Funny thing about those oaths...

No matter how long ago it may have been when you took it, you still retain a feeling of assholishness if you don't keep it.



I'm having a slight crisis of conscience. A little over 15 years ago, I signed a blank check to the United States Constitution, payable with my life if necessary. Thankfully, the “powers that be” decided my life wasn't worth having, and I didn't have to experience the hell so many of my friends and loved ones have lived through. Every gun that's ever been pointed at my head was held by an officer right here in Texas!

Along the way, I've come to realize that thing called the “constitution” wasn't exactly all it's made out to be. At the end of the day, it still allows for man to rule over his fellow man, which is just absurd on its face and truly insane when one truly delves into the implications of such a thing. While we as a nation no longer live under the authority of a monarch, we still live under the authority of the majority's whims.

Sadly, because we live under a “representative democratic republic”, our society doesn't even make their voices heard when a decree is passed. We've shirked our “civic responsibilities”, in the name of expedience and efficiency, upon those who are least deserving of such power...but even if each and every one of us were to take a direct part in legislating, what right do we truly have?

Today, my father likely hopped on his bike and rode a hundred miles or more, without wearing a helmet. On this same day, if I were to even ride in the back seat of a four-wheeled vehicle without wearing a seatbelt, I would be given a citation for such a thing. The absurdity of this was, unfortunately, voted upon by our so-called “representatives” who were in turn voted into their respective offices by the voting majority.

I can buy enough firecrackers to blow up a large home and store them in a cardboard box next to my fireplace, but I am guilty of “manufacturing a destructive device” if I mix an extremely stable chemical mixture purchasable without signature off the internet for the purposes of making reactive shooting targets sooner than “immediately prior to use”...and I'd likely have my name slandered in the papers as a “potential terrorist”.

My aunt, whose chronic illness recently cost her half a leg, cannot smoke the buds of a plant our own government owns every medicinal-use patent on...but you and I will pay through the nose for taxes, so pharmaceutical companies can push toxic pills upon her. If she decided to go against the law and ingest this plant, she would be guilty of a crime. If she were to buy a hundred bucks worth of it, she'd be guilty of a felony.

In this state, as in every other state of this union, courts recognize what is known as the “qualified immunity” of police officers. Except in extreme cases that happen to be captured on videotape, a policeman at most runs the risk of being fired from his job when he abuses, injures, or kills a person and is generally found to be immune from civil liability due to his nature of employment. It is still illegal in this state to resist unlawful arrest or the use of excessive force, and the only recourse is a civil suit against the officer's department. Because of “qualified immunity”, the officer who breaks the law while acting under the color of law will suffer no legitimate consequences. If an officer's life is taken by a man acting in self-defense, he is automatically guilty of capital murder solely because of the chosen employment of the slain.

Even though my father has owned the property our shops sit on since before I began school, I cannot repaint either shop without first getting a permit from the city and then ensuring that the palette conforms with the pre-determined color standards chosen by our city council.

Even though we are not a corporate entity, have no business license, have no posted business hours, and are not open to the public, government tax assessors and “code inspectors” have a so-called “legal authority” to enter our premises during their working ours to inspect our shops on their whims with no warrant, and we have no true legal recourse because we are zoned commercially.

Amongst the many things the city of Angleton has told me include
I can't have a privately-owned car parked in a privately-owned residential driveway, if it doesn't have current tags and inspection...and if it sits there for more than a month, they confiscate my car and send me a tow bill.
I can't grow a certain mint plant that used to be available in the lawn & garden center of Walmart, because you can catch a five-minute buzz if you smoke its leaves...even though it's a hardy and beautiful landscape filler, and my Comanche ancestors have used it to remedy everything from diarrhea to depression.
If a police officer decides that I may be committing a crime against my own property, that officer may demand my ID in my own yard...and threaten my life, and the lives of my loved ones, if I refuse to comply.
If I chose to engage in a profession completely legal in this state, but disapproved of by my neighbors, an obscure zoning ordinance will be used to prevent me from pursuing my chosen profession.

Keep in mind, I haven't even gotten into things that go completely against the US constitution, currently being perpetrated by our government. Every single thing I've mentioned is 100% legal under our constitution.

We have the right to life, liberty, and property...so long as the abuses of these rights don't go against “due process of law”, which is decided by the elected and sometimes unelected.

At first, it kinda pained me to say this. I used to take that oath seriously...but fuck that oath. Constitution? It's a great idea, if you're the one getting elected by the majority. If you're trying to do your own thing without hurting another living soul, you're probably just fucked.

It doesn't hurt any more. I've let go of the guilt I used to feel for having doubts about the oath I took. I swore that oath not because I held allegiance to my government, but because I held allegiance to the ideas my government was supposed to stand for. My government, who was empowered by voters I was too young to legally consent to when I swore that oath, never thought twice about using me for all I was worth...and they continue to do so now, when I'm old enough to vote for the lesser of two evils.

I'm done with voting. I'm done with complying. I'm done with giving a fat flying fuck about them. I know not what will be written on my tombstone...but those who know me will say that I did my damnedest to hurt no one, I asked forgiveness when I had hurt others, and I did my best to help others when they asked.

Not sure where this will take me, only time will tell...