Should we perform the mother of all civil dis?

[Dave Ridley]

INTEGRATED CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

OK I have an idea I want to put out there, not necessarily for doing anytime soon but for thinking about. To dream it is to bring it closer to reality.   I started writing it a while back and am finally ready to post it. 

I keep remembering Churchill's old admonition that real victory is obtained when you apply all of your resources more or less simultaneously to one achievable set of goals.

Over the years, we have done all kinds of different things piecemeal.  That serves its purpose.  But what if we also did one big thing, maybe many months in the future.  Something popular which nearly everyone in our movement could actively get behind, something we would only do if we had a large number of people pledged to actively support.   What if we brought "all the efforts of all the activists" together for one supreme act (or series of actions)?

Rather than pontificate on generalities, I will just lay out a hypothetical scenario.  We can apply the ideas below to a real event.

Let's say It's May 2008.  Activist Jane Doe decides she wants to perform a new act of civil disobedience.  Instead of acting immediately, she consults widely with libertarian activists and average people around the state, trying to determine what law *they* would most like to see her defy.  Perhaps she even organizes some kind of a popular vote, between the various options.

Let's say that by this date, Concord has just enacted a statewide sales tax.  I don't think that's possible so soon, but for the sake of argument let's assume they have.   And let's say she or her supporters choose "sales tax defiance" as her issue.

Let's say she plans to sell things in front of the state house, without charging sales tax.

Her main goals are:

1) Generate publicity and debate
2) Inspire others to defy the tax
3) Put pressure on Concord to repeal or stop enforcing the tax

She declares she will not act until a minimum of 300 activists have signed some sort of public petition-pledge.  In this document they promise in writing what they will do to support her endeavor.   Perhaps the "document" is simply a web forum thread. They do not all have to be in-state.

Obviously these 300 could elect to do any number of helpful things....inside the system, outside, legislative, agitative...Almost everyone, regardless of location or situation, would have a way to help and no excuse for not helping.   Once the petition/pledge is complete, she delivers it to the appropriate authorities with one caveat:  She will perform this act of defiance, but only if the state arrests or otherwise harasses someone for "sales tax evasion."

Thus, the potential enforcers of this new and evil statute are given the option of being left alone simply by doing nothing.   They can watch TV, eat donuts, bust real criminals if they want, but if they pull a "sales tax" arrest, they will face the full brunt of this group's peaceful defiance.

We should win no matter what they did.  If they enforce, we get to put our plan into action, reap the publicity and exercise all our newly forming muscles.  We'd learn by doing, how to operate almost as a single organism.

Let's say that 3 months after Jane's May ultimatum, around August 1, 2008, state authorities do go after someone on sales tax charges. They try to keep it quiet, so we don't find out until September 1.  At that point, our whole apparatus creaks to life.  Here's an idealized but plausible version of how it might go:

On Sept 15 Jane Announces she will go forward with her civil dis as originally outlined and designates Sat. October 18 as the "Day of Action."  That day she will begin selling tax-free items in front of the State House.

One of Jane's 300 already-committed volunteers spreads the word to the other 299 and activates them to carry out their promises.  Since all of them have declared their intentions publicly, probably on our web forum, and since their fellow freedom lovers are watching them to see how far they can be trusted in the future, they have every selfish and selfless motivation to keep their word.  Nevertheless, some months have elapsed, and for one reason or another, only 200 fully come through.

But these volunteers are still more than we've ever had for a single event, and they do a wide variety of things to pave the way.  One sets up a small demonstration at the DRA office weeks before Jane's "Day of Action."  Five others write letters to the Editor announcing the event.  Some make calls to officials, others to WKBK radio in Keene.   Six others (along with two mannequins) stage a sign wave near Happie Planet, the (fictitious) business most recently charged with tax evasion.  The signs simply bear the name of the store; they draw additional interest and customers to it.

An "action document" circulates widely within our movement.  This document contains virtually every piece of information an activist might need to participate in the conflict.   Contact information for every relevant official, every media outlet, a copy of the first news release, other suggested ways to help or get the word out.  Folks also start to do innovative things that had never occurred to us before.  Every appropriate media outlet gets a dramatically worded news release about the main event, and people who had not promised to do anything start to step forward anyway.

Now Jane ups the ante.  She announces she will not pay any fines that might be levied against her, that she will not eat while imprisoned.  She says she will force police to choose between physically dragging her away from her tax-free kiosk or leaving her alone.  She vows to continue selling merchandise tax free until arrested or until key public officials have promised they will cease enforcement of the hated tribute.

Activists spread the word to Republican ranks and inform the capitol police they will not seek a permit for their demonstration.  Others plan to protect Jane's merchandise and her cash by holding it or fleeing with it if police attempt to seize it.  The prospect of people being chased down or dragged off by police draws additional media interest.  LTE's spew forth.  Ads appear announcing the event or supporting anti-sales-tax candidates.  Liberty Alliance activists and state reps announce repeal legislation. 

Half-planned sign waves and other micro demonstrations begin to occur at busy intersections and other bureaucrat offices.
Dozens of other things happen of lesser importance, too numerous to mention.

By the time Action Day arrives, Jane can proceed forward knowing that in all likelihood:

She has the attention of a respectable number of people in the state
Something interesting and visual will happen that people will talk about for years to come
There will be at least three mainstream New Hampshire media outlets present.
There will be at least fifty supporters
There will be at least one videographer present who is one of us and will edit/distribute a video of what happens
An independent documentary crew will be present
Donations will ease her burden, and she may gain additional long term customers from the publicity

At the event, anti-tax candidate signs are all over the place.   The general election is just a couple months away.
As the event begins, state troopers and capitol police approach Jane and tell her she will not be allowed to set up a table on the State House grounds.  Jane treats them respectfully but insists that she will not cooperate with their orders.

She begins selling small rattlesnake flags and silver rounds to supporters without charging sales tax.  Each flag is unfurled as soon as she sells it, with much fanfare, giving the appearance that the demonstration is getting bigger!   A DRA bureaucrat steps forward and informs her that must stop or she will be charged with a crime and her sale items confiscated.  Police tell supporters to stay away from the conversation.   Two supporters ignore them, march forward and, on a signal from Jane, one takes from her a bag which contains most of her sale items.

Jane then breaks off the conversation with the authorities, walks away from them and begins attempting to set up a table inside state property.  A police officer demands Jane's bag from the supporter, who responds by telling the officers he will not use force on them but that he will not voluntarily hand over the bag.  He calls the attention of a videographer, then flees the scene at top speed.  Three police officers tackle him and seize the bag without inflicting injury or making an arrest; all is recorded on video.    Jane continues trying to set up the table.  An officer grabs the other end and attempts to drag it off of state property.  Three activists approach the officer and stand between him and his destination but do not touch him.   Others begin approaching officers or trying to stand between them and Jane.  The commanding officer picks up a bullhorn and warns the crowd that everyone is ordered to stand at least 15 feet away from the nearest officer or they'll be arrested.   Most of the crowd complies by backing very slowly away from the nearest officer.  A few do not comply at all.  Others lie down, forcing the officers to step around them or on them.  One loses his head, breaks protocol, scuffles with a trooper and is arrested and hauled off on the spot.   This mistake becomes the part of the event which reporters begin to focus on.   It makes the coverage less positive, but results in more people seeing it.

Meanwhile Jane has lost her table but still has some pocket items and is able to sell one more before troopers refocus attention on her.  To prevent her from continuing to sell, they order her to follow them to a squad car.  Instead she continues attempting to sell, is gently handled to the ground, cuffed and carried to the vehicle.  All the while she continues reaching into her pockets and handing sale items to activists, until she is physically prevented from it.   As this is going on another activist, standing on the sidewalk off of state property, begins selling items of his own without charging sales tax.  No one had expected this.  Activists make sure reporters get wind...and in a few minutes so do the police.  This further divides police attention and forces them to request new orders for dealing with the unexpected second refusenik, who is operating on the Concord right of way rather than state property.  They also call for backup.   By this time a wildly varying series of interactions are taking place.  Some people test the police silently by their proximity or by standing in their way.  Others engage them in conversation from the approved distance.   A few get temperamental but most stay civil.

One hurls an insult at a trooper, and in response one of his compatriots stands between him and the officer, faces him, and asks him to stop.  Then she apologizes to the officer for the insults of her friend.

By event's end, fifty seven demonstrators, fifteen cops and four mainstream journalists have shown up; three activists have been arrested and fifteen mostly discardable items seized.   Two of the arrestees sign themselves out of jail immediately; only Jane offers complete noncooperation.   She refuses to sign any document, divulge any fingerprint or move to any location into which she is ordered. She ceases eating.

Media coverage is mixed but widespread.    The image of the scuffle gets seen most widely.  On the plus side, it seems to generate the impression that the state is facing a rebellion and already losing its ability to enforce the sales tax plan.  On the other hand, it creates some local animosity toward the "rabble rousing" freedom movement.

(continued next post)

[Dave Ridley]

(continued...)

Falling back from the actions of the weekend, each activist carries on their self-assigned missions.  The one who had promised to write an additional news release has a family emergency, so someone else takes her place after an unexpected delay of one day.   But the release goes out to most of the nation's pro liberty media outlets.   Ten more letters to the editor appear from our activists within a week of the event.

At 10:00 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 20, Jane is scheduled to be arraigned.  Twenty demonstrators appear outside the courthouse at 8:30 a.m.  with signs that say

Ax the Tax
NHfree.com

or

Free Jane
NHfree.com

Twenty four supporters try to enter the courtroom, but for lack of space only fifteen can get in. 

A judge orders Jane to appear in court a month hence; she announces she will do no such thing and is remanded into custody by the uneasy bureaucrats.    The know what she has promised to do (and not do) while she is locked up.

Over the next week five silent demonstrators appear in Governor Lynch's office with "Why did you lie to us?" signs.   He is not present and an aide orders them to leave.  They back out slowly without incident as a still photographer records the interaction.   The incident fails to draw mainstream media attention but is reported in the libertarian media and in two LTEs.   The same type of demonstration occurs at the state supreme court building, Jane's jail, and at various police stations and headquarters.   A fourth demonstrator is arrested, attempting to block the employee entrance of the DRA.   Only the last two events make it into the mainstream news outlets.

At this point a more concerted, but belated, effort is made to increase the number of people defying the sales tax.  LTEs now begin urging readers to sell without adding tax, and to buy from merchants who do the same.  Two gutsy store owners agree to do so openly, and supportive demonstrators appear near their store to do sign waves supporting the store.    This part of the story also makes it into the mainstream press, and both stores receive a lot of free publicity.  Meanwhile, two more sign waves have occurred near Happie Planet.

By now people are really beginning to pop out of the woodwork who we have never seen before.  Some of our future neighbors now living in Vermont and Massachusetts, who had never appeared in the past, begin making day trips to attend events.   Mainstream New Hampshire Republicans and business owners start to show up and become active in this struggle.  A Manchester millionaire makes a secret five thousand dollar direct donation to Jane.

But it is now November 2, and Jane has been fasting in jail for two weeks.   The General Election is now less than a week away and begins to become a distraction.  Authorities move Jane's hearing up to November 5.   Thirty supporters show up for demonstrations or  to attend the hearing.  The judge sentences her to time served and releases her.

She is too weak to walk out of the courtroom so supporters carry her.  Photographers eat it up. As planned in advance, one of our guys informs reporters that Jane will be drinking orange juice, her first glass of nourishment in nineteen days, outside the courthouse.   This event is photographed and videotaped amid the cheers of activists and the concerned intervention of her doctor, who takes a blood pressure check right there on the sidewalk.  These images make it into half the state's mainstream media outlets.

With the General Election hard upon us, Jane's story then falls to the back burner for a bit...but there is a connection between the two events.  We now have a very clear sense which candidates can be relied upon to fight the sales tax, and most of them (especially the Republican gubernatorial candidate) get good sign wave support at the polls. 

Lynch, having given up the corner office to run for U.S. Senate, is not as big a factor in 2008 as he was in '06.  Thanks largely to the fact that Hillary Clinton is the Democratic presidential candidate, our anti-tax Republican candidate, Neal Kurk, wins by a whisker over the Democrat governor-wannabe and takes the governor's reigns.  Pro liberty candidates make modest gains in the House, four Free Staters also win seats, and our legislative activists prepare their fight to repeal the sales tax despite a continued Democrat majority in both Houses. 

By January 2009 six businesses are openly defying the tax and receiving our support.  Activists continue to annoy the police by setting up "Jane Tables" on state property.   Most of them back down when confronted but only with the slowest speed.  One tries to set one up shop in the lame duck governor's office. Tax free commerce flourishes on NHfree.com and other NH web forums, and three New Hampshire residents announce the creation of "virtual stores" which sell tax free items to other New Hampshire residents.  Others sell tax-free from rented store spaces, or on a person to person basis, knowing they have no land that can be confiscated.     But for the next few months the issue become increasingly less visible.

Then the legislative battle begins in early March.  We witness the Liberty Alliance in action on a scale altogether unprecedented, twice as effective and active as it has ever been before on any one issue.  This time they are working to support of the Sales Tax Repeal Bill.   LA members and supporters send a total of 500 individualized e-mails to members of the committee hearing the bill.  They make a total of 70 phone calls to committee members.   They organize a media event at a local business, where the owners show reporters around and demonstrate for them how much pain the tax is inflicting.  Two hours before the hearing on March 8, twenty-five demonstrators descend on the corner of Louden and Main in Concord, where they will be seen by incoming reps and thousands of motorists.

On the first floor of the Legislative Office Building, an "Ax the Tax" news conference gains the full attention of the media, and reps headed to the hearing must weave their way through a wall of anti-tax bodies.  The new governor appears and receives a steak knife. He uses it to cut a "sales tax" sign in two, and there is a roar of hooting and applause.

Four hundred tax opponents crowd the hearing room, which ends up having to be the House chamber itself.  They all wear Ax The Tax buttons, some also have Ax the Tax clothing.    Inside, several of our nicest activists keep intermittent track of the bureaucrats who testify against the repeal, then they follow them into the hall and politely ask them moral questions.  Is it right to testify against our liberties at our expense?   Is it a conflict of interest to demand policies that put more taxpayer dollars into their wallets?   Other activists hand flyers to the bureaucrats, silently asking them similar questions.   One simply writes down the names and offices of all the bureaucrats who testified against the repeal, and what they said, so that demonstrators or petitioners can visit them at their workplaces later.  Their names and testimony later appear in our bureaucrat database, now over a year old, bustling with traffic.

New and unexpected techniques begin to surface, innovations for handling these battles.  Massive media coverage ensues, now dominating the state's discussion.  Additional attention is paid to Jane's act of disobedience, the growing refusal of businesses to pay up, etc.  The old demonstrations at besieged businesses, and on busy street corners, begin to recur. 

But this time, at least, the legislative effort fails.   The committee votes narrowly our way, but their recommendation is overturned in the House.  It never makes it to the Senate.

Again, activity peters off. New issues and activities start to take precedence, and for the next few years at least we are unsuccessful in achieving the repeal of the tax, or in obtaining widespread defiance.   It is simply beyond our means at this still-early stage.   But our activist base has increased by fifty percent, we have seized some degree of control over the debate and we have learned important lessons.   Most importantly, we've learned to operate in a more coordinated fashion.

We've achieved free publicity on a scale greater than ever before.  New and strong bonds have been formed between our movement and the New Hampshire Republican base, and sales tax resistance does become a recognized and relatively respectable practice among some local businesses.  Usually it occurs quietly.  The state becomes reluctant to enforce the tax, and when it does the targets at least sometimes receive active support.  They no longer need to fear being perceived as pariahs.

NHfree.com hits the 3000 member mark, almost triple our current level.   Jane achieves a great deal of credibility; if she chooses to act again, heavy coverage is likely.  More activists around the nation are drawn to relocate here. 

We move to our next fight with a significantly larger and more capable army.

[Dave Ridley]

Now...assuming you've read the above scenario, I have some questions.  First...what problems are there with my idea?  How would they be overcome?  What needs to happen before we are ready to carry out a series of actions on this scale?  What other types of things could we do as part of such a campaign?

I should be up front that I am not planning to play a Jane Doe role anytime soon.  Maybe someday.

I am able to be one of the most active supporters however.

Also after finishing this I decided that the most effective issue to take a stand on might be property tax seizures.  Someone could announce they were going to seize a peice of city or town property and operate a business there; offer to leave as soon as the city returns whatever land it stole.   I like this because it goes straight after the public school taxation enforcement. 

[ninetales1234]

A heart-touching story.

What needs to happen before we are ready to carry out a series of actions on this scale?

Make a list for each job in this campaign, to see how many people this would require. I imagine that the "not eating for two weeks" position will be hard to fill.

As I have said on the FSP forum, if you need a computer artist, for signs or anything like that, I'm here.

[Quantrill]

Wow.  Great read.

I think the biggest problem is the number of people who would be as active as you are hoping.  And at election time many activists would be extremely busy trying to elect people who would reverse the damage that the Democrats have already inflicted on us, without a sales tax.  While many would support Jane Doe, I don't think that 300 (or 200 as your scenario plays out) would be fully involved.  Of course, I may be a pessimist here.

I think it's a fantastic idea, and has the potential to get more people to NH faster than anticipated.  And news outlets like the Concord Monitor would be all over the  "rabble rousing" criminals who would dare to defy the law.  They may play to the territorial instincts of the natives and try their best to get people to say "maybe we don't like the new tax, but why should those people be above the law?"  Regardless, it would absolutely generate press for the FSP like no other.

I think the best course of action for now is for people to find out what kind of action they're good at and what they can do to help out.  I myself enjoy writing LTEs and emailing my "rulers" but I know my people skills aren't what they should be and I'd probably stutter and mumble when talking to pols over the phone (or may scream at them in person).  And don't forget that the vast majority of people (even PORCs) work the 9-5 routine so that would severely hamper the ability to have a mass group of people at a protest or court hearing during normal work hours. 

Once we get a sense of who we can trust to do what, that would go a long way in bringing this idea to fruition...

[error]

What does the FSP have to do with this?

[Quantrill]

The FSP is comprised of liberty-loving individuals and as such, would have many (hopefully all) of its members involved in this.

And you can bet the Concord Monitor will remind its readers of that fact...

[error]

The Monitor can say whatever it wants. If it wants to pull stunts like that, there are quite a few people who will write them nasty letters.

[Dreepa]

And don't forget that the vast majority of people (even PORCs) work the 9-5 routine so that would severely hamper the ability to have a mass group of people at a protest or court hearing during normal work hours. 

True.... but when Kat and Russell were arrested last year about 30ish people showed up in Manchester on a workday...
I think for certain big events people will take the morning off (if they can).

Dada... I like your style... thinking big!
9tales has a good idea..... write down the 'jobs' that would be needed... although a lot of what you stated in your piece much of it would be spontaneous.

[Dan]

I think the biggest problem is the number of people who would be as active as you are hoping.

Don't write off the First1000 so soon!

[Dreepa]

I think the biggest problem is the number of people who would be as active as you are hoping.

Don't write off the First1000 so soon!

True... and I predict the counter will hit the 500 mark (if people change their info) by the end of September.

[Quantrill]

Hey I'm all for this happening!  Dada just asked about potential problems and I said what came to mind.  Looking at the FSP's official site and the # of people who have signed up (and the number of people who have moved) is a little disheartening.  You guys are right though.  There are quite a few people who are active and this needs to go forward.

[dalebert]

The Monitor can say whatever it wants. If it wants to pull stunts like that, there are quite a few people who will write them nasty letters.

Yes, the point being that this sort of tactic is not popular with all, and I might even venture to say "most" FSPers. I get the impression that most of them are expecting to work through the political process, i.e. by running good candidates and supporting them and by fighting bad candidates. I could be wrong on my numbers of course and I would be glad if someone more knowledgeable were to educate us on that.

[Dave Ridley]

<<I get the impression that most of them are expecting to work through the political process>>

That's why this effort would reach its potential only if it had political-process element to it.   There is no other way to drag the dave mincins and don gormans of the world into something like this.

and they would have to be both involved and excited about the whole thing, for it to attain its potential.

[lastlady]

All I can say is I am in. I am about to sell everything, quit my job and after arriving to the free state will be giving 100% to activism. I don't feel I am alone. I feel 200 people is just the tip of the iceberg, I can see thousands in the next year or two doing something like this.

Dada you are a dreamer and you're not the only one.


LIVE FREE OR DIE!!!!!