New Jersey Libertarian Party 
NJLP.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
NJLP Statement on the FBI’s Authoritarian Activities
New Jersey – August 10, 2022
On August 8, 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Many on the left, who previously spent years decrying law enforcement as corrupt and calling to defund the police, are celebrating this raid and denying the possibility of FBI corruption. Conversely, those on the right who have spent years curtailing civil liberties, bolstering law enforcement’s powers, and defending police as they terrorized communities, see this raid as political persecution.
The Libertarian Party, however, recognizes that the FBI has a long history of illegally attacking domestic political movements, and that it should be abolished.
Amid the anti–Vietnam War protests, the FBI financed a militia known as the Secret Army Organization that targeted anti-war protestors. The FBI targeted the Black Panthers as well, notably aiding in the assassination of Fred Hampton. Even civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was targeted by the FBI, which heavily surveilled the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957.
Recently, it has become apparent that Libertarians, and more broadly people who support the Founding Fathers, may be targeted by the FBI as well. According to an FBI leak, the anarcho-capitalist flag, Gadsden flag, the saying “Molon Labe,” and even “Revolutionary War Imagery” are symbols that the FBI associates with violent militias.
Whether in the 1960s or in the 2020s, the FBI has often worked against peaceful citizens and domestic movements. The New Jersey Libertarian Party will always stand opposed to political persecution and tyranny regardless of the group being targeted.
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Contact:
Michael Manieri
NJLP Vice President of Public Relations
Paid for by NJLP