On Mon, 18 Sep 1995, Christian Wettergren wrote:
| >"The basic idea behind the movement," says | >University of Oregon history professor Richard Brown, "is | >'popular sovereignty,' that people are above the law. | >These people are alienated from the legal system. To some | >extent it sounds like they're also trying to settle | >personal scores."
I suddenly got very cold.
I thinnk the world has seen enough of 'revolutionary justice', both in the Soviet Union; there are some fascinating passages of Lenin about avoiding the bourgouise invented 'justice' concept, and that the revolution was well 'above' that whole thing,
and im Germany.
And I guess in current China.
When the people and the govering establishement has lost contact this much, you're in for trouble.
(Ok, remember I'm a dumb Swede, that still happens to believe that State and People doesn't have to be enemies. And I do believe in a sensible dialog between different interest groups etc etc. Flame away, I'm just dumb anyway. ;-))
/Christian
There has been much handwringing today over some poor guys out west who have been holding their own "common law courts," along with wonderment that they lack faith in the American justice system. In the last year we've seen in the national news: * FBI and BATF murdering, lying, & tampering with evidence. (Waco/ Ruby Ridge hearings / WTC bombing trial /etc.) * Cops confiscating cash from citizens in Atlanta, and pocketing it. * Cops fabricating evidence wholesale in Philadelphia. * Cops admitting to beating people in LA. * Cops from NYC having drunken riots in D.C. * Cops from around D.C. beating a suspect - later found to be innocent - until he was comatose. * Cops having a shootout - among themselves - in AZ. * Cops raping and murdering in New Orleans. In several of these cases, little or no punishment resulted. A couple of local incidents, in Knoxville, TN: * Several months ago, the local paper (Knoxville News-Sentinel) revealed that jailers at the city/county jail are in the habit of hanging prisoners by their wrists until their hands turn black. Those that are really disfavored are also forced to wear a vomit-filled hood. To my knowledge, no one has yet been has been taken to task for this. * Knox medical examiner Randall Pedigo was found to be drugging and raping young boys. He pulled a gun on the cops and was shot. After recovering, he was allowed to plead guilty in return for a 1-year sentence at the penal farm. The mayor of Knoxville, Victor Ashe, is active in the U.S. Conference of Mayors and has served as a spokesman for the organization. Presumably, he and they are untroubled by events like the above. I can't recall him - or them - so much as expressing concern. The "angry white men" have just figured out what the angry black men have known for a long time: that the "justice system" in the US is a tool used by some to impose their will on others. It has little if anything to do with justice. Is this radical right-wing rhetoric or is it Marxist? Or is it just a statement of fact? What percentage of the population can think this way without the jury system failing? What percentage does think this way? Is that why we're hearing calls for the abolition of the jury system? Tenuous crypto tie: Why would anyone trust these guys to hold our escrowed keys?