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To: sam_paine

Question for you then.

Do you think for one moment you can force me to say a thing?

Be it in a Court of Law under penalty of perjury or contempt of court.

Do you think you can FORCE me to testify?


46 posted on 01/16/2007 8:26:20 AM PST by Leatherneck_MT (In a world where Carpenters come back from the dead, ALL things are possible.)
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To: Leatherneck_MT; Red Badger
Do you think you can FORCE me to testify?

As much as you can be 'forced' to pay the IRS, forced to pay your property taxes, forced into the county jail for resisting arrest and forced into jail for defying a court order, yes.

"Compulsory" means "compelled by the weight of the federal contract we live under in this society."

Can you be a hardass and break those laws, SURE!

The Constitution is something Americans all consent to be governed by, sorry pal, that's the way it is.

And the Constitution, in order to enable rule-of-law, says that the government can compel your testimony---except---that it may not compel you to testify against yourself.

If you want to make a distinction between a criminal that commits some felony, and you defying a court illegally, and you feel like you're better than the criminal in the cell with you, then fine! Good for you!

The fact is, the answer to Red Badger's question is that the 5th Amendment does not allow you to be "willfully quiet about anything, anytime," it only allows that you "not be compelled as a witness against yourself."

Saying that you can defy the laws of the land and that there may be consequences ignores the fact that in one case it is sanctioned by the Constitution, and in the other, it is not.

49 posted on 01/16/2007 9:08:28 AM PST by sam_paine (X .................................)
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