o many others, I grew up thinking that jury duty was something that only those who were too dumb to get out of it did. The very thought of 'less-than-normal' people deciding the fate of their fellow Citizens was just too much for me to stomach. So, of course I offered myself up to see if I might contribute in some small way to fending off the California-type travesties we all read and laugh about. It seems the only ones who don't laugh are those poor souls on the receiving end of a stupid jury decision.

Sometimes it just breaks my heart to think of how easily 'we the people' have given up what is probably the most powerful and responsible position any of us could ever hold-being a jury member. While I have never had the desire to judge anyone else, I do respect the fact that for our system to work we must all participate.

There was a time (prior to public education) when Citizens had a deep and abiding reverence for the law, and they would dutifully participate to protect the rights and freedoms of the next generation. It would have been great to sit in the revered position of the Citizen juror back then. That was when the general public still knew that the law in America was applied with a conscience, backed by the awesome power of the jury. As an example, the heinousness of the era of prohibition came to an abrupt halt when juries consistently refused to convict their fellow Citizens of the ridiculous 'crime' of possession. Of course back then the average person had a far better grip on their critical thinking skills and a more refined sense of logical reasoning.

This was a time when people knew that the judge in a courtroom was there to keep decorum, and the jury was there to decide BOTH the facts and the law. The jury was, and still is the power and legitimate authority in the courtroom. It is truly unfortunate that the judges these days think that 'they' are the law (the essence of 'Judge Dred'), when in fact the only legitimate authority lies in the hands of the people. These days there is a 'movement' to 'restore' that power. It's called the fully informed jury movement. You might want to check out FIJA sometime. That's the Fully Informed Jury Association, look it up on the Internet when you get bored with your electronic solitaire machine.

And that brings me to another bug up my backside. Since when did we forget the concept of 'a jury of our peers'? Today sleazy lawyers and even the judges think that a fair and impartial jury is one who has never even heard of the defendant. Isn't that silly? In fact, a thorough reading on the subject would make it very clear that the founding fathers (all good libertarians, I might add) envisioned a jury composed of your peers. That is to say, your neighbors, people who really knew you. You couldn't fool your neighbors.

But your neighbors might go 'light' on you, you say? Maybe, but we were supposed to have a presumption of innocence in this country.oh yea. Truth is, this was a brilliant system. It created a subtle social 'peer' pressure to keep you on your best behavior when interacting with your neighbors. Maybe that's why people were so much more polite in times past. That person you may want to flip off, might be sitting in your jury box one day, so you just didn't do it. By the same token, because the other person would be thinking the same of you, they would contain themselves from doing whatever it was that might make you want to flip them off in the first place. It was this kind of mutual respect for fellow Americans that gave us the fairest system of justice the world has ever seen.

It was this pervasive respect for one another that allowed the American people to really have respect for the law itself, and to do their level best to apply it fairly. Ah, those were the days. Of course the law was a lot simpler then. If you didn't harm another person, their property or their rights, you were innocent, period.

Then the socialists moved in. Damn, what a shame. The anti-God socialists. They promised the 'undeserving', the bounty of the productive-to make them 'equal'. Just like the serpent promised Eve she could be God's 'equal' by nibbling the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Lies in both cases. Today we truly face the same old battle of 'good' and 'evil', or in political-speak; individual freedom versus socialism. It's really the only political battle there is.

But I've digressed. Back to the jury thing..

I had read of this new 'law' designed to force people to serve on juries by imposing a $500.00 fine for no shows. That's like putting a gun to someone's head and saying, "You will love me, or I'll pull the trigger". I found that odd because I know serving on a jury is a responsibility, but not an obligation. Neither politicians nor the government possesses any lawful authority to compel any law-abiding Citizen to do ANYTHING, least of all to take part in the hurtful joke our judicial system has become. I know enough to know that the real reasons the average person doesn't want to sit on a jury is a well-founded contempt for what 'the law' has become and, because they are simply too busy working to pay the socialist income tax.

Oddly enough, I actually read my nifty little summons, complete with the big red warning that I had better take it seriously 'or else', and everything. I even read the part that said I couldn't be called to serve again for 18 months. Now that was interesting because I had just served this last fall. It seemed the perfect opportunity to challenge this new $500.00 fine nonsense by not showing up and then forcing a legal challenge when they came after me. All the while I would have my ace-in-the-hole of having served less than 18 months ago.

Just to be sure, I checked my jury 'history' on line and found they had no record on me at all. Bureaucratic incompetence? I figured I'd play it safe and show up to expose their goof in person. It was a good thing, too.

The courts address was different then I had remembered. In fact, it was a different court altogether. This time I got called to serve at the Phoenix Municipal Court, the last few times were at the Superior Court. What I found out was that the 18 months applied to each court individually, and you can get called for the Superior court, the Municipal court and even the Federal court. Wow, if only a few people showed up, you could spend a lot of time in the jury selection pool.

I should tell you that the Municipal court has some really nice facilities and the staff is actually competent, helpful and polite. What a shock. Though I didn't get drawn, I did get to watch all but the last 5 minutes of "The Rookie" with Dennis Quaid, but they made us leave at 2:30.

I also got to talk to Gene, the head honcho.

Gene and I talked about the $500.00 fine at length, and though it took me a few minutes to explain that such a thing was blatantly un-, even anti-constitutional, he offered a kind of good alternative to the problem of the diminishing jury pool.

Since the jury summons is an order from the court, to ignore it really does mean that you can be held in contempt. His thought was to actually hold contempt hearings, but you could avert being fined for contempt right up to the day of your hearing by ducking in to join the jury pool-automatically dismissing your hearing. Hummm.

I still think that until we (the people) force a clean up of our legal/judicial system and restore its former integrity, starting with our law-makers (elected 'representatives'), jury duty will pretty much only be for those too dumb to get out of it.

Until then, you vill do your civic duty.or else.

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