Joe Kopsick for Congress Advertisement: Investigate Maxwell and Epstein, and Pass the Safe Kids Amendment

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Original image created on August 28th, 2020

Published on August 28th, 2020

Edited on August 31st, 2020

Edited and Expanded on September 11th, 2020

Joe Kopsick for Congress Yard Signs

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Created and Published on August 7th, 2020

Originally Published Under the Title

"Joe Kopsick for Congress Yard Sign"

First Image Created and Added on August 7th, 2020

All Other Images Created and Added on August 17th, 2020

Guide for Volunteers Circulating Petitions to Get Joe Kopsick on the Ballot for U.S. House

     This document was created by the campaign to elect Joe Kopsick to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020. It was created to instruct campaign volunteers on how to approach potential voters and signatories to the petition to get Joe Kopsick on the ballot, by name, on November 3rd, 2020.

     The document has been published here, for two reasons: 1) to allow campaign volunteers to access this information for job training purposes; and 2) to show other independent and growing campaigns how to train signature gatherers for their own campaign's purposes.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Phase 1:

APPROACHING VOTERS POLITELY AND CASUALLY

and

FINDING OUT WHETHER THE PERSON YOU'RE TALKING TO IS A REGISTERED VOTER

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 1A:

     Decide, carefully, whom to approach. Avoid people who are using cell phones, talking to other people, or who appear to be in a rush. Take care not to bother people who may be busy.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 1B:

     Approach the person casually; do not come within 6 feet of them. Take care not to appear to follow people or intimidate them.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 1C:

     Avoid misgendering the person; do not use the phases “ma'am”, “madam”, “girl”, “sir”, “dude”, “man”, “my guy”, etc..

     Address the person in a gender-neutral fashion, using any one of the following icebreakers:
- “May I have a moment of your time?”
- “Do you have a second to talk about the election?”
- “Hi, are you a registered voter?” or “Excuse me, are you a registered voter?”

     If the person is interested, then proceed to Step 5 (determining whether the person is registered).

     If the person is not interested, then see Step 4.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 1D:

     If the person appears very reluctant to engage you, or says they're not interested, do not bother them any further. If they say something, say “Thank you for your time” if it's appropriate. Avoid inconveniencing and upsetting them, wait a moment, and move on to another person (i.e., go back to Step 1).

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 1E:

     If the person says “I don't know” (after Step 3), show them the QR code that lets them know whether they're registered, and which districts they live in. Tell them that they can enter their name, address, and birth date on that page, to get that information.

     If the person has time, invite them to do it on their cell phone, or use your own (if the voter is OK with that).

     If the person is not registered to vote, but they want to help, tell them that their signature will be counted as long as they register to vote by July 20^th, 2020.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Phase 2:

EXPLAINING THE CAMPAIGN AND INTRODUCING JOE KOPSICK

and

EXPLAINING WHAT THE PETITION DOES, AND WHAT THE SIGNATURE MEANS
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

     Step 2A:

     If the person is registered to vote, say either:

- “I'm working with a campaign to elect Joe Kopsick to the U.S. House. Do you know who you're voting for, for Congress, this year?”, or

- “I'm working with a campaign to start a Mutualist Party in Illinois. Are you satisfied by the current set of choices you have, in regards to political parties in America?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

     Step 2B:

     If the person is interested, and wants to know more, then tell them the following:

- “I work for a campaign that's collecting signatures to get independent candidate Joe Kopsick on the ballot for U.S. House on November 3^rd. Every signature also helps establish a Mutualist Party in Illinois.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

     Step 2C:

     Offer them free campaign literature, whether they want to sign the petition or not. But do not make them take it if they don't want it.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

     Step 2D:

     If the person wants to know more about what they're signing, and what the petition does, tell them the following:

- “This petition helps get independent candidate Joe Kopsick on the ballot for Congress, and it helps establish a Mutualist Party in Illinois.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

     Step 2E:

     If the person wants to know more about the Mutualist Party, then give them the relevant literature, and explain the following:

- “Joe Kopsick has founded a Mutualist Party in Illinois, but he is currently the party's only candidate. Every signature that helps get Joe Kopsick on the ballot, helps the Mutualist Party get closer to 5% of the vote, at which point the party would be legally recognized as a major party in the State of Illinois.”

     If the person still wants to know what the Mutualist Party is about, explain the following:

- “The party supports making the economy fairer and more free at the same time, and wants the economic system of Mutualism to be a balancing influence between socialism (on the left) and capitalism (on the right).”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 2F:

     If the person wants to know more about what they're signing, and what the petition does, tell them the following:

- “This petition helps get independent candidate Joe Kopsick on the ballot for Congress, and it helps establish a Mutualist Party in Illinois.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 2G:

     If the person needs more information about what the petition does, say the following:

     “It's for registered voters (or people who will register to vote by July 20^th) who want to see Joe Kopsick appear on the November 3^rd ballot for Congress. The full name of the position is U.S. Representative from Illinois's 10^th congressional district. Signing this petition helps Joe Kopsick get on the ballot by name.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 2H:

     If the person doesn't know whether they live in the 10^th district, then show them either or both of the following two things, to find out:

     1. The list of towns, with the district map on the other side (copies of which have been provided to you).

     Towns: Bannockburn, Beach Park, Buffalo Grove (portions), Deerfield, Des Plaines (portions), Diamond Lake, Fort Sheridan, Fox Lake, Fremont Center, Gages Lake (portions), Glencoe, Glenview (portions), Great Lakes, Green Oaks, Grayslake, Gurnee (portions), Hainesville, Highland Park and Kennedy, Highwood, Indian Creek, Indian Trails, Ingleside, Kildeer, Lake Bluff and Knollwood, Lake Forest and Mettawa, Lake Villa (portions), Lakemoor (portions), Libertyville, Lincolnshire, Lindenhurst (portions), Long Grove, Long Lake, Mt. Prospect (portions), Mundelein and Ivanhoe and Sylvan Lake, Niles (portions), North Chicago, Northbrook (portions), Park City, Prairie View, Prospect Heights (portions), Riverwoods, Rondout, Round Lake, Round Lake Beach, Round Lake Heights, Round Lake Park, Third Lake, Vernon Hills, Volo (portions), Wadsworth (portions), Waukegan, West Miltmore, Wheeling, Wildwood, Winthrop Harbor, Zion

     2. The QR code that allows voters to determine whether they're registered, and which districts they live in

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

     Step 2I:

     Ask the person to sign the petition. Say “Would you like to sign the petition?”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________








___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Phase 3:

CLOSING THE DEAL
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

     Step 3A:

     If they're already eager to sign, and you've skipped over some of the previous steps, and they want to know, quickly, what the petition does, then give them this concise explanation:

- “This petition helps get independent candidate Joe Kopsick on the ballot for Congress, and it helps establish a Mutualist Party in Illinois.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

     Step 3B:

     If the person asks “How many signatures do you need?”, tell them this:

     - “One thousand two hundred nine (1,209).”

     If they ask “Why is that?”, tell them this:

     - “It's one-half of a percent of the number of people who voted in the same race in the previous election, which was 2018”.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

     Step 3C:

     If the person asks, “What happens if you don't get enough signatures?”, say the following:

     - “If the campaign doesn't get enough signatures to get Joe Kopsick's name on the ballot, then voters will still be able to vote for him on November 3^rd; by writing his name into the write-in space on the ballot, which will be underneath the names of his opponents who get their names on the ballot.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

     Step 3D:

     If the person asks where you're getting this information from, say this:

     - “All of this information is available in the 2020 Candidate's Guide, which can be downloaded from the Illinois state Board of Elections website.”

     (That website is at www.elections.il.gov)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

     Step 3E:

     If the person asks whether they will be obligated to do anything, or prohibited from doing anything, as a consequence of signing this form – or if they ask specifically whether they will be obligated to vote for Joe Kopsick on Election Day – then tell them the following:

     - “This form is not a binding obligation to support the candidate on Election Day; this is only saying 'I want another choice on the ballot for U.S. House, and I want that choice to be Joe Kopsick.' But if you sign this petition, then you may not sign a petition supporting any of his opponents' efforts to get on the ballot, for the rest of the signature gathering period.” (That period ends on July 20^th, 2020.)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 3F:

If the person makes a mistake while filling the form out, ask them to start over again, and fill a blank line in correctly from the start. Remember which line they made the mistake on, so you can include that line on the list of deletions.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 3G:

     If the person asks whether they can leave a petition out for people to sign, tell them no. Petition circulators must be physically present while signatures are being collected.

     Tell them that they can help us collect signatures to put Joe Kopsick on the ballot, but only if they stay with the forms while collecting, to make sure that voters fill out the forms correctly.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 3H:

     Thank the person for their signature.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 3I:
     Offer them additional literature.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 3J:

     Point to business cards, or other information, to let them know how to get in touch with the candidate and the campaign.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 3K:

     Tell the person, “Would you like to stay updated about the campaign via e-mail, or help the campaign collect signatures?”

     If they say yes, then show them the sheet; ask for their name, town, and e-mail address; and ask them to indicate whether they'd like to receive e-mails, volunteer, or both.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 3L:

     Wish them a pleasant day (or week, or month; whatever is appropriate for the situation).

     Unless it would be rude, also remind them to register to vote by July 20^th, and/or to vote for Joe Kopsick on November 3^rd.

     If they leave the encounter still unsure as to whether they'll support Joe, remind them to vote that day in general.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

In order to sign petitions to help Joe Kopsick get on the ballot,
you must meet ALL FIVE of the below requirements:
___________________________________________________________________________________1. You must be an eligible voter.
(convicted felons' signatures will be counted, but undocumented immigrants' signatures will not)

___________________________________________________________________________________
2. You must turn 18 by Election Day (must be born on or before November 3^rd, 2002)

___________________________________________________________________________________
3. You must register to vote by July 20^th, 2020.
___________________________________________________________________________________
4. You must NOT have signed a petition for any of Joe Kopsick's opponents in the 10^th District race

[i.e., Brad Schneider (D), Valerie Mukherjee (R), David Rych (L), and Bradley Sigmund Heinz (I)]

___________________________________________________________________________________

5. You must be a resident of Illinois's 10^th Congressional District, comprised of the following towns:

Bannockburn

Beach Park

Buffalo Grove

(northern half only)

Deerfield

Des Plaines

(northern half only)

Diamond Lake

Fort Sheridan

Fox Lake

Fremont Center

Gages Lake

(central and southern parts only)

Glencoe

Glenview(western half only)

Great Lakes

Green Oaks

Grayslake

Gurnee

(southwest, southeast, and northeast corners only)

Hainesville

Highland Park

(incl. Kennedy)

Highwood

Indian Creek

Indian Trails

Ingleside

Kildeer

Lake Bluff

(incl. Knollwood)

Lake Forest

(incl. Mettawa)

Lake Villa

(southern half only)

Lakemoor

(northeast
quarter only)

Libertyville

Lincolnshire

Lindenhurst

(all parts except portions

of northeast)

Long Grove

Long Lake

Mt. Prospect

(eastern half only)

Mundelein

(incl. Ivanhoe

and Sylvan Lake)

Niles

(extreme northwest corner only)

North Chicago

Northbrook

(areas northwest

of Shermer Rd.)

Park City

Prairie View

Prospect Heights

(southern half only)

Riverwoods

Rondout

Round Lake

Round Lake Beach

Round Lake Heights

Round Lake Park

Third Lake

Vernon Hills

Volo

(central and
north only)

Wadsworth

(eastern half only)

Waukegan

West Miltmore

Wheeling

Wildwood

Winthrop Harbor

Zion

______________________________________
1,209 signatures will be required (0.5% of the number of people who voted in the 2018 election)

and must be collected and turned in before July 20^th, 2020.

If you'd like to volunteer to canvass / collect signatures for Joe Kopsick for Congress,

email jwkopsick@gmail.com (or call 608-417-9395) to request petition forms!

Illinois's 10th congressional district

Written and Originally Published on July 3rd, 2020

Expanded on July 4th, 2020

Press Release: Local U.S. House Candidate Attempts to Form a Mutualist Party in Illinois (Extended Version)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                            Contact: JOSEPH W. KOPSICK
June 3rd, 2020                                                                      608-417-9395 / jwkopsick@gmail.com

Local U.S. House Candidate Attempts to Form a Mutualist Party in Illinois

     A new challenger has emerged in the race for U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois's 10^th district. Lake Bluff native Joseph W. Kopsick, 33, has decided to challenge Democratic incumbent congressman Brad Schneider.

     Kopsick, a political science graduate of the University of Wisconsin, is running an independent campaign. He is also attempting to form a Mutualist Party in Illlinois. Kopsick tells voters that mutualist economics will help make markets both free and fair at the same time, and reduce the harmful influence of monopolies, and help resolve the debate between capitalism and socialism.

     According to Kopsick, “The federal government should manage only money, mail, and military, until we know that it is capable of doing other things competently.” Kopsick wants health, environment, and land issues to be dealt with as locally as possible. Kopsick sees voter education as the most important part of increasing civic engagement, telling voters that “We cannot go on teaching students how the government works, if it is so overextended that it doesn't work the way it was intended to.”

     For Kopsick, the most important issues we face as a nation are the national debt, high medical prices, and child trafficking. Kopsick hopes to pay off the debt through serious budgetary, monetary, and taxation reform, and considers paying off a trillion dollars a year until 2047 to be a realistic goal. Kopsick also sees the importance of making medical goods more affordable; he sees long patent lifespans and unnecessary taxes as some of the chief causes of high medical prices.

     Mr. Kopsick plans to bring his campaign to public libraries and other locations throughout Illinois's 10^th congressional district, which encompasses most of Lake County and portions of northern Cook County. Kopsick's challengers in the 10^th district, in addition to the incumbent, include Republican nominee Valerie Mukherjee, Libertarian nominee David Rych, and independent candidate Bradley Heinz.

     Kopsick must collect 1,210 signatures by August 7^th in order to get on the ballot as a Mutualist candidate. If he does not reach that threshold, voters will still be able to write his name in the write-in space in the general election on November 3^rd.

     Since 2010, Kopsick has managed a political science weblog on Blogspot, called the Aquarian Agrarian, which features his congressional platform as well as commentary on political issues. Kopsick is also active on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. Members of the press wishing to contact Kopsick's campaign can reach out to the candidate via email at jwkopsick@gmail.com or via phone at 608-417-9395.

Written on June 1st and 3rd 2020

Published to this blog on June 3rd, 2020

Press Release: Local U.S. House Candidate Attempts to Form a Mutualist Party in Illinois (Abbreviated Version)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                            Contact: JOSEPH W. KOPSICK
June 3rd, 2020                                                                      608-417-9395 / jwkopsick@gmail.com

Local U.S. House Candidate Attempts to Form a Mutualist Party in Illinois

     A new challenger has emerged in the race for U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois's 10^th district. Lake Bluff native Joseph W. Kopsick, 33, has decided to challenge Democratic incumbent congressman Brad Schneider.

     Kopsick, a political science graduate of the University of Wisconsin, is running an independent campaign. He is also attempting to form a Mutualist Party in Illlinois. Kopsick tells voters that mutualist economics will help make markets both free and fair at the same time, and reduce the harmful influence of monopolies.

     According to Kopsick, “The federal government should manage only money, mail, and military, until we know that it is capable of doing other things competently.” Kopsick wants health, environment, and land issues to be dealt with as locally as possible.

     Mr. Kopsick plans to bring his campaign to public libraries and other locations throughout Illinois's 10^th congressional district, which encompasses most of Lake County and parts of Cook County.

     Kopsick must collect 1,210 signatures by August 7^th in order to get on the ballot as a Mutualist candidate. If he does not reach that threshold, voters will still be able to write his name in the write-in space in the general election on November 3^rd.

     Members of the press wishing to contact Kopsick's campaign can reach out to the candidate via email at jwkopsick@gmail.com or via phone at 608-417-9395.

Written on June 1st, 2020

Published to this blog on June 3rd, 2020

Submitted to the Daily Herald on June 1st, 2020, but not published

Political Questionnaire: Are You a Joe Kopsick Voter? #2

Click on the above image in order to view in greater detail

Questionnaire created and published on May 12th, 2020

Updated (guns question edited) on August 27th, 2020

Political Questionnaire: Are You a Joe Kopsick Voter? #1

Click on the above image in order to view it in greater detail

Designed and Published on May 11th, 2020
Edited on May 13th, 2020

Based on Notes from a March 7th, 2020 post titled

"Trump vs. Biden vs. Bernie Sanders vs. Joe Kopsick on the Issues"

which can be viewed at the following link:

http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/03/trump-and-biden-vs-bernie-sanders-vs.html

Links to the Most Important Documents and Videos for My 2020 Campaign for U.S. House

1 & 2. 2020 platform for U.S. House of Representatives:

http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/08/thirty-point-basic-platform-for-us.html
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/08/expanded-platform-for-us-house-of.html

3 & 4. Press releases from early in the campaign:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/08/local-man-enters-race-for-us-house.html
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/08/local-man-enters-race-for-us-house_25.html

5. Video explaining how to pay off the national debt (my #1 issue):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mspGsiOtVoI

6. Article about how to abolish the federal government in as orderly a fashion as possible:

http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/10/abolishing-federal-government-and.html

7. Article criticizing urging citizens to participate in the census:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/11/why-im-opposed-to-2020-census.html

8. Infographic showing things I predicted or knew about before they were reported in mainstream press:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/02/events-i-predicted-or-knew-about-before.html

9. Pamphlet criticizing incumbent Rep. Brad Schneider's donation sources:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/02/where-does-congressman-brad-schneider.html

10. Video criticizing Rep. Schneider on Ukrainegate and showing that I knew about Ukraine-related corruption 2 years before it broke in the news:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq1l0FVHu6c

11. Speech to the Libertarian Party of Chicago about my platform:

http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/03/speech-to-libertarian-party-of-chicago.html

12. Comparison of my platform with those of Bernie Sanders, and Joe Biden and Donald Trump:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/03/trump-and-biden-vs-bernie-sanders-vs.html

13. Questionnaires which allow readers to score themselves according to how much they agree with the candidate:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/05/political-questionnaire-are-you-joe.html
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/05/political-questionnaire-are-you-joe_12.html

14. Video of my first meet and greet for U.S. House in March 2020:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx7Rb19vHXs

15 & 16. Press releases from June 2020:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/06/press-release-local-house-candidate.html

http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/06/local-us-house-candidate-seeks-to-form.html

17. E-mail updates from the campaign:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/06/joe-kopsick-for-congress-campaign-2020.html

18. Response to the Green Party's candidate questionnaire:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/06/responses-to-illinois-green-partys-2020.html

19. Description of the Joe Kopsick for Congress / Mutualist Party of Illinois Facebook group:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/07/description-of-facebook-group-joe.html

20. Post announcing the foundation of the Mutualist Party of Illinois:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/07/announcing-formation-of-mutualist-party.html

21. QR codes leading to important links about the campaign:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/07/set-of-qr-codes-for-joe-kopsicks-2020.html

22. Campaign ad featuring QR codes:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/07/joe-kopsick-for-congress-campaign.html

23. Guide for volunteers collecting signatures to put Joe Kopsick on the ballot:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/07/guide-for-volunteers-collecting.html

24 & 25. Write-in Joe Kopsick campaign ads
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/07/advertisement-write-in-joe-kopsick-for.html
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/08/advertisement-write-in-joe-kopsick-for.html

26 & 27. Joe Kopsick for Congress door hangers
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/07/door-hanger-advertisement-write-in-joe.html
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/08/door-hanger-advertisement-write-in-joe.html

28. Joe Kopsick for Congress yard signs
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/08/joe-kopsick-for-congress-yard-sign.html

29. Response to a Green Party survey
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/08/response-to-green-party-youth-caucuss.html

Originally Published on February 29th, 2020

Edited and Expanded on March 24th; June 3rd and 8th;
July 3rd, 2020, and August 27th, 2020

Why I Support a Boycott of the 2020 U.S. Census

     Local government is urging the American people to cooperate with the 2020 U.S. Census survey.

     A court recently ruled that the Trump Administration could not include the citizenship question on it. But what will local government do to protect us, if the administration insists on including it anyway (whether they figure out how to do it legally or not)?

     The Constitution authorizes the federal government and its census takers to collect no information other than the number of people. Therefore,all questions about ethnicity, race, religion, country of origin or birth, and citizenship, are thus illegal, and laws providing for those questions to be asked are unconstitutional. We cannot legally be obligated to answer any of those questions, and I urge residents not to answer them (especially given that there is no enforced punishment for evading the census).

     Another reason why our local governments are urging us to cooperate with the census, is that our elected officials use the census to make money off of us. Making sure that everyone participates in the census is, after all, how government makes sure that congressional districts have equal numbers of people. And that is what they use to justify taking the census in the first place; they say apportionment and drawing districts are impossible without a census.

     However, the number of people in the district also secures that district federal funding, as part of its “equal share” of federal funding. That is how our representatives are using us – taking advantage of the fact that we are in their districts – for their own monetary benefit (i.e., the idea that we need to be represented is what allows them to hold positions and profit).

     Of course, it matters to almost nobody that spending and the tax burden are not shared anywhere near equally by the districts and states (shown in the maps below). 

But the fact that equality is not furthered in determining where these districts lie, should show that the census's main purpose is to secure whatever funding the district can manage to get. That is why urging people to participate in the census, and offering people well-paid positions to be census takers, is nothing more than a scam to continue the redistribution of wealth across the country.

     The census is nothing more than a scam to defraud us, the voters and taxpayers and residents, of our financial power (through our right to those funds), and our legal power (through allowing our elected officials to take away some of our power of attorney, and in so doing, to appropriate more of those federal funds towards themselves and their own offices than towards We the People).

     Aside from the census being a money-making scheme for our legislators, it is also a plot to track us, and harvest our private personal information. Government-regulated credit rating agencies and banks routinely lose millions upon millions of people's personal information; do you really trust government to handle your personal information wisely?

     Moreover, the census could potentially be used as a way to round-up non-citizens and other “undesirables” or “enemies of the state”. What do our state and local governments plan to do, if the Trump Administration goes forward with its plan to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census (whether legally or illegally)? Do they intend to protect us?

     Unfortunately, I predict that they're going to continue to urge cooperation at all times, because to do otherwise would be against the law, and the opposite of what they're supposed to do as elected officials (which is to urge faith in all public institutions at all times, and participation in as many government programs as possible).

     You might think that elected officials and police have an obligation to do their jobs, and do as ordered. But if your job is to threaten force against people who entered this country illegally but without threatening force themselves, then your job is immoral, and you doing your job conflicts with the public's moral obligation to peacefully resist unjust laws. The police, for the most part, have no obligation to do “their jobs” (if by that we mean “protect and serve the general public”; that's out because of Warren v. D.C.) because they can only do as ordered. “I was only following orders” didn't fly at the Nuremberg Trials, and “I was just doing my job” is the new “I was only following orders”.

     Local governments throughout Illinois should urge Governor J.B. Pritzker to instruct the Illinois National Guard, and all public police in Illinois, to refrain from cooperating with federal authorities. And that goes for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.), and agents of the 2020 census, alike; and the same goes for other states urging their governors to interpose the same federal authorities. That's because the vast majority of these agencies' activities (and the census takers' questions) were not properly constitutionally authorized.

     Under no circumstances should the public be urged to cooperate with federal authorities in pursuit of these unconstitutional aims. All fifty state governors should immediately issue orders nullifying the federal law which authorized I.C.E.; effectively removing the authority of I.C.E. to operate legally within the boundaries of each particular state.

     If necessary, state National Guard troops should be mobilized to arrest federal troops or agents, and/or prevent more of them from entering the given state, if they insist on enforcing unconstitutional federal laws. If local government doesn't intend to do anything to stop the continued operation of an illegal federal department that didn't even exist just 17 years ago, then it cannot rightfully claim that what it does, promotes either freedom or public safety.

     Local governments are doing their residents no service to recommend that they cooperate with the Trump Administration. Even if the administration doesn't use the census to carry out deportations, it's already deporting peaceful undocumented immigrants.

     I.C.E. is hassling Hispanic-Americans who were born in America now. Seasonal farm workers are being trapped in America at the end of harvest season, and mocked and driven into the shadows for being here illegally (through no fault of their own), now. Immigrants are being funneled away from points of entry where they could easily declare asylum, and instead are forced to trek through dangerous desert, now.

     Whether the Trump Administration's immigration, deportation, and census policies going forward, will be legal and constitutional or not, why should state and local governments urge us to cooperate with those “authorities”? Aren't they supposed to protect public safety? Governments are supposed to work for the people, not the other way around.

     If the police state national guards do not come to the aid of all non-violent residents (not just the citizens who pay them) during deportation raids, then neighbors will come together to protect vulnerable residents who are in the United States without proper permission.

     And if that happens, then it will be the members of local government whom will have urged resident and police cooperation with federal authorities, whom will be remembered as the people who urged cooperation with a blatantly authoritarian regime, and whom will have suckered us into becoming fascist collaborators (and potentially even turning-in our undocumented neighbors, especially if you consider the potential usurious ends for which the census taker could be used).

     I urge the people to arm themselves, and to resist the census. I also urge the people, and the police, to refuse to cooperate with federal authorities enforcing all immigration laws.

     The federal government has the authority to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, not to enforce it (which means it should fall to the states). The federal government, also, lacks authority to establish any other types of immigration policy; and moreover, the federal government has no obligation to collect census data in addition to the number of people.

     That is why I support boycotting the 2020 U.S. Census. It will be used – and, in my opinion, is already being used, by our legislators - as a way to convince citizens to shame one another into supporting the census, with the non-participating person being seen by the pro-census people as if they were withholding money from the district and their fellow citizens. We are being forced to compete against one another, and encouraged to spy on one another.

     In mid-July 2019, a federal court ruled against including a citizenship question in the 2020 Census. However, on July 29th, N.P.R. reported that the U.S. Census Bureau sent out census forms including the citizenship question to 240,000 households.

http://www.npr.org/2019/07/29/746158231/why-the-2020-census-citizenship-question-hasn-t-gone-away
     The Trump Administration says this was only a test. However, they've been criticized for not doing this test long enough before the 2020 census, before it can be approved in its final form. There are now, at the time of this writing, only six and a half weeks left until 2020. My local U.S. Representative recently reassured an audience that the census information will be secure, and will not be used to deport people (nor sold for profit to big data collection companies), but I remain unconvinced.

     It was completely predictable that the administration would keep pushing on this issue, because pushing and doubling-down is what this administration does. Lawsuits don't work against fascists; the Trump Administration will find a way to use this information for evil. After all, the Nazis might never have been able to murder as many Jewish people as they did, were it not for the assistance of I.B.M. computers, which collected census data that allowed the Nazis to track Jews down.

     We should not forget that something like that could happen again. Big data companies are real threats. Facebook, for example, has been about encouraging people to voluntarily surrender information about themselves (where they are, who they're with, what they like) from the start; in its early days, Facebook was funded by the C.I.A. through a startup called In-Q-Tel.

     We shouldn't wait for the Supreme Court to stop the Trump Administration doing something illegal; they will find ways to keep enforcing policies even when they know they are unconstitutional, improperly authorized, or could easily be enforced differently or not at all.

     Instead, we should endorse Jeffersonian nullification. The governors would be fully within their powers to nullify I.C.E., deportation orders, and additional census questions, and in so doing make the states “sanctuary states”. Although using a "states' rights" solution could be politically unpopular (or even offensive), the same power could also be used to justify keeping Illinois a "sanctuary state".

     However, I would not recommend that this “sanctuary state” designation be made in a way that secures federal funds to the given state, as the federal government should not be in the business of settling immigrants; its only duty is to establish a uniform rule of naturalization.

     I believe that this policy will help make assistance to undocumented immigrants legal, constitutional, and voluntary (i.e., neither prohibited nor mandatory).

     Until state and local governments can start offering more than words when criticizing the Trump Administration's desire to implement legislation they know damn well is unconstitutional – if the council could offer condemnation and plans for action – then it could show a generation of young Americans that their country's civic ethics are not only about promoting civic engagement, but also in recognizing our freedoms and our rights to resist tyranny.
     The American people stood up to fascism, and they will stand up to it again, whether it is at home or abroad.

Based on notes written in July and August 2019

Edited and expanded on November 13th, 2019

Originally published in final form on November 13th, 2019

(includes fragments of articles published in July and August 2019)