever recorded
The news will not report on this at all
David tries to mention it to reporters, but they likely edit it out
2 segments of society hardest hit: the old and the young
The government wants people to continue believing that everything’s being done for our good
COVID death numbers
The hospital got $15,000 for every COVID admission
Did not even require physical test
Could just have ⅛ general symptoms
They got $39,000 for every COVID death
Only true deaths David saw were from ventilators
The number is even lower in reality
But there were more suicides & overdoses than even the faked high number
Also, flu cases got counted as COVID
52:04 Contact David
Writings on Lew Rockwell and Libertarian Institute
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