Fellow NJ Libertarian Party Assembly candidate Julian Heicklen, one of the speakers at PorcFest. The 79 year old retired Penn State University chemistry professor is a real hero to the liberty movement. He has been arrested for civil disobedience 33 times, going back to the 1960s when he was an officer in the Congress Of Racial Equality. He plans to be arrested again next Tuesday when, on the way back to NJ, he will stop in Springfield, Mass and hand out pamphlets for the Fully Informed Jury Association in front of the Springfield courthouse. Apparently informing the public that juries have the power to judge the law as well as the facts of the case is considered to be jury tampering.
During his talk he pointed out that he is uniquely advantaged in engaging in his brand of activism. “I’m 79 years old. They can’t take away my future, I have no future. They can’t take away my job, I have no job. They can’t take my house, I don’t own a house. They can’t take my car, I don’t have a car.” He said that his children want to put him in some sort of assisted living center but he prefers jail. “I get free medical attention, an hour a day of excercise, 24 hour police protection, and the people I meet are far more interesting.”
He said the secret to sucessful activism is to be stupid enough to think you can change things, and persistent enough that they finally get tired of arresting you. He was arrested so many times in State College, Pa for smoking pot at protests (the only times he would smoke pot), that the chief finally gave an order not to arrest him anymore.
Tennyson McCalla, official photographer of the Free State Project.
Former New Mexico governor and current presidential candidate Gary E. Johnson returned to PorcFest this year.
My wife took this great photo of the governor.
Herding cats is a snap compared to herding libertarians, but they did their best to get us all together for a group shot.
More coming………….
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