cute me. And when I lost--when twelve (presumably) randomly-selected Americans gave their blessing to the government's vilification and intimidation tactics--when, with their verdict, they declared that us peasants have no business looking at the law, and that it is a mortal sin for us to ever disbelieve a federal bureaucrat who makes an assertion (however ignorant the bureaucrat and however bogus the assertion)--it was a huge letdown for a lot of people. It was an opportunity lost, which could have been a giant leap towards ending the largest financial fraud in history. Instead, it was a leap backwards, giving the feds another trophy for their mantle-piece; another example to point to and say, "If you don't blindly believe us and do as you're told (and ignore all those pesky statutes and regulations and stuff), here's what will happen to you." (And by the way, for those who have asked, I never expected the government or the courts to follow the law or provide justice; I did, however, have a shred of hope that a jury of "normal" folk might be able to see the bleeding obvious, and do the right thing. Apparently not.)

All things considered, it's easy (and tempting) to sit around wallowing in discouragement, depression, frustration, anger, and so on--and I've done my share of that in the last year. But there's some good news as well. Let's do a flashback to something that happened 335 years (and two days) before I was born. There was this dude who was saying stuff that the authorities of the day couldn't refute, but really didn't like. And so, as people with power often do, they decided to use the time-honored "debating" method of using brute force, locking the guy up and threatening to do nasty things to him, if he didn't stop contradicting their official doctrine. Eventually their thuggery paid off, and the dude wrote this (not in English, though):

"I, Galileo, son of the late Vincenzo Galilei, Florentine, aged seventy years, arraigned personally before this tribunal, and kneeling before you, Most Eminent and Reverend Lord Cardinals, Inquisitors-General against heretical depravity throughout the entire Christian commonwealth, having before my eyes and touching with my hands, the Holy Gospels, swear that I have always believed, do believe, and by God's help will in the future believe, all that is held, preached, and taught by the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. But whereas -- after an injunction had been judicially intimated to me by this Holy Office, to the effect that I must altogether abandon the false opinion that the sun is the center of the world and immovable, and that the earth is not the center of the world, and moves, and that I must not hold, defend, or teach in any way whatsoever, verbally or in writing, the said false doctrine, and after it had been notified to me that the said doctrine was contrary to Holy Scripture -- I wrote and printed a book in which I discuss this new doctrine already condemned, and adduce arguments of great cogency in its favor, without presenting any solution of these, and for this reason I have been pronounced by the Holy Office to be vehemently suspected of heresy, that is to say, of having held and believed that the Sun is the center of the world and immovable, and that the earth is not the center and moves."

I find it particularly amusing that he "confessed" to giving "arguments of great cogency" for the earth orbiting the sun, without giving any compelling contrary arguments (since none exist). Sounds familiar. Anyway, that Galileo dude went on to declare "with sincere heart and unfeigned faith" (under threat of punishment) that he was wrong, that he was really, really sorry, and he swore that in the future he would never again suggest or teach that the earth moves, and that it goes around the sun.

It's tempting to think, based on that example, that not a whole lot has changed with the way the world works: "authority" declares what beliefs are acceptable, and terrorizes those who voice contrary beliefs. (Who needs logic, evidence, and reason, when you have guns and prisons?) That's not exactly encouraging. But here's something else to consider: who won? Whose ideas prevailed? What became of that dude's radical, ridiculous, heretical "theory"?

It became the universally-accepted, undisputed truth. Despite all of the threats, vilifications, and punishments dished out by those in power, the truth won. It sometimes takes a long time (it only took 300 years for that particular authority to apologize to Galileo), but the truth will ALWAYS outlast a lie in the long run. Why? Because a lie requires an ongoing, perpetual effort to preserve it. And once it falls, it's nearly impossible to revive. (Do you think it will ever again be conventional wisdom that the sun goes around the earth? Not likely.)

At my trial, the "authorities" didn't bother to try to refute any of the evidence on which my "belief" is based. They avoided the substance of the issue entirely, except for a quick, provably flawed blurb which the prosecutor gave AFTER my closing argument, knowing I would have no chance to respond. (Incidentally, it was a blatant violation of the rules of court to let the prosecutor advise the jury on what the law is, but the judge let him do it anyway, while making sure I was prohibited from doing so. As usual, I obeyed the rules, and they didn't.) The prosecution knew they didn't have to deal with substance or logic. They could declare "we TOLD him he was wrong," and to most people (twelve in particular), that's good enough. The powers that be had declared the accepted doctrine; who was I to doubt it? (What Joe Six-pack believes)

But they can't refute the evidence, and it's not going to go away. They can't make it disappear, and they can't keep people from being exposed to it. They can vilify people, slander people, threaten people, rob people, imprison people--who knows, they may get around to killing someone for this kind of heresy (Ed Brown comes to mind). But intimidation and violence can never outlast evidence, or keep it suppressed forever.

As long as people are being extorted, vilified, persecuted, etc., I'm going to be impatient to see justice happen. And I know the same is true of a lot of you. But, if you need a little pick-me-up amongst the barrage of bad news these days, here it is: it may not happen soon, but the truth will always win. When it does, even if it's after I'm dead, I'll be glad to have been on the right side. There are a lot of people in power who now gloat, who history will remember as the lawless thugs and tyrants they are. They cannot hold off the truth forever. As a (fictional) radical extremist once put it, ideas are bulletproof.

Sincerely,

Larken Rose