|
|
||
Who Is the Judge When Governments Commit Crimes?
hen a city, or country, appoints sentries, and they turn their guns against the city, who is proper judge of this group of men? This presupposes an earlier question: ‘Once the city becomes aware of the treachery, what is the next step?’ When we tell our friend, or neighbor, about this treachery, what do we tell him to do – tell his friends and neighbors? Is that all? I mean, if all we do is tell one another about a treachery committed against us, what’s the point? There has to be something beyond this.
In a society where men are not accustomed to bended knees, the purpose of telling others is intended to eventually lead to punishment of perpetrators and recovery for victims. When governments commit crimes, who are the proper investigators – the proper prosecutors – the proper judges – and who properly enforces such judgments? Shall we seek redress thru the process of voting? The enemy will parade twenty candidates before you, and each will tell you exactly what you want to hear. You will vote for them. They will win office; and immediately forsake their campaign promises. It’s real easy; you’ve seen endless examples of it. By this process, people give power to perverted dandies and bandits. It is the way of all elections. It doesn’t work. Shall we write letters to elected officials – I mean, those dandies and bandits that voters put into office? To the man with a gram of reason, this question answers itself. It doesn’t work. Shall we seek redress by impeachment of officials that contributed to such grievances? Impeachment has to be done by Congress. But, remember, Congressmen bought or lied their way into office. These are the people who mandated, aided, or benefited from many or all grievances you could possibly name. It doesn’t work. Shall we seek redress from judges? These received their offices by appointment and approval of those dandies and bandits that voters put into office. It doesn’t work. The day will come in every man’s life when he has to face the reality that, no matter how deeply he bends his knees, he cannot persuade bandits to hang or drown themselves. Our history books are destitute of such examples. So, what’s left? The day is common, whether it comes in the life of a man or the life of a society. There comes a time in the life of every society when those who would be free have to take matters into their own hands. The time is two hundred years over due. The instrument waiting for us is the little-understood right of petition. It is not actually a right at all; it is a complex of rights. The right of petition has at least six component rights: of assembly; of expression (speech and press); of investigation; of prosecution; of judgment; and of enforcement of such judgments. There is more: the right of petition is not a right at all: it is a power – the power of sovereignty. It is the right – or power – by which all other rights are secured, and governments are made accountable. All these rights are exercised thru the mechanism of constitutional assemblies; it is impossible to exercise, or secure, these rights as individual citizens. In other words, without fully functional assemblies, the right of petition, and all our other rights, exist only as ink on a piece of paper, or vibrations in the air: our rights have no security, and bureaucrats commit crimes with complete impunity. |
