Can we live off the grid in a big city? That is the question I’ve been tossing around in my head for the past several years. It is a question I am going to be exploring on my new project: SovereignInTheCity.com . Im so excited to be bringing SITC to Steemit! I hope you follow us. Let me introduce myself...
The Worst Year of My Life.
In 2008 my mother lost her 2 year battle with breast cancer, passing away in my arms. At the same time I took a large financial loss on a real estate flipping project, and got separated from my wife of 10 years. These events sent me spiraling into a major depression.
Oddly, a strange man had appeared in both of those areas of my life. While researching alternative medicines for my mothers cancer I had seen some videos of Ron Paul talking about health freedom and individual rights. I also started seeing newer Ron Paul videos talking about the 2008 financial crisis and the Federal Reserve Bank. I started to delve into the rabbit hole of what I now know as the Truth/Liberty movement.
I spent weeks living in my friends basement watching documentaries and researching what up until that point in my life, I had dismissed as “conspiracy theories.” With my life as I knew it falling apart for the first time I had no vested interest in any particular point of view, particularly but not exclusively politics. Up until 2008 I considered myself a conservative. I thought George Dubya Bush was a great President doing the best he could after 9/11. I recognize now that I was really a Neo-conservative. After the death of my mother and my finances, I no longer clung to that part of my identity. My ego had taken such a beating that I was open to new points of view.
Into The Zeitgeist
One of the first truth documentaries I watched was Zeitgeist, this opened my eyes to religious conspiracies, the fraud that is the U.S. financial system and many other issues as well. It opened my eyes to the false left vs right paradigm and began me on my quest for truth.
I joined several “movements” on my journey. Starting out as a tea party activist calling for the end to crony capitalism, then the End the Fed movement and We Are Change as a “truther.” In 2010 I ran as a Libertarian for New York State Assembly. With 8+% of the vote I believe I am one of the most successful independent candidates In NYC history.
Then, I attempted to bring libertarian ideas into the Occupy Wall Street space when I founded Occupy The Fed with Derrick Broze of The Conscious Resistance. I was the Occupy Wall Street correspondent for Judge Andrew Napolitano on his Freedom Watch show on Fox. I was also active in the Ron Paul 2012 Presidential campaign and was even the M.C. of Ron Paul Fest in Tampa Florida.
By 2012 I had become a committed anarchist, adopting the Voluntaryist philosophy of the non aggression principle.
In 2013 I founded Peaceful Streets Project NYC with the help of Antonio Buehler. I made cop watching a part of my lifestyle; holding the NYPD accountable for violating the rights of New Yorkers. My #TicketCops campaign went viral as I wrote police tickets for traffic infractions. I spent more than a few nights in jail as a result of filming the police.
Rediscovering Love
In 2014 I began a relationship with an amazing woman who would become my twin flame. Vanessa opened my eyes to a whole new perspective on the world. Introducing me to the concept of empathy. Challenging me to reign in my ego. She helped my do some serious internal emotional work. She taught me how to actively listen and reserve judgment to form meaningful connections with people.
Vanessa taught me and showed me how to internalize what true, unconditional love means. She showed me how to deeply and empathically connect with another person. She helped me retrain myself to resolve my emotions rather than bury them. In essence, she taught me how to love, not just others, but myself. I still have a lot of work to do in that area, but for the first time in my life I am truly happy and am experiencing joy like I never have before.
Together we have been working to encourage and hold each other accountable to living life with positive intention, mindfulness and empathy, together we also want to help encourage others to live mindfully as well. We decided to use SITC as a platform to do exactly that.
From NAP to NVC
In 2015 @AdamKokesh recommended I read “Non-Violent Communication” by Marshall Rosenberg which took me to the next level in my journey. I began learning communication techniques that would not only change my effectiveness as an activist but help transform my personal life.
After spending almost a decade in political activism, studying personal sovereignty and holistic anarchy, I came to the conclusion that there is no political solution to life’s challenges. Instead, I’ve discovered the way to make the world a better place first and foremost is to improve oneself, and then to improve ones community.
What You Resist Persists
We believe that instead of fighting coercive power structures of institutional violence through politics, we can work together to make those power structures irrelevant by developing strong communities with a focus on empathy, agorism and mutual aid.
On SovereignInTheCity.com we will be providing content to help our readers exercise their personal freedoms while “being the change they wish to see in the world.”
Vanessa and I have designed SovereignInTheCity.com to be an educational blog featuring news, DIY tutorials, commentary and essays on topics related to exercising personal sovereignty. Topics include DIY life hacks, holistic health, philosophy, sustainability and economics.
I hope you will join us on this journey to be sovereign in the city.
