If you were to eliminate the structure of government and create a society that had no formal leader, no public collaboration, and no one employed by that system, the Free Staters would say that the problem is solved, there is no one controlling anyone's life. But, there is an issue with that. Let's say that there is a corrupt government official like Boss Tweed, for example. If there were no formal government, that doesn't mean that a figure like Tweed would be eliminated, he would just play a different role in society, most likely business. If people like Tweed were out of government and into business, then the businesses would all be corrupt with all of these people. Or these people may become doctors and keep charging people over and over for operations they did not receive so that they can get their hefty paycheck. Or even make "mistakes." Life would become corrupt and would be Mafia-esque.
However, if you were to eliminate the people from those public offices and elect people who are not corrupt rather than eliminating the offices, qualified people can make society stronger. And, those corrupt members of our society will face the punishments of being corrupt by a well oiled society. People fail to realize that people run our government and not some oversized robot that does not have feelings and is out of touch with society.
The people who are like the Free Staters feel that government has failed us because they did not get what they wanted from our society and feel that it is the "power figures" fault for it not going their way. Newsflash, sometimes you must compromise to achieve a common goal as a society, which is the purpose of government. These vague and cliché phrases like "liberty", "freedom", and "rights" are meant to pull heartstrings and get people to support them even though these words have no substance behind them. These people are a crying shame to investigative journalists and devalue the power of the press. When it comes to reporting and interviewing others, they have lost the reputation as a real news group because of their handling of interviewees. When they go to ask the mayor or other people questions, they get no response. Why? Because the Free Staters don't treat government officials like PEOPLE!!! They make these officials seem like people who run on gasoline and are only programed to screw the Free State syndicate. When people are treated like that and are only asked accusatory questions, they will not give you the light of day, no matter what your rights are because they have rights, too. What the Free Staters fail to understand, amongst other things, is the idea of everyone having rights, liberties, and freedoms. They feel that in theory everyone should have these rights, but in practice, feel that only they deserve these rights. Look at the videos on their website. All you will see is them complaining how they get arrested for everything and that government isn't held accountable for anything. They even went as far as telling the city manager to just fire people. Just fire people? What if I went to their place of work, walked up to the manager, and told the manager that I wanted Johnny on the griddle fired because he "purposefully" undercooked my hamburger? How different would it be for the government? They can't just fire someone because some loonie walks in and says so because they have rights, too. They have the right, along with every other citizen, to be innocent until proven guilty, and just saying someone is guilty is like claiming the said person is a witch. Is that what we want from our society? People just walking around calling for a witch hunt of the government because they got caught smoking a doobie one night and got arrested for it? Or for actually imposing on the rights of others? The Free Staters have easily proven that they have tunnel vision and show little regard to an alternative opinion. They have also shown little regard of the people of the government.
Also, their little network thingy (or whatever it is) has a very fitting name: the "Obscured Truth Network." I think it is very accurate, especially with the content they put up. Talk, talk, talk, clip, talk, clip, talk, talk, clip, talk, clip. How are viewers supposed to think of these people legitimately as being muckrakers if they don't even know if they are seeing the truth? You see, they may think that they are unveiling things that "mainstream media" and the "bureaucrats" are trying to hide, but from the aspect of the viewer, it looks like they have something to hide themselves, or felt that certain clips were "more worthy" than others to make it to air. Everyone has a word for that and it is censorship. The Free Staters have seemed to have made it a priority to make it look like the government is censoring everything they do. But by looking at their own content, it would lead me to believe that the Free Staters are strong believers in censorship. At times I wish I was in Keene right now because I would be having so much fun asking the Free Staters on camera, "What is liberty? What is liberty? [Get a response] But that's not what I asked. Did you know that it is not your right to impede on the progress of emergency officials? [Get a response] That's not what I asked. I asked if your Constitution says anything along the lines 'All citizens have the right to impede emergency officials from doing their job?' It doesn't? Oh, also, if I asked everyone in Central Square at 4:20 what 'the power to tax is the power to destroy' means and where it originated from, would they be able to answer it correctly?" However, luckily for the Free Staters, I am receiving a quality education from my suburban sanctuary a couple hundred miles away where I am enlightened to the truth from actual historians, political scientists and journalists, amongst many others.
Until next time,
Dennis J. Foley
EiC
