For the founding fathers in of the USA, freedom was something precious. Our rights and freedoms didn't come from King George, or the government, they came from God or natural law.

And, as they saw it, their job in framing the constitution, was to set in place protections, to protect the citizens from their own government, and from the laws which congres might pass which would take freedoms away.

But, if you look at the actions of the government, a case could be made that some of them people who are entrusted with representing their constituents, are trying to destroy our rights and freedoms, one bill at a time, one piece at a time.

The secret to taking rights, freedoms, and protections away, lies not in just wholesale, broad sweeping elimination. The secret to the destruction of freedom lies in one word, "incrementalism". If you try to boil a frog by dropping him into boiling water, he will jump out, but if you put him in lukewarm water, and slowly increase the heat, you could boil him because he doesn't notice how hot it is getting.

Like that frog, many folks don't realize how much of our freedoms have already been taken away from us, a bit at a time. What those in Congress do, is to pass laws which seem reasonable at the time to legislator, because they usually try to use some outrageous event as justification. A prime example is the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was passed without Congress even reading the legistlation. It was a kneejerk response to the horrible events of 9-11. And, the DMCA, the enabler of what the RIAA is doing now, was passed over the objections of many people in the know, and yet, the public at large, wasn't really made aware of what this Act would do prior to its passage. What can a good citizen to do to protect their rights?

Most people who are not involved in politics, don't have the time to try to keep up with every pending piece of legislation. And, even those who are motivated and try to keep up, the pending legislation often is written in such technical or legal jargon, that they tend to get lost after a few pages. But, even if you do wade through the morass of paperwork, and find that this proposed law or act is horrible and would adversely affect your life and those of your friends and family, what could you do?

You could write your representative or senator, but sometimes, to your chagrin, you may find that they are actually a sponsor or co-sponsor of this horror! And after all, what power do you have? I mean, you are one person and not rich, so you can't even buy an audience with the incumbent. This is exactly how the powers that be want you to feel. They want you to feel powerless. It is what I call the phenomenon of induced impotence. This technique of control has been used from the time of Genghis Khan, to Adolf Hitler, to the bully in a playground. You convince those you would control that resistance is futile. In the lawsuits filed by the RIAA, they are going after people who are basically honest, who don't have a lot of money, and basically saying to them, "You are powerless to stop us. We have the money and lawyers and will steam roll over you, innocent or guilty."

And, another problem we are finding is that the two main political parties seem to both be bent on ripping our liberties from us. If you look at the congress people who are working like little army ants, day and night to find new ways of interfering with your life, it is not just Republicans, not just Democrats. We find horrible examples on both sides of the aisle. Conyers is a Democrat, Hatch is a Republican, and yet, they both seem hell bent on passing laws to make just about everyone a criminal.

Another insidious aspect of the way that laws are being used to dissolve our freedoms from under us, is that each restrictive law, builds on the last. For example, the Patriot Act has given justification and basis for the push for an even more restrictive act, the "Victory Act", which Ashcroft is trying to push onto the public. In building an superstructure of draconian laws, each act and law, that pushes us further and further into the cage, is constructing a more and more solid, inflexible fence around us, a fence which does not protect us or keep evil influences out, but keeps us locked in.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
Without resorting to violence in the streets, we have to use those legal methods we have at our disposal. As Americans, we've always been taught that we should write our Congress people. That idea presupposes that the Congress people CARE what we say, and secondly, that they are reponsive to our concerns. Probably the best thing to say about writing our congress people, is that, with Congress.org, it is free and quick . And, at least we can say we followed what we are supposed to do.

We can try to influence the two parties, but from what we have already seen, long term incumbents are some of the villains that have been most active in creative mischief.
We can focus on alternatives to the major two parties, such as the Libertarian party, and stress that we are a sizeable voting contingent to deal with. And, the other alternative, is starting a populist party aimed at restoring personal rights and liberties (similar to Libertarian objectives).

Whatever we opt to do though, we must each take responsibility for getting active and motivated with regard to turning back the tide on these people who are spewing forth repressive legislation right and left. Our present jigsaw of freedom is smaller than it has been in a long time, and each day, some congress person or court is trying to pull another piece away.

There is a famous saying that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. The reason this is true, is that there are always those who wait in the wings to take more of our freedoms away.
Unfortunately, many of these folks are sitting in the halls of Congress these days.

"Effect the laws, or the laws WILL effect YOU !"
~2003/CodeWarrior

Great Post Code:

Very true in every way. May we send this with our letters to Congress?

This is a very helpful in showing some of the "less evil" Congressmen where we stand as citizens.

Very sad, but very true. The thought crossed my mind that if the founding fathers had attempted to have the American Revolution in 2003 (assuming they were alive today) instead of 1776, it wouldn't have gotten off the ground. People have become satisfied with the status quo or just don't care.

Life has become to convient in that sense. It's gotten to the point where if you speak for what you think is wrong, you're accused of terrorism.

code, hope ya don't mind, i just printed this out to hand personaly to my rep so when this session is over and he is back at his office i can hand it to him very true, and very well written, keep it up code, you are one of the better voices in our fight!

United WE Stand

Wa-sna-win:
I don't think it's because people are satisfied or don't care. I think it is because people are just uninformed. I never even heard of the DMCA until about a year ago when the MPAA sent me a C & D for having a Spider-Man cartoon in my Shared.

Our job, now, that we are informed of these violations is to tear people away from their Judge Judy and Friends and educate them on what they have already lost or stand to lose. To reach out to other groups who are as fed up with things as we are. I personally have spoken with several of the local militia groups (and while some are quite whacked) most of there concerns and observations are the same as those viewed on this site.

Let's not forget the efforts of the Librarians. Shredding records so that the FBI couldn't use them to further violate the privacy of anyone suspected of being a "terrorist". Or their ongoing struggle with the DMCA and the RIAA to retain their rights of Fair Use to make backups of valuable, rare documents and recordings.

We live in the information age and information is the key to any victory. That is the real reason behind the DMCA and the overly restrictive, illegal copyright laws which bastardize the entire concept of the copyright to begin with, to restict information to the privileged few.

The more we become informed of our rights and how they are being violated the more the ENEMY turns up the heat.

Another tool we have, and I haven't even seen it posted here yet, is a process inside the courtroom. I cannot remember the name for it but I am sure that CodeWarrior will be able to fill in this blank. It is when a case goes to jury trial and the jury finds in favor of the defendent because the law in question is bad. Such an effort is under way in Indiana right now to overturn seizures of overtaxed property, among other bad laws.

We need to keep spreading the message and to somehow plan an event that will force the media to take notice of this movement and report on us instead of that ridiculous "coffee tax" in Seattle.

Sorry, bout the rant. And the term is Nullification that I was searching for. It should apply the same in civil court as in criminal court, moreso since civil court is the lesser of the two.

Agreed Wa-sna-win. Just the very words Patriot act and Victory Act are nauseating to hear, not only because they infringe on our rights and our freedoms. The bills themselves sound like something right out of the dictionary of Orwellian doublethink. I'll briefly explain doublethink as I've come to understand it, for those of you who don't know.

Doublethink is a system that attempts to get people to hold two contradictory ideas in their mind at the same time. In George Orwell's 1984, The Ministry of Love was basically a re-education camp where people were severely tortured in order to get them to think like the government of Ocenia(Britain & the United States).

Anyway, the only thing I know is that the population in this country better wake up before we lose all of our rights and freedoms.

If I remember my history correctly the American revolution was a hard sell to the colonists as well. most of them were accepting of the way things were too.

Codewarrior's call for a new political party reminds me of Ross Perot's run for presidency. While easily made fun of, Ross had good ideas that would have gone against the grain of politics. Had he gotten the job, I fully expect our economy would be in the black now, rather deep in red. We wouldn't be spending 75% of our tax dollars on foriegn nations that despise us and seek to destroy us either. (That is, if politicians didn't stonewall his every step). While I know many people thought the Reform Party was a joke, it is similar to what we need now ... some new party that will break down barriers and give back our freedoms. If that's what it takes, lets start here and now forming the basis of a new political party. Code, if you want to be the frontman, you've got my vote!

President CodeWarrior: Has a nice ring to it.

It could be done. Get the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties to all consolidate and you could even blow the GOP out of the water.

http://www.politics1.com/parties.htm That has a list of most all of the political parties in America. Since it was brought up anyway. *smile*

Official line of OUR Department of Interior Defense would be "NO RIAA, NO MICRO$OFT".

We could get Bill Evans to pose in that "We Want You" Uncle Sam poster. No wait...that would be infringement.

I voted for Howard Philips of the Constitution Party in 2000 and will probably vote for him in 2004. I think what we need to start doing though is get a list of the house and senate candidates for next year and decide who we need to vote out of office. Unfortuantely, as far as president goes, the Dem's and Rep's will get a combined 99% of the popular vote and 100% of the electorial vote.

Code you rule

Was eyeing the Constitution Party as well. And yes, the Democrats and Republicans will likely get most of the vote because they get more exposure because they have the money and lots of folks don't vote for third parties because they're more concerned about which Republican or Democrat might get in office. That's my opinion and of course I might be wrong, but it is how I see it.

That was great code,run for pres on the independent ticket. I want someone who will do the right thing . While I'm speaking of the right thing to do, check out this petition http://www.saveovertimepay.org/ Sorry for being off topic of the boycott, but I think this is serious too.

I have the same theory that must people who vote Rep. do so because they don't like the Dem's. rather than liking the Rep's. and the people who vote Dem. do so because they don't like the Rep's. rather than liking the Dem's.
Does anyone else think it would be a good idea to have the election where you vote for who you DON'T want to be president and then one by one you eliminate who is left until you have one candidate left and that person becomes president. (And the Democrat and Republican candidate would be the first two voted off.)

*nods* The only time in history really that any major legislation is passed in the best interest of the people is when a third party (like the Populist Party) becomes enough of a threat to the two major parties. The Populists were the reason that we have secret ballots for one instead of many party bosses telling you how you had to vote as was the case with recent immigrants in the 19th century (and even some into the 20th century).

But yes, as you said, it is more these days about keeping the other guy out of office because of what party he belongs to rather than about who is really best for that job. And as I said, the Democrats and Republicans are the wealthiest two parties, which makes it hard for third parties to give themselves enough exposure to get anywhere near a public office.

[bubbling sounds in the backround]....

[big exhale]...

Wow man, I don't know. I think that Pot Party sounds like a good one to me man, I mean, it sounds like they really know how to party man... ; - )

But seriously, I don't think it matters so much what "party" we vote for, just as long as we keep voicing our opinions, eventually they are going to have to listen to us. I think CodeWarrior is correct in the fact that we need to keep active, and take resposibility for governing ourselves, otherwise the government will govern us. We need to make sure that the people working for us understand where we stand on the issues. And if those people don't listen, we'll fire them. Just my take.

~goingnova

djjayo1 please do send it out...
everything I write for this board is released from any copyright holding by me for fair use en toto...and thanks!
Draken- GREAT and thanks

big thanks to all for kind words....really appreciated !
~code

Code - what a great piece you wrote. It is Point, Blank and Period!

Nice work Code.

I haven't heard yet about the Overtime cuts... talk about an eye-opener. Perhaps voting for bush wasn't such a good idea...

Well, like they always say, Hindsight is always 20/20.

I have tried for years to get this message out to people I know. I like others know many who do not even vote, who have never even registered to vote. As you have given permission to use this piece I am going to copy it and send to everyone in my address book. It says it better than I ever have, for I become overly heated with people who want to argue that their vote makes no difference. Though I am intelligent enough to know getting angry is harmful to the idea I am trying to get across to my family and friends...

Kudos to you for putting on paper the truth about "OUR FREEDOMS."

I can't belive how true that is.

Thank you, Code.

You are an inspiration to this site.

Hail Mp3!!!