You can view video footage of Andrew Carroll’s 13-mile march to jail in the latest episode of Free Minds TV (episode #113). Lauren and Patrick interview Andrew about his drug war protest and why he is turning himself into jail, and you can also see some of his supporters walking with him and driving support vehicles.
In January, 2009, Andrew Carroll held a plant in his hand and government people arrested him. The plant was a marijuana bud, and the government people were (and are) violent. The law enforcement officers were not shouting or jumping or hitting – they were calm and relatively pleasant to talk to – but a calm and well-spoken thug is a thug nonetheless.
Instead of thinking for themselves – instead of showing anywhere near the amount of courage that Andrew showed in publicly announcing his protest in advance – the law enforcement officers arrested his because he did something that words-on-paper somewhere said was a bad thing to do. They could have thought to themselves, “This guy is not hurting anyone, not threatening anyone, not damaging any property, not stealing anything, not committing fraud, not lying – not a single person even complained that they had a negative opinion of him standing here holding this plant. He is causing no harm at all. This law is a pointless one. We should leave him alone.” Instead, they arrested him because they either can’t or won’t think for themselves, or their understanding of what makes a peaceful society is dangerously distorted.
Robin Hood of Keene doesn’t rob anybody, but does like to help out those in need: particularly patrons of downtown Keene whose parking meters have expired. By adding extra coins, Robin Hood saves those patrons from the hassle and extra expense of parking citations given by the orders of the Crown of Keene and distributed by his sheriffs. After all, what business does the Crown of Keene have demanding money to park your car in a public place?
I’m one of Robin Hood’s merry men, and I’d like to tell you a story that happened to me the other day while carrying out Robin Hood’s mission. Two fellow merry men and I were checking the meters around Central Square when we found an expired one in front of Pepper Pete’s Hot Shop. I put in some coins, deposited a note on the car’s windshield to alert the driver, and was on my way. But as I left, I noticed Pepper Pete come out of his store and stand on the sidewalk. He said nothing but I was alert, because in the past Pepper Pete has accosted some merry men, accusing them of acting illegally and berating them for soliciting money.
I walked to the end of the street, finished my metering duties, and returned from whence I came, passing Pepper Pete again. Again, he said nothing. I was a little suspicious, so after I turned the corner, I stopped and peered back down the street through the window of the corner shop. I saw Pepper Pete walk to the car that for which I had deposited coins and remove my note.
I attended the Liberty Forum in Concord, New Hampshire in February of 2007 to find out what the Free State Project was all about. I wanted to meet people with similar views to mine – to actually know first-hand that there were others in the world like me – and to see the state, experience what winter was like, and get a feel for the cities in New Hampshire. I decided I liked it here; there were more liberty-loving people – very active ones – than I imagined, and I thought that living amongst them would be enjoyable.
But, while I had a strong understanding of the principles of liberty and a strong opinion about the way things “should” be, I had never acted on my beliefs before. I had never passed out FIJA literature, I had never refused to cooperate with a law enforcement officer, I had always filed my taxed, etc. I hadn’t even tried to educate my family (well, I gave up after a few futile arguments). Being active towards the achievement of liberty and towards educating others about it was completely foreign to me.
The Spring 2009 Free Keene Fest is coming soon! It will be held Saturday, May 23 – Memorial Day weekend – from Noon until 3:00p at Railroad Square in Keene (82 Main Street), and this year will be followed by a picnic/BBQ in a nearby park. Join us for an afternoon of liberty outreach and live music, and an evening of food and fun.
I realize this is not very much notice, but we wanted to have the festival before it got too hot, yet we wanted to wait until Keene’s trial for “assembly without a permit” was finished. (FYI: In February of this year, Keene cops charged me with “assembly without a permit” for organizing the Fall 2008 Keene Freedom Fest. As I showed up for their trial on May 1, the cop/prosecutor Eli Rivera told me they dropped their charges because the government says you need their permit if you claim exclusive use of Railroad Square but Eli said he could not prove we were using it exclusively. Because we weren’t! So that means that they likely won’t attack us for “assembly without a permit” again, but keep on your toes – they may attack us for other made-up reasons. 😉 )
We already have at least one band and a food vendor signed up. Here is a list of organizations that participated in the Fall 2008 festival: (more…)
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