From the Radio Free Michigan archives ftp://141.209.3.26/pub/patriot If you have any other files you'd like to contribute, e-mail them to bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu. ------------------------------------------------ [This article was written for "The Independent Family" a San Francisco Peninsula based home schooling newsletter] DUELING CAMEL'S NOSES "This message is for Roger Barker. [I'm a public servant with a government bureaucracy]. We have seen a bunch of fliers that has bunch of advertising, that has been stuck on different car windshields which have your name and number on it. And this is against all policies. And if we see someone doing this we will have to take some immediate action. So, if you know anything about this please cease and desist immediately. If you have any questions regarding this, please give me a call at [555-1111]. Once again, [I am a public servant], and we need to stop this activity immediately. Thank you." This message was on my answering machine after I returned from an afternoon of marketing my business. Prospects for my business could be found in a particular public parking garage. I placed business card sized announcements in the driver's side window of automobiles. This is a case of "dueling camel's noses." You have a camel and you let it put its nose under your tent to keep warm. Soon the camel takes advantage of the situation and lets itself in, upsetting the tent. This is similar to giving an inch and being taken for a mile. I have a right to speech and press and presumably, the right to distribute what I publish. The public has a right to a litter free environment and their freedom to go about their business must be respected. If I was allowed to distribute my flyers, how soon would it be before I might be thrusting large flyers in people's faces with evangelical zeal? I distributed my announcements for about an hour before a "public servant" suggested that I go to the police to explain what I was doing. The police have a legitimate interest in knowing who is wandering around a parking garage, looking in all the cars. While I don't think of this as an illegal activity, it is suspicious. The police said that I would need a permit to do what I was doing. Why do I need a permit? Black's Law Dictionary, 6th Edition, tells me that a permit is "A written license or warrant, issued by a person in authority, empowering the grantee to do some act not forbidden by law, but not allowable without such authority." Distributing business promotional flyers in a public parking garage seems to fall in this category. A warrant directs the doing of an act, such as a search warrant or an arrest warrant. If I am to get a permit, I am not getting a warrant_I'm getting a license. Let's look at the word license: "The permission by competent authority to do an act which without such permission would be illegal, a trespass, a tort or otherwise not allowable. ... Also, the written evidence of such permission." An administrator of the public parking garage probably does have the authority to issue a permit to allow me to distribute my leaflets. Question: Do I have legal protections to distribute my materials? Which takes precedent, my right to publish and distribute, or the administrator's rights and responsibilities over the garage? I am proposing to be in the garage doing something other than merely parking my car. Do I have the right to distribute my announcements or would this be considered to be trespassing? This is a good question, and I don't know what the answer is. The answer for my business card sized announcement may be that I am free to do it. The answer to "preventing the garage patrons from leaving the garage until they've heard my spiel" is probably no. Did you notice that license is a stronger word than permit? The activity under the permit is not necessarily illegal. The activity under the license seems to be. What does this suggest about Business licenses, marriage licenses, driver's licenses? Is it a flying permit or license? A boating license or permit? A fishing license or permit? What sort of permission are you looking for from the state in order to educate your children at home? Shouldn't it be the state certified teacher that earns *your* permission (license) to have the privilege of educating your children? Take another look at the first paragraph of this article. I felt quite threatened by this public servant. I imagined that when he said: "we will have to take some immediate action" and "we need to stop this activity immediately" he intended to prevent me from continuing my peaceful activity by coercive force. It bothers me that government agents seem to "shoot first, ask questions later." Is initiating coercive force against someone "illegal, a trespass, or a tort?" It's illegal isn't it? This public servant has a license to act on behalf of "The People of the State of California." I discovered another interesting word in Black's Law Dictionary: Dulocracy "A government where servants and slaves have so much license and privilege that they domineer." This public servant was clearly domineering over me. He was doing it on the basis of a license, a permission. In theory, the permission comes from "We, the People." We empower the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. The power to act is delegated from the top to the bottom. The public servant is presumed to be exercising the will of the people. Several other words are important here: Democracy "That form of government in which the sovereign power resides in and is exercised by the whole body of free citizens." Modern governments are representative democracies (too many people to all be involved in their own governing). While the electorate in most democracies is a minority of the whole population it is not distinguished from the non electorate by arbitrary or hereditary differences. Republic "That form of government in which the administration of affairs is open to all the citizens." And Republican Government "A government of the people; a government by representatives chosen by the people." Freedom The state of being free; liberty; self- determination; absence of restraint; the opposite of slavery. The power of acting, in the character of a moral personality, according to the dictates of the will, without other check, hindrance, or prohibition than such as may be imposed by just and necessary laws and the duties of social life." Liberty "Freedom from all restraints except such as are justly imposed by law. Freedom from restraint under conditions essential to the equal enjoyment of this same right by others; freedom regulated by law." One of the purposes of the Constitution for the United States is to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity." This is a key concept. The definitions of democracy and republic do not mention anything about a government of a limited power and scope. Liberty is the only word that includes the concept of responsibility; of recognizing and respecting the same rights of others. It's liberty that's worth fighting for, not democracy. Patrick Henry knew what he was talking about! In practice, the servants make up policies, rules and regulations. The servants sit in judgment of our behavior and the behavior of other servants. Only the ballot box, the jury box, and the opinion poll are where, "We the People" have a voice in our governing. I heard some information that suggests our votes are not counted accurately. If this is true, we wouldn't be living in a republic, would we? The judicial servants withhold jury nullification information from juries. This, too limits our ability to hold our servants accountable for their actions. The sovereign power no longer resides in the whole body of free citizens. It is exercised by our public servants. We must get permission from our public servants in order to work, to travel, to build on our property, to marry, to transact business_to perform basic necessities of life! Thus the United States is NOT a republic nor a democracy, but a dulocracy. End of Article I got all of the defiinitions from Black's Law Dictionary, 6th edition. Comparing definitions with the 4th edition, the distinctions between freedom and liberty, license and permit are blurred. The language used in the latest edition seems easier. The size type is all the same in the newest version. Marriage license is its own entry in the 6th edition, rather than a sub- entry of Marriage as it is in the 4th. Post Script: I called the "public servant." We had a pretty good conversation. I began by saying that it sounded like he had a very thick book he wanted to throw at me. He "lightened up," admitted that he had a home based business of his own. He suggested that I talk to two other people about promoting my business and said that if I had any problems or questions, I was welcome to call him back. Looking at old dictionaries can be very enlightening. How has "common law" changed? Dollar? Duty? Obligation? Tax? I remember Tupper Saussy distinguishing National Government from Federal Government. What did you find out? Anything interesting? roger.barker@hints.com The PC Tutor, TroubleShooter Boot up your Brain! Think Like a Computer Expert BTW, have you noticed that government is becoming obsolete? * RM 1.3 02732 * _ _ _ _ _ _ ////|||||||||||||| < domino effect in action! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet: roger.barker@toadhall.com (Roger Barker) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------ (This file was found elsewhere on the Internet and uploaded to the Radio Free Michigan archives by the archive maintainer. All files are ZIP archives for fast download. E-mail bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu)