Written by V   

January 20, 1973, the corner of 14th and Penn in Washington DC. The streets were jammed with spectators, celebrators and agitators. Richard Nixon had won the previous November in a landslide and the nation poured into DC to express their individual views collectively to the ruling elite. Most of the street was jammed with throngs in support of Nixon, Agnew & Kissinger but on that corner, one of the busiest in the District, the Hippies had taken over.

They were everywhere, hanging off of lamp posts, in the trees, chanting loudly 1.2.3.4 WE DON”T WANT YOUR FUCKING WAR!~!~! It echoed off the buildings surrounding the corner magnifying the sound. Up the street, you could see Nixon standing through the sun roof of his armored limousine with his famous smile and his two fisted Tricky Dick V as he waved to the crowd. At about 12 ½ & Penn, he sat down and the sun roof closed up. As he drove past the insults from the trees and lamp posts of 14th and Penn, you could see him smiling and laughing with his travelling companions. At about 15 ½ and Penn, the sun roof opened back up and he popped his head out like Punxsutawney Phil looking for his shadow.

Over at the Washington Monument and the park around the reflecting pool, nearly a hundred thousand young people crowded around. Fourteenth & Penn was nothing. The Hippies owned the whole area. They had torn down all 50 flags around the monument and burned them. The monolith was covered in anti-war graffiti. The Park Police came in on horseback and motorcycle to surround and protect the iconic monument. They slowly pushed the crowd back until they were about 25 yards away and then, at some invisible signal, all the Mounties charged the crowd dispersing them away to a safe distance.

I know this happened, because I was there. I was 14 years old and I was on the front row. My eyes were as big as saucers ... nay, dinner plates for you see, they didn’t do things like this in the little town I was from. I had been sent home from school the year before with instructions to ‘change my attitude’ because I had the audacity to wear a T shirt with an American Flag silkscreened on the back. It was a defining experience. A week later, I rolled into town to see what the place looked like and it was as if we had never been there. The streets were clean, 50 flags were flying, and there was no sign of the graffiti. The Hippies had all gone home.

Four years before, Mayor Daily had unleashed his attack dogs on the hippies at the 68 Democratic Convention. Two after that, on May 4, 1970, the National Guard had unleashed their fury at Kent State and four students lay dead on the ground. It was a tense time. Black America was in revolt. Jack was dead, struck down by an assassin’s bullet(s). Bobby was dead in the same way, as was Martin and Malcolm. The country suspected the Powers that Be for all four but we couldn’t hang it on them.

Main Stream Media, the only source for information in the conversation of the day was totally controlled by the CIA and Frank Wisner’s mighty Wurlitzer. The cover up was complete, the opposition was controlled and mis-directed. Nixon ended the draft in 1973 and the movement was over. Between meeting the unbridled force of the control mechanism through assassinations and confrontation, to the ending of the war, the wind was totally sucked out of the sails of the anti war movement and the age of civil disobedience was dead. We couldn’t beat them with civil disobedience; we couldn’t beat them with riots.

Flash forward nearly 40 years. Look in the mirror. Do you see your mother or your father looking back at you? Do you hear their words coming out of your mouth all the time? I do. We faded from the confrontation of the 60’s and early 70’s and became the timid serfs we were expected to be. We turned inward.

Wayne Dyer, EST, the whole human potential movement was all about turning inward. “I want to be recognized for who I am, not by the way I dress.” Ever hear that? Ever hear yourself say that? Ever hear your kids say that? And the dress has gotten ever more bizarre as the years have progressed.

So what have you learned by turning inward? I don’t know about you, but here is what I have learned. We, as in all of humanity on this planet, are but one heart with many beats. I have learned civilization and rule of law is a good thing, but I am also reminded of how Gandhi, when asked what he thought of Western Civilization, quipped, “It would be a good idea.”

Civilization is a good idea. The rule of law is a good idea. It allows people to work out their grievances in an orderly manner. There will always be conflict but it would be nice to think we have moved beyond resolving conflict by feeding the losers to the Lions as spectator sport.

Those who read me know I have called for you to stop playing with your tormentors. When I talk to some of you, you all tell me your four don’ts:

1. You don’t want to hire a lawyer,
2. You don’t want to be first,
3. You don’t want it to be difficult;
4. You don’t want there to be risk.

I believe I have answers to all four and so I call you to an act of Civil Obedience. By Civil Obedience I mean honoring the United States Constitution, claiming your rights, playing by the rules and becoming a law abiding citizen ... and most importantly, demanding everyone else do the same.

Over the past generation we have been taught to see the rule makers (usually the lobbyists for the very industries being ruled upon) and the rules they make as evil. Rules by themselves are not evil. They bring the civil into civilization. Rules applied unjustly and with preferential treatment are evil.

Well there are other rules, Consumer Protection Rules and though they have been watered down over the years, there are still enough of these rules in place to battle the banks to their knees. Don’t use these rules to arbitrate or try to force the banks to negotiate. Use them to protect yourself in your own title action.

Picture this. You are standing before the judge and your argument is thus: Your honour, I came to understand there is a good chance no one knows to whom, if anyone, I am making my mortgage payment. I am paying monthly yet I am not purchasing anything. I have a cashier’s check, right here, which I will gladly endorse to anyone whom you say can stand up and rightfully claim it.

You have worked the system. You have used the rules to prompt closure one way or another. Your hands are clean. You are untouchable. It is an act of Civil Obedience. If someone should show up with a legal, just and rightful claim, pay them. If no one does? ... Don’t.

If one person does this, they are nuts. If two people do this, it’s a conspiracy. And when three people do this, it’s a movement. We have reports coming in from all over the country and friends, I am here to tell you this a movement.

So, if you are sick at how the Wall St. Bankers have taken down this country in a systematic way and you feel like doing something, then you should look into your very own act of Civil Obedience. I think you will like it. It should be all white gloves and smiles.

Be a Good Citizen, Starve the Banks.