Citizens for Legitimate Government

The People are Revolting:

A Guided Tour of the Second American Revolution

You really have to look past the insipid corporate-controlled media headlines and set your sights on more exotic fare to see it, but something big is happening in small places. It hasn’t happened in the magnificent walled fortress-city of Washington, DC – not yet. It hasn’t happened in the Hallowed Halls of Justice where the congenitally insane John Ashcroft scuttles between marbled pillars, periodically emerging to hurl 342 page tomes of tyranny at an unsuspecting populace. No not there. And it hasn’t happened on Capitol Hill where the people who have long ago ceased to represent us preen and posture for high-powered lobbyists and rapacious corporations.

But it’s happening deep in the heart of Austin, Texas. And it’s happening in the Strasburg Colorado School District. It’s happening in the Minnesota Governor’s Mansion and in San Francisco City Hall. It’s happening in Las Vegas, where the unforgiving desert gives way, if only briefly, to an oasis of neon and sweet, sweet indulgence. The entire state of Hawaii is doing it, as is tiny Jerome, Arizona.

It has bi-partisan support. Republican governor Robert Ehrlich has a hand in it, as does Democratic governor Tom Vilsack. Green Party mayor Jason West is definitely doing it, and the thousands of Libertarians who have slowly started migrating to New Hampshire are doing it en masse.

No, you wouldn’t know it by looking at CNN or the Washington Post or any website that ends in “.gov”, but praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, the American people are quietly going about the business of rebelling.

Did the rebellion begin with Jason Soren’s Libertarian secession project? Or did it begin when Ann Arbor, Michigan became the first city to initiate a resolution against John Ashcroft’s miscreant brain-child, the PATRIOT Act? Was George Bush’s missionary zeal for a One World Theocracy the impetus for this new American zeitgeist or did September 11, as the neo-cons love to say, change everything, (although maybe not quite in the way they had planned)? Perhaps the collective unconscious of the American people just finally reached critical mass. It’s hard to say. What is, however, certain is that every day, in a thousand ways, the resistance is growing.

In case you missed the headlines, allow me to introduce you the Second American Revolution.

We’ll begin our tour with the Free State Project (*Please see below for additional comments by Amanda Phillips, President, Free State Project). Birthed in July of 2001, it predates both September 11 and the PATRIOT Act, so we cannot jump to the conclusion that George Bush’s incessant meddling in state’s rights was solely responsible for the project. The writing was on the wall, true, but the worst was yet to come. Nevertheless, the Bush administration’s complete disregard for the Bill of Rights probably hasn’t hurt business at the Free State Project’s website. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the project, allow me to quote from Mr. Soren’s seminal essay, “Announcement: The Free State Project.”

“What I propose is a Free State Project, in which freedom-minded people of all stripes (libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, pacifists, even people who just call themselves liberals or conservatives – the only requirement is that you pledge that you will work to reducing government to the minimal functions of protecting life, liberty and property), establish residence in a small state and take over the state government.”

In the last three years, the project has selected a state, (New Hampshire), grown its roster to 5000+ members, and secured a friend in the current governor of New Hampshire, Craig Benson, who says he shares many of the free-stater’s ideals. The Free State project is, in fact, a de facto secession from an increasingly over-bearing and intrusive government. If that isn’t revolutionary, I’m not sure what is.

Next stop on our freedom tour is Ann Arbor, Michigan where City Council members, concerned about the effect of the PATRIOT Act on the civil liberties of their large Muslim community, initiated a resolution that reaffirmed the city’s commitment to uphold the Constitutional rights of their citizens. The Council passed the resolution on January 7, 2002, and they were shortly followed by the city of Denver, Colorado and several municipalities in Massachusetts which passed similar resolutions. For those who doubt the power of the internet to create and sustain a movement, the remarkable concept of a Bill of Rights Defense Committee jumped from the Heartland to the West Coast and then crossed the continent into New England in two short months. To date, 264 cities, towns, and counties, along with three entire states, have passed similar resolutions and although, as ABC News reported when the phenomenon started gathering steam, the resolutions are largely symbolic, they represent a determination on the part of the American public to remain free – and that resolve is as strong and as vibrant as the Bush administration’s desire to relieve us of those burdensome civil liberties.

From Ann Arbor, we resume our tour of the Second American Revolution in Maryland where, on May 22, 2003, Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich signed a bill to protect medical marijuana patients from serving jail time. Defying pressure from the Bush administration’s distinctly deranged Drug Czar, John Walters, Ehrlich stated simply that his support of medical marijuana was a position he had held for “many, many years,” and while the bill he signed stopped short of legalizing medicinal pot, it's enactment sure ruined Czar Walters’ buzz. Walters, if you recall, has referred to medical marijuana “medicinal crack.” To a man who obviously believes that denying terminally ill patients access to pain-relieving substances is all in the best interests of national security (or is that job security?), Ehrlich’s actions were a real slap in the face. We expect the Governor is on a growing list of Republicans who will not be receiving the 2004 Commemorative jackboots at this year’s national convention.

Mr. Ehrlich, of course, is not the only one taking this particular battle to City Hall. Santa Cruz citizens did it, too – literally. In September of 2002, two weeks after the DEA raided the farm of an area medical marijuana grower, Santa Cruz city council members joined forces with medical marijuana activists to distribute pot to patients, who on doctor’s advice, were registered with the city to receive it as part of their treatment regimen. Distribution occurred on the steps of City Hall with upwards of a thousand people in attendance. Santa Cruz is one of a growing list of municipalities and states where medical marijuana is not illegal. Other locations include San Francisco, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Colorado. Nevada, Oregon and Washington, and we expect that if the free-staters are successful, there will be some changes in New Hampshire drug laws as well.

But the revolution does not stop there. Consider the following headline “States Consider Defying Law to Import Drugs.” Introducing the much-needed element of common sense into the FDA’s draconian prescription drug policy, Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, stated, “There’s just no evidence of danger as applied to reputable Canadian pharmacies. They [the FDA] have all these scare tactics about other kinds of pharmacies, even the ones in the United States that are on the internet.” And despite dire warnings from Peter Pitts, associate commissar – I mean commissioner – of the FDA, a man who presumably does not have to chose between dying of starvation and dying from a disease that requires costly medication, Governor Pawlenty proceeded to erect a website informing the citizens of Minnesota how and where to obtain Canadian pharmaceutical products, complete with on-line order form. Says Pawlenty, (a bit mischievously, we suspect), “We’ve checked out a couple of pharmacies, we think they are safe and reputable, and we’re providing them [Minnesota residents] with information. I don’t think that’s something the federal government should get their undies all in a bunch about.” Needless to say, Governor Pawlenty, another Republican, will not be getting his Commemorative jackboots this year either.

Other states and municipalities are in revolt over this particular issue as well. New Hampshire, Boston and Springfield, Massachusetts are also encouraging their citizens to seek low-cost Canadian medication, and we hear that Governor Pawlenty was quite the hit at this year’s Governors Association meeting where he touted his plan.

Our next stop on Freedom Road is the state of Utah, where the same blessed alliance of liberals and conservatives that brought you the Bill of Rights Defense Committees are standing together to leave the “No Child Left Behind Act” behind. Decrying the Act as a conglomeration of unfunded mandates, Utah conservatives have introduced legislation which would allow the state to opt out of any of its provisions not fully funded by the feds. Liberals, who do not care for either the high stakes testing aspect of the Act, or the provisions which allow military recruiters unfettered access to impressionable young minds, are supportive of the conservatives’ efforts. Utah joins a growing list of states who are also in the process of ditching the all, or parts of, the No Child Left Behind Act. Vermont, Virginia, Hawaii, Alaska, Arizona and New Mexico are all considering similar legislation. Some individual school districts have even rejected funds from the feds in order to maintain control of their education system. Said Bill Powell, Superintendent of Strasburg School District in Colorado, the No Child Left Behind Act is “the most damaging, intrusive piece of legislation to enter education in my 32 years as a public school administrator.” Putting his money where his mouth is, the Superintendent recently turned back a $32,453 grant from the feds ostensibly earmarked to help struggling students. Since the only help this administration is interested in extending to our children is help transforming them into brainwashed cannon-fodder, we think Mr. Powell made a wise choice.

The latest, and most high profile, front in the Second American Revolution is being fought at the altar, as New Paltz, NY mayor, Jason West, and San Francisco mayor, Gavin Newsome take the gay marriage battle to the feds. While the theocrats in the White House are promising hellfire, brimstone and unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments, they can expect to be met with fierce opposition from the same coalition of liberals and Constitutional conservatives that are fighting against the No Child Left Behind Act and the PATRIOT Act.

As more and more American citizens cast off polarizing political labels and discover issue-specific common ground, we may indeed find the George Bush was a “uniter” after all, albeit one who has the ability to cause vast numbers of people to set aside their differences and revolt. State and local officials, who are much more accessible to their constituencies than the “will work for corporate kickbacks” gang in Washington, DC have been driven to join the revolution based on the very real day-to-day needs of the people who have their political futures in hand. That is one of the reasons that local activism can be so very effective.

As you prepare for your March 20^th demonstrations and events, please do not forget to keep your local officials in the loop about what you are doing and why. And also continue to communicate with them, at every available opportunity, the needs of the communities in which you live. Devise action plans with other activists and work to reach out to educate your neighbors about the issues that will impact them directly such as the environment they live in, the schools their children attend, and the health care they receive. As we write this, we have just learned that genetically modified crops have been banned in Mendocino, California. This is just another example of the revolution that can happen when communities stand together.

So pack those town hall meetings, folks, and show up at those assembly meetings. The Second American Revolution is being fought – and won – in your own back yard.

*Dear Ms. Schiffler,

Thanks so much for your mention of the Free State Project in your great article about the second American Revolution. I enjoyed the essay very much.

I would, however, like to ask for two small corrections in paragraph 5.

First, we are not "big-L" Libertarian. That is, we are in no way associated with the Libertarian Party. Many of our members are indeed Libertarians, but many also consider themselves Democrat, Republican, Green, Independent, and (gasp) Anarchist! We prefer terms like "small-l" libertarian, liberty-oriented, or liberty-minded.

Second, we are not a secessionist movement. We seek to integrate with the society & culture of New Hampshire and influence the culture in a more liberty-oriented direction. We have never advocated secession, and so we'd rather not be labeled a secessionist group. Perhaps "migratory" would be a better description?

Aside from these two things, everything else looked wonderful. I'm so glad that CLG exists and that you are writing great articles for them. Thanks again for mentioning us. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the Free State Project or if you would like more information for future articles.

In Liberty,

Amanda Phillips
President
Free State Project
aphillips@freestateproject.org