June bug wrote:
Toll, like Foggy I really appreciate your postings on this and I read them all, even though I don't often post. I have a family member whose significant other is into a group called "Creditors in Commerce", fronted by someone named Jack Smith, along with Gordon Hall and Winston Shrout.
Have you ever heard of this group or these people? My f.m.'s friend claims he
no longer(??) believes in the whole "sovereign citizen" thing, and that C in C is not into that either. I note, however, that they list a rogues' gallery of SC (and Dominionist too, I think) sources in their "Resources" page...including "Tim Turner - America Can be Free".
Edit: And C in C definitely preaches the whole debt retirement, contract law, redemption, language use, etc., so how different can they really be?
It may be that there are small differences in language or in their "legal theory," but otherwise this looks like just another way to extract money from people who are seeking to get out of their debts. I am sure that in some cases these people were not treated fairly, but mostly they want something for nothing. They do not have to buy the Sovereign Citizen ideology, which is a form of rebellion, in order to think that they are owed something by somebody somewhere.
I am getting the impression that there are
many more people involved in some form of this "movement" than have ever been involved in the Birther movement, a large multiple of the number of Birthers. This particular one (C in C) is a new one to me, and the "Resources" contain a number of other things that are also new to me. Other links are familiar, such as the David Wynn Miller "Quantum Truth" nonsense about grammar that seemed to have appealed so greatly to Jared Loughner and the Supreme Law Firm and Library that resembles CEL3's theories and practices. {I'm not making these live hyperlinks because I'm not sure these sites are safe without heavy protection.}
It may be that the C in C has itself rejected Sovereign Citizen thinking, but one could not tell that from the numerous links that they provide to one or another of the proponents of those ideas. I think lots of these groups are trying to avoid the "freeman on the land" rhetoric of the Montana Freemen, perhaps thinking that it was the rhetoric that led to that disaster.
RAP, at least in the RuSA/Turner form, appears to be becoming a club where a few people hold meetings and proclaim their little "republics" to be real and wonderful. The "Prosperity Packs" quest seems also to be dying because of its repeated promises and utter foolishness. What remains is a bunch of people who feel alienated from modern society, afraid for their future, and sure that all the bad things that have happened to them (including their not getting rich) are the fault of somebody else, usually the Jews. Waiting for the revaluation of the Iraqi dinar or the redemption of V. K. Durham's Peruvian gold bond or the payment of the vast wealth of CMKX Diamonds has become the equivalent of waiting on a mountaintop to see the return of Jesus. Compounded with this hope is a deep suspicion of people in power that often seems paranoid to me. Then religion gets mixed in, including things that are vaguely respectable in organized religion such as "A Course in Miracles."
Some of the links on "C in C" are to projects with which I have a lot of sympathy. FourWinds10 has, as long I've followed it, had the admixture of the foolishness of Prosperity Packs, a quite open anti-Semitism (they are currently running excerpts from Henry Ford's
Dearborn Independent), and a faith that this world does not have to include dire poverty and environmental degradation.
"Four Years. Go." says
Quote:
Humanity’s current path is leading to a future no one wants, and it could soon be too late to change course. We have the technology and know-how to change our direction – all that’s missing is the collective will to get it done. You can help generate that will by making your own personal commitment, enrolling others, and taking action.
...
[From "About"]The goal of Four Years. Go. is to build a global movement of commitment and action that will cause a positive tipping point in humanity’s future by the end of 2014, setting us irreversibly on a new path to a just, thriving and sustainable future for all.
This will be done through inspiring commitment, connecting individuals and organizations in action, and amplifying stories of hope and success.
I have said very much the same thing in classes where it was appropriate (although I put less faith in personal commitments and more emphasis on politics and economics).
The curious thing about many of these programs is that they reject out of hand what I believe to be the only powerful way of achieving their goals: cooperation of governments through the United Nations or its equivalent. They look to the goodwill of individuals everywhere, which is necessary but not sufficient to bring about some needed radical change.