Today, I paid a visit, under duress of course, to Keene “district court”. Video of the event will be posted to FreeKeene later on, and you can hear audio and my thoughts on tonight’s Free Talk Live. Unfortunately, this morning “judge” Edward Burke interrupted me before I could get to the appreciative comments I had intended to share with him. I was inspired to write him a letter with my thoughts, especially after one of the “court” bureaucrats told me that I “wasn’t allowed” to communicate with Mr. Burke. Considering I have not consented to their process at all, and there is no evidence of an agreement between us, I’m not sure how that particular bureaucrat could make such a claim. I’m presuming she was uninformed. Here is my open letter to Edward Burke. I will be sending a signed copy to Mr. Burke via private delivery signature service.
Mr. Burke,
Earlier today, I had intended to tell you of my appreciation for some of the decisions you have made recently. I will do so now, as I have the opportunity. I’d like to thank you for your recent “not guilty” decision in Nick Ryder’s “speeding” case, your sensible decision to allow multiple recording devices into your “court”, allowing camera panning, and the reasonable ways you handled Russell Kanning and David Krouse’s “driving without registration” cases. Also, a while back I was pleased with how you handled David Manning’s “illegal U-turn” situation. You appear to be a reasonable man and I hope this letter finds you and approachable mood.
Before I continue, I’d like to apologize for the rather unusual situation you have been put in. I do not know you, but I would like to imagine that in your private life you are very nice man who is appreciated by your many friends and family. The situation I refer to is one you’re probably already aware of. I imagine you’ve been advised on the fact that liberty activists have been moving to town here in Keene. You’ve no doubt noticed us in your courtroom as most of us remain seated when you enter. I hope you understand, we are just doing our jobs. One of our jobs is to stand up, or in this case sit, in support of others who are being targeted for “consensual crimes”. Unfortunately, we do not have enough numbers to operate regular sittings in your “court”, otherwise you would see us outside the occasion when your “business associates” decide to do their “business” with one of our friends or associates.
I realize your “business associates” are just doing their jobs and you’re just doing your job as “judge” of the Keene “district court”. Unfortunately, the job you are doing is playing a decisive role (“judge”) in the part of a system that leads to the harming of uncounted innocent lives. I have admittedly not researched your case history, but I am familiar with my personal experience observing cases in your courtroom. I know for certain that you have been the man whose decisions have resulted in peaceful people having their freedom stripped from them by men with guns who put them in cages. This, I do not appreciate, and I know I’m not alone.
I can promise you that more liberty activists will be coming to Keene. As you can tell from your experience, this means things are going to change, more than they already have. I’d like to make a an unsolicited suggestion on how to handle these changes:
Please stop hearing cases that do not involve a victim. If you would do this, you would likely never see another liberty activist in your courtroom again. Plus, you’d be saving a lot of people a significant amount of money and time. I understand that part of your job is probably to raise revenue for the “City of Keene”. However, I would rather your job be arbitrating disputes involving allegedly damaged parties, and awarding restitution, or in extreme cases, incarcerating. If that described the job you were doing, people would likely be singing your praises rather than protesting.
If you choose continue to hear cases involving “consensual crimes”, prepare yourself for more activists paying more attention to the job you do. The liberty movement in New Hampshire is decentralized. I cannot control nor predict the actions of those activists who choose to focus their efforts in Keene. You can expect all kinds of peaceful outreach and protest. We are changing hearts and minds. Perhaps yours will be included. Many of us have a vision for a 100% consensual society. I invite you to learn more about how we can get from here to there.
You have several choices, those I could think of are listed here from best to worst:
- Stop hearing cases without a victim. This choice allows you to make history, as the first government judge to only decide cases against those who have harmed others. Peaceful people will retain their freedom, time, and money. We will all be wealthier as a result.
- Continue enforcing bad laws, while being more reasonable in the few cases involving liberty activists, their friends, and associates. This option buys you and “the state” some time. You get to continue “business” as usual and minimize bad publicity. Rest assured, the activists will keep coming in anyway, and government people will eventually have to start “doing business” just like the rest of us. On a consensual basis.
- Crack down on liberty activists. While this option would likely satisfy some in the short-term, (For instance, this morning, one of my associates overheard one of your security bureaucrats suggesting that liberty activists all be thrown in jail.) it would only result in a very short-term existence for the legitimacy of “the state”. Like Obi-Wan in Star Wars, if you strike us down by putting us in cages, our ranks will grow stronger and faster than you can imagine.
I hope you make the right choice. The world is watching.
Ian Freeman
FreeKeene.com BloggerP.S. A portion of the appreciation I describe in the first paragraph was going to be the fourth sentence I spoke to you today, but you interrupted right before I got to it. I fully expected to be interrupted, so I’m sorry I didn’t make it the first sentence.
UPDATE 10/30: UPS Reports the letter delivered:
Tracking Number: 1Z A17 5T8 03 5464 736 0
Service: GROUND
Weight: .10 Lb
Shipped/Billed On: 10/28/2008
Delivered On: 10/29/2008 11:18 A.M.
Delivered To: KEENE , NH , US
Location: FRONT DOOR
