WE HAVE ENTERED DARK TIMES

THE STATE HAS BECOME THE CORPORATE STATE WERE AT A

BREAKING POINT. The military police becomes a tool by the
privileged elite who control the state. These forces are
celebrated as they near their goal of exterminating the other
violence is used at every ethical thought. Politics is nothing
more than an extension of the punishing state --- The state has
forced pedagogical spaces into a mechanical method of skill
building this space needs to fully commit to being an
educational space in which students can develop into critical
advocates for social change --- Thus the role of the judge is to
vote for the debater who best method`logically fights back
against the militarized state
Giroux 15 - (Henry [A high-school social studies teacher in Barrington, Rhode Island, for six years,[2]
Giroux has held positions at Boston University, Miami University, and Penn State University. In 2005, Giroux began
serving as the Global TV Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
[3][4] He has published more than 50 books and more than 300 academic articles, and is published widely
throughout education and cultural studies literature.[5]] "The curse of totalitarianism and the challenge of critical
pedagogy" http://philosophersforchange.org/2015/10/13/the-curse-of-totalitarianism-and-the-challenge-of-criticalpedagogy/)

dark times
the tension
between democratic values and market fundamentalism has reached a
breaking point The social contract is under assault, neo-Nazism is on the
rise, right-wing populism is propelling extremist
social movements
anti-immigrant sentiment is now wrapped in the poisonous logic
of nationalism
racism has become a mark of celebrated audacity and
a politics of disposability comes dangerously close to its endgame of
extermination for those considered excess
the
conditions for totalitarianism and state violence are still with us
smothering critical thought, social responsibility, the ethical imagination
and politics itself
In
the United States the extreme in both political parties no longer needs the
comfort of counterfeit ideology which appeals
to the common good
power is now concentrated in the hands of relatively few
people
the state
has become
The forces of free-market fundamentalism are on the march ushering in a terrifying horizon of what Hannah Arendt once called

. Across the globe,

.[1]

political candidates and

into the forefront of political life,

and exceptionalism,

. Under such circumstances, it becomes frightfully clear that

. As Bill Dixon observes: [T]he totalitarian form is still with us because the all too protean origins of totalitarianism are still with us: loneliness as the normal register of social life,

the frenzied lawfulness of ideological certitude, mass poverty and mass homelessness, the routine use of terror as a political instrument, and the ever growing speeds and scales of media, economics, and warfare.[2]
,

right

in

are made

, human

decency and democratic values. On the contrary,

and corporations while power is global and free from the limited politics of the democratic state. In fact,

for all intents and purposes

the corporate state Dominant power is now all too visible

policies,
practices and wrecking ball it has imposed on society appear to be largely
unchecked. Any
notion of ideology has been replaced by
command
and certainty backed by the militarization of local police forces, the
surveillance state and all of the resources brought to bear by a culture of
fear and a punishing state aligned with the permanent war on terror
.

and the

compromising

a discourse of

up

. Informed judgment

reinforcing the politics and

value systems of the financial elite
a dark cloud
of political and ethical ignorance has descended on the United States
Thoughtlessness has become something that occupies a
privileged, if not celebrated, place in the political landscape and the
mainstream cultural apparatuses new kind of infantilism and culture of
ignorance now shapes daily life as agency devolves into a kind of antiintellectual
evident in
Fox News
schools modeled after
prisons and politicians who support creationism, argue against climate
change and denounce almost any form of reason Education is no longer
a public good but a private right
critical thinking is devalued as a
fundamental necessity for creating an engaged and socially responsible
populace Politics has become an extension of war just as systemic
economic uncertainty and state-sponsored violence increasingly find
legitimation in the discourses of privatization and demonization which
promote anxiety, moral panics and fear, and undermine any sense of
communal responsibility for the well-being of others Too many
learn
fate is solely a matter of individual responsibility, irrespective of wider
structural forces This
promoted hypercompetitive ideology
surviving in a society demands reducing social relations to forms of social
combat People are expected to inhabit a set of relations in which the only
obligation is to live for ones own self-interest
lost is
social bonds, modes of
collective reasoning, public spheres and cultural apparatuses crucial to the
formation of a sustainable
society
social protections are at risk
civic and formative cultures
that make values
central to democratic life are in danger of being
eliminated altogether
As these institutions vanish from public schools to health-care
centers there is also a serious erosion of the discourses of community,
justice, equality, public values and the common good
This reality marks a failure in
the power of the civic imagination, political will and open democracy
a politics that strips the social of any democratic ideals and undermines
understanding of higher education as a public good and pedagogy as an
empowering practice
when the public is under attack and
growing apathy toward the
social contract, or any other civic
investment
education
has to be seen as more than a credential or a pathway to a job It has to be
viewed as crucial to understanding and overcoming the current crisis of
agency, politics and historical memory faced by many young people today
students need to reclaim the role that education
has historically played in developing critical literacies and civic capacities
a need to use education to mobilize students to be critically engaged
has given way to a corporate-controlled media apparatus that celebrates the banality of balance and the spectacle of violence, all the while

.[3] cur_hegemonyhunters6203 [Credit: hegemonyhunters6203.] Following Arendt,

creating both a

crisis of memory and agency.[4]

now

.A

foolishness

the babble of banality produced by

, celebrity culture,

viewed as

, just as

people today

quickly

that their

is a much

with a message that

today

and to reduce the responsibilities of citizenship to the demands of a consumer culture.

Yet, there is more at work here than a flight from social responsibility, if not politics itself. Also

the importance of those

democratic

. With the return of the Gilded Age and its dream worlds of consumption, privatization and deregulation, both

democratic values and

. At the same time, the

such

and protections

. As market mentalities and moralities tighten their grip on all aspects of society, democratic institutions and public spheres are being downsized, if not altogether

disappearing.

. One consequence is a society stripped of its inspiring and

energizing public spheres and the thick mesh of mutual obligations and social responsibilities to be found in any viable democracy.[5]

grim

.[6] It is also part of

any

, a practice that acts directly upon the conditions that bear down on our lives in order to change them when necessary. cur-Sam Bosma [Credit: Sam Bosma.] At a

time

good

there seems to be a

-minded

in public values and the larger common good,

One of the challenges facing the current generation of educators and

is the

There is

agents
addressing important social issues and being alert to the
responsibility of deepening and expanding the meaning and practices of a
vibrant democracy At the heart
is the question of what education
should accomplish
, attentive to

of such a challenge

in a democracy. What work do educators have to do to create the economic, political and ethical conditions necessary to endow young people with the capacities to think,

question, doubt, imagine the unimaginable and defend education as essential for inspiring and energizing the people necessary for the existence of a robust democracy? In a world in which there is an increasing abandonment of

what will it take to

rob history of its
tyrannical power, and illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that
vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose,
which is after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place
the social has been individualized emotional life
collapses into the therapeutic education is relegated to either a private
affair or a kind of algorithmic mode of regulation in which everything is
reduced to a desired measurable economic outcome Feedback loops now
replace politics and the concept of progress is defined through a narrow
culture of metrics, measurement and efficiency a culture drowning in a
new love with empiricism and data
Lost are registers of
compassion, care for the other, the radical imagination, a democratic
vision and a passion for justice In its place emerges
Monster
the role of education and pedagogy in
compelling students to be able to recognize
that
inattentiveness
breeds horrors: the failures of conscience, the
wars against thought, and the flirtations with irrationality that lie at the
heart of the triumph of every-day aggression, the withering of political life,
and the withdrawal into private obsessions Given the multiple crises
educators need a new language for addressing the changing
egalitarian and democratic impulses,

educate young people to challenge authority and in the words of James Baldwin

?[7] What role might

education and critical pedagogy have in a society in which

and

.[8] In

affair

, that which is not measurable withers.

here

Reason Produces

the

what Francisco Goya, in one of his engravings, termed The Sleep of

. Goyas title is richly suggestive, particularly about

, as my colleague David Clark points out,

an

to the never-ending task of critique

.[9]

that haunt the

current historical conjuncture,

contexts and issues facing a world in which there is an unprecedented

convergence of resources
increasingly used to
concentrate powerful and diverse forms of control and domination Such
needs to be political without being dogmatic and needs to recognize that
pedagogy is always political because it is connected to the struggle over
agency
making the pedagogical more political means being vigilant
about those very moments in which identities are being produced and
groups are being constituted, or objects are being created
educators need to be attentive to those practices in which critical modes of
agency and particular identities are being denied
financial, cultural, political, economic, scientific, military and technological that are

a language

. In this instance,

.[10] cur_edu At the same time it means

. For example, the Tucson Unified School District board not only eliminated the

famed Mexican-American studies program, but also banned a number of Chicano and Native American books it deemed dangerous. The ban included Shakespeares play The Tempest, and Pedagogy of the Oppressed by the famed

the war being waged

against not
only young people marginalized by race and class but also against the very
spaces and pedagogical practices that make critical thinking possible
the need for faculty to develop forms of critical pedagogy that
challenge a growing number of anti-democratic practices and
policies while resurrecting a radical democratic project that provides the
basis for imagining a life beyond a social order immersed in inequality,
degradation of the environment and the elevation of war and militarization
to national ideals.
education becomes more than an obsession
Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. This act of censorship provides a particularly disturbing case of

that is

in the United States

. Such actions

suggest

not only inspire and energize.

They should also be able to

Under such circumstances,

with accountability schemes

market values and an unreflective
immersion in the crude empiricism of a data-obsessed, market-driven
society
a formative culture in which thoughtlessness prevails,
providing the foundation for the curse of totalitarianism
it is
crucial for educators to reject the notion that higher education is simply a
site for training students for the workforce and that the culture of higher
education is synonymous with the culture of business
the need for
educators to recognize the power of education in creating the formative
cultures necessary to both challenge the various threats being mobilized
against the ideas of justice and democracy while also fighting for those
public spheres, ideals, values and policies that offer alternative modes of
identity, thinking, social relations and politics
pedagogy is
often treated simply as a set of strategies and skills to use in order to
teach prespecified subject matter
pedagogy becomes synonymous
with teaching as a technique or the practice of a craft-like skill
critical pedagogy must grasp the limitations of this definition and its
endless slavish imitations
In opposition to the
instrumental reduction of pedagogy to a method which has no language
for relating the self to public life, social responsibility or the demands of
citizenship
, an audit culture,

. It becomes part of

. At a time of increased repression,

all the more

. At issue here is

. In both conservative and progressive discourses

. In this context,

. Any viable notion of

even when they are claimed as part of a radical discourse or project.

critical pedagogy illuminates the relationships among knowledge, authority and power.[11]

The neoliberal state has developed the militarized state as a

weapon of political controlviolence and war are viewed as
permanent and necessary for politicsThe war on terror has
come home disposed of using irrational systems that seek to
dominate.
Giroux 15 - (Henry [A high-school social studies teacher in Barrington, Rhode Island, for six years,[2]
Giroux has held positions at Boston University, Miami University, and Penn State University. In 2005, Giroux began
serving as the Global TV Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
[3][4] He has published more than 50 books and more than 300 academic articles, and is published widely
throughout education and cultural studies literature.[5]] "Henry Giroux on Hysterical Authoritarianism: Terrorism,
Violence and the Culture of Madness" http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/henry-girous-on-hysterical-authoritarianismterrorism-violence-and-the-culture-of-madness)
George

Orwells
vision totalitarian society casts a shadow over the U S
seen clearly in the ongoing and ruthless assault on the social state
nightmarish

of a

dark

nited

tates. The

consequences can be

workers, unions, higher education, students, poor minorities and any vestige of the social contract. Free market policies, values, and practices with their emphasis on the privatization of public wealth, the elimination of social
protections, and

the deregulation of economic activity

now shape practically every commanding political and economic institution in the United States.

Public spheres that once offered at least the glimmer of progressive ideas, enlightened social policies, non-commodified values, and critical dialogue and exchange have been increasingly militarizedor replaced by private spaces

Citizenship is now subsumed by the national

security
constant mobilization of fear
violence is the habitual
response by the state to every dilemma legitimizing war as a permanent
feature of society
militarism
now fuel a war on
terrorism
all interaction is reduced to a test of military
strength
and corporate settings whose ultimate fidelity is to increasing profit margins.

state and a cult of secrecy, organized and reinforced by the

and insecurity designed to produce a form of ethical

tranquilization and a paralyzing level of social infantilism. Chris Hedges crystalizes this premise in arguing that Americans now live in a society in which
,

and violence as the organizing principle of politics.[1] Under such circumstances, malevolent modes of rationality now impose the values of a militarized neoliberal regime on

everyone, shattering viable modes of agency, solidarity, and hope. Amid the bleakness and despair, the discourses of

, danger and war

that represents the negation of politicssince

war brings death and destruction, not only to the adversary but also to ones side, and without distinguishing between guilty and innocent.[2] Human barbarity is no longer invisible, hidden under the

bureaucratic language of Orwellian doublespeak. Its conspicuousness, if not celebration, emerged in the new editions of American exceptionalism ushered in by the post 9/11 exacerbation of the war on terror. In the aftermath of

If politics
seemed irrelevant before the attacks on the World Trade Center
it
now seemed both urgent and despairing
Already imperiled
democracy became even more fragile in the aftermath of 9/11.
9/11 has transformed a terrorist attack into a war
on terror that mimics the very crimes it pledged to eliminate
Security trumped civil liberties
a state of emergency that
justified
terrorist practices
homeland security-industrial
complex
This is not to suggest that security is not an important
consideration
but it cannot serve
as a pretext
for abandoning civil liberties
Nor
as a
pretext for American exceptionalism and its imperialist
goals
these monstrous acts of terrorism, there was a growing sense among politicians, the mainstream media, and conservative and liberal pundits that history as we knew it had been irrefutably ruptured.

and the Pentagon,

. But history cannot be erased, and those traditional public spheres in which people could exchange ideas,

debate, and shape the conditions that structured their everyday lives increasingly continued to appear to have little significance or political consequence.

before the aftershocks

of the terrorists attacks,

Almost

fourteen years later, the historical rupture produced by the events of

. The script is now familiar.

as shared fears replaced any sense of shared responsibilities. Under Bush and Cheney, the government lied about the war in Iraq,

created a torture state, violated civil liberties, and developed new antiterrorist laws, such as the USA PATRIOT ACT. It imposed
a range of

, including extraordinary rendition and state torture, which made it easier to undermine those basic civil liberties that protect individuals

against invasive and potentially repressive government actions.[3] Under the burgeoning of what James Risen has called the

, state secrecy and organized corporate corruption filled the coffers of the defense industry along with the corporate owned security industriesespecially those providing drones who benefited the most

from the war on terror.[4]

for the United States. Clearly, any democracy needs to be able to defend itself,

, as it has,

, democratic values, and any semblance of justice, morality, and political responsibility.

can it serve

expansionist

. The philosopher Giorgio Agamben

has suggested rightly that under the so war on terrorism, the political landscape is changing and that we are no longer citizens but detainees, distinguishable from the inmates of Guantanamo not by an indifference in legal status,
but only by the fact that we have not yet had the misfortune to be incarceratedor unexpectedly executed by a missile from an unmanned aircraft.[5] The war on terror morphed into a legitimation for state terrorism as was made

the
administration
whistleblowers and use drones
terrorists Obama expanded the

create a kill list

punish
in the name of fighting
militarized state
The war on
terrorism extended the discourse
and
made it unbounded and
ubiquitous making everyone a potential terrorists and the battlefield a
domestic as well as foreign location, a foreign as well as a domestic policy
issue
Fear became total
the use of the police and federal
troops for drug interdictions, the enforcement of zero tolerance standards
in public schools, and the increasing criminalization of a range of social
behaviors that extended from homelessness to violating dress codes in
school Under
neoliberalism its war-like view of competition
any notion of unity has been contaminated by
patriotism
The war
on terror has come home
neighborhoods are transformed into war zones
with the police resembling an
army The most lethal expressions of
racism
black
boys
are repeatedly beaten and killed
by the police
American publics growing
appetite for violence
guns are the ultimate symbol
of freedom in America
clear under the willingness of

Obama

to pardon the CIA torturers,

, expand the surveillance state,

to indiscriminately kill civiliansall

reach of the

and along with Democratic and Republican Party extremists preached a

notion of security rooted in personal fears rather than in a notion of social security that rallied against the deprivations and suffering produced by war, poverty, racism, and state terrorism.
, space, location,

time of war in ways that

. Obama has become the master of permanent war seeking to increase the bloated military budgetclose to a trillion dollarswhile turning to lawless violence.translated into unrestrained violent interventions from

Libya to Syria and back to Iraq, including an attempt to expand the war on ISIS in Syria and possibly send more heavy weapons to its client government in Ukraine.[6]

and

the imposition of punitive standards included not only the bombing, abduction, and torture of enemy combatants, but also

the regime of

with

, its celebration of self-interest,

and its disdain for democratic values and shared compassion for others,
misguided

the fog of

, a hatred of the other now privileged as an enemy combatant, and an insular retreat into mindless consumerism and the faux safety of gated communities. With the merging of militarism,

the culture of surveillance, and a neoliberal culture of cruelty, solidarity and public trust have morphed into an endless display of violence and the ongoing militarization of visual culture and public space.[7]
as poor

occupying

have become commonplace as

men and

such as Eric Garner and Tamir Rice

.[8] As Jeffrey St. Clair has pointed out, one index of how state terrorism and lawlessness have become normalized is evident not only by the fact that the majority of Americans support

torture, even though they know it is totally americas-ed-deficit-300x449 ineffective as a means of intelligence gathering, but also by the

, whether it parades as entertainment or manifests itself in the growing demonization and incarceration of black and brown youth, adults, Muslims, immigrants, and

others deemed as disposable.[9] It should come as no surprise that the one issue the top 2016 GOP presidential contenders agree on is that

, a bellwether of individual liberty, a symbol of what big wants and shouldnt have.[10] Guns provide political theater for the new political extremists and are

symptomatic less of some cockeyed defense of the second amendment than willingness to maximize the pleasure of violence and building a case for the use of deadly force both at home and abroad. As Rustom Bharacuha and

democracy
and war

Susan Sontag have argued in different contexts, There is an echo of the pornographic in maximizing the pleasure of violence,[11] one that dissolves politics into pathology.[12] Notions of
increasingly appear to be

giv way to the discourse of revenge

ing

, domestic security, stupidity,

. The political reality that has emerged

narrow choices that are being largely set by the

right
and fueled by
media
This surrender to the pleasure of violence is made all
the more easy by the civic illiteracy now sweeping the United States
since the shattering crisis of 9/11 increasingly points to a set of

jingoistic

wing extremists, the defense department, conservative funded foundations,

the dominant

. War and violence now function as an aphrodisiac for a public

inundated with commodities and awash in celebrity culture idiocy.

. Climate change

deniers, anti-intellectuals, religious fundamentalists, and others who exhibit pride in displaying a kind of thoughtlessness exhibit a kind of political and theoretical helplessness, if not corruption, that opens the door to the wider

extremists dominat Congress

and
extend
the American empire

publics acceptance of foreign and domestic violence. The current

bomb Syria

into the twilight zone,

ing

further

are frothing at the mouth

the reach of

to go to war

with Iran,

through its over bloated war machine to any country

that questions the use of American power. One glaring example can be found in the constant and under analyzed televised images and stories of homegrown terrorists threatening to blow up malls, schools, and any other

militarized frothing and Islamophobia

perpetrated by Fox News
the endless call for security, vengeance, and the use of state violence
conceivable space where the public gathers. Other examples can be found in the
the

Network, made concrete by the an almost fever pitched bellicosity that informs the majority of its commentaries and reactions to war on terror.

Missing from

is

the massive lawlessness produced by the United States government through targeted drone attacks on enemy combatants, the violation of civil liberties, and the almost unimaginable human suffering and hardship perpetrated
through the American war machine in the Middle East, especially Iraq. Also missing is a history of lawlessness, imperialism, and torture that supported a host of authoritarian regimes propped up by the United States. Capitalizing on

almost any
terrorist attack
further amplifies the hyped-up language of war
endless talk shows fanning the fires of patriotism
expand the war
the pent up emotions and needs of an angry and grieving public for revenge, fueled by an unchecked Islamophobia,

reportage of a

globe,

throughout the

, patriotism, and retaliation. Similarly, conservative talking-heads write

numerous op-eds and appear on

by calling upon the United States

to

against any one of a number of Arab countries that are considered terrorist states. For example, John Bolton, writing an op-ed for the New York Times insists that all attempts by the

Obama administration to negotiate an arms deal with Iran is a sign of weakness. For Bolton, the only way to deal with Iran is to launch an attack on their nuclear infrastructure. The title of his op-ed sums up the organizing idea of

the language of indiscriminate revenge

seems to be winning the day This is
unconscious of its own dangerous
refusal to acknowledge
democratic values
the article: To Stop Irans Bomb, Bomb Iran.[13] In the current historical moment,

and lawlessness

a discourse

the important role that

and social justice must play in a truly unified rationale response, so as to

prevent the further killing of innocent people, regardless of their religion, culture, and place of occupancy in the world. Instead of viewing the current crisis as simply a new and more dangerous historical conjuncture that has

understand how the past might be useful

democracy
as a liability
of the new
extremists who now control the American government
State violence and terrorism have a long history in the
U S
ignoring this dark period of history means that
nothing to learn from the past, it is crucial for the American public to begin to
means to live in a democracy at a time when

in addressing what it

is not only viewed as an excess, but

to the wishes and interests

. The anti-democratic forces that define American history cannot

be forgotten in the fog of political and cultural amnesia.

nited

tates, both in its foreign and domestic policies, and

nothing will be learned

from the legacy of a politics that has indulged authoritarian ideologies and embraced violence as a central measure of power, national identity, and patriotism.

[14]

Drug war is a tool to promote incarceration as a never ending

tool of militarized governments systems in their search for
never ending profit at the expense of those who are deemed as
criminal --- Thats the domestic war on terror Giroux cites
Smith 15
- (Ethan Indigo Activist, author and Tai Chi teacher Ethan Indigo Smith was born on a farm in Maine and lived in Manhattan for a number of years before migrating west to Mendocino,

California.Guided by a keen sense of integrity and humanity, Ethans work is both deeply connected and extremely insightful, blending philosophy, politics, activism, spirituality, meditation and a unique sense of humour. Ethans
most popular publications include 108 Steps to Be in The Zone, a set of 108 meditative practices for self discovery and individual betterment, and The Little Green Book of Revolution an inspirational book based on ideas of
peaceful revolution, historical activism and caring for the Earth like Native Americans. "Oligarchy, Police State and The War On Individualism" http://www.mintpressnews.com/MyMPN/oligarchy-police-state-the-war-onindividualism/) *****BRACKETS IN THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE

the Orwellian world

around us is predominantly funded
through the prohibition of narcotics
police forces are funded solely by
the money found in narcotics
the War On Drugs is
big business
Countless companies make money
as does government
Monetizing and industrializing the lives of
people held prisoner is akin to terrorism given the cooperative ties
and
drug trade this is
true of prisoners of the
governments never-ending highly profitable War On Drugs
It is arguable that the mechanics of

being implemented

. Whole swaths of

operations literally feeding off of prohibition and addiction. Indeed

a billion dollar industry.

companies,

through the prison system, such as food distribution

, and the police who so diligently strive to meet their arrest quotas. And, most glaringly, the questionably-connected private corporations that are paid per

incarceration to operate prison facilities that are sub-standard by global standards.

. And

between government agencies (like the CIA)

the illegal

that are evident

especially

, and

program. According to journalist Victor

Thorn: One of the big questions asked by nave media talking heads is: Where does all of this heroin come from? The answer is the same as it was a decade ago following a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-led invasion of

80% of
heroin is
from Afghanistan In spite
military controls a great deal of that
country
Afghanistan: 75%-

the worlds

exported

mountainous

of the fact

that the U.S.

, production levels hit record highs last year.[1] You do the math. And the

seemingly endless War On Drugs has led to an unparalleled culture of incarceration in the United States. Journalist Maya Schenwar describes the scope of the problem: An estimated

people [are incarcerated] at any moment

in 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 2,259 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,283 local jails, and 79

Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, and prisons in the U.S. territories. [1] Thats about

Americans

[2], more than

60%

of whom

2.4 million

are people of color

one of every 100

[3]. Add in another almost five million on probation or in some way under the supervision of the

criminal justice system and youve reached about seven million [4], the equivalent of the population of Serbia or Paraguay. Not surprisingly, thats also the largest prison population on Earth On any day of your choice, the United
States, with 5% of the worlds population, has close to 25% of the people imprisoned on this planet. [5] That population, by the way, has risen by 700% since 1970, a tidal movement for incarceration that only in recent years has
shown small signs of finally ebbing. [6] In short, state by state or as a country, the U.S. leaves the rest of the world in the dust. (USA! USA!) As this trend has proven, making narcotics illegal does not eliminate drug use, or cure
addiction,

it

only

stimulates a very dark corner of the economy

. As other cultures have demonstrated, illicit drugs are a bigger health

risk to a prohibitionist society than one that deals openly and constructively with issues of addiction and regards the alteration of consciousness (whether casually or addictively) as a personal and spiritual concern instead of a social

through substance prohibition

governments ultimately profits
the War On
Drugs can only be considered a money-making venture
by a
militaristic government
and criminal one. The possession and use of mind-altering substances is of itself a victimless crime; it is only
that

, by the same

from prohibition, that crime becomes an inherent part of the story. Thus,

conducted

creeping

Rejection isnt a solution --- The state is inevitable refusal to

engage in traditional politics cedes the policy sphere to
authoritarian elites and abdicates social responsibility that
makes all crises inevitable --- We need a solution that works in
the system
Boggs 97 - (Carl, National University, Los Angeles, Theory and Society, The
great retreat: Decline of the public sphere in late twentieth-century America,
December, Volume 26, Number 6,
http://www.springerlink.com.proxy.library.emory.edu/content/m7254768m63h16r0
/fulltext.pdf)

decline of the public sphere in late twentieth-century America poses a series of great dilemmas and challenges.
Many ideological currents scrutinized here localism, metaphysics, spontaneism, post-modernism, Deep Ecology intersect with
and reinforce each other. While these currents have deep origins in popular movements of the 1960s and 1970s, they remain very much alive in the
1990s. Despite their different outlooks and trajectories, they all share one thing in
common: a depoliticized expression of struggles to combat and overcome
alienation. The false sense of empowerment that comes with such mesmerizing impulses is accompanied
by a loss of public engagement, an erosion of citizenship and a depleted capacity
of individuals in large groups to work for social change. As this ideological quagmire worsens, urgent
problems that are destroying the fabric of American society will go unsolved
perhaps even unrecognized only to fester more ominously in the future. And such problems (ecological
crisis, poverty, urban decay, spread of infectious diseases, technological
displacement of workers) cannot be understood outside the larger social and global context of
internationalized markets, finance, and communications. Paradoxically, the widespread retreat from politics, often inspired by localist sentiment, comes
at a time when agendas that ignore or sidestep these global realities will, more than ever, be
reduced to impotence. In his commentary on the state of citizenship today, Wolin refers to the increasing sublimation and dilution of politics, as
larger numbers of people turn away from public concerns toward private
ones. By diluting the life of common involvements, we negate the very idea of politics as a source of public ideals and visions. 74 In
the meantime, the fate of the world hangs in the balance . The unyielding truth is that, even as the
ethos of anti-politics becomes more compelling and even fashionable in the
United States, it is the vagaries of political power that will continue to decide the
The

fate of human societies. This last point demands further elaboration. The shrinkage of politics hardly
means that corporate colonization will be less of a reality , that social hierarchies will somehow disappear,
or that gigantic state and military structures will lose their hold over peoples lives. Far from it: the space
abdicated by a broad citizenry, well-informed and ready to participate at many
levels, can in fact be filled by authoritarian and reactionary elites an already familiar dynamic in
many lesser-developed countries. The fragmentation and chaos of a Hobbesian world, not very far removed from the rampant individualism, social Darwinism, and civic violence that
have been so much a part of the American landscape, could be the prelude to a powerful Leviathan designed to impose order in the face of disunity and atomized retreat. In this way

the eclipse of politics might set the stage for a reassertion of politics in more
virulent guise or it might help further rationalize the existing power structure. In either case,
the state would likely become what Hobbes anticipated: the embodiment of those universal,
collective interests that had vanished from civil society. 75

NEXT IS THE RESISTANCE

I ADVOCATE THAT In the United States criminal justice
system, jury nullification ought to be used in the face of
perceived injustice
Current political opposition means legalization wont pass Jury nullification is key to stop drug warit forces government
reform
Newman 11
(Tony Director of media relations, Drug Policy Alliance "Jury Nullification: An Important Tool Against Drug War Injustices?"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tony-newman/jury-nullification-an-imp_b_1165640.html)

Should juries vote "not guilty" on low-level marijuana charges to send a

message about our country's insane marijuana arrest policy? Paul Butler, former federal
prosecutor and law professor at George Washington University made a powerful argument for jury nullification in an op-ed in yesterday's New
York Times. Jury nullification is a constitutional doctrine that allows juries to acquit defendants who are technically guilty, but who don't deserve punishment. Butler explained that juries

nullification was credited with

ending our country's disastrous alcohol prohibition as more and more jurors
refused to send their neighbors to jail for a law they didn't believe in. Butler says we
need to do the same with today's marijuana arrests. There is growing recognition that today's drug laws are ineffective and
unfair. For the first time ever, a recent Gallup poll found that 50 percent of Americans
want to legalize the use of marijuana. Despite half of our country wanting to end marijuana prohibition,
the war on marijuana users is as vicious as ever. There were more than 750,000 arrests last year for marijuana possession alone. In New York City, marijuana possession
was the #1 reason people were arrested last year, making up 15 percent of all arrests. People hoping for change should not
expect it to come from our "leaders" in Washington. While most of our elected officials know
in their hearts that our drug war is an utter failure that fills our prisons
while doing nothing to help people struggling with addiction , there is
deafening silence when it comes to offering alternatives to the war on
drugs. Democrats and Republicans are both cowardly and opportunistic and
don't want to give up their "tough on crime" credentials. Here is where jury nullification comes in. If
our leaders aren't going to stop the madness, maybe it is up to our peers to say
enough is enough. In Montana last year, a group of five prospective jurors said they had a
problem with someone receiving a felony for a small amount of marijuana .
The prosecutors were freaked out about the "Mutiny in Montana" and were afraid they were not going to be able convince 12 jurors in Montana to convict. The judge
said, in a major New York Times article, "I've never seen this large a number of people express
this large a number of reservations" and "it does raise a question about the
next case." The highest profile group to call for jury nullification for drug offenses is from the creators of the HBO hit series The Wire. David Simon and the other creators
have the right and power to use jury nullification to protest unjust laws. Mr. Butler points out that

of The Wire wrote a passionate piece in Time magazine where they called on Americans to join them in the use of jury nullification as a strategy to slow the drug war machine. From the
article: "A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right," wrote Thomas Paine when he called for civil disobedience against monarchy --

the flawed national policy of his day. In a similar spirit, we offer a small idea that is, perhaps,
no small idea. It will not solve the drug problem, nor will it heal all civic wounds. It does not yet address questions of how the resources spent warring with our poor
over drug use might be better spent on treatment or education or job training, or anything else that might begin to restore those places in America where the only economic engine
remaining is the illegal drug economy. It doesn't resolve the myriad complexities that a retreat from war to sanity will require. All it does is open a range of intricate, paradoxical issues.

we will vote to acquit,

Save for a prosecution in which acts of violence or intended violence are alleged, we

But this is what we can do -- and what we will do. If asked to serve on a jury deliberating a violation of state or federal drug laws,
regardless of the evidence presented.

will -- to borrow Justice Harry Blackmun's manifesto against the death penalty -- no longer tinker with the machinery of the drug war. No longer can we collaborate with a government

Forty years after President

Richard Nixon launched the "war on drugs" the casualties continue to
mount with no end in sight. We need to step up our efforts to end this war at home and stop sending our loved
that uses nonviolent drug offenses to fill prisons with its poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens."

ones to cages because they have a drug problem. We have more power than we realize.

If the people lead, the leaders will

follow.

Nullifying war on drugs cases prompts lawmakers to actempirically proven in the Fugitive Slave Act and the
Prohibition-even one juror is enough --- It shocks the police
Silverman 13
*******BRACKETS IN
- Stever Silverman December 18, 2013, (How Jury Nullification Accelerates the Drug Wars Demise. Flex Your Rights. https://www.flexyourrights.org/jury-nullification-drug-war-demise/) NC

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Jury nullification
is another mechanism to go around the politicians by going directly to the
people in the community. My role on this panel has been to report on developments in New Hampshire and the prospect for [changing laws in other
states]. But in the meantime, before these state legislative battles, we can accelerate the pace for reform by
simply spreading the word about jury nullification. There arent many
people here who have close ties to politicians. But I bet everybody here has a family member, a
friend, an acquaintance, a neighbor, or a coworker who has receivedor is going to receivea jury summons. Dont let these
opportunities slip by. In ten minutes you can share important information about jury nullification from your laptop or iPad. Blast this information to
all of your contacts. When we win an acquittal through jury nullification thats an opportunity to start this cycle all over again. Take that news story and blast
How Jury Nullification Advances Drug Reform In Washington and Colorado we won through the initiative process by going around politicians.

it to all your contacts, planting the seeds again for a future case by reminding people that the nullification prerogative is out there and they can use it when the situation is right.
Kirsten Tynan We have adults alive today who have never had a president who hasnt violated a drug law, yet none of these presidents have ever been prosecuted under the laws that
are typically used to ruin other peoples lives. Kirsten Tynan Kirsten Tynan is the national coordinator for the Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA). Shes been a grassroots pro-liberty
activist for more than 20 years. She gives us an overview of what FIJA does in the area jury nullification activism, advocacy, and education. (Jump to video of Kirstens talk.) Tynan

In pursuit of investigating the facts,

the jury drank up all the evidence. (They had to be certain Bevin was in violation of the law.) With the evidence gone, the
prosecution was forced to acquit. This jury gave prohibition laws all the respect they were due, and that was none at all!
Alcohol Prohibition vs. Drug Prohibition Alcohol prohibition was passed
during a rigorous constitutional amendment process, but the War on Drugs
was much more easily instituted by presidential edict and statutory law. Alcohol
prohibition, like the drug war, was a huge failure, but it was repealed in just over 13 years. Whereas
weve had 40-plus years of the War on Drugs. Apply jury nullification for faster
results The court system was heavily clogged with alcohol violation cases and prosecutors leaned heavily on the plea bargain to clear the system. They were relatively
generous with those pleas. On the other hand, now 90% of felonies, many of which are drug cases, never even get to a jury trial, and that is because prosecutors
are maliciously stacking charges. Were seeing mandatory minimums. Were seeing drug courts and other elements that are tilting the
opens with the 1928 case of George Bevin, a defendant on trial for an alcohol violation.

playing field, bullying defendants into forgoing their right to trial by jury and taking a plea bargainand those plea bargains are much harsher than they would have been during
prohibition. Drug War & Race Were also seeing a two-tiered system just as we did during prohibition. Back then, prominent members of the community, often

government officials, would have their own private entrances to speakeasies so that they could
violate the law in privacy and comfort. In the current situation we actually have adults alive today who have never had a
president who hasnt violated a drug law, yet none of these presidents have ever been prosecuted under the laws that are typically used to ruin other peoples livesand especially used
against low-income individuals and and people of color.Fugitive Slave Era: Jury Nullifications Finest Hour 1850s-style rights flexing Kirsten displayed this pre-Civil War know-yourrights flyer, urging Northern abolitionists not talk to police tasked with enforcing fugitive slave laws. She highlights famousShadrack Minkins

fugitive slave

case and others where Northern prosecutors repeatedly failed to secure convictions under these onerous laws. Re: Disingenuous Fact Finding Id like to reframe something that
Clay [Conrad] said. He referred to jury nullification as disingenuous fact finding. Id like to suggest an alternative framing. I consider it a genuine
finding that a law applied in a case at hand is wrong . The true disingenuous of the system is from laws that
redefine vices, which harm nobody, as crimes. Crimes are actually things that harm people or property. And further disingenuousness comes from judges who explicitly misinform jurors
of their rights. With all of these parallels [between alcohol prohibition and the fugitive slave era], there is a notable missing parallel.

Mass jury

nullification undermined the Fugitive Slave Act and the Compromise of 1850, contributing to bringing
emancipation. Mass jury nullification made a laughing stock of prohibition, but were not seeing those things
now. Jury nullification really should be a tool that we use to provide relief from
the War on Drugs and to protect all of our rights. And the fact that were not makes me a little nuts. It boggles my mind. But it is indeed a tool
for policy change, and we can see that because two constitutional amendments were helped along to their final passage through jury nullification. The highest
and best purpose of the independent jury is to protect each other from the unjust laws and abusive prosecutions imposed by government. Whats at Stake? What is at stake is huge.

You can save reputations. You can save relationships. You can save peoples livelihood or property. You can save their educations, because they might not be able to get a student loan if
convicted. You can save their freedom, and you can in fact save their life. (Even if its not a death penalty case people get killed in prison.) You cannot be required to check your

No victim means no crime. If there is no victim, then the law

is wrong. The person is not guilty. Steve Silverman Every new jury nullification acquittal or hung jury mistrial for a drug defendant is
conscience at the courthouse door.

a potential viral media event, especially when jurors decide to speak out. Steve Silverman Steve Silverman is the founder & executive director of Flex Your Rights. He discusses our
upcoming movie, Jury Duty: What the Government Doesnt Want You to Know, and how it will inspire a wave of jury nullification acquittals that help dismantle the War on Drugs. (Jump
to video of my talk.) Hero Inspiration by Norman Rockwell The Jury, by Norman Rockwell This is a Norman Rockwell painting calledThe Jury. It debuted on the cover of The Saturday
Evening Post in 1959. At that time women were prohibited from serving on juries in three states and their jury service was restricted in eighteen states. The predominant sexist attitude
of the time suggested that women jurors would crumple too easily under the intense psychological pressure of the deliberation room. This painting is Rockwells response to that. One

this young woman is that she could fit perfectly inside a jury
deliberation room today. Maybe today shes a punk rock chick hiding scene
tattoos underneath her blouse. Or maybe shes a hippie Burner who cut off
her dreads and removed a facial piercing or two after receiving her
summons. But most importantly, she represents US. She represents the 58% of Americans who according to this most recent Gallup p oll
thing that strikes me about

support the legalization of marijuanayet we are routinely disqualified from serving as jurors in cases where a non-violent drug defendants liberty is on the line. Viral Disruption of The
War on Drugs The possibility for profound systemic disruption of the War on Drugs is exactly why Flex Your Rights is now taking on jury nullification as the subject of our next big film.
Ive received hundreds of emails and Facebook and YouTube comments from people thanking me for helping save their ass in one way or another. Thats great, but aside from a few

the impact of our work is

primarily anecdotal and therefore hard to quantify. This project will be different. For one thing, each and
viral videos where weve seen brave individuals who successfully flexed their rights while filming their police encounters,

every time one of our viewers is able to either secure an acquittal for a drug drug defendant or even simply hang the jury because they refused to vote guiltythis creates the

If we can inspire hundreds or even thousands of these jury

nullification events within a short period of time this will shock the shit out of
police, prosecutors, judges and lawmakers. And when these jury nullification events continue to happen with no end in sight, they will take notice that We the
people will no longer tolerate Drug War policies that violate our American values of liberty and justice for all.
potential for a viral media event, especially if the juror decides to speak out.

Social systems derive authority and are reinforced by people

we have the power to create change --- People who say you
cant dont understand the origin of institutions
Smith 15
- (Ethan Indigo Activist, author and Tai Chi teacher Ethan Indigo Smith was born on a farm in Maine and lived in Manhattan for a number of years before migrating west to Mendocino,

California.Guided by a keen sense of integrity and humanity, Ethans work is both deeply connected and extremely insightful, blending philosophy, politics, activism, spirituality, meditation and a unique sense of humour. Ethans
most popular publications include 108 Steps to Be in The Zone, a set of 108 meditative practices for self discovery and individual betterment, and The Little Green Book of Revolution an inspirational book based on ideas of
peaceful revolution, historical activism and caring for the Earth like Native Americans. "Oligarchy, Police State and The War On Individualism" http://www.mintpressnews.com/MyMPN/oligarchy-police-state-the-war-onindividualism/)

social systems controlled by the figurative 1% and opposed by the 99%,

institutions that any compassionate person would liken to fascist or feudal, all have been
instigated, implemented and reinforced by people. I know that I alone cannot change such systems ;
this is guaranteed by the combined oligarchical complex of government, corporate,
financial and military, all formed in a steep pyramid system with the 1% (those in control) atop and the 99% (those under control) below. But it is perfectly obvious
that if a system is simply the creation of people, then people can change that
system with serenity, courage and wisdom. And since the systems in question operate at the
progressive expense of our physical environment and personal freedoms, it
is no longer a question of whether people can force such change, but when .
Anyone who says that people cannot change things, that we are powerless to
the control systems that already exists, does not realize they are in a system that began as
imagination, an idea, which came about through influence. With new, better ideas, people can change
those outdated systems that other people once created; even those that have become
long-standing traditions, or pose as such.
All the
all the

Jury nullification is the Achilles heel of the police state it can

be used to collapse the system, end mass incarceration, and
dissolve the drug war
Esparza 15
- (Andre Gabriel, Investigative Journalist, Writer, Editor, Legal Consultant, DontComply.com, Brettsanders.me Jury Nullification: The Achilles Heel of the Police State

http://www.brettsanders.me/2015/10/jury-nullification-the-achilles-heal-of-the-police-state/)

One of the most powerful rights you have as an American juror is the
ability to not only judge the case for which you sit, but to judge the merits of the law. This right is
often suppressed by judges and prosecutors as it could render the vast
majority of legislation null and void, much to the chagrin of the state. With Americans facing an
alarming risk of criminal prosecution, there is no better time for a mass awakening in the jury
box to combat the misinformation trotted out by judges and prosecutors who
mislead their peers of their constitutional power. This part of the Police State has a weakness that
can be infiltrated. Jury nullification is your right as a juror to decide with
your conscience and say no to unjust legislation. Currently, more than 90% of
criminal cases never appear before a jury, people charged with crimes just forgo their
constitutional rights and just plead guilty and pay the fine. This changes the game in the justice
system, the truth is that the tyrannical government has intentionally
designed the system to guarantee that the jury trial system thats clearly
in the Constitution is to be hidden so its not used against them. A Defendant is being
tried for disobeying a man-made law, but to their advantage one informed juror is there to say that since
there was no victim, there was no crime. Then a person is taken off the
road to being fined, locked in a cage, and held against their will by a group
of armed authoritarians. The system of mass incarceration depends entirely on the
steady stream of misinformation it imposes on the humans it looks to control. If overnight everyone
charged with victimless crimes exercised their constitutional rights , the shortage of judges, lawyers, and cops
would be exposed right away in the handling of overflowing jury trial cases. Can we just Imagine if the number of people
demanding their trial rights just doubled or tripled in occurrence ? It would be absolute chaos for the justice
system. This immediate crisis would bullet train mass incarcerations to the number one priority for judges and politicians. They would
only be left with the option to either throw out a lot of the criminal cases
filed, for example drug possession, disobeying unjust laws, and victimless crimes. Or go with the more difficult option and try to
amend the Constitution to turn the tables into their favor. Crashing the system by being
informed and exercising our rights is an achievable concept. Even the
dissolution of the Drug War could be commenced with this powerful tool .
Sparing the destruction of innocent lives on the civilian side and senseless overreach on the police side. Leaving it to the individual to decide what to put
into their own bodies without being raided, kidnapped, and locked up for a precious portion of their life. The advocating for

jury

nullification concerns local prosecutors, therefore supporters of jury nullification in several U.S. cities have raised
the ire of many judges and prosecutors. So scared of the distribution of knowledge
pertaining to jury nullification being presented judges have had some activists arrested. Government fearing We the
People is the direction that the wind needs to blow. Jury nullification without a doubt gets under the skin
of judges, prosecutors, and all the petty tyrants. The jury nullification process is also one of the last strongholds
of Freedom that we have in our technocratic driven society. With this spear, and millions of citizens willing to unleash
them, then maybe well really be defined as Land of the Free .

Jury nullification solves the police state, authoritarianism,

overcriminalization, domestic surveillance, militarized police,
private prisons, the corporatization of politics, government
corruption its specifically key, nothing else solves
Whitehead 15 - John Whitehead 15, constitutional and civil rights attorney, the Rutherford Institute., [John W. Whitehead is an
attorney and author who has written, debated and practiced widely in the area of constitutional law and human rights. Established in 1982 The Rutherford
Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties and human rights organization. Institutes president, Numerous accolades, including the Hungarian Medal of Freedom.
author of numerous books on a variety of legal and social issues and numerous magazine and journal articles, he wrote and directed the documentary

video series Grasping for the Wind, its companion book, which focus on key cultural events of the 20th Century. The series received two Silver World
Medals at the New York Film and Video Festival and is now available on DVD. Whitehead has filed numerous amicus briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court.
His law reviews have been published in Emory Law Journal, Pepperdine Law Review, Harvard Journal on Legislation, Washington and Lee Law Review,
Cumberland Law Review, Tulsa Law Journal and the Temple University Civil Rights Law Review. John W. Whitehead earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from
the University of Arkansas in 1969 and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1974] 8-21-2015, "We Are The
Government: Tactics For Taking Down The Police State," Washington's Blog, http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/08/we-are-the-government-tacticsfor-taking-down-the-police-state.html

In the face of such abject injustice

its hard to feel
empowered to believe the average citizen can make a difference Its
the outcome seems
the government always wins
pointless even foolhardy
As
such, its far easier to buy into the political process, even though elections
amount to nothing of consequence There are also those who subscribe to
the notion that an armed revolution is the only thing that will save
America These resistors mak themselves easy targets and will be the
first to be taken down by militarized police who are trained to kill
how do you not only push back
against the police states bureaucracy, corruption and cruelty but also
launch a counterrevolution aimed at reclaiming control over the
government using nonviolent means You start
engag in
(nonviolent) guerilla tactics Employ
civil disobedience
grassroots activism
And then
nullify everything the government
, outright corruption and overt inequality,

hard to persuade

anyone to stand against tyranny when all you can promise them as a reward is persecution, prosecution and a one-way trip to the morgue. And when
conclusion

it can seem

to be a foregone

, to dare to challenge the system.

armed

are

ing

and armed to the teeth with

every kind of weapon imaginable, from grenade launchers and sniper rifles to armored vehicles and Black Hawk helicopters. So

by changing the rules and

militant nonviolent resistance and

used to great effect through the use of sit-ins, boycotts and marches. Take part in

the local level (in other words, think nationally, but act locally).

ing

some

, which Martin Luther King Jr.

, which takes a trickle-up approach to governmental reform by implementing change at

, while youre at it,

does that is illegitimate

Various
states
us this
doctrine
to claim freedom from federal laws
nullification can be particularly powerful
in the hands of the
juror
jury nullification is the practice by which a jury refuses
to convict someone accused of a crime if they believe the law in question
is unjust or the punishment is excessive
ordinary citizens
should have the final say
In a world of rampant
overcriminalization
the average citizen unknowingly breaks three laws a
day nullification as a check on runaway
criminalization and
confusing laws that are passed
, egregious or blatantly unconstitutional.

with mixed results on issues as wide ranging as gun control and healthcare

cities and

have been

ing

historic

they find onerous or

wrongheaded. Where

, however, is

. As law professor Ilya Somin explains,

. According to former federal prosecutor Paul Butler, the doctrine of jury nullification is premised on the

idea that

, not government officials,

as to whether a person should be punished. Imagine that: a world

where the citizenrynot the government or its corporate controllersactually calls the shots and determines what is just.

, where

, jury

acts

authoritarian

the increasing network of

with neither the approval nor oftentimes even the knowledge of the citizenry. Indeed, Butler

believes so strongly in the power of nullification to balance the scales between the power of the prosecutor and the power of the people that he advises: If you are ever on a jury in a marijuana case,

recommend that you vote not guilty even if you think the defendant
actually smoked pot
As a juror, you have this power under the
Bill of Rights
you
make our laws fairer
the laws
should reflect the concerns of the citizenry opposed to
Corporate
America
the
punishment rarely fits the crime
every ill
inflicted upon us by the American police state , from overcriminalization
and surveillance to militarized police and private prisons, its money that
drives the police state there is a lot of money to be made from
criminalizing nonviolent activities and jailing Americans for nonviolent

, or sold it to another consenting adult.

; if you exercise it,

become part of a proud tradition of American jurors who helped

. In other words, its we the

people who can and should be determining what laws are just, what activities are criminal and who can be jailed for what crimes. Not only should the punishment fit the crime, but
also

as

of the land

the profit-driven priorities of

. Unfortunately, for thousands of Americans who are serving life sentences for nonviolent crimes as a result of harsh mandatory sentencing laws passed by tough on crime politicians,
. As I point out in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, with

. And

offenses This is where

jury nullification is so critical to reject inane
laws and extreme sentences and counteract the edicts of a profit-driven
governmental elite that sees nothing wrong with jailing someone for a
lifetime for a relatively insignificant crime
.

the power of

. Of course, the powers-that-be dont want the citizenry to know that it has any power at all. They

would prefer that we remain clueless about the governments many illicit activities, ignorant about our constitutional rights, and powerless to bring about any real change. Indeed, so determined are they to keep us in the dark

anyone daring to
educate a jury about nullification runs the risk of prosecution
about the powers vested in we the people that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1895 that jurors had no right during trials to be told about nullification. Moreover,

. Just recently, for example, 56-year-old

Mark Iannicelli was charged with seven counts of jury tampering for handing out jury nullification fliers outside a Denver courtroom. Now Iannicelli is not being accused of advocating for or against any case in progress, nor is he

three years in prison

Such
intimidation tactics proved less successful when
Heicklen was
accused of jury tampering for handing out nullifications pamphlets in
Manhattan A
judge found Heicklen not only innocent of the charge of
jury tampering, but went so far as to warn that the law
raises
significant First Amendment concerns
charged with targeting any particular members of the jury. Nevertheless, Iannicelli

could be sentenced to

one to

because

he dared to educate the jurors about an option that no judge or prosecutor ever mentions in court: the right to acquit someone who may be guilty if they also believe that the law is unjust.
used against Julian

, who

federal district court

18 U.S.C. 1504

(the First Amendment squarely protects speech concerning judicial proceedings and public debate regarding the

functioning of the judicial system, so long as that speech does not interfere with the fair and impartial administration of justice). Jury nullification has played a significant role in our nations history. It was championed early on by
John Hancock and John Adams and relied on at various points since then to push back against laws deemed egregious, unjust or simply out of step with the times. Most recently, jury nullification has become a popular tactic to
thwart laws that mandate harsh punishments for those convicted of possessing even minimal amounts of marijuana. For instance, in one case I worked on years ago, a jury refused to convict a 54-year-old man who had been
charged with possession of marijuana. Prosecutors claimed that a SWAT team, doing an area-wide land and air sweep, had spotted two marijuana plants growing in the hollow of a dead tree on the mans 39-acre property. Had the

the
prosecutor warned the jury that disagreement with the laws against pot
possession and disapproval of police tactics are not valid reasons to nullify
a case. Of course, those are exactly the reasons why more Americans
should opt for nullification
government officials
are treated with general leniency the average citizen is prosecuted to the
full extent of the law
For too long
representatives call the shots its time to restore the citizenry to
their rightful place in the republic
Jury nullification is
doing
so
For
us
dependent on the
fairness of the system there exists a multitude of ways in which justice
can and does go wrong every day Police misconduct. Prosecutorial
misconduct. Judicial bias. Inadequate defense. Prosecutors care more
about winning than
justice Judges care more what is legal than
just
overwhelming body of laws
that render the average American a criminal
youre going up against three adversaries who more often than not
are operating off the same playbook: the police, the prosecutor and the
judge. If you
hope of remaining free
your best bet remains in
your fellow citizens. They may not know what the Constitution says
they may not know what the laws are
and they may not even believe in your innocence, but if
youre lucky, they will have a conscience that speaks louder than the
legalistic tones of the prosecutors and the judges and reminds them that
justice and fairness go hand in hand
jury nullification
restoring
a sense of fairness to our system of justice Its the best protection for we
the people against the
government
we can use all the
protection we can get
nullification is a powerful way to remind the
man been found guilty, he would have been sentenced to jail and his 90-year-old mother, blind, deaf and dependent on him for care, would have had to be institutionalized. In delivering his closing arguments,

. In an age in which

accused of wrongdoingpolice officers, elected officials, etc.

, while

, jury nullification is a powerful reminder that, as the Constitution tells us, we the people are the government.

our so-called

to

weve allowed

. Now

: as the masters, not the servants.

. The reality with which we must contend is that justice in America is reserved for those who can afford to buy their way out of jail.

one way of

the rest of

who are

who

a case

seeking

who

about

what is

. Jurors who know nothing of the law and are left to deliberate in the dark about life-and-death decisions. And an

, statutes and

ordinances

, no matter how law-abiding they might think themselves. As Ive said before, when

you go into a courtroom,

re to have any

and I use that word loosely

(studies have shown

Americans to be abysmally ignorant about their rights),

(there are so many on the books that the average

American breaks three laws a day without knowing it),

. Thats ultimately what

is all about:

oppression and tyranny of the

. Most of all, jury

, and God knows,

government
set the rules

all of those bureaucrats who have appointed themselves judge, jury and jailer over all that we are, have and do

that were the ones who

Jury nullification would go a long way to destroying state

power, moot drug laws, and solve the prison industrial complex
Barnett 13 Gary [Financial advisor, has also written for The Future of Freedom Foundation, and the Foundation for Economic Education]
"The State Petrified By Jury Nullification" http://garydbarnett.com/GDBdaily/?p=2107)

prosecutors in Washington are having panic attacks because a small billboard in the Judiciary Square Metro
states the truth. There was an article in the Washington Post recently about this billboard and that truth it advocates. Good jurors
nullify bad laws and You have the right to hang the jury with your vote if you cannot agree with other jurors. The billboard just recently was installed and
strategically placed along the route to the D.C. Superior Court. State prosecutors are up in arms about this, and are asking judges to screen all
prospective jurors and weed out any who have either seen or been influenced by the
billboard. I am proud to say that Kirsten Tynan, a fellow Montanan of the Montana based Fully Informed Jury Association has contact information on the billboard.
Juror nullification demands that each juror decide the validity of laws , and
also decide if punishment is too harsh. Jurors should be interested in facts, but they should
also be the interpreters of the law. That concept is nearly completely foreign to modern juries, as judges and
prosecutors go to great lengths to instruct and control all that jurors think
and do. According to The Free Dictionary: A sanctioned doctrine of trial proceedings wherein members of a jury disregard either the evidence presented or the instructions of
the judge in order to reach a verdict based upon their own consciences. It espouses the concept that jurors should be the judges of both law and fact. In other words, jurors
should not only determine the validity of the states laws, but should
ignore any jury instructions delivered that contradict their own
consciences. Most all who are incarcerated in horrible U.S. corporate, state and federal prisons,
prison systems that are mostly fascist by nature, have been found guilty of victimless crimes or non-crimes, by
uninformed juries. The U.S. has the highest prison population per capita of all other countries on earth, and most of those held captive have
never harmed any other person or their property. The prison system you see, is very big
business, in fact it is a multi-billion dollar business for profit. That is why
prosecutors in many areas are rewarded for convictions, while bad law,
corruption and outright conspiracy throughout the court system is
rampant. My conclusions are based on the fact that I believe in the natural rights of the individual, and
State

that men are free to do as they choose to so long as they harm no others or their property, and do not infringe on any others rights. If I adhere to these solid convictions, I am bound

I cannot with clear conscience

help to send someone away to be caged as an animal if he or she has not
harmed another or their property. Therefore, I would acquit any charged with any criminal
offense that met the above criteria. This would virtually eliminate most any
crimes based upon legislating morality unless their was a victim actually harmed. All drug laws then
would be rendered moot. Actually most all laws could be properly ignored if proper nullification were considered. The implementation of jury
nullification in and of itself would go a long way in destroying much of the
States power. Without the use of corrupt courts to control// normal human
action by the citizenry, the state would become impotent due to its inability to fully control non-violent behavior. The
prisons would empty out, and only those who harmed others or their property would be harshly punished for their crimes. A better world that would
to never convict another of any so-called crime as defined by the state that contradicts my core beliefs.

be without doubt!