I haven’t been too active on Bureaucrash Social (BCS), Bureaucrash’s (BC) social networking component since I left BC on April 1st – mostly because it’s been go-go-go with the Motorhome Diaries. Yet, based on actions taken in the past few weeks by those at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), of which BC is a project, it has remained in my thoughts as of late and is the impetus for this post.
Most reading this are in the know about what I’m referencing but for those who aren’t it basically comes down to this:
Despite having many viable candidates, the decision-makers at CEI hired a new crasher-in-chief (CiC, the only full-time, paid position at BC) that many of those most-active with BC, including myself, think is far from ideal due to a disagreement about the use of force, or more specifically, if the initiation of force is justified to bring about a desired outcome. The new, CEI-appointed CiC apparently supports its use in some areas while many active on BCS are opposed to its use in any iteration.
So much so that many of those that made BCS what it was have since taken steps to create a new home – The Free Agents Network (FAN) – for those of us working to confront Statism in all its forms, which ironically has cropped up at the place that used to be the home for principled freedom-oriented arguments and activism. And, in a lesson-learned from the going-ons at BC, FAN will be free from the controlling (or censoring) whims of any one individual or organization but will rely instead on bottom-up, crowd-sourcing of content.
But, back to the CEI/BC issue for a moment – an important distinction to make is that criticism about the CiC shouldn’t be assigned to the person who holds that title but to those at CEI who did the hiring. It’s easy to burn up time poking hole’s in the CiC’s arguments but we must remember that he has bosses, and it’s those bosses that thought he’d be a good fit at BC, which ultimately demonstrates either their knowing disregard for what BC is about or their ignorance of what it stands for. Either way, it’s not an environment that I feel is the most conducive to advance the freedom movement.
While active on BCS, which was launched last October, among other things I shared 17 photo albums that had over 3,000 pictures, uploading over 50 videos, was a member of close to 80 groups, the author of 22 blog posts and the contributor to 119 discussions. I mention this not to boast but to underscore the question that I’ve been chewing on — do I move on from BCS, where I had invested so much of my time and resources, or do I stay there and continue to slug it out?
Well, since, like everyone else, my time is limited, I decided to delete my profile from BCS and move on. Rather than contribute more content to a site that is ultimately owned by an organization that clearly has different goals in mind, I chose to vote with my feet and help in whatever capacity I can to get FAN (which includes Fr33Agents.com, a blog, and Fr33Agents.net, a social networking site built on the Ning platform) off the ground as I believe it has greater potential for success, which ultimately means bringing about a freer world.
And in reality, the decision was not that hard to make. In fact, it exemplifies the force of creative destruction that we libertarians hold so dear as evidence of the spontaneous, market-correcting actions that would occur in a truly free market, where resources (in this case our time/talent) align with the activities that maximizes their impact (through FAN rather than BCS).
I am excited to work with many of the most-active freedom fighters that I came to know on a personal level through BCS — those actually advancing the voluntary society through education and persuasion (and a bit of fun) — as well as many others that will surly add to our ranks as we move forward.
I recognize that others of you may choose different paths and if so, I wish you the best of luck. This isn’t about institutional egos but about maximizing our impact to advance the freedom movement and I’ve concluded that, at least for me, it makes sense to work through FAN.
For more about FAN, check out this post from J. Nick Puglia (aka Nickytheheel).
Pete Eyre is the Outreach Consultant at 
Great post, Pete. I know that the subversion of Bureaucrash’s ideals has had a major impact on Jason, Xaq and yourself as you all gave so much to the organization. Now we move on and build something even greater.
Thanks Nick. But don’t omit yourself – you too helped make BCS what it was.
Thanks for the update Pete.
Awesome post Pete, and I look forward to working with you guys on the new network. It’s time to move on.
[I love the graphic you've got up there also.]
Wow, I actually read that whole thing, and I’m glad I did. Thanks for letting us know about the inner-bureaucracy of these organizations. I’ve decided to delete my BCS profile, too. Not only will I feel better about which websites I do and don’t support, but it will also be one less place on the internet that I have to periodically check! I like your attitude about this change…focus your energy on the good, and don’t waste your time with the bad!
Thanks Ileana! I realized the post was getting a bit long but thought it’d be better to err on the side of being thorough.
Looking forward to seeing you on the FAN sites!
BCS had a good pro-liberty run and in retrospect if it weren’t for bureaucrash I would not have met all the great liberty activists I had.
You will no longer find me on BC, for I too have left.
Well articulated, and love the comparison pic….high-larry-ous.