A Licence To Kill

Free Speech is riding in the back seat of a limousine in a motorcade on a sunny Fall day witnessed by adoring fans. The telescope crosshairs of a government-issued rifle are trained on its target…

Another licence is another link in the prison chain.

A local City Councillor asked me if I had heard that it will soon be impossible to host a podcast without a federal licence. The CRTC’s rifle is loaded. With that news, I am preparing a eulogy for my friend, Free Speech.

Meanwhile ….

A small committee of a budding freedom group meets weekly to define its vision and purpose. Every member knows that Free Speech is a primary target of federal law-makers and regulators, but this fact is ignored. Some members of this committee believe that they can change the national political, social and economic culture by creating a national network of dispersed Citizen Councils where local community residents can meet and discuss important topics. No one seems to even been aware that a rifle is pointed at them by a force that has the authority to pull the trigger.

The Freedom Phoenix Flies

Freedom groups has sprung up everywhere since the beginning of the Age of Lockdowns. They invite like-minded residents to meet and talk about our shared concerns about contemporary public governance. Some say that they intend to defend and protect their rights and freedoms. Most believe that those are “inalienable” and granted irrevocably by our “creator”. The truth is that they are granted by the same unseen people who have the authority to point and shoot the rifle at Free Speech.

Nice words and soaring rhetoric.

The platitudes and wishful thinking heard at freedom group meetings won’t stop the Rifleman from executing his assassination. Any podcaster who wants to host a future discussion with Free Speech without a licence will do so under the threat of a range of potential perils.

The regulation cops usually begin by issuing official letters to advise the host of his or her obligations according to their regulations, and to ensure that licence to operate was purchased. Ignore their advise and this veiled warning? Fines are next. Refuse to pay the fines? They will collect these from the host’s bank account as Trucker Convoy supporters learned. If you are that podcast host, you are now officially in the crosshairs of the same people who employ the Rifleman. Now that you realize that they can take your money, your destiny of compelled obedience is not in question unless you are that rare soul who likes “poke the bear” and court trouble.

Have you “been told” today?

Someone recently told me to “get on board” with the national movement that she is observing involving (tens of ) thousands of awake and concerned citizens who “want change”. The “change” they want is unclear and likely unique to each participant. She is convinced that this change can be accomplished simply by declaring personal sovereignty and refusing to comply with dictates from the authorities. She seems blissfully and naively unaware of the powers of the state to place her and potentially every key leader of this movement under surveillance through the digital crosshairs of the CRTC.

Different Strokes for Different Folks.

Years ago, I read Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. In it, author John Grey, PhD, advised men to “listen to you wife when she is upset. Don’t try to fix the problem. Your wife just wants to be heard.”

The “freedom movement” feels like it has a feminine spirit to me. I have done a lot of listening in the past three years, but there comes a time when problems must be fixed. Ours is a huge, amorphous problem which took decades to build into “the elephant in the room”. It’s so big that it’s too big to see. It will likely take decades to discuss, address and resolve “the problem” to the satisfaction of the majority if this is even possible.

In the many meetings I have attended, everyone seems eager to talk about the many spikes on this widespread and “viral” problem. No one is working on a “vaccine” that is truly “safe and effective”.

‘All talk and no action’ won't attack the pathogen. It will only mask its symptoms and provide temporary relief. Like a virus, the problem may simply hibernate for a while to ratchet up its resources only to resurrect itself in a more virulent form at some opportune time.

I find myself in a familiar place.

I am too Libertarian for most freedom groups and too “male” in my expectations of what constitutes a realist plan of action. My main goal is to defend and protect the person and property rights of those persons about whom I care most.

While the “cheerleading” efforts of most freedom warriors “raise public awareness” and build assemblies of like-minded people, I yearn for more than just talk. It certainly helps to arrange meetings to discuss the dreams of Freedom for each citizen for every citizen. For me, this revolves around the ability to apply Individual Freedom of Informed Choice so that each person can to exert Personal Responsibility in a Fair (unbiased and non-partisan) and mutually Respectful manner.

Be realistic and pragmatic.

What has been missing in these groups are realistic plans and attempts to repel the unwanted schemes which have been imposed upon us by uninvited authorities. These too are vital. For my male life lens, “talk is cheap” when “push comes to shove”.

When I created Advocates for Civil Society a few months ago, I sought to discover effective ways to chip away at “the problem”. So far, my forms of “action” have been to advocate against the Rifleman and his confederates by my writing, City Council deputations, meeting all nine members to Council to better know and understand them as citizens as well as legislators, and to run for office in provincial and federal elections as a Libertarian candidate.

I could, of course, get serious about fighting from within the institutions of power as an elected representative. At my age, however, it's a long game that requires a runway of much greater length than I have in order to see concrete results, even if they’re possible. This only leaves me with the option to lobby those with the power and authority to legislate the changes which I believe are essential.

Our #1 Problem in Canada is Too Much Government.

Until freedom group leaders understand and acknowledge the true nature of political and institutional of power, they will continue to “tilt at windmills”.

Only by repealing the legislation that empowers the elected and unelected people who reside in the towers of authority can “the elephant” be budged. That fat beast must be systematically replaced by a ‘tame and house-broken family pet’ who loves, appreciates and respects its home and care providers.

The Cheerleaders in most freedom groups want to redecorate those towers in a motif of their collective preference that has yet to be clearly described. I believe that a wholesale reconstruction is required.