Jim Kirwan is a political freelance writer
who has a love hate relationship with political life. Every
time
I
think
I
can
just move on
into
more creative
endeavors I seem to be dragged back into the thick of politics.
When these issues from the world of black & white cross
over into the full color world of everyday living, then many
of us have to participate.
This time I thought I understood what lay at the core of our
political problems in the US. I believed that a 1886 Supreme
Court decision that freed American corporations from individual
responsibility for their actions was the basis for our two
tier systems of both law and life. Then I became aware of a
Congressional act that transferred control over the treasury
to a foreign power, and I thought that was pivotal.
Finally I discovered the “Act of 1871” which provides
a separate Government over the District of Columbia, by congressional
decree, with no constitutional authority for their actions.
This legislation created a Corporate State that actually controls
the United States, and governs the Constitutional version of
our, formerly Democratic, Republic. With these three things
in mind, traditional political events take on an entirely other
dimension.
While it seems that even our basic ideas regarding the laws
that govern the society aren't the ones we thought they were,
this country is still a place I’m not willing to flee.
But if PATRIOT II becomes law, then all that we’ve become
accustomed to may change. But until that day comes, I'll continue
to add to write.
San Francisco, February 2003 |
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Oklahoma: |
I am self-taught and because of Francisco
Goya I became very interested in political imagery, very early
in life. The black and white political drawings were done in
pen and ink, or pencil, and they range in size from 36" round,
down to 3" x 5".
The act of breathing is political. That said - my first
venture into politics began in Oklahoma in the mid 1960’s,
with the creation of a book of 66 illustrations (unpublished),
called “The State of the Nation 1966.”
This was still three years before it was considered ethical
to challenge policies of the US government, and the price
for speaking out was high. I did this because the Oklahoma
I grew up in was a third generation welfare state. Oklahoma
was a place where welfare programs were tested, and the results
contradicted the promises, outlined by LBJ in the “Great
Society” and “The War on Poverty.” The ‘book'
consisted of three parts and spoke directly to those two
programs and concluded with “The Age of Contradictions.”
The work brought controversy even before it was completed.
And upon its only public showing for an audience of about
5,000 the project attracted some negative governmental attention.
The project also attracted local attention. The Governor
of Oklahoma, Dewey Bartlett commissioned me to do six images
to help persuade the Oklahoma legislature to improve the
lot of Oklahoma’s public education. That effort was
successful.
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| California: |
In 1968, in southern California I free-lanced during Watergate,
mostly against the Nixon administration and against the 25th
Amendment in particular.
In the late 1970’s the California Chamber of Commerce
and the California District Attorney’s Association commissioned
me to create images for “The Forgotten Victims of Violent
Crime”. The topics were provided – the interpretative
art is mine. The work was effectively used to help elect then
State Senator George Deukmejian to the office of State Attorney
General. It was also used to elect the same man to the office
of Governor. The effort brought media attention to the topic
which led to the creation of California’s Crime-Victim
Legislation, which in turn became California’s Victim’s
Bill of Rights. One unintended consequence of this effort was
a societal anomaly that we now call “victim-hood.” |
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| San Francisco: |
| Finally in San Francisco in the late 1990’s to the present,
I became entangled in the quagmire over the city’s new
$200 million Public Library. My work was used to call attention
to some of the more interesting aspects of this continuing dilemma.
I obviously do a lot of other work, besides pure politics.
But I’m still a political independent, and the fire that
began with Goya still burns. |
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Jim
Kirwan - Freelance Writer
Jim Kirwan is a freelance writer who writes
political news articles about the issues that affect everyday
Americans. To comment on an article email
Jim here
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