Understanding the Difference

“Just what in the hell does it mean?” Cheryl asked, her tone perplexed but her body language well measured and level in a perfect blend of mother and government administrator.

“Ahh,” I answered with bemusement, “you’ve been reading my website.”

A few months ago I started up a personal website, with subdomains for my current subjects of interest, which include CERT, cycling, ancestory, and of course, sovereignty issues. However, as these were a personal hosting, I had no compunction about letting sovereignty issues leak into the other areas.

“Yes. And what do you mean by, ‘my vessel is a registered CERT Instructor for the STATE OF KANSAS, and I am a certified CERT Instructor in Kansas’?”

“Cheryl, before I can answer that, you have to make a choice. Either I’m full of crap, or you have to admit that there may be some substance of truth to what all I’m talking about. I can’t begin to explain it unless you are willing to at least consider the possibility.”

Cheryl’s response was quick, “Oh, I know you’re full of crap. But just try to explain this to me as if I understood it.” She smiled at her wit but rapidly sobered to maintain her pretense of seriousness.

“Alright then, its simple. Were you born on the soil of Kansas in some town, or were you born in the STATE OF KANSAS, which is a municipal corporation?”

“This isn’t about me,” she answered, “but I was born in the State of Missouri, which is dirt.”

I laughed, “Oh, but it is about you. Its about everyone in this nation, and in the U.S. And you answered that with the ‘gray area’ answer, which is what THEY want you to say and think. Let me ask you this way — when you tell people where you were born, do you say ‘Kansas’, or do you say, ‘STATE OF KANSAS’?”

“Actually, I say ‘Missouri’…”

“You get my point…”

“YES, yes, yes,” she overrode, “I see what you’re saying, but so help me Parra, I don’t get the point.”

“Okay, but you do. You just don’t realize it yet. You – YOU – the flesh and blood woman, were born ‘in’ Missouri. Really, you weren’t born ‘in’ Missouri as much as you were born ‘on’ Missouri, or ‘at’ Missouri. Missouri, and Kansas, and all the other of the several States of the union are all dirt. There are no lines at the borders, and the dirt in Kansas where it touches Missouri is very much the same dirt as in Missouri where it touches Kansas.

“What makes Missouri a place is because a hundred and fifty years ago, some people agreed to call it such. They agreed that the area between these survey marks over here, and those over there, this place, this region, shall be known as Missouri.

“And people started to gather at various places within those geographic boundaries, and the people gave those places names like Saint Louis, Hannibal, Joplin. Again, those places were named for convenience sake, but even if they had different names, or no names at all, the dirt at those places — the houses, the roads — they would all continue to exist.

“Okay,” Cheryl acknowledged, “so far what you’ve said hasn’t exactly shed any light on anything. But I understand what you are saying about those places being…places.”

“Right. They are real. I can go there. Even if I don’t speak the language, or even if they were nuked off the map, the ‘place’ would still be real.”

“Now,” I said as a demarcation, “what if I were to come in, and create a business, and call it ‘Missouri’. What would stop me?”

“Well, I suppose no one would stop you. But you’d be insane,” she said with a smile.

I grinned. “Yes, I would be crazy. But lets just say I did do that. And I said that my business covers all of this land over here. Say, an acre square.”

“Okay…” Cheryl hesitated.

“And I said, ‘if you come in here, you are in my place of business’.”

“But you’d have to own the land to do that,” she was quick to respond.

“Would I,” I returned? “How many sole-proprietors run their business out of their apartment, or rent a space in a strip mall?”

“Well, okay, yeah, but they still have some right to be there.”

“Okay, granted, but you see that a business is a kind of transparent overlay. Even if we’re talking like…Wal-Mart. Even though Wal-Mart owns the land the store sits on, the store is still in Missouri, isn’t it?”

Cheryl nods, thinking.

“So we’ve established the difference between what is ‘real’ and what is ‘artificial’. A business is known in law as a ‘fictitious entity’. Its not a real person. It is created. Created, ultimately, by people.”

She nods again, this time short affirming nods.

“So lets go back to my business. I call it ‘Missouri’, except, oops — that name is taken. So instead, I say, ‘STATE OF MISSOURI’, just so there’s no confusion.”

Cheryl laughs, “Right, like I’m going to confuse your lame-ass company with the real Missouri.”

I laugh, too. “Exactly. Especially since its just me doing business, and because my business is just one acre square. But what if I expanded my boundaries arbitrarily to encompass the geographic boundaries of all of Missouri?”

“You can’t. You don’t own it and you never will.”

“Well said,” I replied, “but just who does own Missouri?”

That set her back. I gave her a moment to think before I suggested some answers.

“It could be one of two things: either Missouri is owned by its people, the people who are born there and live there, OR its owned by the government. Do you see any other possibility?”

Cheryl shook her head.

“Alright. Lets assume that regardless of which one is true, that the government assumes it is the owner in any event. The government of Missouri, then, set about to create a business, a corporation in fact, called ‘STATE OF MISSOURI’.

“This corporation was originally created with the benevolent purpose of conducting the business of Missouri, the business of the government, as separate from the governing of government — which is vested in people.

“You see — and this is a sidebar, but an important one — in this Nation, the united States of America, all power is derived from the People. We, the People. We the People receive our sovereign power directly from the Creator, meaning we have Divine Right — the King’s Prerogative. The essential nature of this sovereign power, and our contract to share it for collective government, is unique on all the Earth.

“So, stepping out of the sidebar, we the People made this contract where we give up a tiny controlled amount of our sovereign power to the government. The essence of the contract is that the government should protect us in exchange for our allegiance. Its really that simple.

“The Constitution for Missouri is essentially the same as the Constitution for the united States of America. The People of the place known as Missouri agreed to a contract to form the government of Missouri. In so doing, Missouri becomes a sovereign nation like any other nation. It is recognized by the Hague and other countries around the world.

“However, the nation of Missouri voted to join the union of several States that make up the Nation known as the united States of America. We the People of Missouri… okay, YOU the People of Missouri; my People are of Kansas,” I smile, “You the People of Missouri voted to join the union. You agreed to give a p

art of your sovereignty to the formation of a very narrow, very controlled central government with the intent that it should serve you and protect you.

“This is all fine and interesting and all, but it really doesn’t explain a thing on your website.” Cheryl was growing tired with the discussion. Most people do, so I strove ahead to complete the thought before she lost interest altogether.

“Alright, you’re right. I babble. Here’s the tie-in. The elected people, the people we elect to our state Legislature, our Governor, all those elected people — they ARE the government of Missouri. In them we have placed our power, and our care. This is why they swear an oath of office.

“However, this nation of Missouri must conduct business if its going to provide for the welfare of its people. It needs to contract with railroads for transportation and utilities for..utilities, lights, water, power. It needs to contract with employees to provide for road construction, clerical work and so on.

“So the elected persons, the government we elect, they formed a corporation. Its incorporated so that it can share the protections that all corporations do, that being the protection of artificiality. Sueing the corporation does not affect the individuals behind it.

“They formed a corporation, with boundaries in common with Missouri, and called it the ‘STATE OF MISSOURI’. This is a business entity. Kapish?”

Cheryl nods, then shakes her head. “Okay, I see that the STATE OF MISSOURI is a corporation that overlays the land of Missouri. But I don’t get this vessel concept. What’s a vessel, and how is it licensed when you the real person are not? Or something…”

“Good, that’s the right question. You are following along nicely!

“Well, that business has certain rules. Like any other corporations, it is bound to the Uniform Commercial Code. However, evil — corruption, mean people, call it what you will — have taken over the use of that corporation. Originally, statutes were passed that governed that corporation. Statutes that defined and limited its scope, and that scope was always within the corporation. Meaning, the rules made for it only applied to it.

“However, the mean people have slowly extended the reach of the corporation. They have settled that overlay of the corporation down snuggly around the People who occupy the land of Missouri, until not one in one-hundred know the difference between the state of Missouri and the STATE OF MISSOURI.

“Without knowing, they claim to be citizens of the STATE OF MISSOURI. They might as well claim to be citizens of Wal-Mart. However, the evil people use that unknowing claim to bind the People to the rules of the corporation.

“Did you know? The laws of the STATE OF KANSAS only apply where the STATE OF KANSAS owns the property, like state office buildings or arguably state highways, AND only apply to people who are employees of the STATE OF KANSAS… or to anyone who claims to be a citizen of the STATE OF KANSAS.

“Meaning, a STATE TROOPER only has authority to ticket someone for violating the speeding ordinance IF they are on a state highway, and IF they are a state employee, or the STATE has some other claim upon them.

“Okay, now you’re making me mad. You know my husband is a Trooper, and you know I’m just going to go home and ask him to confirm all of this, and he’s going to say you’re full of shit.”

“Cheryl, let me finish with the explanation. By the same token as what I just explained, whether you believe it or not at least stick with the concept. By the same concept, why do I need a license to do anything?”

“Because the law says so,” Cheryl exclaimed!

“Okay, but why? I don’t have to have a license to be a graphic designer. Why do I need a license to…be an Emergency Medical Technician?”

“Because lives are at stake! Would you want some unlicensed quack working on you??”

“No, but only because they are a hack. Not necessarily because they aren’t licensed. Let me ask you this, would you rather have someone helping you with controlling an arterial bleed, or would you rather have them stand around and watch you bleed out because they don’t have a license?”

“Well, that’s what the Good Samaritan Act is for. So they won’t get sued, so they can help me even if they’re not trained…”

“Cheryl,” I interrupt, “I never said they weren’t trained. I said they didn’t have a license. And that’s my point. Am I a graphic designer when I’ve learned all there is to know about graphic design? Or only when someone else says I do? Its rhetorical: I am a graphic designer because of the knowledge and skill I possess, not because someone says I am.”

“Yeah, but no one has died because of bad design.”

“Snarky,” I grin. “True. But, that bystander can save you with your arterial bleed whether they have a license or not. See, its a question of skill and ability. I’m an EMT because I have passed a course of instruction on the subject, and am both physically and intellectually capable of carrying out the task.

“I get LICENSED as an EMT because my EMPLOYERS require it. And they only require it because the STATE OF KANSAS requires it of them.

“Granted, its valuable that my skills should be compared with others performing in this field, and be subjected to their review. And I appreciate the recognition that a certificate from my peers gives me. However, a license is a form of PERMISSION, and I have no need or desire to seek permission from the ficticious entity known as the STATE OF KANSAS before I practice the skills that my peers have certified in me.

“Moreover, since I am not a citizen of Wal-Mart, nor a citizen of STATE OF KANSAS, they can’t actually license the real me, anyway. So they stick it on a fictitious entity known as PARRADOXX. Names in all upper case, in law, represent fictitious entities.

“For proof, see where my name is in all upper case on the License, but not on the certificate.”

“Holy shit!”

I think Cheryl finally understands the difference.

“Okay, so, I put the same thing on the website concerning my CERT credentials. Remember, the Community Emergency Response Team program is a volunteer program, made up of People. I, the real people, have taken the training and was certified by my peers to instruct the CERT curriculum. However, its my artificial entity, my ‘vessel’ which is registered with the state.

“Thus, I can TEACH this material anywhere, anytime I want. But you will only give credit to the students attending my class IF and WHEN I register the class with the STATE OF KANSAS.

“But that doesn’t mean that my students are any less knowledgeable or capable if their class wasn’t registered. That’s between my vessel and the STATE OF KANSAS. What I teach is between me and my students. Kapish?”