These remarks were given July 30th, 2010, at the campaign’s Freedom Concert.  For those unaware, the campaign has been featured on four (4) front pages (see 2 of them here) of both of the district’s key newspapers during the past 6 days due to incumbent demanding that I be barred from debating him and also a character assassination attempt over a band that had volunteered to play at the concert.

Concerning the recent media circus concerning the controversial band that was removed from this concert, I thought it best to say a few words not just about the freedom of expression protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, but also how best we should use these freedoms while moving forward as a campaign.

First of all, the Constitution is often misunderstood.   It’s purpose is NOT to run everyone’s life, but rather the exact opposite – to PROTECT the people from the government.  Our founders recognized that governments are capable of horrific tyrannies.  If we look through history, the examples are all too frequent.  While it is easy to forget the horrors of war while it is not in front of your face – especially on beautiful days like today – the last century of humankind has been extremely bloody.

Almost all of the killing has been done by governments and political groups. During the past 100 years, an estimated 170 million have died at the hands of governments, and of these perhaps up to 70% were civilians.

In my travels abroad, I’ve walked through Nazi concentration camps, the Killing Fields in Cambodia, the site of the Nanjing Massacre in China and places all over Asia where the Japanese committed WW2 atrocities, and these experiences has affected me deeply.

I used to often wondered why these state-sponsored killings occur until I came to the realization that tyranny ends only when we as individuals cease to support our own serfdom.

The politicians whisper “Give us all your liberties, and we will keep you safe.”  The truth is that without the liberty and rule of law guaranteed under the Constitution, there is no safety – from the government.   Those that scream the loudest to give up our essential liberties for temporary safety are all too often chicken-hawks who have never served a day of combat in their lives.

Charlie Dent sits on Homeland Security and has been one of the strongest supporters of the PATRIOT Act.  Remember those Democrats who under Bush used to complain incessantly about it, but once in power, guess what?  In February, the House voted to reauthorize it, 315-97.  In the Senate, the bill passed unanimously, 100-0.

• Section 218 gives a secret court the ability to authorize secret searches, wiretaps of private conversations, and examine any financial transaction of Americans. Previously, under the Fourth Amendment and the rule of law, police forces had to present a warrant and also describe what items they are searching for and why.

• Section 213 of the PATRIOT Act not only authorizes the FBI to secretly break into your home, rummage through it, but does not even inform you that the government has committed this until 18 months have passed, and may suspend this notification indefinitely.

• Sections 505 and 215 authorizes the government to secretly examine your private information provided it is somehow linked to terrorism. This includes searching the third-party holders of your financial, library, travel, video rental, phone, medical, or places of worship without your consent or even knowledge.

• Any financial transaction over $10,000 is reported to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a sub-branch of the Treasury Department, as possible criminal or terrorist activity [per Section 365] before being processed.

• Section 412 enables the government to hold suspected terrorists indefinitely and to suspend habeas corpus. Habeas corpus is the ability of those held to appear before a court and determine why they are being held and challenge whether their detention is lawful.

• The Congress has failed to check the executive branch’s assumption of powers to place “enemy combatants” in secret prisons and torture them.

There was an interview done in Hermann Goering’s cell at the Nuremburg Trials for war crimes before he committed suicide. For those unaware, Goering was one of Hitler’s aides for many years and in charge of the Nazi Air Force, the Luftwaffe during WWII.  The interviewer said he did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction. Here is Goering’s reply:

HG: Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece?

Interviewer: There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.

HG: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.

But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.

Isn’t it almost cute how the interviewer replied. “Only Congress can declare wars.” Little did he know that just 4 years later, the United States would start its ‘police action’ war in Korea, and the United States would start wars, many preemptive, without a formal constitutional declaration of war for the next 60 years. All in the name of a greater good, whether the flavor of the day be communism during the Cold War or terrorism today.

If we are to live in a free and open society, dissent should not just be tolerated; it should be ENCOURAGED. We as individuals must have freedom of speech and constantly use it in times like these. This is why I have been very adamant to implement the “Our Open Office” concept that most here are familiar with – because each individual deserves a public voice to instruct THEIR public servant and employee.

What about the freedom of the press? One of the presidents of this country, JFK, said all there is to say about the freedom of the press:

“… that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment — the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution — not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply “give the public what it wants” — but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion…”

The current media has failed far short of Kennedy’s model. Today’s national media largely persists as a tool of the political elite to help divide and conquer the American public.

And in the grand scheme of things, what is more important? In my case, a poor choice of bands for a concert, or addressing the ENDLESS DEBT and ENDLESS WAR that are ruining our country?

The favorite strategy of the political elite, whether Republican or Democrat, is “Divide-and-Conquer.” They will prey upon our differences in Race, Skin Color, Gender, and religious creeds in attempts to turn us upon ourselves. They will try to set our Citizens Senior against our country’s young people. They will try to set the Rich, the Poor, and the Middle Class at each others’ throats for this is the ONLY way they can stay in power.

There is really only solution, only one way for a campaign like mine to win against the Republocrats, Twiddledee and Twiddledum. Where they preach lies, war, hate, and poverty, we must answer with the truth, peace, love, and prosperity. We must all exercise our freedom of speech and expression as we never have before. In a way, we must become the press.

Many of you during the recent character assassination campaign Dent and Callahan are waging against myself have already done so with Letters to the Editor – over 9 have been published in newspapers so far this week. Many of you have been commenting on online article threads and talking with friends. I appreciate it very much, and in the coming months I will need a much more of your help.

If you use a computer, join up with the campaign over Facebook and other social media and keep sharing articles and ideas I’ve written about.

If you like to write, start up a blog covering the campaign and contrast the opponents. Don’t spare me any criticism either.  Register it with the local newspapers.  The Republocrats already have their attack dogs in place.

Later in the campaign we will have plenty of door-to-door work to do. If you are comfortable talking to strangers, help get out the vote by speaking with them. If not, I need your help to do flyer drops, prepare mailings, and make phone calls.

Thank you all for donating to the campaign and being here tonight.

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