<![CDATA[A COMMON CITIZEN... - Home]]>Sun, 12 May 2024 10:34:57 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[The Baffling Notion of Polarization]]>Sun, 19 Jul 2020 15:34:07 GMThttp://acommoncitizen.com/home/the-baffling-notion-of-polarizationThere was such an opportunity to come together...there was a moment that two extremes could come together and make amends, uphold similarities and temporarily disregard differences...and yet we polarize even further...like opposing magnetic forces, pushing further and further away. 

There's too much information, too much chaos, to even begin to know what TRUTH is in the objective world anymore. Politics have now poisoned the great institutions of the scientific method and fields of chemistry and biology, so much so that the most unlikely voices, and sometimes unwelcome voices are standing for those institutions. 

What's worse to the performative posturing and hypocrisy that I see from ALL sides, the blitzkrieg speed at which someone judges and ridicules someone else without regarding their own hypocrisy, without judgement of self. It's sickening. I've said this time and time again and it rings true even more, to this day, and every day...

A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES - Mercutio...Romeo and Juliet (by Shakespeare)

With that said, I will continue to operate in the shadows and make my own judgements, put my money and action where it counts. I don't need the validation of the masses to feel justified about where and how I volunteer. To add to the narrative without proper action is sinful. To spread political agenda without helping one's neighbor, let alone keeping one's mouth shut and simply helping one's neighbor, is parasitic.

I implore you...I invite you...to shut the fuck up and do something. Move your body and do what's right in your immediate space, your immediate environment. It's much better than ridiculing someone for choices that do not affect you in your physical space and immediate moment. If you find a controversial article, hit piece, with questionable sources, read & digest it, but for God's sake, do the world a fucking favor and try not to spread it, unless it's completely and utterly necessary. Even then, pause...really...TRULY...pause.

Call your reps. Find out about what your local community is doing to keep EVERYONE safe AND preserve inalienable liberty and freedom. I'm happy to know  my reps and my community are doing that, that they're working together. 

The choices I'm making:

I'm wearing a mask in common sense cirumstances, and choosing not to judge others for not doing so. How about that? Live and let live and take responsibility. Stop ridiculing others for choosing not to and vice versa. It's their choice, it's their body. Make your own choices. 

Educating myself from the source of those who have lived and experienced, not those who have observed and by doing so feel shame and guilt for their 'privilege'.  (You know who you are and by adding to the narrative with your white washed version of social justice, you are doing EXACTLY what you're fighting against and worse. Fucking listen...to those who have LIVED and EXPERIENCED what you HAVEN'T)

Picking my sources carefully and choosing to listen to science and boredom rather than sensation and mass hysteria. 

That ends my rant. Some of you may see this as hypocritical. The act of writing this and placing it on public forum has thus contradicted the message of shutting up. Thus, I expose my condition. Forgive me, I am human and so are you.

You are a person, I am a person. We are broken, fucked up, and imperfect. Always have been always will be. There will always be death and suffering and with that it should never deter us from our joy and healing.

Passionate and Visceral love to all of you. Remember who you are and KNOW THYSELF

​~ CC Out


]]><![CDATA[A Personal Amendment...to what I stated previously...13th and voices for consideration.]]>Sat, 06 Jun 2020 16:27:17 GMThttp://acommoncitizen.com/home/a-personal-amendmentto-what-i-stated-previously13th
I've been in education/consideration/update/defrag mode for the last week. I've essentially stopped everything non-essential and have dedicated time, and still not enough to educating myself about the country I live in and its sins/transgressions against its Black citizens, from the past and the present, weighing as many sides as humanly possible, not only from the above documentary but voice of the Black community like Larry Elder, and Brandon Tatum. 
I believe a conversation needs to take place and I truly believe that the truth is somewhere in between the documentary 13th, and the words and accounts of Larry,  and Brandon. To be clear, For example; I wholeheartedly agree with Larry Elder that the Welfare State enacted by Lyndon B. Johnson was an embodiment of coercive slavery, furthermore an archetype of the devouring mother. Furthermore, 13th's excellent depiction of the issues in our system hold up a lot to consider. I did a search to try and find critiques and fact checking of the documentary and have found little to none yet, but I would absolutely love to hear  what all three of them think of it. Some of you might refer to Candace Owen's manifesto. I watched it...and had it in this post, and decided to delete it, because even though she back pedals her view, it's still perpetuates a narrative that because of George Floyd's record, he doesn't deserve liberty or justice. How about innocent until proven guilty?

I do think a coalition between community members and law enforcement/law makers can help, but confessions must be made, accountability must be brought to the table, not the gas lighting, defense, and justification and we need to call a spade a spade. More state control and more laws mean that more crimes will be committed. More frivolous laws against non-violent crimes set precedence for desperation, and thus non-violent crimes.  Deregulate the populous, regulate the system. Governing and its consent of the governed. There needs to be a balance of ideas. 

I also think it's important to point out the death of another citizen. This man, Officer David Dorn, from what all accounts I've seen so far was an outstanding public servant and citizen who came out of retirement to protect his community, and killed by protesters. 
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We must hold evil accountable in all its forms on all sides, and find forgiveness, fund understanding for the frustrations of protesters, acknowledge the issues in the system and change them for the better. We must also acknowledge the frustrations of the police force and their continual struggle for balance so they can do their jobs properly. We must meet in the middle and separate the wheat from the chaff. Get the truth out of all of these accounts with the end goal of a BETTER POLICE FORCE OVERALL and A BETTER COMMUNITY OVERALL with FREEDOM and LIBERTY EQUALLY FOR ALL. 
]]><![CDATA[I'VE BEEN QUIET FOR 15 YEARS...UNTIL NOW.]]>Wed, 03 Jun 2020 17:34:33 GMThttp://acommoncitizen.com/home/quiet-no-moreHi Everyone,

I'm just a guy...a common citizen...furious, devastated, heartbroken, feeling too compelled not to speak his mind.

I'm a musician. My life’s purpose is to entertain, educate, and create through music and art, to allow people to escape from the pain and the suffering in this world and hopefully lessen it. Thus, you won’t see me post this long form essay on my band’s page or my other pages outright. I respect my band mates and my other platforms enough not to speak my political/social opinions ad nauseam, so here I am on mine. 

I’ve been contemplating posting this, nervous really, and whether or not I should even speak on anything given the circumstances of the world we’re living in today, let alone who I am and what I do...what little I know, and how much I don't. 

I’m not one for outrage. I’m one for fact checking, research, observation, weighing any and all sides, using the scientific method to consider any and all factors before coming to a solid conclusion, and those conclusions I’ve kept to myself most of the time (out of fear), but after seeing the action and inaction of our government officials regarding COVID 19, the despicable actions of Former Officer Derek Chauvin who should have never been given a badge in the first place, and the death of George Floyd...and so many others before him, I can no longer allow myself to be neutral or be silent.

You do not have to agree. That’s the beauty of freedom and liberty. Believe what you will. Live And Let Live.

This is not a condemnation of law enforcement officers who protect and serve nor one of protesters exercising their inalienable rights. I’ve seen a lot of coming together and community on both sides, and it’s amazing to witness. With that, I am here to inspire action, by sharing what my findings are, however valid/invalid they may be and ultimately give power back to people, of all races, creeds, genders, and orientations.

I’m asking you to read this and contemplate. I invite you to educate yourself. Come to your own conclusions with the literature and research the subject yourself.

I’ll be leaving links in the description to copious amounts of useful information as I divulge my finding over the last 15 years.  Decreasing police brutality and reforming law enforcement on a national level and reforms of our government system are things that I have wanted to see for a long time, and they simply haven't come to fruition.  Maybe now, just maybe, in this pivotal point, real solutions can come to the table. 

My conclusions and observations from my research and corroboration indicate a slow creeping march towards authoritarianism, whether on the right or the left. It doesn’t matter. Certain laws and executive orders that violate civil liberties and human rights have slowly been sneaking into our law books under every executive office that I have lived under and before that; Bush Senior, Clinton, Bush Junior, Obama, and Trump; all those certain laws unconstitutional with authoritarian leanings, gaping societal wounds treated with political band aids. 

Look at the actions taken by the American Government after 9/11 under Bush (15). Watch the movie ‘The Report’ to get an idea of government hubris and overreach over the last decade in the war on terror  (14). Include the war on drugs in that research too spanning many administrations (8). Look up the NDAA, and its various nefarious clauses throughout the years, including the one that allows the government to torture and detain American citizens without due process (that passed in 2012) (6).  Look up the bill that passed under Clinton in 1997 to militarize police forces (3). Find its correlations with civilian deaths. Inform yourself about the actions of Edward Snowden and uncovering Prism and the actions of the NSA.  (Note: I am not endorsing Edward Snowden nor any negative consequences within the intelligence community that occurred because of his actions...but it would be foolish not to ignore the findings. Separate the wheat from the chaff here. Actually, do that throughout this entire essay.) (5) . 

These all highlight only a portion of several examples of government overreach including a disparaging number of documented incidents of police misconduct and brutality against minorities, which are a horrid symptom to a deep and complex issue.

The first time I recall observing this outright and being moved to fury was the unwarranted ‘stop and frisk’ policy of New York City under Democrat Michael Bloomberg which affected several minority young men. After that, Eric Garner’s death made an impact on my psyche as well (16, 7). Now another man has died unnecessarily, in the middle of a pandemic, and administrations on a local/state/ federal level are enabling powers that are pretty much acting out martial law without calling it that outright. 

Some of you will apologize for the corrupt actions of law enforcement. That’s okay, but I want you to contemplate this phrase…”Innocent until proven guilty”,  "Protect and Serve", "Uphold the Constitution of The United States".

There's a lot of Law Enforcement doing this right...but that isn't what this is about. 

This is about performing tactical societal and humanitarian surgery. Let’s not kill the body along with the cancer. Let’s get rid of the cancer, and preserve the body. Stick with me...

Before I go any further, I want to make something clear. I LOVE my country. I love America and what it COULD be, rather than what it is.

Authoritarianism is one of the primary reasons for the founding fathers of this country, as imperfect as they were, to write up The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States, to secure a perfect future…they even tried to chip away at the ingrained institution of slavery at that time. The idea of three branches of government and having a check and balance system is GENIUS. It has led to the emancipation proclamation, black leaders like Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman leading the charge for freedom. It led to the civil rights movement with people like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, James Baldwin, and Malcolm X leading the charge (9). It has led to some real beauty in this country. More recently and shockingly, steps towards eliminating mandatory minimum sentences were made under the current administration, The Trump Administration, so I would argue that we need to give credit where credit is due (11). Want to learn about that? Listen to ‘Prison Song’ by System Of A Down and check the sources below (12, 11).

We’re not perfect yet, not by a long shot, and I am probably the least qualified instrument for this message, but we can keep moving in that direction, and I’d rather hear the right song, the right message through a broken speaker system than hear a diluted song through an excellent speaker system, let alone silence...We all need to speak. More importantly, we all need to listen. 

If we don’t all stand up for our brothers and sisters in the Black community, our fellow humans, against the corrupt authoritarianism slowly creeping through the veins in this country, who will? Who is to say we won’t slowly become like the regimes that I'm about to outline below?

Contemplate these scenarios: 

The first people to suffer under the plight of authoritarianism in Germany were the Jewish community, and look at what complacency and acceptance by that populous caused there. It caused World War II and it further accelerated the poisonous and despicable idea of racial superiority and the death of gypsies, Catholics, and so many others. Tens of millions of people. Dead.

The first people to suffer under the plight of authoritarianism in communist China and Russia were capitalists, successful farmers just making their livings, then after that center leaning socialists, then religious peoples Buddhist monks and nuns executed at gunpoint and left in mass graves, then anyone who didn’t fall in line with the status quo.  Hundreds of millions of people. Dead. 

Here in America, it was the Native Americans who suffered so much, and continue to suffer under, you guessed it, government mandated reservations... then the Black community, the Chinese community, Immigrants, under the misguided guise of imperialism and superiority, those who practice the Islamic faith, those with alternative lifestyles and orientations, and the saga of that struggle continues to this day. Hundreds of millions of people. Dead over the course of our history.

What do all of these scenarios have in common? Authoritarian government runs a muck with no check, no balance, and a populous that either was too fearful to care, too ignorant to understand the dynamics, or so hypnotized by ideology that they fell in toe with the status quo. 

As someone who identifies strongly with libertarian values and civil liberties, I stand with the people, to be absolutely crystal clear...that’s of every race, creed, gender, and orientation.

We all have a responsibility to get involved, to take action, call our representatives, communicate with them; place competent, compassionate, and honorable people in places of authority, keep the good cops, praise them when they do the right thing, and get rid of the bad ones by getting rid of the cancer in the system (1.).

Let us all turn our attention on the parts of the state on the local/state/and federal level that have forgotten the meaning of “CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED” (1.).

If you're still not with me and may argue the point that “all lives matter”, I would argue that that response is the same right now as this:

Status Quo:
Dying Man: “I can’t breathe”
Responses: “All of us deserve to breathe”, "Does he actually deserve to breathe?" "Why does he keep playing victim?", "What if he's faking it?" etc. 

WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN
Dying Man: "I can't breathe"
Response: SOMEONE CALL 911! THIS MAN CAN'T BREATHE!

I'm so immensely sorry to my brothers and sisters and everyone in between in the Black community that it took me this long to have the courage to express myself. 

To everyone else, there's a difference between arguing that things are way better...
​
And CONTINUING to move in that better direction, to ACT on behalf of that better direction. Things are better, but that is no reason for us to STOP MAKING IT BETTER. 

I will conclude by inviting you to look at the sources below. I will also end with the following. Atheists and skeptics alike...Separate the wheat from the chaff here.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” - Matthew 7:12

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” - Galatians 6:7

Treat people with love and fairness. Stand up against injustice. You reap what you sow. All of our gardens are imperfect, which means we must constantly tend to them…

What are YOU planting today?

Thank you.

Sincerely,

A Common Citizen


BASIC CIVICS BREAKDOWN:

DUE PROCESS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Due_process
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States
SEPARATION OF POWERS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_powers

PLACES TO DONATE:
Sentencing Reform: https://famm.org/our-work/sentencing-reform
Campaign Zero: https://www.joincampaignzero.org/solutions#solutionsoverview
ACLU: https://www.aclu.org
​
Sources:

1. Find your Representative:
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

2. Four Practical Reforms:
​https://thelibertarianrepublic.com/four-policing-reforms-we-need-right-now/

3. Police Programs/Accountability/Statistics/Data
https://twitter.com/samswey/status/1180655747992051712

4. Eliminating Mandatory Minimum Sentences for Non-Violent Crimes
https://famm.org/our-work/sentencing-reform/

5. Prism/NSA/Edward Snowden. (Again, I am not endorsing Edward Snowden nor any negative consequences within the intelligence community...but it would be foolish not to ignore the findings Separate the wheat from the chaff here.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden

6. NDAA (Look at 2012). 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization_Ac

7. The Death of Eric Garner
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/07/29/335847224/what-we-see-in-the-eric-garner-video-and-what-we-dont

8. The War On Drugs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_drugs

9. A Perspective from James Baldwin, a literary figure of the Black community in the 60's (browse for more from Martin Luther King and Malcom X)
​https://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-james-baldwin-from-the-negro-and-the-american-promise/

10. Further research on police misconduct
https://reason.com/2020/05/30/police-unions-and-the-problem-of-police-misconduct/

11. Proving the point of giving credit where credit is due, even if it seems undeserved
https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/trump_backs_sentencing_reform_bill_that_shortens_mandatory_minimums_expands

12. Prison Song by System Of A Down
https://youtu.be/s7ZsYe5Uwg0

13. Examples of tragic and volatile situations that in my opinion could have been handled differently and that we should learn from:
https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/8/8/20747198/philadelphia-bombing-1985-move
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege

14. The Movie “The Report” starring Adam Driver:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Report_(2019_film)

15. The Patriot Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act

16. NYC’s Stop and Frisk Policy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop-and-frisk_in_New_York_City

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