Presumption of Miracles
By Henry Nicolle
Exclusive first publishing granted to The Seattle Sinner April, 2008
 

It seems to me that that we did not create the adage, "Never argue religion or politics." It establishes a presumption that the discussion of power and belief are not reasonable topics for commoner conversation, but are properly reserved to the rulers. But what are religion and politics besides the theory and practice of individual life here and hereafter? They are the controlling terms for our individual existence. Only someone who would prefer that we do not consider such temporal things would presume to indoctrinate us to not look behind their curtain concealing presumptions for ruling and the ruled.

Presumption has gotten us into the mess we are in today. Perhaps Presumption can also extract our aching posteriors from a sorry and violent future. If our governments presume that we don't care much about "Rights and Liberty" and stuff, and if they presume to cheer for the "bravery and sacrifice" of their uniformed knee-breakers, then what are the underlying presumptions that serve these upper level ones?

I think they are these: "There is nothing we can do about it. You can't fight City Hall." and "It is necessary to obey the law, whatever that may be from moment to moment in the sordid minds of our cops, prosecutors and judges, in order to survive as a modern society.". If these basic thoughts are valid, then there are things we can do.

The first, is to obey the law to the letter. That sounds silly doesn't it? It's really not possible and even if it were possible, what would be the point?

Here's the point. If we were to obey the law, we would be forced to contest every encounter with every public official, every cop, every prosecutor, every judge, every clerk, every administrator.

Guess what? It is easy. Guess what else? It is dirt cheap. And you know what else? It is effective. It works because it is inconvenient for them. We don't we do it because is inconvenient for us, too! The presumption of all presumptions is that we do things the ways we do, because it is most convenient to do them those ways.

There lies the grand presumption of all rebuttable presumptions. We do not exercise our rights for the same reason most of us do not exercise our minds and bodies. Both are inconvenient. If we do not exercise our bodies and self-discipline, we offer ourselves as victims to the strong and assertive. If we do not exercise our Rights and Liberty, we are presumed to have none that must be respected. Cop says BOO! and we fall all over ourselves to apologize for interrupting his donut break. Is it any wonder why our rights are so little respected?

Miracles begin when we exercise our rights, lighten our loads with Liberty, demand the "what, why and wherefore" of those who presume to meddle in our lives. Our thugs and petty tyrants are burdened with presumption, too. Make their lives busy and their jobs tiresome by obeying the law as you understand it and then requiring them to obey the law by answering your questions. Questions quite innocent, such as, "How may I help you?", "Why did you stop me?", "What law provides the authority for you to stop me for that reason?", "Is that your policy, your orders or is it the actual Law?", "Did you send this letter?", Perhaps you can tell me exactly which person sent this letter?", "What was your authority to send this letter?", "Please show me the printed authority for your action.", "Please explain how this law-code-regulation-policy- applies to ME." You get the idea. Smother them with your good will and friendly attention. Ask them how their job works and why, and what is their authority and what is the purpose of their job. It may surprise you that most of them have no clue. They're just doing what they have been told to do. Ask their Supervisor or Department head this question: "What statute authorizes your job and establishes your duties?" In my personal experience, none knew and none had ever read their statutory authority, duties or in some instances, limits.

If some people presume that they may injure or kill us to coerce our submission, it is fair to presume that they will presume to do so within OUR delegation of authority for their conduct. That is the law. It is up to us to do two things. Require that they act knowledgeably and obediently within the letter of our law. And if they continue their rebellious conduct, we shall know that we have lost presumption of Law and have segued to a Presumption of Power. Mistaken Presumptions of Power remind us of April 15th.