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Posts published by “Joshua Kricker”

Joshua Kricker is a retired attorney who still acts as a legal consultant. Currently the Communications Chair of Progressive Democrats of North Carolina, he has a B.A. from Southern Connecticut State University and a law degree from the Antioch school of Law.

Freedom & Obedience

By Joshua Kricker on September 14, 2013

Fort Dix 1969
Fort Dix, New Jersey – 1969
There used to be a sign that hung on the gate to the entrance to Fort Dix (the army training ground in New Jersey ) in 1969: “OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW IS FREEDOM.” It probably was not as bad as the sign on the gate to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, “ARBEIT MACHT FREI,” (Work is Freedom), but to those of us opposing the Vietnam War in 1969, the two sentiments and the source from where they sprung certainly seemed similar.

A while after leaving Canada and returning to the United States, I enrolled in state college and majored in political science. One of the first questions that arose in class was, “what makes a legitimate government?” I had long thought about this during the terms of Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon. It’s still a basic axiom that governments remain legitimate only so long as they rule with the consent of the governed. The people give that consent (it does not have to be verbally acknowledged or recognized; it can be tacit consent, i.e. doing nothing to oppose the government’s policies) as long as they at least have some belief that there are relatively fair elections and through our elected representatives we have some voice in the laws that are made and the policies being carried out. At least that’s the theory in America. If you’re living under a blatant military dictatorship another set of principles apply.

Behind the Hype and Headlines of Syria

By Joshua Kricker on September 2, 2013

The sarin gas attack on Syrian civilians on August 21, 2013 was a horrific crime. The scenes of people writhing in pain and expiring was not something that any rational human being would or should be able to turn away from. There’s not much controversy that gas was used. Looking at the videos of the attack leaves little room for doubt.

There is, however, a controversy about who was responsible. According to an article initially published by the Mint Press and later picked up by Examiner.com, rebels admitted to receiving the materials from Prince Bandar Bin Sultan the chief of Saudi Intelligence.

The Perpetuation of Poverty

By Joshua Kricker on September 1, 2013

Traffic stop in North Carolina
A traffic stop in Durham, North Carolina
Photo by Ildar Sagdejev
Anyone who has occasion to sit in the County District Courts of North Carolina, the state where I reside, can’t help but see and hear the endless parade of defendants appearing before the judge on routine traffic infractions resulting in the imposition of court costs and sometimes fines.

The court costs are generally $189.00. If someone is unable to pay, a late fee of $70.00 is tacked on and the privilege to operate a vehicle is revoked. If caught operating a vehicle while the privilege is revoked, that person could, until very recently, be subject to up to 120 days incarceration, even though the sole reason for the revocation was inability to pay a fine. The legislature, not long ago, amended the statute to repeal incarceration as a penalty, provided the reason for the revocation was neither Driving Under the Influence nor Reckless Driving.

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