Free Keene

I was recently accused of hiding behind my principles. The implication was that I was making a poor decision pragmatically speaking in order to adhere to some lofty and impractical principle. But principles are pragmatic. At least they ought to be. Otherwise what good are they? If your goals are noble, what better way to determine principles than based on whether they help you achieve your goals?

We often confuse expediency with pragmatism. You can make a choice that provides immediate return and seems the pragmatic choice only to pay a higher price later. A person who commits a crime is getting some immediate reward but has an ever-increasing risk of being caught each time. He’s gambling. He’s also shitting where he eats by destroying the sense of trust in his community. Lying is similar. When you get caught in a lie, which is likely just a matter of time depending on how often you attempt it, you seriously undermine your reputation. Worse yet, if you lie now expecting some immediate gain from it, even if you correct yourself in the future, anything you say thereafter will be circumspect. Even when you get away with it, every lie you tell for some immediate benefit undermines your veracity because you know you’re a liar. Conversely, knowing in your heart that you are consistently honest and sincere shows through in the power of your convictions. It’s a rare talent to be able to lie convincingly.

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Free Keene has just uncovered an exclusive internal draft of a recent KPD press release related to an upcoming CALEA accreditation:

Public Notice

The Keene Police Department is scheduled for an on-site assessment September 13-15, 2009, as part of a program to achieve recognition by verifying that it meets professional standards. The recognition program requires agencies comply with state-of-the-art standards in four basic areas: Customer Satisfaction, Responsiveness to Citizen Requests, Solution Oriented Focus Addressing Root Causes, and Victim Restitution.

The public is encouraged to provide feedback ensuring our assessors get a complete picture of how this agency is impacting the community. Refreshments will be provided to visitors who may meet with our team during business hours this week, during the Saturday/Sunday sessions or other times by appointment. We look forward to hearing from you.

Janice Hartman, CALEA Team Lead

Okay, as you may have guessed, this is not a genuine draft of the press release. I wrote it to get you thinking about how police may be a bit  hypocritical and even delusional in their claim to protect and serve the interests of the public.

In Reality, if you want to “offer comments” you’ll need to . . . (Read on …)

I was torn between calling this post The Pacifism Straw Man and The Purism Straw Man because the two seem to go hand in hand. The audio below is typical of some of the tired old arguments I hear. I am among a group of motivated individuals who constantly repeat the mantra of peaceful activism in place of violence. Watch the video below and try not to get too distracted by disagreements you may have with his view of certain environmental problems. Try to focus on the core of the message in which he tries to sell people on the idea of using violence as a tool for social change. That’s what I intend to address.

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This was written by Andrew Carroll in response to recent discussion about in-the-system activism versus out-of-the-system activism, specifically in this thread.

People come to the “ideas of liberty” through different routes.  These people think differently, grew up in different cultures, and have different values.  Different things attract their attention, different things make them think, and different things change their minds.

Therefore, if we really want to spread our message to as many people as possible, it is important we market ourselves in as many ways as possible.  Aside from certain actions which are bound to be utterly counter-productive (such as direct violence against the State, which leads to sympathy for the State, and is not worth even the small minority of people that may find it agreeable), all activism – political or otherwise – markets our ideas to different audiences.

Running for office, refusing to shut off your camera, gardening, holding marijuana, protesting in IRS offices, placing money in empty parking meters: all of these things market libertarian ideas to different people who believe different things.  Each of these activities catch the attention of different individuals and expose them to the philosophy of freedom. (Read on …)

I co-host Free Talk Live every Thursday night from 7pm to 10pm, a nationally syndicated talk radio show. Last Thursday, an anarchist called in to talk about how he attended a meeting about a local smoking ban to speak out against it. There was some discussion about whether such an act is part of working within their system and I’m known for not being a big fan of that game, to put it lightly. Mark is equating this act with voting based on the notion that you’re just voting by proxy, i.e. trying to persuade council members to vote a certain way. I’ve given some more thought to this and wanted to expound.

I wouldn’t go in there telling them to vote a certain way. I would simply use the platform of the meeting to talk about why they have no right to control the behavior or property of others. I wouldn’t give any moral support to the idea of the vote. I realize they are going to vote on it, but that’s their game. What it comes down to is I’m not going to go through the motions and essentially act out what is to me a big lie. It’s the same reason I don’t rise for a judge. They are hoping I’ll go through the motions and act publicly in accordance with their lies, reinforcing them, and in complete contradiction to my deeply held beliefs. It’s disgusting and offensive to me. On the other hand, simply taking the opportunity of the meeting and telling them they have no right to control others is as honest as I could be.

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I wrote this hopefully persuasive essay for the printed newsletter published by FIJA. I’ve missed the deadline for the Summer issue, but it should appear later this year. I had been reading their letters to the editor and been amazed that no one was writing about much else besides just giving Fully Informed Jury Association information to their friends, family, and co-workers. This is good, but not particularly effective. I hope that explaining what we do here in Keene will encourage others around the country to duplicate our efforts, or better yet come to NH and get active here.

I’m publishing this article here on the blog in the hopes that it will encourage similar activism other parts of New Hampshire, where honestly, there is no excuse for activists to not be doing this incredibly simple and effective activism. We’ve been challenging the activists in other areas to take this up for months now, and they haven’t. Which of course just makes Keene a more attractive destination in comparison.

Thanks to Chris Muskus for being the driving force behind this amazingly successful FIJA outreach, as it enters it’s second year this August.

In the last year, my fellow activists and I have distributed hundreds of Fully Informed Jury Association pamphlets into the hands of potential jurors as they arrive at the courthouse for jury selection. Month after month, we gather on the first Monday in front of the Cheshire superior court in Keene, New Hampshire and offer FIJA information to every single person walking into the courthouse. We arrive at 8am when the doors open and stay until about 8:45am, fifteen minutes after the potential jurors are supposed to be there, just to make sure we reach all the late arrivals. About 80-90% of the people we approach will take the flier. Usually I’ll smile and say something like, “Good morning, would you like some free information on your rights as a juror?”, and hold out a trifold. That’s all it takes! (Read on …)

Here’s the letter that video journalist Dave Ridley wrote while imprisoned six days for recording video in a public court lobby:

“Outlaw Journalist” defies order to stop recording

July 9, 2009

It is said that silence is often louder than speech, that a voice quashed is more powerful than one left free.

So, as I undertake the third night of a six-day civil disobedience imprisonment, there is no urgent crush to communicate. But it is fitting to outline the events which led here and the cause which fires so many others to suffer a similar path. (Read on …)

The Hope Chapel on Rt 12 was vandalized recently. (Here is the story from WMUR.) The cowardly vandal(s) violated the church’s property with painted anarchy symbols and a large amount of their own preachy, anti-religious text, causing several thousand dollars worth of damage. Liberty minded people can debate amongst themselves over the meaning of the term “anarchist”, but such discussion is nothing more than academic “masterdebating”. You can talk until you are blue in the face about how anarchy really means “no rulers”, but when dangerous thugs smash storefront windows, throw molotov cocktails, vandalize property and call themselves anarchists to-boot, you’ve got a SERIOUS public relations problem on your hands.

I believe in rules on private property. I believe in peaceful, consensual interactions between human beings. I am a voluntaryist. I understand that others in this movement are still enamored (as I once was) by the “macho flash” feeling they get from calling themselves an “anarchist”, or by walking around wearing an anarchy symbol t-shirt, but look at the destruction and the people that symbol is associated with! I know, I know, you’re trying to rescue the term by showing that you are peaceful and respectful of others’ property, in hopes of changing people’s preconceived notions about it. While I understand where you are coming from, I think it’s as futile and counterproductive as walking around wearing a swastika t-shirt because you know that historically the symbol stands for good luck and you want to change peoples’ perceptions of it! (Read on …)

Here’s your chance to sell me on the notion so make it good. Bare in mind, however, that I’m a critical thinker and I’m looking for logical arguments without the usual presumptions like “It’s always been done this way.” If we invented really efficient and clean-running hovercrafts, it would be silly to cling to the idea of wheels just because that’s how it’s been done for thousands of years. I’m also tired of arguments from need which are irrelevant. It doesn’t matter how much we need unicorns if they don’t exist or voodoo spells if they don’t work. There’s no point in having a discussion about the benefits of unicorns and their healing and purifying magical powers until someone convinces me they exist or they can create them.
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There has of late been a number of forum threads with sometimes heated discussion about whether liberty activists should engage in defensive violence against government people. I think violence against those men and women calling themselves “the state”, even defensive, is the worst possible path we could take. Not only does using violence lower you to their level, it also is exactly what they are trained for. It’s certain death for you and will be used as an excuse to expand the state’s intrusion into everyone else’s lives. To expound on these ideas, I’d like to share this article from Ogre in this month’s New Hampshire Free Press. I felt it did a great job of summing up how I feel about this issue. If we are to evolve to a voluntary society, it must be done peacefully. There is no way to peace; peace is the way:

I’ve been thinking more about pacifism and how to combat this government that is clearly no longer Constitutionally- or Freedom-based.

I have to admit, I used to be what Russell referred to as a “gun cleaner,” though I’d never heard the term. I am quite skilled with firearms, and I have more than one. I had always vowed that the government would get me only after I fought back with firearms. I was (and am) perfectly willing to be killed by the government (because I know where I’m going after that time). However, after reading and watching so much of the freedom activities in NH, and certainly I’ve got to give Russell a lot of credit here (and I would Sam, too, only I really figured this out before Sam was kidnapped), I’ve changed my views, and I would encourage others to, as well. (Read on …)