4 March 2004
Dear Friends,
As most of you know, I usually don't pass these things on when they land in my in-box, but I cannot evade making an exception in the case of a letter by one John Wildman. Perhaps you too will elect to share what follows among your networks.
Saturday, February 28, 2004 21:44, John Wildman wrote: Subject: Sign of the times: "CHECKPOINTS EVERYWHERE" To Whom It May Concern: While driving in my district, I encountered a highway sign that, the more I think about it, the more it chills my blood (see attached photo). The sign may have been posted for some time, yet its significance never registered on me before. It was ostensibly a notice to those who drive "under the influence," and it simply said in large red letters, "CHECKPOINTS EVERYWHERE." I encountered more than one of these road signs in the course of my travel within a relatively small area. And so I began to wonder, are these signs being posted on roads everywhere, or only where I happen to reside? So I ask you: Are you, whoever you are, wherever you live, encountering highway signs introducing the idea, "CHECKPOINTS EVERYWHERE," where you live and work? Or is this only a local phenomenon where I live? These are my first questions. Others follow.
In either case, an official highway sign proclaiming
"CHECKPOINTS EVERYWHERE," and the condition it describes,
is a phenomenon one might have expected to see in Nazi
Germany, or in the former Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics - but surely not here in America!? That's my
next question.
Unfortunately, the answer is that anyone who has used an
airport in America since September 11, 2001 knows by
experience that "it can't happen here" is definitely no
longer applicable. It already has happened here, and is
happening here, and it's no joke. It is not a crime to
travel, and to be routinely shaken down like a criminal
just because one wants to move from here to there is
anything but a "joke." Therefore, I cannot pass over this
matter in silence. To do so is to give unvoiced approval
to what amounts to State Terrorism.
Here's the situation, if these "CHECKPOINTS EVERYWHERE"
signs are more than a local phenomenon, and even if
they're not. I mean, some "official" caused these signs to
be posted. So you, or I, or anyone, may be going about our
business, driving from point A to point B on some errend,
and we encounter a "CHECKPOINT." Our progress is arrested
without provocation or cause, and we are presumably
required to "produce our papers" and identify ourselves,
and do whaterver else may be demanded of us, by fellow
humans armed with lethal weapons. What are we supposed to
think? What do we do? We are automatically at a severe
disadvantage, because we are on our way somewhere, and
have not anticipated this unprovoked delay. We may thereby
be caused to be late for an important engagement. At the
very least, we are being stressed and inconvenienced,
possibly seriously, without cause or provocation. The
"officers" are already where they're "supposed to be."
They "have all day," if necessary.
The situation described, if actually enacted, and even the
highway signs that proclaim it, constitute an unprovoked
and blatent abrogation of any "social contract" that may
be imagined to exist between you, or I, or anyone, and
"our government." It is not in any "contractual agreement"
applicable to a "Citizen of the United States," or for that
matter, to a resident of planet Earth; for no one has a
"right" to force his or her will upon that of another
without provocation or cause. This is a principle
articulated clearly in the founding document of the United
States, the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, and
given "force of law" by the Constitution:
"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all
Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
- That to secure these Rights, Governments are
instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from
the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form
of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it
is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government, laying its
Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its
Powers in such Form as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their Safety and Happiness."
- Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
"We hold these Truths to be self-evident... ...all Men are
created equal... ...deriving their just Powers from the
Consent of the Governed...." "Self-evident Truths" are not
true because they are written, or because they are
enshrined within the text of historical and authoritative
documents. Documents can be destroyed, or lost, or
forgotten. "Self-evident Truths" are self-evident to
anyone, and applicable to everyone. Here are some more
questions.
*Is it not self-evident that any "governments" which do
not "derive their just Powers from the Consent of the
Governed" are not "governments" at all, but naked
tyrannies, and have no legitimacy whatsoever? If not,
then what justifies the U.S. Army's presence in Iraq?
*Does it not follow that any human who allies him or
herself with any such "governments," and acts to
"enforce" their policies, is complicit in "acts of
war" and "crimes against humanity," and has thereby
declared him or herself to be AT WAR with his or her
fellow humans, everywhere?
*Is it not a self-evident Right of anyone attacked
without provocation, to defend him or herself, or to
seek to evade such attack, by any available means?
*What "obligation" has any "citizen" to an institution
which adopts to itself the name, "government," but is
in practice a criminal syndicate?
*By what, or whom, are we "obligated" to "pay our
taxes" to such a rogue syndicate?
*By what, or whom, are we "obligated" to fight its
wars?
*By what, or whom, are we "obligated" to enforce its
"laws?"
*By what, or whom, are we "obligated" to obey its
"laws?"
*What "laws" are there in a country ruled without
"Consent of the Governed?"
*And again, are you, whoever you are, wherever you
live, encountering official highway signs proclaiming
"CHECKPOINTS EVERYWHERE," where you live and work?
*Or have you encountered actual "CHECKPOINTS" in your
own experience?
*Are any such signs, or "CHECKPOINTS," implemented with
your consent?
*Is "CHECKPOINTS EVERYWHERE" your idea of "legitimate
government?"
If you feel these questions are as important as I do,
perhaps you will share them with your correspondents.
Sincerely,
John Wildman
Friends, I will withhold, at least for the time being, my comments on the above, and simply share Wildman's letter with you, and post it on the "Dear Friends" page of the FDL. If readers of this letter wish to comment upon it, and share their comments generally, I will post such commentary to the same page, or to a dedicated page linked to it. If such is your wish, please make your intent clear, and whether you wish to be identified, or to have your comments posted anonymously.
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The communications you receive from me via e-mail will be brief, will not include any attachments, and will [with occasional minor exceptions, such as this one] merely inform subscribers that there is a new "Dear Friends" letter posted to this page; with possibly a brief description of its contents. That's about it.
Love, Peace, Joy, Now,
Harmon