By Roger Copple on July 4, 2010

The bureaucracy, inefficiency, waste, national debt, loss of states’ rights, erosion of individual rights, my experience in the public schools, and the military interventionism of our government caused me to become a libertarian capitalist, until recently. In my younger, college days, I was very concerned about poverty and world hunger. My parents were quite alarmed when I told them I was a democratic socialist. I also believed that a democratic, world federal government would abolish the foolish wars that result from national rivalry. My favorite expression was from Karl Marx: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” Years later, my concern about environmental degradation motivated me to attend the first national conference of the Green Movement in 1987. [1] Six people from Indiana attended, and I was one of them.

So whether it is the result of being wishy-washy or seeing the limitations of various political ideologies, I can say I have been on both sides of the fence. The mainstream Republican and Democratic federal legislators have become totally corrupted by corporate lobbyists who finance them and get them reelected. I have found that various libertarian, socialist, and anarchist websites (outside of the mainstream) provide accurate assessments of today’s political problems, though their proposed solutions are very different from one another.

Capitalists want to remove corruption in government in order to have a true, free market society. Socialists want to remove corporate corruption to have a society based on democratic socialism. Anarchists say all forms of government are corrupt and should be eliminated. Some anarchists favor a free market society without a government; others might favor decentralized, egalitarian communes.

As I see it, the only solution is to create a society in which Libertarians, Socialists, Anarchists, Republicans, and Democrats can all live as they choose in their local communities. If there are 3,140 counties, and even more cities, in the United States–why not allow each one to become capitalistic, socialistic, or some mixture of the two, through the majority rule of each locality? This proposed live-and-let-live society can only exist after establishing a new constitution.

Our founding fathers feared direct or pure democracy. The word “democracy” is not even found in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. They said our government is a Constitutional Republic that guarantees our inherent individual rights (rights that a mob democracy cannot take away). Some citizens advocate a strict interpretation of the original Constitution in order to reverse any further onslaughts of collectivism (what they call “socialism”). Others, more liberal and who like the word “democracy,” believe our Constitution is a “living document” that should change with the times.

It is very difficult to get a single amendment to the Constitution passed, and all previous attempts to have a constitutional convention have failed. But I believe that vast numbers of people, who are totally alienated by government and civics, might endorse my Third Constitution of the United States after they read and understand it. [2] The only solution is to create a decentralized society that maximizes both diversity and cooperation. Neighbors could live with neighbors just like themselves, and each precinct could be like a tribe. It is for this reason I have written the Third Constitution of the United States (the first constitution was the Articles of Confederation, the second is the one we have now).

I recommend that we maximize local community self-determination, and have a system in which decision-making power moves (from the bottom-up, not from the top-down) from the precinct to the township, from the township to the county, and from the county to the state level, while having the smallest possible federal government. Each local community could be empowered to decide for itself whether it wants laissez-faire capitalism, socialism, anarchism, communitarianism, or some combination of these.

Independent of government, intentional communities (they are not all hippie communes) can show the world, by example, how people with shared values and a common vision, can live simply in ecologically, self-sufficient, sustainable ways, using consensus decision-making, permaculture landscaping, organic fertilizers, composting, vegetarianism, geodesic domes, and alternative energies (that make it possible to get off the electrical grid). [3]

Neighborhood block clubs and intentional communities can restore the sense of togetherness that has been lost in our society. I think there is a deep need in all of us to be tribal, which we could be, in today’s pluralistic, Internet society, without being ethnocentric.

Moreover, the needs of common people, the poor, and minority groups are not being met in our society. We need more participatory, direct, pure, face-to-face, fully inclusive, and ideally, consensus democracy. Then when we choose representatives to represent us, we can easily recall or remove them when they stop representing us.

Workplace democracy allows both workers and management to participate in the important decision-making. Moreover, cities and counties should be able to revoke corporate charters. Workplace democracy could be guaranteed in private companies when they reach a certain size.

Legislative procedures such as the initiative, referendum, and the recall provide direct democracy to the people. The Fully Informed Jury Act (or jury nullification) also empowers citizens. It means that the jury has the right to judge the law as well as the facts in a case.

I do not care for corruption and top-down hierarchy in government (especially the hierarchy I found in the public schools). But I also do not want to work in a tyrannical and hierarchical private corporation, which may be my only choice in a free market (based on competition, scarcity, and profit) as the rich get richer, and the poor, poorer.

We can easily feed and house all the people on the planet in sustainable ways, and it is unconscionable that we don’t. The Venus Project attempts to create a world without government, laws, lawyers, politicians, advertisers, insurance agents, or the need for prisons. It claims it would not have any elitist control, social stratification, or even a monetary system. The Venus Project seems naive and utopian, but if we have a global catastrophe, people might consider it more seriously. If people are educated and trained properly, we can create a society that is not based primarily on profit, competition, and scarcity. The American addiction to war, for example, has not resulted from a fixed human nature.

Some anarchists and libertarians even advocate a stateless, free market society, as advocated by some writers at the Lew Rockwell website. [5] But even if we eliminate a corrupt government altogether, wouldn’t it still be possible for 1% of the population to own 40% of the world’s resources, as it does now? Such economic disparity creates animosity between the haves and the have-nots of the world, the primary cause of all the world’s problems.

Even if all the third parties united to elect either Ron Paul or Ralph Nader as president in 2012, it would not be a long term solution. A new constitution for the United States, as I have delineated, is viable, considering the many conflicting values and ideals in our modern society. The Venus Project would require the cooperation of every nation, and therefore, it is a far-fetched idea right now.

There must be more dialogue among the various third parties and fringe groups. Libertarian Socialists could share the lessons that have been learned from the Spanish Revolution of 1936. Ron Paul libertarians could tell about the dangers of fractional reserve banking. [6] And let us not forget that during the 2008 presidential race, third party candidates–Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, and Chuck Baldwin–agreed to Four Points of Unity. [7] Both libertarians and socialists oppose an interventionist foreign policy. If all the third parties agreed on a new constitution, the two party monopoly of Republicans and Democrats could be abolished forever.

Thomas Jefferson said every new generation should create its own constitution. [8] I agree. Vastly different third parties could endorse my constitution merely as a way to subvert the current system. And since my constitution totally levels the playing field, time will prove which type of community government (or lack of government) proves to be most successful in the future, once the elements of corruption are drastically reduced.

Our mainstream television media is owned by about six big corporations. Think of the mainstream media as an arm of the government and the industrial-military complex, and maybe the pharmaceutical industry as well. It is all about “perception management.” When you see animated political debates on Fox News, CNN, or others, do not expect to hear any radical opinions from Noam Chomsky or from Michael Parenti, a thought-provoking socialist. In the eyes of our corporate media masters, these people have dangerous ideas not fit for public consumption.

Professor and Theologian David Ray Griffin has done incredible research into 9/11. Don’t expect the major media to allow him to talk about Building 7, which was not even hit by an airplane, and yet it collapsed into its footprints at the speed of gravity! I dare you to read Internet articles or watch Youtube video lectures by David Ray Griffin, the foremost authority on 9/11. [9]

Did you know when the Republican and Democratic National Parties had their televised presidential debates in 2008 that they agreed to not include independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader once again? That is “democracy” at work in our “free” country. If corporate-owned politicians become successful in restricting Internet websites (the ones they consider dangerous), we are in big trouble.

The wealthiest people (many of them are international bankers) and the most powerful organizations (such as military defense contractors and pharmaceutical companies) finance both of the major two parties and incumbent federal legislators. The bailouts, which started with Bush, were for the very companies who profited from us and hurt us the most. Under Obama, Homeland Security and foreign policy are still pretty much the same. I say, keep the so-called “change.” Why is no one in government concerned or doing anything about our enormous national debt?

Murray Rothbard has shown how the national debt could be repudiated by giving away government assets. [10] If the Federal Reserve keeps printing money out of thin air, we eventually will be paying just for the interest on the debt, not for government programs.

We truly need real change soon, but it is a change the Democrats and Republicans, the two factions of essentially just one party, are not capable of providing. For now on if I vote, it will be for a third party candidate. Voting for the lesser of two evils is not a wise approach. When we vote for a third party, we publicly register our dissent, which lawmakers and other citizens need to see. Of course, all of this is true as long as the electronic ballots are not tampered.

Many people believe our country was actually hijacked starting with the Kennedy assassination. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has long been involved in the drug trade, which is how it gets money to do illegal operations that it does not want the American people or lawmakers to know about (it is like a government within a government). Essentially it is all about controlling the Middle East and the whole world for that matter to increase the profits of transnational (or mega-) corporations, many of which are more powerful than entire countries.

It is unethical that our CIA covertly interferes in the affairs of democratically elected, sovereign countries by financing corrupt opponents, providing disinformation and smear campaigns, arming paramilitary counter-forces, and sometimes overtly sending in American troops, when the above measures do not work. We are told that various terrorists hate us because of our democratic freedoms. The truth is they hate us because of our policies, our actions toward them, actions about which the American people, living inside a matrix, are utterly clueless.

The hemp plant, which marijuana comes from, just happens to be the most versatile plant on the Earth, the very best source for rope and paper and over 50,000 other household uses such as nylons and plastics. Marijuana is the best treatment for glaucoma. When the hemp plant is grown for food, its seeds have the highest number of amino-acid proteins, higher than any other plant. Birds will always choose hemp seeds over any other type of seed. Hemp could also be an excellent source of biomass energy. Unlike the growth of corn and cotton, hemp does not need toxic chemicals or a lot of fertilizers to make it grow. It would truly be a Green alternative.

The real reason it was made illegal in 1937 (through yellow journalism) was that it cut into the profits of the Dupont and Hurst Corporations. No one has ever died exclusively from long-term marijuana smoking. Can we say that about the use of alcohol, tobacco, aspirin, and many other legal drugs? The original Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were printed on hemp paper! And several of our founding fathers grew it. Much more could be said. [11]

Don’t expect high school students in our public schools to read The People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Public schools are government schools. How honest and critical can teachers (and history and government textbook publishers) be when their livelihoods depend on only sharing innocuous, or noncontroversial, opinions? I believe that studying the controversial aspects of subjects (like politics, religion, and human sexuality) is what makes them interesting and deeply understandable–anything less than that is indoctrination.

Now that I am retired from the public schools, I can be more honest. All the teachers at my elementary school were seemingly in support of allowing cute and colorful wristbands to be sold to students during lunch in order to “support the troops.” I am not proud of the fact that I did not utter a single word of protest. I am not against giving gifts to soldiers, but I regret that I did not use the event as a teaching opportunity.

I recommend that we eliminate federal, state, and even township control of our public schools. [12] Parents could use the money they spend on property taxes (which often goes toward public schools) to hire their own tutors. Let’s find ways to instill a love for learning in parents and teach them parenting skills. Then more of them can become effective homeschoolers.

I have found that the best way to learn about a topic is to find the very best arguments for and against it. I was an evangelical Christian, who unconditionally supported Zionism, for most of my life, believing that accepting Jesus was the only way. But when I looked at agnostic and atheistic websites—some are run by former pastors, Bible scholars, and conservative theologians—it caused me to doubt my faith. Then when I reread the amazing book Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, which I had explored during my college days, I became interested again in Hinduism, Buddhism, and meditation.

Supposedly, when the spiritual aspirant attains a super-conscious state of awareness (through meditation and loving-kindness or unselfish love) he or she gains insight into previous lifetimes (which, if true, would prove that reincarnation really happens). In Eastern thought, you do not find salvation through accepting certain beliefs by faith. You only have to believe what you have actually experienced. But maybe those yogis and zen masters, who claim they have insight into previous lifetimes, have been deceived. Nevertheless, meditation and hatha yoga postures do have proven health benefits.

I frequently told my son when he was growing up (he is now 24), that even more important than being smart and educated is to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself. But if all religions are based on fictitious beliefs, sanctioned by governments merely to control the masses, then secular humanism is the most ethical approach.

If the purpose of government schools is to instill the dominant values of society, then students will not be taught to seriously ponder the ideas of some anarchists and communists who argue that all private land ownership is wrong. Henry George believed there should be a single tax, a tax on the land a person owns. Ralph Borsodi taught people how to be self-sufficient on a modern homestead. Families sharing a community land trust could make self-sufficient homesteading part of the school curriculum for their children.

I love the idea of the Core Knowledge Schools (conservatives and fundamentalists like them too), based on the book Cultural Literacy by E.D. Hurst. Perhaps you have seen their series of books for grades 1-8—for example, What Your Third Grader Needs to Know. These books teach vitally important information about our culture and others. They also publish two dictionaries of cultural literacy, one dictionary is for grade school students, the other is for high school. Requiring students to remember the core knowledge facts for each grade level and the facts in both dictionaries could then be the starting point for more critical thinking and further research. Some facts and dates are worth memorizing, contrary to popular thinking.

Recently the world was outraged at Israel’s attack on the flotilla of ships, loaded with supplies, heading for Gaza. I heard similar opinions when I went to favorite websites such as www.Dprogram.net ,

www.GlobalResearch.ca , www.infowars.com or www.BrasscheckTV.com. But when I forced myself to go to www.JewishWorldReview.com, which also is in my computer’s Favorites List of websites, I got an entirely different perspective. The current, ongoing oil disaster in the Gulf is a tragedy that has made many of us feel helpless, hopeless, and angry .

I have vacillated on the issue of global warming. I need to study more. But exploring alternatives to fossil fuels is still important. I have always thought that organic foods were best. But now I am finding books and experts on TV who argue that there is no proof that they are better for you. We should not let the complexity of issues discourage our relentless search for truth.

Many believe there is a New World Order that is emerging that is being influenced by the world’s wealthiest people, especially international bankers. They are upper-echelon members of elitist groups like the Bilderberg Group, Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, who control the Federal Reserve and probably the CIA. September 11, 2001 has been the justification to expand the stupid wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Patriot Act, warrantless spying on Americans, the Real ID, and imprisonment without due process. Our rights are being taken away under the guise that we need more Homeland Security, more surveillance and monitoring, more presidential Executive Orders, and the proposed Enemy Combatant law.

The neo-conservative, shadow government elites who control our lawmakers, the President, and the corporate-owned, mainstream media, would love for all of us to have a microchip implanted under our skin. Then if we exercise our Constitutional rights and share opinions that do not harmonize with their sinister designs, they can just label us “political dissidents” or “enemy combatants.” Then all they have to do is turn off our chip, so that we cannot buy or sell. We, the outspoken Americans, will be put in prisons like Guantanamo without a public trial when they classify us as the terrorists. This is how things gradually evolved in Hitler’s Germany. We must always remember that to have “freedom of speech” means we have freedom to engage in unpopular speech. We can stop the emerging fascist or totalitarian New World Order, but that does not mean we should stop thinking globally, and acting locally. We have an ethical duty to think about how our private actions affect the whole.

No doubt there are terrorists in the world but the threat has been greatly exaggerated by the mainstream media in league with government officials. Al-Qaida and Bin Laden were first created and empowered by the CIA back when our government was supporting the Afghanistan “freedom fighters” against the former Soviet Union. I believe a new, independent investigation into 9/11 (not one done by government insiders) will shed much light on the powers that be. Not even counting the money our CIA gets illegally, our government spends more on the military than all the governments of the world combined, using money printed out of thin air, which causes inflation ( a hidden tax on everyday people), not to mention annual deficits and a national debt that has skyrocketed out of control.

The real reason our government does not legalize marijuana and other drugs (for adults to consume in the privacy of their own homes) is the CIA would not get the enormous profits it gets by keeping such drugs illegal. Legalizing drugs would make the prices go way down, and that would make drug cartels and the CIA very unhappy. It was the criminal mobsters who were most upset when the prohibition on alcohol was uplifted. [13]

Now to keep my argument consistent, you should also study the foreign policy viewpoints of Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski, which I am forcing myself to do. But right now I say, let us reduce military spending by about 75 percent. We have American troops and bases in about 130 countries. Let us find a way to reunite the anti-war, nonviolent, Peace Movement. It disappeared when the military draft was cancelled after the Vietnam War ended. If we did these things we would truly feel safer, resting in our beds at night, than we do now. Our country could have a new image in the world, and Peace on Earth would not be considered pie-in-the-sky. Our motto can always be: “Let there be Peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.” Inner peace is the foundation for world peace.

In the Introduction to my Third Constitution of the United States, I list 45 reasons why we need a new constitution. The average US citizen would agree with most of my recommendations once they were fully understood. But considering the vast corruption in our current federal government and the differences in beliefs that have emerged since our Constitution was implemented in 1789, the only solution is to create a new and modernized document.

Let us get libertarians on the right and collectivists from the left to agree on a new constitution. Then it will be much easier to sell it to the mainstream in the middle. At the polls, citizens can vote for candidates only if they support the new constitution.

If we sit back and do nothing, the emerging new world order will remake society for us. We, the average, working citizens can remake it in our own way, if we choose. But we better act now before it is too late.

Roger Copple retired this year (May 2010) from teaching third grade in a public school in Indianapolis. He turned 60 on June 3. Roger became a libertarian supporting Ron Paul after previously identifying with the Green movement. Now he is trying to reconcile libertarian, socialist, and anarchist political theories. He has a Master’s degree in Special Education, and a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education. He can be reached at rcopple@comcast.net.

Endnotes

[1] The 6 day conference was held at Hampshire College, Massachusetts, from July 2-7, 1987.

[2] To view my Third Constitution and other articles, go to my website: www.NowSaveTheWorld.com .

[3] For information about all types of intentional communities, go to www.ic.org or www.thefec.org.

[4] Go to www.theVenusProject.com or www.theZeitgeistMovement.com and watch some of their videos or read some of their articles.

[5] Go to www.LewRockwell.com (anti-state, anti-war, and pro-market) and read articles by Murray Rothbard and Stefan Molyneux.

[6] For more information about the Federal Reserve, see “G. Edward Griffin”: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6507136891691870450#docid=-8484911570371055528 or “The Money Masters”: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-money-masters/

[7] Lew Rockwell, The Ron Paul Unity Agreement. www.LewRockwell.com : September 10, 2008: http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/022783.html

[8] September 28, 2008: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_al... and http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/07/0212constitution.html

[9] David Ray Griffin.com: http://davidraygriffin.com

[10] Murray N. Rothbard, Repudiating the National Debt: January 16, 2008: http://mises.org/article.aspx?Id=1423

[11] To learn more about hemp, you can go to www.norml.org. Or see Jack Herer, the foremost authority on hemp and author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes: http://www.jackherer.com/chapters.html

[12] For an article I wrote 17 years ago, go to Roger Copple, Neighborhood Control of Public Schools. Synthesis/Regeneration 5 (Winter 1993): http://www.greens.org/s-r/05/05-25.html

[13] For information about the CIA, do searches on Ray McGovern, a high level retired CIA Officer; historian Chalmers Johnson; Michael C. Ruppert, a former LAPD narcotics investigator; author James Bamford; Terry Reed and John Cummings, authors of the book Compromised: Clinton, Bush, and the CIA; Alfred W. McCoy, author of The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia.