From the April 2001 Idaho Observer:

Will Florida be the first state to disembowel the Bar?

Persistent grassroots activist may have started movement to end legal monopoly

MIAMI LAKE, Fla. -- By persistently distributing his bumper stickers and pamphleteering in courthouses all over Florida, Robert Bertrand of the National Congress for Legal Reform has created a critical mass of public opinion that could result in the state decommissioning its Bar association. “We have started a movement that is spreading all over the country,” said Bertrand.

Bertrand, 61, who started his crusade in 1986 when friends committed suicide after lawyers took everything in their divorces, has perfected the manner in which the public can be educated about how lawyers have taken over all three branches of government. He suggests that people read the Federalist Papers, the Anti-Federalist Papers and the material on his websites. “Then go down and get a rubber stamp that says, 'Help Save America, Don't Vote for Lawyers' and stamp everything you send out in the mail,” Bertrand advised.

Our nation, Bertrand explained, is suffering from an epidemic of “cognitive dissonance.” Most people don't like lawyers, don't trust lawyers and tell lawyers jokes every chance they get -- but then they go down and vote them into public office.

James Madison, one of the authors of the Federalist Papers, was charged with the task of creating a government with enough power to control, but not enough power to oppress. He stressed the importance of the separation of powers. He knew that a government where the same hands are allowed to make, interpret and enforce the laws is a government that will oppress its people. “The enemy is us, we have allowed lawyers to take over control of all three branches of government,” said Bertrand.

Bertrand is considering the possibility of promoting a bill that would make reading the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers a requirement of graduation from public school. “Once students read the Federalist Papers, 95 percent of them agree that lawyers should not be allowed to occupy positions in the legislative or executive branches of government (the other five percent are the sons and daughters of attorneys). Bertrand even sent a comprehensive and extremely well documented report on the price Floridians have paid for lawyer-occupied government to all of the state's officers and legislators. He was in the capitol building when (attorney) Speaker of the House Tom Feeney stood up and said, “Legislators are guilty of treason.”

His outburst was in response to a chronology contained in the report that details how, since 1938, lawyers have been systematically empowered to effectively “privatize” the judicial branch of state government.

Bertrand's tactics have been having an impact. In 1986 when he began, 46 percent of the state Senate was comprised of lawyers and 32 percent of the House of Representatives were lawyers. Today, 30 percent of the Senate and 18 percent of the House are lawyers.

“I want ordinary citizens to see that there is hope -- that we can do something without spending a lot of money,” said Bertrand.

Though many courthouses throughout the land post a sign that says, “We who labor here seek only the truth,” lawyers, unlike citizens, can lie without fear of prosecution. If you provide evidence to the Bar that a lawyer has lied, the Bar will not prosecute him because lying is a lawyer's “stock in trade.” State attorney generals and the U.S. Department of Justice will not prosecute lying lawyers for much the same reasons.

Several of the nation's most knowledgable people support Bertrand's efforts. Dr. Steve McGee, chief economist for the University of Texas in Austin has studies that show that every lawyer in the country costs the American people a minimum of $1 million in lost productivity. With a million lawyers, we can estimate that lawyers cost us $1 trillion annually, commented Bertrand.

Dr. Gary Green, chief criminologist of the University of Georgia in Albany and author of the book, “Occupational Crime,” has published the results of studies which prove that the legal profession is by far the most corrupt industry in America.

Dr. David Levy, president of the Children's Rights Council in Washington, D.C., states that 30 percent to 40 percent of the cost of medical care in this country is due to excessive, lawyer-induced litigation.

But the role lawyers have had in the destruction of the American family is arguably their worst crime. “As goes the family, so goes the nation.” The concept of the “no-fault” divorce was born in Russia to facilitate the creation of a communist state. The intention was to make divorce easy so as to destroy the family and thus gain control of individuals and their children. It worked beautifully in Russia. With the help of lawyers, it is working beautifully in the U.S.

“If we can educate people about the separation of powers and then remove lawyers from the legislative and executive branches of government, I believe a lot of the problems we have in our country will begin to fix themselves, “ said Bertrand.

In a coming edition of The IO, we will significantly expand on this exciting and obviously doable arena of activism. If you want to know more about how Bertrand and his group have become so effective, call David Calhoun at (305) 534-1362. You can also read the material found at the following websites:

www.constitutionalguardian.com
www.calhounreport.com
www.americans4legalreform.com