whatever official line the U.S. Attorney’s office gave him. Butrnour jury was more open-minded. On July 9, 1991, the juryrnreturned its verdict: 17 defendants not guilty on all counts. ButrnI still had to face a state trial. I no more than caught my breathrnwhen I had to dive back down into the sewage of the “justicernsystem.”rnThe state trial started in May 1992 and lasted three weeks.rnThe judge and the prosecution did their best to keep out myrnevidence—evidence that showed how many hundreds of hoursrnI had haunted the law library to study my position and makernsure I was right. It did little good. Remember the letter I wroterna friend when I escaped from Arkansas? The Revenue Departmentrnhad seized it in 1986, and the prosecutrix used it to makernme look like a hypocrite. Even at that, three jurors held out forrnthree days. I later talked to one of the holdouts, and he saidrnthat one of the women who gave up said, “Oh, well, he’ll getrnanother trial on appeal.” On May 18, 1992,1 was convicted onrntwo counts of “delaying and depriving.”rnA month later the judge sentenced me to two years in jail,rnbut he suspended all but 30 days, provided I would pay $1,000rna month for 73 months as “restitution” and do 1,000 hoursrn(half a year’s work) of community service. With seven childrenrnto support, it was a deal I could not refuse.rnI appealed. In August 1994, the Court of Criminal Appealsrnoverturned one count of the conviction for double jeopardy. Irncould not be guilty of one count of “delaying” and one count ofrnGrammatical Engagementrnby Geoff M.PopernA quotable nose;rnparenthetical hair;rnelliptic breathrnin the transitive air.rnI love you beyondrnthe comparative degree.rnIt’s a syntactical bond—rnyour active voice encloses me.rnAnd I love you abovernevery mood and tense,rnand propose we becomerna compound sentence.rn”depriving” for the very same conduct. On the money issue,rnhowever, the real heart of the case, the court dodged andrndenied all my arguments.rnWe appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court, and thevrnheard the case on All Saints’ Day, 1995. Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr.,rnconstitutional attorney and America’s foremost expert on monetaryrnlaw, prepared the briefs and argued the case. Eor over sixrnmonths we heard nothing. Then on May 28, 1996, thernSupreme Court affirmed my conviction, once again dodgingrnthe money issue.rnI am still appealing, this time into the federal system, but thernappeal could not be filed quickly enough to prevent my arrestrnon June 28, 1996. The petition for habeas corpus in federalrndistrict court was assigned to the same judge who had tried ourrnfederal case. She took jurisdiction of the appeal, but refused tornOlder my release. From June 28 until July 23,1 was a guest of thernShelby County Jail and the Shelby County Penal Earm.rnWhy keep on fighting? After 15 years, why not just put downrnthe load and forget it? Because the fiat money system is bothrnthe strength and weakness of America’s tyrants. It bleeds thernpeople’s wealth and labor, but it also threatens to collapse underrnits own weight—or whenever the scales fall off the people’srneyes. With its green engravings of famous Americans, electronsrnwhirling around in bank computers, and loans created out ofrntliin air, it is one vast confidence game. As long as the peoplernbelieve they cannot see the emperor’s naked pink flesh, hisrnpower and dignity will be preserved. But let one boy holler,rn”Hey, he’s nekkid!” and the whole system collapses.rnI did not sally forth looking for dragons to slay. The dragonrncame to me. He came with a lie, and either you oppose a lie, orrnyou become a liar. You can kid yourself and say you are onlyrngoing along because they have all the guns, but day by day, yearrnby year, your integrity erodes. Finally, you become like therntyrants: just one more liar.rnEven if you have no chance to win, you have to fight. Notrnmany are willing, but even a few keep the tyrants from sleepingrnat night. If we do not fight, how many more Ruby Ridges andrnV/acos will there be? How many more SWAT team attacks?rnHow many more police checkpoints? How many more bureaucratsrnwatching your bank account and your finances? Howrnmany more children held hostage bv IRS agents? The Bill ofrnRights is already dead.rnThe government spent five to ten million dollars (twornmillion on the trial alone) trying to jail me and my wife and myrnpastor and assistant pastor. The Assistant U.S. Attorney here inrnTennessee told one lawyer that I was “the most dangerous manrnin the mid-South.”rnBoth sides on this issue cannot be right. Either the governmentrnis right and gold and silver coin is not money, or I amrnright. Thisisnot a gentlemen’s “difference of opinion.” If I amrnright, and if I win in the courts, then no state will ever be ablernto charge sales tax on gold and silver coin again. The greatestrnobstacle to free trade in gold and silver will have been removed.rnWe will have broken down the last illegal roadblock to soundrnmetallic money.rnPOSTSCRIPT: Because the conditions of probation were sornburdensome on him and his family, Mr. Sanders returned tornjail and was relocated to a medium-security prison in November.rnReaders who wish to contribute to his defense fund mayrnsend their contributions to his wife, Susan Sanders, at P.O. Boxrn341753, Memphis, TN 38184-1753.