Tuesday, August 2, 2011

A Tyrant Judge and his Florida Fiefdom

I do not advocate violence. I believe it to be counterproductive. There are times, however, when it seems that one must exercise some form of force to restrain those who think they are superior to the rest of us and deserve special privileges in order to prevent them from doing harm. This can be called self defense or intervention in the defense of another peaceful person who may be harmed. I also consider myself to be a reasonable person, so I am willing to consider all sides of a story. What I have come to discover as I have aged is that the common folk have become too willing to simply bow to authority and obey authority figures without question while those same authority figures overstep their bounds time and again and are almost never held accountable for their actions and/or bad decisions.

Recently, Chief Judge Belvin Perry signed an order prohibiting the distribution of jury nullification literature outside the Orange County courthouse in Florida. There are many things wrong with this order on the surface. It extends the power that a judge is supposed to exercise in a reasonable manner to outside the purview of his courtroom. It violates the individual's right to free speech on public property where it is most necessary and effective. It violates the principle of separation of power by allowing a single individual to write the law, as well as judge it, and bypasses the power and processes of the legislative branch. Perhaps most important, yet less obvious, it takes away an important tool used for centuries by humans to inform their fellow human beings of the power they have to determine their own destiny. This is, in my opinion, the real reason why this order was written. Chief Judge Belvin Perry does not want individuals well educated about their power when it comes to law polluting the pool of potential jurors with people who will judge the law itself. He wants sheeple who will respect his authority and mindlessly follow without question his instructions.

Chief Judge Belvin Perry cares not for the law. He cares not for the rights of individuals. He cares not for principle or preserving the foundations upon which our nation was based. He cares not what you or I or any of the common folk think or feel. He cares only for his own ego. He cares only for his own power. He thinks he is superior to the rest of us and knows best what we can and can't do, and he's willing to throw people in jail in order to prove it. It seems to me that he feels he is supreme in his own fiefdom and his word is law, not that he is a servant of the people sitting in judgment of government agents who may violate individual rights.

As evidence of the above statement I cite the arrest and conviction of one Mark Schmidter. It wasn't enough that he was arrested for handing out pamphlets, a victimless crime that harms no one but merely offers knowledge to others, he was convicted and sentenced to 151 days in jail. In my opinion, the judge committed multiple crimes that harmed someone by throwing a man in jail when he did nothing wrong. Chief Judge Belvin Perry found Mark Schmidter guilty of "indirect criminal contempt," whatever that means. What it amounts to is a system where a tin pot judicial lord can use some poorly worded law that can be broadly interpreted to throw anyone who challenges his authority in a jail cell, in some cases indefinitely. What it amounts to is creating political prisoners from people who have a difference of opinion and are exercising their natural right to speak out against injustice. This is not what America was supposed to be about. This is what every tyrannical government in human history is about.

As I said above, I do not advocate violence, but in this case I think it is Chief Judge Belvin Perry who should be thrown in a jail cell. I think he should have been charged with treason for violating his oath to uphold the Constitution. I think the bailiffs and court police who also take oaths to uphold the Constitution should have refused to follow the judge's order to throw Mr. Schmidter and jail and should have arrested the judge instead. But the ranks of officials who are supposed to protect individuals from having their rights violated by the leviathan state are no longer filled with courageous men and women who understand the principles of liberty, they are filled by vacant eyed, salivating, power crazed bureaucrats waiting for the order to bust heads and engage in the very behaviors they are supposed to protect against.

Unfortunately, Chief Judge Belvin Perry will likely never be held accountable for his action. Like his brethren in the law enforcement community, he is treated differently within the justice system than the rest of us. He has the privilege of being able to break the law and harm individuals with impunity. The best that we can hope for at this moment is that Mr. Schmidter is vindicated on appeal and that Chief Judge Belvin Perry is unseated as a judge, or relieved of his post, or at the very least giving a slap on the wrist for this obvious violation of Constitutional law. I doubt very much even that will happen.

It is my hope that even more people will now show up to support Mr. Schmidter and his efforts. It is my hope that even more activists will now show up at the Orange County courthouse in Florida and pass out jury nullification pamphlets to prospective jurors. It is my hope that the common folk will demand the release of Mr. Mark Schmidter and the resignation of Chief Judge Belvin Perry. I would like to see so many people demanding the restoration of respect for their rights that these bureaucratic officials are forced to yield.

It has become obvious that the officials care not to follow their own rules. They constantly violate not only their oaths, but their own regulations they supposedly set up to ensure accountability. If they can violate the rules governing their behavior with impunity, then the common folk ought to be able to do the same. It remains to be seen how far the common folk will allow the bureaucrats to push the envelope. It remains to be seen how long the common folk will allow these violations to continue to take place. I have seen evidence, however, that the masses are awakening to their plight and more and more action is being taken to correct the usurpation that has occurred. It is my hope that even the bureaucrats will one day be able to see the flaws inherent in the system as it is and help to peacefully create an open, free, taxless, voluntary society.

My archived articles are available at szandorblestman.com. Please visit there and make a donation to help support me and my efforts. I also have an ebook available entitled "The Ouijiers" by Matthew Wayne.

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