Pro Se 101
I would be remiss if the reader were not met, at the beginning of this writing, with this information: I am not a lawyer; this is not legal advice; this is simply me sharing my experience in the Courts of this Nation.
In this country, one who is deemed a competent adult may represent oneself before a Court of Law. This is typically referred to as pro se litigation although there are some variations on the reference and naming there applied. The law is not small. There are entire schools dedicated to its teachings. There are hundreds of volumes dedicated to its text. There are thousands of legislators assigned to its construction. The most important thing here, despite the sheer size of the mountain made of law, is that law is people. Always keep this in mind. The opposing attorney is a person. The judge is a person. The clerks are people. The jurors, sheriffs, prothonotaries, and marshalls are all people.
People are fallible. People can be persuaded. As a pro se litigant, the point is to find the wrongs of the opposing counsel and persuade the judge and jury of your point. How are flaws in argument found? How are judges persuaded? Where does one even begin?
Most of the time, when one is thrust into the legal system it is through the Government filing an action against the person. These citations, subpoenas, and other such orders state the charges against the person and some amount of description (usually a Police Officer affidavit) in support of the charges. Even traffic violations are charges; they will be listed on the ticket you receive. Many people pay the ticket and move on - this is a guilty plea. When you pay the government you receive a criminal record in return. These kinds of violations are small and usually impact your insurance rates and loan rates but nothing more. These low-risk violations are the best to use in figuring your way through the legal system.
Get a good legal research tool and learn to use it. there are many such tools such as LexisNexis, West Law, Find Law, and Case Text. With these tools you can usually type in the charge number that is printed on your notices and find both what the law states and judges’ rulings in other cases with similar charges.
Read the text of the law carefully; often the facts on the citation do not match exactly what the law states. Even if you broke the law, if the charges filed differ from what you did, the case must be thrown out because the system cannot charge you for something you did not do; they must charge you for what you did.
One reason to read other cases carefully is to find if a lesser charge would fit your crime. Even if the fact pattern matches what was charged, if a lesser charge could have been filed with the same fact pattern, you can usually persuade a Judge to allow the lesser charge to stand in place of what the system is attempting to give to you.
Reading laws and prior cases is the easiest way to learn how to make your way through the legal system. These cases were written by judges. The more you read how judges write, the better you will be able to persuade judges through your own writing. The more you read how judges write, the better you will be able to detect how what was levied against you is wrong and how you can fight it. Reading is key in the pro se journey.
Criticism is not Racism
One cannot be both Israel First and America First. Yes, Hamas is an evil entity that must be stopped. Yes, Palestine is occupied by Hamas illegally. However, this does not mean everything Israel does is beyond reproach. Asking simple questions about funding Israel at the level at which we are funding them is not a racist act. It is an America-First act.
We had given more than 20 times as much to Israel as we had given to our own Veterans in 2023. This is clearly not America First. Without our military, we would not be in a position to aid any nation including Israel. It is imperative we take care of those here at home before we take care of others, for without those at home, we would lack the capacity to help foreign entities at all.
Criticizing the amount, frequency, and reporting regarding money given to foreign nations (such as Israel and Ukraine) is our right and duty as We, the People, of the United States. This is not racist. This is not anti-Semitic. This is America First.
We are the nation within which those in need seek refuge, and even those who speak against it will not leave. Destroying this safe haven is an act of global terrorism; protecting it is the most humane act one can perform in this era.
Trump Savagery
These Trump trials are falling left and right. Anyone who has been on the business end of a malicious prosecution could have predicted this. Court cases do not get resolved in a couple years’ time. It just does not happen very often outside of plea bargaining. If the Defendant is savvy, as with Trump, the trial could be pushed out for decades.
Trump’s legal team filed a litany of motions as is a Defendant’s right. The Honorable Judge Aileen Cannon must consider those motions and rule upon them individually. his is a Judge’s job. To “rubber stamp” a denial is a dereliction of duty and opens to “administrative remedies” not only the Judge, but the entire Jurisdiction over which the Judge presides. Of particular note is that the very same people who are complaining about the length of these pre-trial proceedings were silent when it took Hunter Biden 8 years to go to trial… Interesting… It is almost as if they don’t support the Equal Protection Clause.
I have been on the business end of a malicious prosecution. After 5 years, I won and received not even an apology in return. This is the system under which we live. This is why I am for limited Government and returning power to We, the People. Once a Government becomes of sufficient size, it uses that size to harm those it is oath-bound to protect: every single time.
The tailwinds behind Team Trump do not end with the Court. Everywhere we look, there is coverage of the Left’s civil war over Israel and Palestine. The Left is eating itself, and the media is soaking it up. At this time in 2020, the news was full of out-of-context sound bites uttered by President Trump. This time around it is full of in-context, anti-American, anti-Freedom sound bites from the Left. Ultra-Leftist Robert Kennedy, Jr. has declared war on Biden; Ultra-Leftist Cornell West has declared war on Biden; Ultra-Leftists throughout the nation have all voiced concerns about Biden’s leadership and capacity to move the Left ever further toward actual Socialism and Communism.
All the while, we conservatives remain in tact supporting Donald Trump. Haley’s supporters are all Democrats. Ramaswamy’s supporters (of which I am one) have gotten behind Trump after Ramaswamy’s endorsement therefor. DeSantis’ supporters are getting behind Trump. Donald Trump is the unifying principal behind the Conservative movement. No such unifying principal exists on the Left.
This is not to say the election is in the bag. We have a lot of work to do. We need to pass a nationwide voter ID bill. We need to pass a nationwide ban on tax-funded support for illegal immigrants. We need to free the J6ers as they are not being treated in the same way as the Hamas-radicalized thugs overrunning our college campuses. We need to hold closed primaries in Texas. We need to force the Feds to respect our 10th Amendment Sovereignty.
Things are looking good now. We need to hold the momentum and push forward to November and beyond.
Stupid, Poor, Subsurvient
This type of person is what Government reliance produces. Since the Federal Government began growing and meddling in State and local matters, schools have gotten worse at teaching, real incomes have plummeted, and family self-reliance has become a fairy tale. The Government acts to make itself your daddy, and it cannot survive where We, the People, are strong.
The Department of Education was founded in 1979. Its mission is to promote student achievement. It has clearly failed in its mission. About one-fifth of our nation’s students can read AND do math at grade level (30% reading alone, 25% math alone). The Department of Education is not working. Divesting therefrom is the only reasonable course of action.
When the People are uneducated, they lack the capacity to compete in the job market. When the People are uneducated, they are unable to think for themselves and live an independent life. When the People are unable to compete for jobs and are dependent, here comes big daddy Government to save the day.
The Department of Education only gives Texas about $8 Billion - this is about $200 per Texan. Is it worth it? Of course not. This money comes with so many strings attached it is impossible to list them all. Interestingly, the webpage that lists the laws and regulations a State must follow after accepting Dept of Ed money states, “Please note that in the U.S., the federal role in education is limited. Because of the Tenth Amendment, most education policy is decided at the state and local levels.” It then goes on to list dozens of pages of Federal laws and regulations imposed upon the States. Gaslighting at its finest!
With all these regulations, a cost is incurred. The costs outweigh the $8 Billion especially when the cost to our children’s education is taken into account: a cost to which no dollar amount can be applied. With Dept of Ed money, the Federal Government assumes rights including but not limited to:
Impose regulations regarding instruction
Gather information about individual students and families (Surveillance)
Change, across the board, policies relating to “perceived” discrimination (Title IX)
Direct when teachers must (not may) refrain from informing a student’s parents
much more…
These strings that come attached to Federal money are not worth the $200 especially when our students are being instructed into stupidity and impotence. Texas is one of the top 10 economies in the entire world. We do not need the Federal money; let it go, clean up the Austin swamp, and we can direct the care and education of our own children.
Political Involvement
One does not need to become a politician to be involved in the political process. All you need is some idea about what you support and the ability to respectfully convey your message. Our Constitution protects our right to assemble and speak as long as we do it without harm or threat of harm. There are many presentations on some of the methods for getting your ideas out there. This is one of those resources.
I have found, in the short time I have been involved, that a combination of talking points and written literature is best. Some people are listeners, others are readers. There are people who will talk your ear off rather than taking a 1-page document. There are people who will read the document right in front of you, and ask their questions if they have any. The world takes all kinds, be prepared for We, the People, to come with points of view. It’s all good if it’s all Constitutional!!!
It helps to put together a set of literature in case you have to drop something off somewhere because no one is around to receive the word. It also helps to practice your courteous disengagements in case you run into someone who is more argumentative than respectful; it never hurts to agree to disagree, it can hurt to react poorly if pressed into a corner by a menace.
In Texas although you have to be certified by the County to register people to vote, the voter registration form is publicly available and can be distributed without such a certification. It never hurts to carry some of those forms on you, just remember you cannot collect the form once it is filled out unless you are certified. Let people know they have to fill out the document and mail it to their County registrar; be sure to print out the County registrar’s address to hand out alongside the form.
You do not need to be affiliated with a political party to block walk or canvass. It helps to be affiliated for some households; it helps to be unaffiliated for other households. The point is to make sure you understand what you believe in, understand what the candidates you support believe in, and make sure those beliefs are aligned where it counts. you will never have 100% the same beliefs as any other person, politicians included. Just because you disagree on some things does not mean you cannot block walk in support of someone.
For instance, I strongly believe in the 9th and 10th Amendments to the United States Constitution, and I believe these Amendments coupled with the holding in Brown v Board of Education preclude the Federal Government from funding and regulating schools; these schools are State entities whose power and influence are governed by the elected officials and people of the several States. This belief conflicts directly with several provisions within Agenda47. This does not mean I cannot support Donald Trump. I support him greatly.
Every American has a stake in the political game. It should be part of all our lives to utilise the 1st Amendment and express our opinions in supporting whomever we want to support at the polls.
Party Endorsements
Here in Texas we have (at least) two major problems at the polls.
There are “non-partisan” local elections.
Primaries are open.
Party endorsements, while a valuable tool, can also be misused. They offer a clear way to identify the most solid Constitutional Conservative candidate in a race, allowing us to unite our voting power in case of Democrats participating in the “wrong” primary. However, it's important to be aware of the potential for misuse.
The chief issue with Party Endorsements arises when there are only great choices in a race. It is my firm and unapologetic position that the Party abstains from making an endorsement where a race presents just this kind of dilemma. The party, as a whole, is far too disconnected from local politics in any area to make reasonable judgment calls about which conservative would be better for a particular local election; let the local Republicans tend to their own.
The party must refrain from interfering in local politics unless party members, precinct chairs, and delegates raise concerns about an elected official diverging from the Party's practices, policies, and principles. The Party's role is to bolster and amplify the people's voice, not to influence their selection. This selection, I believe strongly and wholeheartedly, that the people are better equipped to make than the Party.