I will miss his insight and intellect.

Government looks more like a rabid dog
everyday, alternating with one chasing
its own tail.

If Mr Gaylor was into Objectivist thinking and had Mississippi roots, he may have known Jack Criss, an old friend from teenage years who is know into business publishing there and has done some Objectivist things here and there.

Would love to know if there is a connection.

Havent talked to Jack in twenty years but I have followed some of his goings on from time to time….and no i am not spying for the Democratic Party.

Take care!

I think you would have liked Matt. He was not a ‘white glove libertarian.’ He was fluent in both ideas and in street theater.

I find it disturbing that so many people I know (or wish I knew) who are younger than me are dying all the time.

However, after several hundred visits to the nursing home to visit my old man, I’ve come to the conclusion that living a long life is not always such a great blessing.

One thing about the octogenarian set is they speak what is on their minds. My dad, once a paleocon, now calls himself an anarchist. These old guys talk about fascism in America - they ain’t stupid. And they’ll tell you to fuck off in a heartbeat.

The point being is that like Matt Gaylor, folks ought to speak their mind and call ‘em like they see ‘em. And there is no sense in waiting until you are in a nursing home to flip the bird to authority.

And he had excellent judgment - he was extremely well-informed on many issues.

He was a superb source of info for people on Ruby Ridge & Waco.

Thanks for putting this out there. I think a lot of people are wondering what happened to Freematt’s Alerts. I sent this out, and it may be published in a few rags:

Matthew Gaylor died Thursday 28 June in Columbus, Ohio. He was best known for his mailing list, Freematt’s Alerts. He distributed that list from 1996 to 2002. Matt was 47.

I first encountered Matt on the old Moderated Discussion of Objectivist
Philosophy (MDOP). That was early 1996, and he announced that he was starting his own mailing list. I was one of Matt’s first subscribers, and his list Freematt’s Alerts was one of my first e-mail lists.

As a side note, the MDOP was my first e-mail list. A guy named Jimmy Wales had started it back in 1991. Today, Jimmy is known as the founder of Wikipedia.

Matt had long understood the power of this new media. He told me that he had been using e-mail since 1992 (very early for anyone outside of academia). It was also on Matt’s list where I first learned about the attempts of governments to spy on the Net through programs like Echelon.

Matt never worked as a techie, but it was easy to have an intelligent
conversation with him about technical subjects. He was also a dedicated
Mac user and would quickly defend Macs against their detractors.

I finally met him 1998, when I moved to Columbus. Matt and I forged another bond as we had both been born in Wheeling, West Virginia. But he was 11 years older and had left the area at a much younger age.

Matt was the first person to tell me about all the problems within the
Libertarian Party. He felt like it was truly a waste of time, although I felt (and still do) like I had nowhere else to go. He had a lot of stories of various problems and had reported problems with other groups as well. He suggested to me that the LP had even been infiltrated by various agent provocateurs for the sole purpose of sabotaging it.

It is a real tragedy that Matt never wrote his political memoirs or kept
some type of journal. He stuck by the movement, even though he had effectively been thrown out of the Ohio LP.

Matt actually made political activism fun. He simply didn’t care whom he
annoyed or angered. His criticisms weren’t always fair, but he always
called something a spade if he believed it was a spade.

He told me a great story about finding a negative article about John Kasich and distributing copies of it out at a Red Team fundraiser. I just laughed, as he was one of the few people who had the guts to try something like that. Matt loved being a troublemaker, just like the heroes who threw the tea into the Boston Harbor.

I especially enjoyed spending one Saturday night with him in the Ohio State University area in the fall of 2002. This was during a march against rape. Matt had distributed flyers around campus advising women to buy guns and “take aim against rape.” OSU administration and the student newspaper were not happy.

Freematt’s Alerts was a great tool for activism, and it was a great fit for Matt’s personality. All Matt did was send out various articles (news and opinion) on subjects important to those who were sympathetic to the cause of freedom. Thus, he formed loose alliances with people in groups like Gun Owners of America, the Independent Institute, and the ACLU. Matt became friends with people like Jim Bovard, L Neil Smith, JJ
Johnson, and Declan McCollough. Matt told me that he would even receive
books from publishers, hoping that he would review them. I seem to remember Matt telling me that he had something like 700 subscribers.

It was the only e-mail list where I read just about everything that was sent out. It was my primary source of news on the World Trade Center. It was my source when I learned of the death of Robert Nozick and Poul Anderson. It was also on 14 September 2001 that I first read questions about whether United Flight 93 had crashed or had been shot down.

Matt’s health steadily declined over the last few years of his life, and his interest in activism declined as well. He was severely overweight, and this naturally lead to other problems.

Like RW Bradford, Matt never got any monetary compensation for his work.
He took pleasure in just doing it. He was interested in revolution for the sake of revolution, or–borrowing words from Abbie Hoffman–”revolution for the hell of it.”

Chris Baker
Copyright 2007 Chris Baker

July 2, 2007 Monday
Home Final Edition

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 04B

LENGTH: 237 words

HEADLINE: Obituaries

BODY:

GAYLOR Matthew Gaylor, 47, of Columbus, Ohio, died June 28, 2007. A private graveside service for Matt will be held in Greenwood Cemetery, Wheeling, West Virginia. Survivors include his father, Earl Edison Gaylor, of Jackson, Mississippi; a sister, Kathleen Gaylor, of Crawfordville, Florida; a brother, Dr. Robert Gaylor and wife Gloria of Dayton, Ohio; and a brother, Stephen Allen Gaylor and wife Crystal of Jackson, Mississippi. Matt was also a loving uncle to Evan Musheno and wife Melanie of Columbus, Ohio, Todd Musheno of Cleveland, Ohio, Angela Gaylor of Bolder, Colorado, Benton Gaylor of Dayton, Ohio, and Sharon Abigail Gaylor of Jackson, Mississippi. Matt was preceded in death by his
mother Pauline Reef Gaylor, his stepmother Sharon Allen Gaylor, and his
grandmother Marie Straight Reef. Matt was born April 10, 1960 in Wheeling, West Virginia. As a boy, he enjoyed living in Oglebay Park, and later moved to Columbus, Ohio. He was a tender hearted person who loved dogs. His interests included The Libertarian Political Party, gun owners’ rights, and causes of individual freedom. Matt was surrounded by many helpful friends who shared his interests. SCHOEDINGER STATE STREET CHAPEL is in charge of arrangements. In lieu of flowers, donations could be sent to The Oglebay Foundation, The Capital Area
Humane Society, or the Libertarian Political Party. “Sign the online guestbook at http://www.dispatch.com/obituaries“

You would have enjoyed Matt. He was no “country club Republican.” He was a heckuva story teller and he had so many experiences in his time.

He had some kinfolk in your home state, Mississippi.