This is cross-posted from my new blog on www.firstcoastnews.com here in Jacksonville.

It seems to this old codger that the world has become increasingly dangerous and senseless as I have aged. Or maybe I’m just getting senile, neh? These days, the foundations of our system of government have been undermined by the very people who have sworn to defend them. The President has freely, indeed proudly admitted to, even boasted of actions he has taken in office which are directly forbidden by the Constitution, which he swore in his Oath of Office to “preserve, protect and defend.” Do I need to list these here? As just one example there’s his policy of imprisoning so-called “enemy combatants”, some of them US citizens imprisoned without trial, without charges filed, without legal representation and keeping them in prison for years in defiance of their right of habeas corpus, one of the most fundamental rights of our judicial system, a right enshrined in the Constitution as part of the supreme law of the land, going all the way back to the earliest times in the history of English Common Law. Congress, whose own oaths of office require that they act to remove a President and Vice-President who are breaking the law, have refused to do so; the last Congressional election put into office a new set of legislators elected presumably to correct the abuses of the current administration. This they have refused to do; almost the first word on the subject was that impeachment was “off the table.” Thus they have also failed in their Oaths of Office and made themselves accomplices in the illegal actions of this government. This is an extremely disappointing performance from those who are supposed to be the guardians of “the general welfare” and “the blessings of liberty.” Yet where is the outrage? It is business as usual in Washington, when it ought to be a spirited defense of the laws that we, the people have chosen with which to govern ourselves.

In addition to the political meltdown, there is the spiritual meltdown of modern Christianity. This has been going on for quite some time now and is getting constantly worse. The teachings of the various branches of modern Christianoid churches have more and more abandoned the precepts and commandments of their Holy Bible to introduce what Paul the Apostle called “doctrines of devils”, motivated not by the love of God, but by hatred for their fellowman and the habit of condemning those with whom they disagree, despite the clear prescription of “Judge not that you be not judged,” which we are told is a divine commandment. When has God ever announced that he planned to outsource judgment (which He proclaims to be his prerogative alone) to self-appointed judges who consider themselves competent to do God’s job for Him, since He is not smiting “sinners” quickly enough for them? Would they judge the God whom they claim to worship and obey? Why is there no great outcry to reject such Unchristian lack of compassion? Once again, where is the outrage?

Yet there is a ray of hope in sight. I have just been watching a bit of the Opening Ceremonies from the Olympic Games in Beijing. The vision of all those hundreds of thousands of people gathered together to join in a peaceful athletic contest shows that there is hope for mankind still. The fact that people around the globe could watch the pageantry reminds me of just how many of us there are. And in the age of the Internet, the World Wide Web, the Iphone and satellite linkages, it is clear that there are simply too many of us for any government, corporation, conspiracy, clique or media cabal to impose their will on us for long. All we need to do is to make up our minds that we will no longer put up with tyrannies and we will have the means to be free (if we want to be free, that is). No matter how many guns and bombs they have, they can’t kill all of us, they can’t jail all of us, they can’t force us to agree with them. All we need do is to say, “No!” Think about it. If we all agree to demand responsible government, the oppressors are ultimately helpless. Should even a sizeable number of the citizens make clear their objections to public policies, they cannot be silenced or put down so long as there is a working communications network in place. And let’s face it folks. if they try to destroy the communications systems, they are cutting their own throats/ (Wouldn’t that be nice of them, very accommodating). If they were to shoot every citizen in the country, who would they govern? And what is a government with no populace to govern? The people will march, not in the streets, but online, in their electronic communications systems. The great revelation of the Communication Age is simply that the people will have their say regardless of the dictators and their guns and jails. There have been many attempts by various governmetnts to limit or control the Internet, but all have failed. The Internet is now simply too vast and too decentralized to be controlled by any group of opressors who are unable to devote to such a suppression the limitless time it would require. How many people in the history of the world have published a book? Not many among the billions who now live or have lived on this planet. When books had to be copied by hand, there were few books and they were precious, easy to control. When the printing press debuted, it became harder to suppress any information a government wanted kept under cover. It became so cheap and easy to produce books that very soon they were being churned out much faster than anyone could read them–faster than *everyone* could read them. It was often said that “Freedom of the press belongs to the man who owns one.” Yet now the Internet has crashed the cost of publishing to virtually nothing. Anyone who has something to say and a computer at hand (or even access to a computer) can publish whatever he likes. It can’t be stopped by any legal power in any nation. Strike a blow for freedom; speak up, voice your grievances against your rulers. The dirty little secret they are doing their best to hide from you is that they need us far more than we need them. They were put in office to assist us in our enjoyment of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When they cease to do that, we have the right as well as the obligation to our own interests, to “alter or to abolish [the government] and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to [us] shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” (With special thanks to Mr. Thos. Jefferson, Esq.)

We will prevail in the end. We will demand justice! Honest government! Honest elections. The Rights of Man for each and every human being on the face of this great, round world. Free at last! Free at last! Great God Almighty, we are free at last! Now all we need is to claim our freedom.

Any suggestions?

With love under will,

Bob, aka Adastra,
The Wizzard of Jacksonville