The Big Easy Book Bomb--First hand account of a Louisiana native

by Chad Lemoine

My roots are pure Louisiana. With ancestors coming directly from France to what would later become Louisiana, countless generations of Louisianians on both sides led to my parents meeting one another in Avoyelles parish decades ago. I have lived my entire life in Louisiana. Most of that time has been spent in my hometown of Baton Rouge, with short stints in Avoyelles parish and Lake Charles.

Raised in a devout Catholic family, our values have always included a deep love and compassion for humanity and respect for the dignity of every person. As you can probably imagine, it has been difficult to reconcile this rich heritage with the political reality that generally only offers 2 options, neither of which seems to consistently respect the dignity of EVERY person. In fact, when you are faced with the choice of Republicans vs. Democrats, you are faced with the choice of the lesser of evils, ultimately choosing which group or groups of human beings don’t deserve your respect and should be exploited and controlled to make your team of choice happy.

My navigation of this all-too-familiar reality leaves me with a mixed bag of appreciation for how far I’ve come and regret over why it took me so long to realize that there is another, much more morally and ethically consistent path to choose. This path is not an easy one, as it has more than its share of considerable obstacles. Those who wield power over others don’t relinquish it easily, but the process of empowering individuals by helping them to fully realize that they own themselves can be an exhilarating and fulfilling one. This exhilaration and fulfillment has never been more readily and tangibly evident than in the last 15 months for me.

Truthfully speaking, this process began about a dozen years ago for me, but really began to gain serious traction when a friend encouraged me to make time to drive to New Orleans to meet someone I had been following online since 2012. I had a busy weekend and it was much more convenient to stay closer to home, but I resolved to not let this opportunity pass. I was really excited to meet one of my favorite activists and commentators, Adam Kokesh, whose magnum opus, “FREEDOM!,” I have read several times since it was published in 2015.

He was on his “Taxation Is Theft” tour in late 2017 when I made that fateful trip on a Saturday afternoon in October. And guess what happened? Adam was held up in another state for a debate and wouldn’t make it to New Orleans until the next day. While this was a disappointment, I was happy to make fast friends with the members of the team who were there. Not to be denied, I made further adjustments to my schedule so I could come back again. As fate would have it, I lost my voice overnight and could barely speak when I finally met Adam the next day. Fortunately, we were still able to spend some time together and exchanged contact info, where we began to discuss how I could help with his efforts to make the principles expressed in FREEDOM! more widely known and embraced.

I began volunteering to help with Adam’s 2020 presidential campaign in the spring of 2018, including the effort to deliver a copy of FREEDOM! to every household in New Orleans, the site of the 2018 Libertarian Party’s National Convention. After several months of tireless effort by team FREEDOM!, the Big Easy Book Bomb, as it came to be named, has finally become a reality. People all over New Orleans have already received their books over the last few weeks, and the response has been better than my cautious optimism expected. The promotion and outreach process began for me on Friday, January 4, with water stenciling the word FREEDOM! and the phrase FREEDOM FOR ALL! on sidewalks and other areas to make residents aware that the book they received was more than a fluke (water stenciling is a process of pressure washing dirt off of a concrete surface through a stencil to create a cleaned pattern). We wanted to make everyone aware that FREEDOM! was something everyone could participate in if they would only open the book and begin reading. The concept here is akin to turning New Orleans into an impromptu book club with FREEDOM! as the topic of discussion.

What I did not expect was to be approached on the street by interested, and even enthusiastic, New Orleanians who had already received their books (and others who hadn’t, but knew about the books from various sources). Some people approached out of wide-eyed curiosity, asking “what is FREEDOM!?” when they saw our shirts with the book’s logo (“What is FREEDOM!?” is also the question on signs posted all over the city) or “are you guys here for that book?” Others see the shirts and immediately want to meet the author. Some of these curious residents, when they get to meet Adam, ask the natural questions: “What’s the deal with this book?” or “Why are you running for president?” among others. When they hear the answers, the response is almost universally positive.

One of the nights we were out doing water stenciling, our waitress saw our shirts and asked, “what does FREEDOM! Mean? Do you mean freedom, like the Constitution?” If you’re familiar with the book and with libertarianism in general, my response shouldn’t surprise you. I said, “it’s actually freer than the Constitution…” Her response, like so many of the pleasant surprises we encountered during the last few weeks, was “that’s what I’m talking about!” I knew dropping 204,000+ books in the same city would be hard to ignore and the response has definitely not disappointed. FREEDOM! is making a huge impact in New Orleans already.

But the work has just begun...