Innovative Ways to Take Our Country Back

If you are like me you are wondering who the heck the people in Washington -- both this state and the District of Criminals on the other side of the nation -- think they are? The government is supposed to be limited by the Constitution in terms of what they are allowed to do. Any law that violates the Constitution is technically invalid and unenforceable. However, increasingly corrupt judges who view the Constitution as some mere piece of toilet paper, a "living document" that can be ignored at will to advance government power...and let's face it, they were appointed by politicians who almost universally want power.

How can we stop this? Well there are certainly the traditional methods of (1) writing your representatives and expressing your displeasure with them. We all see how wonderful that worked out with the bankster bailout bill and the Waxman-Markey Economic Suicide bill. Politicians just do not care what you think. (2) Getting PERSONALLY involved in election campaigns. This works great in local races, but lets face it...in statewide and nationwide races, the election can essentially be bought be special interests...citizens can rarely compete with the big money corporations; although if we REALLY got involved and motivated maybe that can change.

So now you are probably feeling dejected. Well there ARE things we can do to push back the power of the ravenous beast that has become our federal government. These are out of the box methods that can be VERY POWERFUL if we get enough people behind them.

1. Initiative Conventions. Many states grant citizens the power to directly present legislation for a vote of the people. NO POLITICIAN CAN PREVENT THESE FROM BECOMING LAW!! All it takes is building a durable and inexpensive infrastructure of patriots to translate the frustration in an increasingly Marxist regime into activists who are willing to participate in statewide initiative conventions. This idea is treated in more detail elsewhere at this blog as I believe that it is one of the most powerful ways to generate political change.

2. Jury Nullification. Most people think that juries determine the facts and judges determine the law. That is not quite true. Our founders always held that judges BEST determined the facts, but juries maintain the right to determine both the FACTS and the LAW. To a government gone haywire this is quite inconvenient. If juries were actually informed that they had a RESPONSIBILITY to vote not guilty if the law the accused was prosecuted under was not Constitutional, most of the illegal laws in this country would be completely ignored. This is EXACTLY what happened with the fugitive slave laws prior to the civil war--juries would justifiably not enforce it so the prosecutors stopped bringing cases. This is the situation we have to create in this country.

Where did we go wrong? Well I encourage you to read the decision of US v. Dougherty, including a well written dissention. In this decision the Appellate Court upheld the notion that juries had the RIGHT to disregard the law if the law was illegal. However, it also stated that the government was NOT OBLIGATED to tell juries. In fact I found it quite amusing when reading the majority opinion that the judge states, "there are times when logic is not the only or even best guide to sound conduct of government" which tells you a lot about what is wrong with the judiciary today." One of the stated reasons was that at the time of the U.S. revolution judges "were not the colonial appointees projecting royalist patronage and influence" who might be biased, and with a Constitutional Republic those fears should be gone as we should be more concerned by jury lawlessness (i.e. them not approving of STUPID laws). Anyone who thinks are current justices are unbiased when nominations for the Supreme Court and Appellate Courts are dependent on maintaining a political ideology consistent with desires by the establishment for biggest government...is completely nuts! Never before in this country's history should jury's start being told of their rights.

Since, governments are not obligated to tell juries of their rights, the people need to force legislation down their throats via the initiative process that EXPRESSLY informs juries of their rights in the jury instructions. This should be the first initiative passed at an initiative convention. Moreover, the PUBLICITY and PUBLIC AWARENESS OF SUCH A CAMPAIGN should be enough to tip the balance in favor of lawful jury nullification, even if the initiative does not pass. Remember, it only takes one principled and informed individual to prevent the state from enforcing an illegal law! If we can educate the public, the governments ability to convict anyone of overreaching laws is COMPLETELY DESTROYED!!

3. Sheriff Outreach. In my opinion the county sheriff is THE MOST IMPORTANT elected official in the country. One can buy the presidency or governorship by bowing down to the will of the bankers who dole out the big money the allow a candidate to win. However, a motivated local population CAN SUCCESSFULLY turn the tide in the sheriff's race. Most people are not aware, but the state and federal government needs permission from the county sheriff BEFORE they can do anything in that county!! For more details on the case law behind this I would suggest you go to www.sheriffmack.com and buy his groundbreaking book "County Sheriff: America's Last Hope" EVERY SHERIFF IN THE COUNTRY SHOULD BE GIVEN A COPY OF THIS BOOK!!

Sheriff's have taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Now that the state and federal governments are BLATANTLY IGNORING THIS SAME DOCUMENT, it is the Sheriff's responsibility to keep federal officials from enforcing illegal laws such as gun confiscation (and I would argue the list should be MUCH MUCH LONGER--most sheriff's do not have a detailed understanding of the Constitution, unfortunately) in his county. In states where the Sheriff is elected I suggest large groups of people start getting petitions together (could be done as part of an initiative convention) asking the current Sheriff where he stands on this issue. It is time for these guys to take sides--the federal government and all their funding for techno-gadgets for the local force, or the people who they work for! If a sheriff is unwilling to uphold his oath, you should run someone against him WHO UNDERSTANDS AND RESPECTS THE CONSTITUTION. It does not have to be a law enforcement officer--I would much rather have someone who KNOWS the legal limits of government power, and preferably understand the Constitution is not a "living, breathing" document.

4. LAWFUL CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. Perhaps the most controversial plank, it is sometimes the last ditch effort if 1-3 have failed. The fact of the matter is that no one has to obey illegal laws. For example, I will NEVER pay a fee for being "uninsured" as the federal government has NO TAXING AUTHORITY GRANTED BY THE US CONSTITUTION for THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT taxing or fining "not doing something." That would be not an excise, but an unapportioned direct tax expressly forbid by the US Constitution. In fact, this is not even an "income" item covered by the 16th amendment--this is government going completely outside the bounds of its authority. Any half competent judge or jury should understand this--especially if you have worked on point 2. If enough people join in civil disobedience it is highly unlikely that any jury will convict. People just have to have the courage of their convictions. If as little as 20% of the country refused to go along with such an illegal tax, the government cannot even afford to put them all in jail. Remember, the government only has the authority that WE ALLOW THEM TO HAVE. When they start ignoring the law, we have the responsibility and DUTY to ignore such laws. If America got a backbone and held to these principles in mass, we would have NO PROBLEM with a tyrannical socialist regime gone out of control. Anyone who is unwilling to stand up for his own freedoms and rights deserves to live as a slave!