March 14, 2000
Kamloops Daily News



They came to Kamloops like some strange characters from an
episode of X-Files.  There was Eldon Warman, who considers
himself a foreign citizen of  Anglo Saxon common law under
the Magna Carta.  As an alien (who lives in Alberta), he
feels that the Canadian judicial system doesn't apply  to
him.  Then there were his cast of supporters from the
Patriots on Guard, a group with ties to other
anti-government groups. 

His supporters said that it wasn't them who phoned in the
bomb threat that emptied the courthouse while Warman's
assault trial was taking place. A Patriot on Guard, who only
wanted to be identified as Ron, said that the bomb threat
probably came from the R.C.M.P. who wanted to portray them
as radicals.  I don't think it requires a conspiracy by the
R.C.M.P. to do that.

Warman and the  Patriots on Guard do a good job of making
themselves seem radical, yet their message is surprisingly
familiar.  Warman's account of what happened is on the
group's web site. In it, he says that the B.C. government is
running an Al Capone protection racket.  Highwaymen (peace
officers) lay in wait for unsuspecting foreigners, like him,
with his busload of 25 Taiwanese tourists.

"The [Kamloops] judge, a pleasant man, or a smooth con
artist (yet to be decided), vehemently denied that the court
was in admiralty jurisdiction", Warman continues, ... "We
MUST move rapidly to curtail this encroachment by government
upon the Common Law RIGHTS of the Canadian People. I would
hope this can be accomplished by peaceable and sane methods,
and before mob retribution extracts a blood bath of  revenge
upon those responsible for this wholesale theft of our basic
and inalienable rights - RIGHTS which have been won for us
by the sacrificial blood of our ancestors."    

The reason all this seems familiar is because we have heard
it all before through popular media and entertainment. 
Movies and television (mostly American) regularly portray
conspiring governments with groups of citizens preparing to
defend themselves.  The F.B.I. connives to hide alien
invasions and officials in high office participate in
assassinations and evil machinations.

Suspicion of government and beliefs in conspiracies have
their roots in the American psyche, according to Professor
Robert Goldberg.  In  his recent comments on CBC radio, he
outlined how the seeds of suspicion in government were
planted by the John Birch Society in the 1960s.  Since then,
those seeds have taken root in North American culture.   The
result has been the growth of patriotism, individualism,
quasi-religion, and armed citizenry.  These organizations
have been eating away at public confidence in government.

The members of the  John Birch Society were not just some
mind addled  group from the fringe, but well educated
members of the upper and middle class who were convinced
that the Illuminati were conspiring to take over the world. 
The Illuminati were founded in Germany, in  1776,  by
professor Adam Weishaupt.  They have long since been
officially disbanded but their legendary power lives on.
  
Professor Goldberg, from the University of Utah, has traced
the route of ideas of the John Birch Society into modern
culture.  Ideas that were once considered fanatical and
right-wing now seem familiar.  He told me that it is not
the conspiracy core --  those who live in their own
world,  a closed circle of confirming argument and
information -- that he is worried about. 

Rather, Goldberg's concern is with mainstream institutions,
such as movies and TV, who have popularized conspiracy
theories.  In doing so, they have promoted the decline of
confidence in government.  These are the calculated and
systematic efforts of talented people.  They cannot simply
be dismissed as paranoid, weird, or sick.

Democracy is under attack from within and from the outside. 
The World Trade Organization wants to replace government. 
Big business wants to reduce government regulations that
protect the environment and food supply.  Government is the
democratic expression of our collective will.  It may not be
perfect but it beats the alternative -- rule by greed and
fear.

"Democracy is the worst form of government," said  Winston
Churchill, "just better than all the others."  I agree with
Warman that ordinary citizens are threatened, but from a
government weakened by trade agreements and from lack of
democratic participation, not from a government that is too
strong. 

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