Thank goodness for colourful characters
What would a town be without its colourful characters? They bring welcome relief from the daily drudgery of logic, common sense, civility, and taxes.
They provide us, in summary, with another way of viewing the universe, though it’s not always abundantly clear what that might be.
Take Brian Alexander for example (and I will resist the almost overwhelming temptation to add “please” to the end of that).
Or, to respect his new self-chosen moniker, Brian-Arthur: alexander. Let’s call him alexander for short.
A one-time mayoral candidate, he finds himself in a spot of trouble with the justice system over a speeding ticket. The case is in progress — the next chapter of which will be played out in courtroom 2D at 9:30 a.m. this coming Monday — so I won’t impose upon you any opinion on the details.
What’s of interest in the meantime is alexander himself and his ideas, and the manner in which he expresses them. He has a blog, for one thing, which he uses to express his misgivings about the way City Hall is running our lives. At one point, in true Kamloops fashion, he was banned from City Hall.
Aside from the substance, or lack thereof, of what he has to say, what sets him apart from the rest of us is his determination to say it.
I have in front of me today’s edition of the Downtown Echo. Alexander has paid for an insert headlined, CONSENT TO BE GOVERNED BY OLIGARCHY TYRANNY? NO THANKS.
In it he explains in some detail why he’s opting out of oligarchy tyranny. He’s of the view that “Robert and his freemason pals” — in reference to Daily News reporter Robert Koopmans and, I’m not sure, who else — are trying to keep the truth from you and me. Well, no problem there, the truth is out in today’s Echo thanks to alexander, who submitted the piece to The Daily News as well, but wants it published here for free. I trust this précis will be of service instead.
The man has a way with words few of us can render. After raising the alarm on Stephen Harper’s plans to pass laws that restrict our freedoms, he asks the all-important question: “what’s next, a law against picking my nose or scratching my ass, check points at every corner, mandatory DNA testing, micro chipping of ever man/woman/child to control every aspect of life?”
I don’t know about you, but I would share his concerns with respect to microchipping every man, woman and child, though I might well support a law against alexander picking his nose (or that other thing, a scenario too disturbing to contemplate). That’s why omnibus bills are tricky.
Brian-Arthur: alexander eschews the normal restrictions under which we ordinary Canadians labour, promoting instead the view that the true laws of the land are not those we put to writing, but rather common law or natural law.
He characterizes himself as a “freeman.” Not as in “Freeman of the City,” I hasten to add, and distinct from the “freemasons” he claims Koopmans to be a member of. (Koopmans is not a freemason, by the way, and neither, I’m certain, is alexander, a fact for which we might surmise the Masonic Lodge is rather grateful.)
Alexander’s piece concludes in engagingly poetic fashion that, sooner or later, those in charge “will have to yield their authority as freemen blossom in numbers like flowers on a spring day….”
Carry on, Brian-Arthur: alexander, providing us with occasional needed relief from our otherwise tawdry existence.
mrothenburger@kamloopsnews.ca
ArmchairMayor.ca 
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