Before I begin, I’d like to share a brief quote from an article by the Keene Sentinel’s Phil Bantz:
“At least 95 percent of all cases are settled by plea negotiations,” Keene defense lawyer Paul G. Schweizer said. “Plea bargains are absolutely essential to the judicial system.”
Without plea deals, the courts, jails and prisons would become clogged with defendants and inmates.
“As a practical matter, we would have to build 10 new courthouses in Keene if we took everyone to trial,” he said. “We would have to hire five times as many police officers and prosecutors. The judicial system would come to a screeching halt.”
Please take a moment and think about that quote. It reveals an Achilles’s heel of the state. Their system is counting on you to go with the flow.
“Just take the plea, pay up, and we’ll make this go away.”, say the government aggressors. Naturally, people eagerly take the “deal”. I can’t blame anyone for wanting to minimize the harm that the state is inflicting upon them and their loved ones.
However, I’d like to encourage them take a longer view. The state agents distract their victims with what appears in the moment to be relief from their violent extortion, so the victims, in a rush to end the violence, actually extend it and contribute to its worsening. It is precisely this process of going along to get along, ponying up, bending over, and obeying that has gotten us where we are. We have strangers telling us every little detail of what we can and can’t do with our lives, regardless of whether anyone is hurt from our choices. They won’t ever stop, either, until YOU stop obeying, at least a little bit. There’s no need to go full-on 100% noncooperation. A lot of people each doing a little noncooperation can make for dramatic change.
Without noncooperation, we know the drill. The system, every year brings new statutes and regulations. More police. More bureaucrats. More CONTROL. Every two or four years, the same excuses are trotted out. “It was the red/blue team! Vote for OUR team for real change!” Every two to four years, frustrated people choose the alleged lesser evil in the hopes that something good will come out of it. All the while, none of us are getting any younger, or freer.
There is an answer, but few wish to hear it. Still fewer wish to implement it. Mass noncooperation and civil disobedience. The lawyer quoted in the beginning of this piece made it clear. A small percentage of people taking cases to trial, even parking tickets, will back the courts up significantly. Recent news stories reveal the courts here in New Hampshire are already so backed up that they have to take unpaid furlough days! They are literally teetering on the precipice and could easily lessen their caseload yet they continue to aggress against peaceful people. They don’t know how to do things any differently. Justice is not their primary task – instead it is feeding off the lifeblood of the productive class. Every person busted for possession, speeding, parking, open container, bicycling on the sidewalk, and the myriad of other non-crimes are having the product of their labor extorted by this inhumane system as they obediently slave away to pay the state’s arbitrary fines.
What if 10-15% of people abused by the state decided to stop going along to get along when it came to their dealings with the government people? Heck, what if only 5% stopped cooperating with the aggressors? The court would load up with cases and the bureaucrats would actually have to work more than they ever have. It’s not likely they’d stop ticketing people, certainly not initially, but it seems likely they’d eventually drop the charges of people who decided to go to trial, presuming there were enough of them. Word would spread to the other victims of the state’s aggression, and soon only the most ignorant and obedient subjects would continue to lick the boot of their masters. Indeed, the more people doing disobedience and noncooperation, even a little bit, the more will be encouraged to join in. Of course, this is the trick, because there is clear risk involved, and people are trained to be risk-averse, it can be very challenging finding people to do this necessary work. It’s necessary, because begging for freedom is not going to achieve it, and it never has. Working in the system pits your hopes and money into a system controlled by the people calling themselves “the state”. No wonder politics has never resulted in the rolling back of the government.
You may say, “That’s fine, but I can’t afford to go to jail. I might lose my job, and my family depends on me.” Fair enough. While I might like to see a world where companies give people a break for heroically going to jail, jail is not a requirement of civil disobedience and noncooperation. It’s enough on your part to JUST TAKE IT TO TRIAL. Whatever “it” is. Taking their plea “deal” is just giving them a break. Take it to trial. If you lose, and you probably will, then you can likely take the community service option, or offer to pay any levied fines to a favorite local charity (If the robed people won’t accept this offer, they will look quite nasty. So far it has been accepted whenever offered.) Those are two options you have besides jail that in no way enrich the coffers of the state and only add costs to their enforcement process. Still you may fear they won’t give you those options, and I suppose there’s always that chance, however slim. Like I said, risk is involved, but significant things in life do not come without risk. Despite my attempts at persuasion, if you still can’t even bring yourself to little noncooperations like refusing the census outright, then instead how about giving to a fund that gives support or even money to the people with the courage to make a stand? I bet noncooperation and disobedience would be lots more likely if the victims of government aggression actually got paid in the end.
Arrested or ticketed for some non-crime? Refuse to plea, take it to trial, refuse to pay the state, and not only do you get a lawyer paid for, but you also get a check when it’s over! How great would that be? If that wouldn’t encourage noncooperation, I don’t know what would! Or, if you are put in jail, imagine if the rent was paid and your family and pets are taken care of while you are in the local jail (or “spiritual retreat”, as some have taken to calling it). Eventually, these ideas could become a reality with enough people contributing to the CDEvolution fund.
Remember, without your obedience the state has nothing left in their corner. One might protest that claim by pointing at the weapons of the state agents and their apparent willingness to use them. However, what good are their guns if they actually have to shoot lots of peaceful people? Who will they extract money and obedience from if they slaughter their “subjects”? (That’s their term for you by the way – just listen to a police scanner. “Citizen” is just a cover word to make you think something more high-minded is going on.) Disobedience and noncooperation work, but they are pretty useless if you are alone. In that case you really will be cut down by the aggressors.
Disobedience is most powerful in tandem with others. That has been proven in the past with other movements, and has been proven again recently in Keene with the 420 celebrations. Dozens of people acting free and weathering a handful of arrests have created a cannabis freedom zone every day at 4:20 in Central Square! It’s been a tremendous success, with 0 dollars spent in-the-system, and countless dollars given in free publicity by various media!
Civil disobedience and noncooperation strike at the root of statism. Is there room for politics? Sure there is. Can anyone argue politics as more effective toward liberty, per dollar spent, than noncooperation and disobedience? I don’t think so. Time will bear this out, especially as more concentrate in NH and join the proud ranks of the disobedient and noncooperative.
If you aren’t in New Hampshire around hundreds of other liberty-minded activists (and soon thousands), what hope have you of really affecting change toward a voluntary society? If you love liberty, join the Free State Project (it’s free, of course), come on up and bring your activism and ideas here where we can actually make a difference, together! Here are 111+ reasons to move to Keene, New Hampshire’s Liberty Activism Destination!
Thanks for reading!
