Stewart Rhodes of “Oath-Keepers” explains what was wrong about Kokesh’s strategy and why peaceful, organized civil disobedience trumps dangerous stunts:

“Oath Keepers didn’t support Kokesh’s call for an armed march on DC because it was bad strategy,not even civil disobedience. Kokesh’s last description of his intent (before he canceled it) said the armed marchers would stop well short of the police line, declare the government illegitimate, and then disperse. So, what would be the point? How is that some grand, glorious, hard stand? It isn’t.  But even if it were, it is still bad strategy as it puts the liberty movement in the posture of the aggressor while also risking a catastrophic and bloody defeat on that bridge…..

…. the Revolutionary war was kicked off by the patriots winning both a clear military victory and a clear moral victory since it was obvious that Gage and his men were the aggressors.  It didn’t matter who fired first at Lexington.   What mattered is Gen. Gage had sent his men out into the countryside, against the people.   And because Gen. Gage and his men got their asses handed to them on a silver platter, it was not just a moral victory for the patriots but also a morale victory, and an embarrassing morale defeat for the British Army and the Crown…..

..Kokesh’s armed march on D.C. would have been the exact opposite.   The patriots would have been perceived as the aggressors…..

So, if shooting had erupted, it would have been a blood-bath and brutal defeat for the patriots, while the patriots would have also been perceived by most people as the aggressors.

Nor was Adam Kokesh’s rhetoric confined to talk of peaceful civil disobedience, as some claimed.

Kokesh had clearly, on Alex Jones, stated that the intent was to “overthrow the government”…… And that alone made it something Oath Keepers could not support or take part in because we have active duty military members who cannot belong to an organization that supports or advocates overthrowing the US government. There are specific DOD regulations on that……

If there was no violence, and the marchers did as Kokesh said, and marched toward the police but stopped well short of the police line, declared the government illegitimate and then dispersed, it would have been portrayed by the mainstream media as “violent, armed extremists, who had declared their intent to march into DC to overthrow the government wussed out and didn’t even dare try to cross police lines.  They chickened out and stopped well short of the police and then retreated and went home.”  FAIL.

…The people are not oath bound.  But I am.  And until they release me from that oath, by deciding that the Constitution no longer protects their rights and must be replaced, I will do my best to fulfill it.  And yes, that does include giving my life if I must.  But I also do my best to use sound strategy, so that we have the best chance of actually prevailing for the sake of the liberty of our children and future generations, even if we who are now in this fight do not survive.  Whatever comes, fight smart, so that your efforts, and your life, will not be spent in vain.  – Stewart Rhodes