Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

The film Sound of Freedom seems to be making lots of money. It cost $14.5 million to make, nickel and dime stuff by today's standards. It should break $200 million easily. Yet there is a massive disconnect between the audience for Sound of Freedom and the critics and film industry. Another film with a similar disconnect is Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004). Oddly enough, both star Jim Caviezel. (Which fact I didn't know until I looked both films up just now.) Coincidence? V would tell you there are no coincidences.

Both Sound of Freedom and The Passion of the Christ were underground phenomena, spreading via word of mouth (and word of social media). Our local theater owner wasn't interested in running The Passion of the Christ. He told me that he would do it if I got a certain number of signatures on a petition. I got more than double the number just by putting a petition out at two local stores. The theater owner was as good as his word, and the film did very well here.

In This Issue

The travails of Sound of Freedom (I've heard allegations of theater owners shutting off the air conditioning to discourage audiences) are nothing new. L. Neil on problems he has had with New York publishers and Hollywood producers. Fortunately their influence is much less than it was when L. Neil wrote this in 2003.

L. Reichard White on a form of government designed to protect individuals and other minorities from majorities, and on how well that's working.

"Soft secession": how it works and how it can help us keep what's left of our freedoms.

Events

On August 16 – 19, 2023 Liberty International will host the 37th edition of the annual Liberty International World Conference in Madrid, Spain. This year’s main theme is “Prosperity and Longevity Through Liberty” and will encompass discussions on the past, present, and future challenges faced by the freedom movement and its evolution over time.

This year’s conference will reunite 200+ attendees and 10+ pro-liberty organizations from all around the world in the heart of Madrid at Ateneo de Madrid. The conference´s agenda will include keynote sessions, panel discussions, debates, film screenings and other entertaining activities. In addition, we will have two days of cultural tours around Madrid!

Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity: Which Way America...? September 2, 2023, Hilton Washington Dulles Airport 13869 Park Center Road Herndon, VA 20171.

The World Science Fiction Society will meet at its annual shindig, Worldcon, October 18-22, in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. And apparently the Prometheus Society isn't going.

Your event here? Let your editor know!

Links! Have we got Links!

The Ranks of Gun Owners Grow, and So Does Their Resistance to Scrutiny Hurrah on both points. I figure that since the militia is a military outfit, its armaments are strictly "need to know". And damned few people have a need to know how many, if any, guns I own.

The average TLE reader could have predicted this. French Gun Control Failed, Leaving Law-Abiding Citizens Helpless As Nation Burned

Millions Of Americans Are Relocating Just Prior To The Great Chaos That Is Coming

The West Must Never Again Go Totalitarian

"Long before Covid struck, economists detected a deadly pattern in the impact of natural disasters: if the executive branch of government used the emergency to claim sweeping new powers over the citizenry, more people died than would have if government powers had remained constrained. It’s now clear that the Covid pandemic is the deadliest confirmation yet of that pattern." Lockdowns: the Self-Inflicted Disaster

There are times when the old technology is just what you need. Wyoming’s Big Boy 4014 Locomotive Rescues Freight Train Stuck In Nebraska (I suspect that whoever dispatched the stuck train got some ribbing.)

Massachusetts Sued For Working With Google To Secretly Put Spyware On Residents’ Phones Yet another reason we need Bill of Rights Enforcement. I want to see Governor Healey and the top bureaucrats of Massachusetts DPH homeless and pensionless. And as for Google, they can shell out some of their cash mountain in partial compensation to the subje, er, citizens of Massachusetts.

How long will Delaware's latest gun ban last? Second Amendment Roundup: Delaware's Gun Ban Heats Up And the racist nature of the cases Delaware uses to support its ban.

Where Have All The Liberals Gone? By Matt Taibbi. It's important to remember that there was a time when liberals supported free speech.

I think there's a song here. I'll start it, you write a verse or two, and we'll see where we end up.

Where have all the liberals gone, long time passing?
Where have all the liberals gone, long time ago?
Where have all the liberals gone?
Power lust has picked them everyone
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

With no apologies to Pete Seeger (who might appreciate a good filk).