Curious about McAfee's qualifications for running for office, or holding office, I compiled a list of questions for him. He never answered. But my commentary on the research I carried out at the time was included in the article. MP-F
Questions and Commentary
Questions are Answered by John MacAfee and the Inquiry is Closed – by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster
McAfee posted a short video citing the Non-Aggression Principle soon
after the questions asked in my post.
This appears to have been a response to the endorsement of Darryl W.
Perry by Former Libertarian Party of Arkansas chair Rodger Paxton. I did not take his video as a response since
it was entirely on the Non-Aggression Principle.
The questions asked previosly,
and repeated below, go to the reasons McAfee is seeking the nomination, what he
will do if he is nominated, if his values, habits, and character are such that he could run a
successful campaign and also do the job for which he is running. The fact he
did not think his actions through, either before or during the time this was
going on, worried me. This is why I
included the quote from Sun Tzu.
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to
victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
The attributes needed in a Commander in Chief are well exemplified in
many individuals with McAfee's cultural background. George S. Patton, Jr., was the descendant of
the Backcountry. His style of command
reflected this. He lead from the
front. He was also well known for his
careful and detailed planning and effective use of staff. This reflected in a training regimen which
ensured he never sent troops into danger unless they were trained to the edge
of readiness. He also trained himself,
unlike most commanders, and did not rest until his troops were bedded down for
the night during training.
The principles of running a campaign, and for life in general, benefit
from careful planning. When lives are at
risk this is essential.
In what John McAfee provided for
us to read I found nothing about those he had been associated with. But remaining in touch with them via phone or
email would be entirely possible.
McAfee said in the article he provided, “John McAfee: Here's what really happened in Belize,
“ The people need to know, at the deepest level, the people that they
choose to represent them. “ A reasonable interpretation of this statement
is that he will answer questions. This
may have been incorrect. But it did
raise questions for me, moving me to re-read the article and have questions to
ask.
This year it is possible a Libertarian candidate could be elected, given the strong negatives
of Trump and Hillary. Having a president who thinks through the options open to
him or her is essential as a qualification.
This is the most potentially productive election in the history of the
Libertarian Party for moving us toward
local governance at the community level.
The candidate should, therefore, be able to do the job, which requires
predicting the outcome of events in process, among other attributes.
Here are the questions I asked.
Question One: What will your goal be if you are the presidential
candidate of the Libertarian Party?
Unanswered
Question Two: What steps will you take to successfully reach that goal?
Be specific.
Unanswered
Question Three: Were there threats directed at your friends and
employees in Belize after you left?
Unanswered
We were told: McAfee left
because, by his report, there was an attempted shake down. To quote McAfee, “Doing
business in Belize brought me quickly into direct contact with the corruption
that is Belize. Government officials frequently expect a piece of the
business, a share of the profits or regular bribes, which I, foolishly
perhaps, declined to co-operate with.
I also
foolishly began to speak openly about the system of corruption and how it kept
the majority of Belizean citizens in abject poverty.”
Comment: McAfee began threatening those in power
although he asserts they were violent criminals. What he has just conveyed should have caused
him to think through his position and plan for what might happen. This was a wake up call, if it took place.
“In 2011, I
caught wind of a government plot to kill me. The following two secretly
taped conversation between an agent of the Belizean government and a
number of conspirators details the options that the government was
considering to get rid of me. The conversations are in Creole - a barely
understandable form of English, but written translations accompany
each tape. The assassination methods considered ranged from a sniper
attack to planting explosive devices in my car. They are very entertaining
tapes (tape 1 and tape 2).
Warning Number
Two
It takes more
than a simple assassination plot to cause me to run. I instead beefed up
my security and, again, unwisely perhaps, stepped up my verbal attacks on
the government.
In April of
2012, a local representative visited my jungle compound in the interior, and
discreetly suggested that a $2 million dollar donation to the ruling
party could cause our impasse to simply go away. I declined.
Warning Number
Three
One week
later, on May 2, 2012, my jungle compound was stormed by 42
paramilitary soldiers
of the universally feared GSU.
Warning Number
Four
They shot my
dog in front of eyes, destroyed a half million dollars worth of my
property, subjected me to indignities, and arrested me on false charges
which were dropped a few hours later.
Warning Number
Five
The following
day, I was contacted by the same representative that had originally asked for
the $2 million dollars and who now asked whether or not I had
changed my mind. I told him to f--- off.
Warning Number
Six
Thus began a
war between myself and the government of Belize that went on until October
of 2012, when my neighbor was murdered. To this day I believe the target
was myself, and that the incompetence of the government caused the
assassins to enter the wrong house.
The Belizean
government, of course, in its insidious fashion, has been continuing to
structure a case that will someday, force my return to Belize.
I was never
charged with anything.
The day after
my neighbor's murder, the Belizean police came to question me, from
which questioning, I knew I would never return. There are horrors
(torture, dismemberment, et.) inside Belizean jails.”
Comment: Frightened for his own safety, McAfee retreated. I saw no mention of the many people he had
brought into his life, professionally or personally.
Because my only source for information is what McAfee, himself, has said
I decided to look for other sources.
From: https://mcafeeisbonkers.wordpress.com/page/2/
The site I found at the link above reports basically on the unsolved
murder. But other links are included
under 'other links,'
Here are the links I found on mcafeeisbonkers.wordpress.com:
Other links
“I guess I’m
not the only one who thought of creating a blog. John McAfee and others
have created blogs. Undoubtedly others are in creation. I have no
association with any of these blogs, so please direct any comments to
content on these blogs to the respective sites. Please reply if you
discover other meaningful links.”
John McAfee’s
blog:
John McAfee
Story:
John McAfee/
Greg Faull’s Murder [NOTE: This leads to a blank page, at least it did
on May 16, 2016 10:41PM]
John McAfee/
Greg Faull’s Murder (with opinions not particularly charitable to John
McAfee) [Long list of links. All I tried lead to a blank page. But I googled the story at the link below and
it appears in a news outlet, oregonlive.com.
The site belongs to an individual identifying himself as Justin
Blanchard]
http://john-mcafee.blogspot.com/
http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2013/11/john_mcafee_hit_with_protectiv.html
Some background
on John McAfee can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McAfee
The company
founded by John McAfee, QuorumEx can be found at: [Blank Page]
Question Four: Had you taken steps to ensure the well being of your
friends and employees?
Unanswered
Question Five: If so, what steps did you take?
Unanswered
Question Six: Were there repercussions for the people you were friendly
with in Belize after you left?
Unanswered
Mr. McAfee said:
“But my life, influenced by minds such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph
Waldo Emerson while I was in college, has been a non-stop experimentation into
the meaning of freedom, responsibility and our true relationship to the human
structures and the living world within which we live.”
[This was to
written to cite what McAfee had said which raised the question.]
Comment: I am very familiar with the work of Thoreau and Emerson, as are many Libertarians. I understood that you spent the first 36 years of your life stoned out of your mind and still experience flash-backs, at least that is what your narrative appears to convey. One could, theoretically, live a life of complete debauchery and then describe this as an inquiry into the nature of celibacy. If you believe these experiences enabled you to extract some insights into, “the meaning of freedom, responsibility and our true relationship to the human structures and the living world within which we live,” please provide more details. By using the term, “human structures,” you could be referring to any of many institutions, practices, relationships or philosophic constructs. “(T)he living world within which we live,” is also subject to multiple interpretations. Please enlarge on the benefits you derived and nail down the terms you are using.
From Mr. McAfee:
“It is not easy for the average person to gain a reference point for the
evaluation of my life.”
Comment: But among those who count themselves as Libertarians there are many
extraordinary individuals who will be able to understand and evaluate your life
with precision and so understand you. Your life appears to have been lived very
much on the model of the Backcountry warrior outlined by author David Hackett
Fischer, examined in, “Albion’s Seed, Four British Folkways in America.” The
section on your ancestors is identified as ‘Borderlands to the Backcountry.’
Question Seven: Please enlarge on your statement above so those following this
thread can be sure they understand the values you are citing.
Unanswered
Question Eight: Citing this passage in your article: “
I am seeking the nomination of the Libertarian Party for President. Who will
stand with me?” Are you offering assurances you will stand with
those who stood with you until the goal is reached? Do such assurances, if
being made, come with a performance bond? If so, please specify.
Unanswered
I am now satisfied my questions have been answered and feel no need to
pursue this inquiry any further.
Thanks for your time and the use of Independent Political Report as a
place to air these questions. - Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster
