{"id":14548,"date":"2025-05-13T20:27:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T20:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disruptarian.com\/blog\/?p=14548"},"modified":"2025-05-13T20:27:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T20:27:19","slug":"when-tds-destroys-a-decade-of-brotherhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disruptarian.com\/blog\/when-tds-destroys-a-decade-of-brotherhood\/","title":{"rendered":"When TDS Destroys a Decade of Brotherhood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Ryan Thompson, Punk Rock Libertarian<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2010, I met Tim Loe during the campaign for Initiative 1068 to decriminalize cannabis in Washington State. We were thick as thieves. He was an AR-15 toting, truth-telling, cannabis-growing outlaw from Spokane; I was working as an automation engineer at Talyst and spending my off-hours organizing for freedom. Together, we helped steer the ship of Sensible Washington, coordinating grassroots signature drives and leading statewide meetings. Tim had grit, guts, and a deep-rooted distrust of government overreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourteen years later, I barely recognize the man I once considered a comrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fall From Liberty<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tim and I used to talk about decentralization, voluntary exchange, personal liberty, and the right to say no to state coercion. Somewhere between the end of the Obama era and the Trump phenomenon, Tim transformed. What was once mutual skepticism of power mutated into a full-throated defense of government as long as it targeted Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not even here to defend Trump. What concerns me is the complete collapse of our shared principles. Tim didn\u2019t just change his mind\u2014he changed his entire outlook on liberty. Suddenly, free markets were dangerous. Private industry was inherently evil. Self-regulation was a myth. And anyone who disagreed? A “Trumpkin.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve seen this before. It's called Trump Derangement Syndrome. And it\u2019s not just a meme\u2014it\u2019s a real psychological phenomenon. When someone\u2019s hatred of Trump becomes so blinding that it overrides reason, facts, and formerly held values, that\u2019s TDS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversation 1: The Social Security Showdown<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Reference to the full context: Click here\r\n \r\n <\/g><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tim Loe: “Maybe you should just take yourself out of the Social Security system entirely, if it is so corrupt and bad for the rest of us. Don\u2019t bitch about what you get.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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My response: I never said “end Social Security.” I said don\u2019t force me to participate. That\u2019s a fundamental libertarian position: choice. I was forced to pay into a system for decades. I didn\u2019t want to. But when I got injured in 2013, I cashed in on what was rightfully mine. That's not hypocrisy. That\u2019s justice.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Tim\u2019s take here? That questioning the system disqualifies you from using it, even if it was forced upon you. That\u2019s not logic\u2014that\u2019s bitterness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversation 2: Industrial Poison and the Death of Free Markets<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Reference to the full context: click here<\/use><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tim Loe: “I don\u2019t trust many industries to regulate themselves. Corporations like Monsanto and Dow have poisoned people.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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My reply: I get it. My family were downwinders\u2014killed by government WMD tests in Utah. Cancer ran through my lineage because of radioactive fallout. But I don\u2019t jump from corporate misconduct to central planning. We fix harm with transparency, not centralized force. Let people choose better, and let bad actors fall on their face.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Tim wants government to fix what government already broke. That\u2019s not liberty. That\u2019s learned helplessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversation 3: The Proud Boys Smear<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Reference to the full context: click here<\/use><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tim Loe: “Let\u2019s talk about the more modern incarnation: the Pride (I mean Proud) Boyz.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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My reply: Proud Boys aren\u2019t neo-Nazis. They\u2019re multiracial. They expelled real racists. My friend Nicholas Ochs, a Proud Boy, ran for Congress in Hawaii. You can disagree with their tactics or style, but painting them as white supremacists is a smear tactic, not an argument.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It was like talking to MSNBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Star of Babylon to Star of Statism<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tim once authored books under the banner of Star of Babylon Press. That was back when he opposed Empire. Now, he defends it. Back then, he published against the mainstream. Now, he parrots it. Back then, he wanted decentralization. Now, he wants federal oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was it the trauma of illness in his family? The heartbreak of corporate abuse? The betrayal of institutions? I can empathize. But I can\u2019t condone abandoning the principles we once shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What TDS Really Does<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Trump didn\u2019t break Tim. TDS did. The inability to separate the man from the movement, the policies from the personality, the cringe from the constitution\u2014that\u2019s what kills relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TDS made Tim forget that the enemy isn\u2019t Trump. It\u2019s authoritarianism, regardless of who wields it. It's censorship, regardless of who it's aimed at. It\u2019s tyranny, whether it comes in red ties or rainbow flags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can\u2019t fix this country by turning on each other. We can\u2019t restore liberty by endorsing censorship, coercion, and guilt by association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Message to Tim (and Anyone Else Suffering TDS)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tim, you\u2019re still my brother, somewhere deep in there. I know your heart\u2019s been through hell. But the solution isn\u2019t more government. The solution is more freedom. If you ever find your way back to voluntaryism, to principled skepticism of power, I\u2019ll be here. But I can\u2019t walk with you down this new road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to those who\u2019ve lost friends to TDS, know this: it\u2019s not about Trump. It\u2019s about fear, control, and the seductive appeal of moral certainty. Be patient. Be principled. And never stop standing for liberty\u2014even if you have to stand alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n