Perhaps you have heard about a movement that calls for our own version of the Arab Spring, inviting masses (i.e. ten million people) to peacefully converge on Washington D.C. this year starting May 16th. The idea, focused on removing law-breaking politicians from office, was started by Army Colonel Harry Riley (Ret) who is an honorable patriot with a career of service that should be highly respected; and the opinions shaped by a lifetime of risking death for country must be recognized. His views reflect a trend of more combat vets supporting less aggression, and openly questioning who the primary beneficiaries of our troops' death and dismemberment have been. On John B. Wells' subscription-based "Caravan to Midnight" show, Colonel Riley said:

"[The start of the illegal machine may have been] when our nation was.. transformed to a nation under the bankers back in the early nineteen hundreds; I don't know exactly when it all started, but it has been going down that slippery slope ever since. Every president, I think, since that time has contributed to it and the bankers, the greedy money changers, have basically taken over. And these wars that you speak of, are basically means whereby all of the rich people get richer. And those of us who are in uniform, we end up losing our lives, losing our body parts... blood... families destroyed. All because of a greedy, greedy, bunch of leadership that cares little about the constitution and cares little about the nation."

Doesn't this sound like some potential common ground for both the Occupy Movement and the Tea Party? Hearing this theme voiced increasingly from every part of the political spectrum makes it seem like something is actually brewing. The free flow of information on the Internet has started to wake the sleeping giant that is the American people. They are learning how crazy our banking system is. Is it still run by a few families? Probably not, but how do we know without transparency? This mystery of the Fed, and the way a few member banks (Goldman, JPMC) profit from every transaction that puts our government (and therefore us) further into debt is a big issue that has been simmering on the back burner of collective frustration. Add the revelations about the NSA violating our privacy, and now people are just about ready to unite and IGNITE. The significance of the Riley quote above, especially what camp it is coming from cannot be over-emphasized. When those who often cry "wealth disparity" and others who abhor big government start to focus on the same root problems, look out! It's really not a stretch; just an acknowledgement that power tends to concentrate. Can we simply all agree that includes both government power and money power? The line between the (corrupt) two is blurring. At the same time another line is growing more distinct: The one between the exploiters and the exploited.

As we in the the latter group wake up and find ways to confront corrupting power concentration, let's not forget the surface question that Riley's bold quote raises. What IS really behind the wars? Wasn't freedom the objective? But how many times do we "rescue" people groups from corrupt governments by bombing and/or fighting with losses; then install semi-corrupt governments complete with "loans" which further spread the fractional reserve scam? Are we teaching that economic liberty must be tied to debt slavery and boom and bust? Consider that a new and improved U.S. foreign policy could be one where we lead the world with our own new economic system that empowers all humans with non-inflationary unlimited growth and full employment (like our boom after Lincoln's Homestead Act); instead of exporting a culture of debt and death. We could lead the world with a citizen-owned banking system centered around a Capital Homestead Act to encourage small government and free markets. Other nations will be forced to do the same to compete with our solid prosperity. Imagine at that point a Middle East where a thriving economy provides ample jobs and widespread wealth. Would the word "insurgent" still be in our vocabulary? And with fair, non-fractional money systems around the world would Eastern Europeans still have to make pitiful decisions of bare survival like whether to suffer under either Putin's corruption or the Euro's false promises? Repeat this kind of economic "what if?" in any hotbed of violence, which are usually places where people are struggling financially.

So perhaps we should divert at least some of the time and resources we spend improving systems of war.. toward improving systems of money. The opacity of central banks (like ours), fractional-reserve lending, frivolous consumer and speculative debt with compounding interest schemes, and monetization of government debt are behind most of our problems, domestic and abroad. But the media, academia, politicians, and business are paid directly or indirectly by the existing flawed system to perpetuate the status quo at the expense of individuals who yearn for economic sovereignty.

We at the Coalition for Capital Homesteading are already converging on DC every year for our rally at the Federal Reserve to call attention to these issues at the physical headquarters of one of the most problematic institutions in the world. (Check out our videos of the rallys on YouTube.) So hopefully we have some credibility on the subject of getting people to show up to fight systemic corruption. Although we have great rallys, unfortunately our crowd count is usually a few zeros shy of millions. But, hey, we certainly invite the throngs to come kick off the American Spring early at the Fed on April 11th for our annual rally!

Yes, the difficulty of getting large numbers of complacent Americans to act, or to even recognize the real problem is a big issue. It would be nice if most people zeroed in on economics as being the key to so much more than the morning business report. But they don't. So if organizing around the most popular, painful symptoms of the true problem is what turns people out, let's join in. Maybe they will listen to our explanations about widespread ownership of productive capital (and other supposedly boring stuff) when we are beside them on the National Mall. 

But will we motivate the largest possible number of people to act together by saying we demand that certain elected officials be removed from office? More people will probably participate if our tactics focus on the specific illegal acts that most people are mad about, and if we call for using the legal methods in place to address them. So instead of saying we are here to throw President Obama and the congressional leadership out, let's say "We are here to demand that a grand jury be convened to decide whether to indict specific leaders for specific crimes". Recently there have been more blatant violations of law than ever that deserve their day in court. It is time to require that!

The most glaring crime is the bulk collection of billions of American phone records. The executive branch's own Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board recently found that the NSA practice violated both the letter and spirit of the law. Even Colonel Riley, who worked for NSA says they have crossed a line. Specific people in leadership at the NSA must be tried for this, starting with director James Clapper who changed his under-oath position after the Snowden leaks (perjury). As the trials proceed, perhaps Americans will start talking about how having THIRTY THOUSAND employees in JUST ONE of many peacetime spy agencies is a twisted symptom of a money system that allows a government to borrow at will. Surely they will consider a new system that empowers citizens and free markets instead of bureaucrats and bankers that the bureaucrats' laws give unlimited money creation (and therefore power) to. These trials will need Edward Snowden as a witness. He should be offered immunity against "capital treason" to return and testify. If he is tried for anything, it needs to be in front of a jury of his peers. In addition to NSA leadership, every congressperson that voted against HR 2397, which was a law to stop NSA info gathering last summer (in response to congress finding out about the data gathering practice) should be a candidate for indictment. A yes vote was consistent with their oath to defend the Constitution's prohibition against unlawful search and seizure. A no vote was a clear violation of their oath and should result in a grand jury investigation towards indictments. 

A special prosecutor must be assigned to investigate President Obama for several suspected crimes. On August 9th, 2013 he publicly revealed the existence of a sealed indictment relating to the Benghazi attack. Disclosure of a sealed indictment is a crime. A less cut-and-dry issue is whether President Obama, Secretary Clinton and other Executive Branch officials failed to take reasonable measures to try to defend the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty who died in Benghazi. Part of the investigation/charges/trial evidence should involve the political motive in relation to the Presidential Election campaign that was in full swing at the time. Allowing death of diplomats and staff in order to get elected is a place where we must stand up and demand justice. 

A special grand jury needs to be convened to investigate the IRS targeting of economic conservative groups. Fifth-amendment pleader Lois Lerner must be brought to justice. IRS chiefs Doug Shulman and Steven Miller must be fully investigated for contempt of Congress and/or perjury for changing their story as to whether they were aware of the targeting.  

The Affordable Care Act mandates are another example of lawlessness. U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in New York forbade Health and Human Services from enforcing some of the mandates. He focused on the language "the secretary shall determine" that appears in the Affordable Care Act no fewer than 1,005 times. This ruling essentially says that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius cannot act in certain ways that Congress does not approve. The contraception and morning-after pill mandate exemptions for pure religious groups is not enough. Many Catholic and other religious individuals are part of private group employer health insurance plans that have not been exempted. This issue needs to have a specific day in court, with arguments defending the First Amendment. We should demand speedy jury trials in multiple courts charging religious persons who have refused to pay premiums and penalties. (Shocked? Read on..) The defense in these cases should inform the juries that they have the legal power to nullify the law if they deem it to be unconstitutional. (It's called strategy!) Then we need to start discussing what health care laws will replace the ACA mandate-laden failure. Government should get out of the way except to make reasonable laws that shape a favorable consumer environment that focuses on voluntary purchases. We should also consider how years of forcing payment of taxes for medicare and other welfare programs has wasted money through monopoly government mismanagement and fraud resulting in high costs for all. We should discuss how a trend toward voluntary programs that encourage small government and free market solutions would be better. If the entire economic system empowered all citizens without mandatory tax-and-spend schemes, there would be less if any need for welfare in healthcare or any other area. If we had a Capital Homesteading-based money system geared toward building individual wealth, health insurance could serve its correct role, catastrophic care.

So the focus of the American Spring should be to demand jury-centered action now. That is what is right, and it is something people can get excited about and cause them to show up. But the secondary goal should be calling attention to our flawed money system. We should demand that the Capital Homestead Act be passed. If we cannot get momentum on that proposal immediately, we should acknowledge that government corruption is one of our biggest problems and a flawed money system is behind it. At least legislate tests of alternate money and banking procedures in each Federal Reserve district. This is an important enough issue for our nation to want to improve how things work. Empowering bankers and money manipulators instead of citizens leads to more government schemes that exploit us and force us to pay taxes, buy mandatory products and services on unfavorable terms, etc. It is a fact that whenever these unfair trends are tried, things get worse. But every time small government combined with widespread ownership of productive capital has been tried it has been successful. Instances and explanations are available in two ten-minute speeches on You Tube: http://youtu.be/iWRrhu3XGsc and http://youtu.be/b0UOu6YRJFY)

Both were at the previously-mentioned annual Capital Homesteading rally at the Federal Reserve (including events at the Lincoln Memorial).