(An article originally published in April 2023, amended and expanded to bring it up to date.)

I spend a lot of time at this site examining, analysing, and critiquing various parts of culture (and having myself reciprocally examined, analysed and critiqued in return - I was told by a hate-fan recently that I do nothing but engage in "undignified, self-righteous ranting" for the benefit of "my little fan club", to which I took great exception... after all, I would like to think that my fan club is at least moderately sized...). And while I believe this is an extremely worthwhile pursuit for us all to engage in - we can't begin to solve the problem if we don't first understand what it is - I am solutions-focused, too, and try to balance my overall cultural analyses, with activism and suggestions for things we can get out there and do.

One thing I've always been very clear on is that there is no one "big solution" we can aim for, no comprehensive, unilateral answer that is going to get us out of the current mess. If we look at the strategies of the enemy and their relentless attacks upon us, we see there are many strands and levels to their assault, and they are not invested in "one big thing", but rather, seek to undermine us from many different angles and in many different ways. They use bioweapon injections, poisons in the food, endless propaganda from the press, psy-ops and false flags, and the list goes on.

So, we must take a similarly multifaceted approach in our defence. Non-compliance is a hugely important part of this, such as refusing to take injections, to wear masks or to take tests, or to submit to any of the other anti-human tyranny related to "Covid" or any future "pandemics". We can also help support others not to comply, as I aimed to do with my cache of letter templates and leaflets. We may also value going to protests, circulating petitions, writing to MPs and local councillors, as well as supporting local independent businesses and using cash wherever possible.

These things are all vitally important to do and we must continue doing them - but there are other ways we can fight back and throw spanners in the works, too, and one I discovered throughout 2020 and 2021 - to my considerable surprise - is getting involved in local politics.

No, no, wait, come back, please... I know the instant and visceral recoiling reaction any mention of politics provokes with many "conspiratorial" types, because, until 2020, I reacted that way myself:

"There's no point in voting, because it's all rigged anyway."

"Politicians are all the same, they're only in it for themselves."

"If voting made any difference, they wouldn't let us do it."

And I'd say where it comes to national (general) elections - where Prime Ministers and other high-profile political stars are being put in place - this is often true: I don't, however, believe it is true at the local, council level.

First of all, until 2020, I didn't realise local council elections even existed, and I know that very many people reading this were or are not aware of this either. Yet most of us spent at least twelve years in government ('state') schools. Doesn't it therefore seem utterly bizarre that the same government who ran these schools, put no curriculum in place to educate us about state and civic apparatus, and how to become actively involved in our own local democracies?

It's not a mistake they didn't teach us. It's no accidental oversight that we didn't have Civics class. What I have learned these past three years is that local politics is a very powerful, very insular environment and they DON'T want us involved - that's why the relentlessly circulated messages amongst anti-establishment types that "it's all rigged anyway" and "if voting changed anything they wouldn't let us do it", serve the establishment so well. It stops anti-establishment, pro-freedom people from engaging in the political process, which is exactly what "they" want.

Consider that as of last year, in an unprecedented new development, you now require valid voter ID (such as a passport) to be able to vote. Many people either don't have this, or will use the added inconvenience as a reason not to participate, when in previous years they had. When voter turnout is already so dire, spiralling towards historical new lows (the recent Stretford by-election having a turnout of just 25.8%), why would the establishment take steps to put yet more people off, if this was a process they actually wanted us to engage in?

They don't want us to, because at the local council level particularly, we actually have some power and some leverage, and "they" are absolutely terrified of the day we realise that en masse and get organised, to have genuine, pro-freedom, anti-tyranny candidates in place for people to vote for.

There are over 8,000 council wards in the UK. Imagine the impact if each of these wards had a genuine pro-freedom candidate as an option?

Council elections matter because local councils are the instrument by which national government forces its directives into place. After all, Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock were not themselves touring the provinces barking at us to wear masks and keep six feet apart - this was all applied by our local councils.

And local councils can be "infiltrated" by people on our side, if they simply put themselves forward as an option. Please see this account of pro-freedom councillor, Nigel Utton, who called out the pandemic from the start.

Although my initial inroads into politics came via the political party, Freedom Alliance, the many cautionary tales learned from that experience (which you can read about here), led me and many other members to conclude political parties are not the answer - they are far too open to infiltration and corruption, and far too attractive to big, narcissistic egos.

Far better, then, to stand as an independent candidate (as the aforementioned Nigel Utton converted to, after initially standing for the Green Party), where you only represent yourself, and are only accountable to the people who vote for you.

On this brief, former Freedom Alliance leader, Jonathan Tilt, and co-founder of The People's Health Alliance, Katherine Macbean, joined forces to launch a new approach to politics - the Vote Freedom Project. This project exists to support independent candidates to stand in elections and offer voters a real, viable alternative. The website states:

"The electoral system in the UK and elsewhere has been hopelessly corrupted by captured political parties. Whether you vote Tory, Labour, Green, SNP or Plaid Cymru doesn’t really matter. The Covid plandemic proved that the parties are all signed up to the Davos agenda.

So why try and change anything through voting? 

Because it remains one of the few avenues of attack available to the freedom movement. We will win this war only by using all the opportunities available to us. 

At a local level much of the Davos agenda is being implemented by councils, completely bypassing national governments. In local council elections Independent candidates are frequently elected. If we can get some pro-freedom independents elected we can genuinely start to frustrate plans such as 20 -minute neighbourhoods."

The Vote Freedom Project is well aware that they face a lot of scepticism from their target potential candidates and voters - pro-freedom people who have become thoroughly disillusioned with "the system" and may never even have voted (as I had not until 2021), never mind considered standing as a candidate themselves - but Vote Freedom's founders know this is a battle nevertheless worth fighting.

"If you try, you may not succeed, but if you don't even try, you'll definitely fail," says Vote Freedom co-founder, Jonathan, who recently gave a very well received interview with podcaster, Richard Vobes, further elaborating on the importance of voting and standing in elections.

Jonathan has pointed out that the whole system is governed by consent - that, although actors in various positions of "authority" may lie to and misinform us, they do ultimately require our consent to comply with their schemes. They cannot make us do things by brute force. Hence, we have a democratic system which is consent-based, and, as such, we should use it - whilst we still can.

"After all, what do you achieve by not voting?" Asks Jonathan. "They are happy if you don't vote. That's why they're making it harder for you."

As Jonathan points out, it's not "either/or" - by standing as a pro-freedom candidate, or voting for one, this doesn't suggest you are not engaging in all sorts of other activism as well. So why not use the political route, alongside all the other forms of activism one engages in, whilst we still can, and before they put even more obstacles in place?

Vote Freedom Project co-founder, Katherine Macbean, agrees. Prolifically active across the freedom movement, Katherine is also politically passionate and believes that - while political parties are outdated and corrupt - independent candidates have the real power to make a difference.

"We must use all our tools and our vote still counts," says Katherine, who has been active in the freedom movement for over 20 years. "We need to give the power back to the people, in a way that's not dictated by parties, donors, or the whip."

This year, dozens of us are standing as independent candidates in our local council elections on May 2nd, to give voters a real alternative to the ubiquitous uniparty (Lib / Lab / Con / Green), and using the opportunity to further platform pro-freedom views.

Some counties, including West Yorkshire where I live, also have mayoral elections, and Vote Freedom coordinator, Jonathan Tilt, is standing as a candidate.

As the rules around elections require the system to give a certain amount of coverage to all candidates - even if they have very anti-system views - Jonathan has already been featured in an election booklet that has been delivered to every household in the county, as well as making an appearance on a regional BBC show quizzing mayoral candidates on their views (Jonathan was the only candidate to get a round of applause from the audience!).

Getting to this stage was far from straightforward, however. Although technically, “anyone can stand as a mayoral candidate”, in practice, there are some very difficult obstacles to overcome. In the first instance, candidates need to raise a £5,000 deposit, which they will lose it they receive less than 5% of the vote. Secondly, they need to acquire no less than 100 nominating signatures from residents of the county, and at least ten from each of the districts of that county (in the case of West Yorkshire, that means Kirklees, Calderdale, Bradford, Wakefield, and Leeds).

Needless to say, the average person does not have a spare £5,000 lying around - much less £5,000 they can stand to lose - nor know at least ten people in every surrounding district, so they assume they are disqualified from standing.

So this is how the system is “rigged”. Not by shredding votes or any such obvious skullduggery - but simply by making conditions of entry so arduous and challenging, that the vast majority of people won’t even begin to consider it.

However, Jonathan has persevered over many months and has managed to both raise the £5,000 and acquire the nominating signatures. This was achieved by literally walking up and down residential streets in each of the five districts (not always exactly sun-soaked fun in West Yorkshire in the tail-end of winter…) and asking people to nominate him.

So, against all odds, he is now on the ballot paper for May 2nd, against just five other candidates (sometimes elections can have up to 16 or more), meaning he’s in with a real chance - if people on our side simply go out and vote for him.

By far the biggest obstacle our side faces in getting genuine pro-freedom representation in local politics is the erroneous belief that “it’s all rigged anyway so there’s no point voting”.

In fact, the rigging is that very belief, which has been cynically sewn by the establishment to keep you neutralised and inactive.

Your vote does make a difference. If it didn’t, they wouldn’t make it so hard for genuine people to stand, nor would they have tightened up the rules around voting (now requiring photo ID) to inevitably ensure far less people do it.

You lose nothing by voting. You’re not contracting with the government. You’re not consenting to anything (your name isn’t on it). You are simply using one of the tools that is currently available to you (and may not be for much longer) to fight back. Not voting is effectively a vote for the leading candidate (almost always Labour or Tory).

If there’s no genuine pro-freedom candidate in your area - either an independent or someone from one of the legitimate pro-freedom parties (Heritage, Freedom Alliance, ADF) - then you can spoil your paper with a message. All such papers are read and recorded, and it is an important form of political protest. If you spoil your paper with a clear and direct message, then this cannot be misinterpreted by the establishment. If you simply don’t vote, they interpret this as you either being happy with things as they are, or too apathetic to go to the polling booth.

So please do take the time to pop in to your local polling station (you can find where it is here) next Thursday May 2nd, and, if you happen to live in the small council ward of Kirkburton in West Yorkshire, you can vote for me! There is also another pro-freedom Finch standing in Crosland Moor, and our friend Clare Holden is standing in Dalton. And all West Yorkshire residents can vote for Jonathan Tilt for mayor on the same day.

I will let you all know on May 4th how many votes we respectively receive, as all candidates can attend the count, to make sure there is no cheating, and where we outsiders are inevitably scowled at, muttered about, and ignored by the entire uniparty… and I got a very revealing insight into how politics really works the first time I attended the count in 2021, a spectacle that has been repeated every subsequent year:

There are always some Monster Raving Loony candidates in attendance, and when their number of votes are announced, all the other parties - Tory, Labour, Liberal and Green alike - cheer.

When the numbers for non-joke opposition, real independent candidates, are announced, however, they are met with stony silence.

The Monster Raving Loonies are, of course, an establishment release valve: an option for disaffected voters to feel they’re “making a statement” to show their disillusionment with the main parties, but an action which just goes into a neutralised dead-end. All the major parties know this, and appreciate the assistance the Loonies therefore give them in maintaining their monopoly, so they cheer (of course, the explicit inference of the Monster Raving Loonies is that anyone who doesn’t vote for one of the main parties is literally a lunatic).

There is no such jocular enthusiasm for real independent candidates, because we are a real threat, and they know it.

So it’s really not a case of “if voting made a difference they wouldn’t let us do it”, but rather, “if voting made a difference, they wouldn’t want us to do it” - and believe me, as a four-year veteran of the behind-the-scenes political pantomime, where I have been met with such hostility, I have almost literally been booed and hissed at - they really, really don’t.

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