Kickstart a New American Dream

Connie Baxter Marlow

Introduction to Foreclosure Crisis Panel on Foreclosure Law, Conscious Business & the Fight for Justice.
Aspen, Colorado
February 2, 2011

Fundraising Event for the film: “COPS‘n ROBBERS vs THE PEOPLE: The Death and Rebirth of the
American Dream” A movie of the People, by the People, for the People.Taking the high road to INSPIRE
AMERICA to its higher conscience!

A CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE

We believe there is a crisis of conscience at the root of the mortgage meltdown and financial malaise in
America and the world today.

Each of us has a choice. Do we choose life or do we choose profit. The bottom-line Keynesian model of
economics based on scarcity and competition has played itself out. Millions of families are losing their
homes and the CEO’s of the big banks are receiving mega-bonuses. There is something unconscionably
wrong with this picture.

I would like to dedicate this evening’s discussion to my gggggggggg grandparents Alice and William
Mullins who boarded a little ship called the Mayflower with their two small children Priscilla and Robert
in 1620 because they believed it was the right – and responsibility – of each individual to act according to
his own conscience in service of the common good – the commonwealth. This belief was articulated in
the Mayflower Compact and became one of the underlying principles of the Constitution of the United
States.

Alice, William and Robert died the first winter in Plymouth, Priscilla married John Alden, had 11 children
and the rest is a tumultuous history of free will left to its own devices in a fear-based paradigm as the
great melting pot of humanity struggles to find its way to higher ground.

Henry David Thoreau, in the 1850’s after a night in prison, penned another great treatise which was to
influence Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Tolstoy to act according to their conscience and stand up for
what they knew to be right. In “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau states “The only obligation which I have a
right to assume is to do at any time that what I think right. It is truly enough said that a corporation has
no conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience.” He goes on to
say ”Action from principle-the perception and the performance of right –changes things and relations: it
is essentially revolutionary ... It not only divides states and churches, it divides families; ay it divides
the individual, separating the diabolical from the divine.

The Mayflower Pilgrims lived in peace and friendship with the Native Americans they encountered in
Plymouth. Henry David Thoreau spent his life researching the cosmology that the Native American
embodied in their way of life before contact. The evolution of the “American Mind” became a synthesis
of Native thought and the human potential envisioned by the founders of a great nation.

We are here tonight in Aspen, Colorado a town high in the Rockies that has gathered the leaders in the
evolution of thinking throughout its history. It has also been a community that has honored its native
people by seeking their advice through the years.
Tonight’s discussion will begin with a blessing by Ute spokesperson Kenny Frost who has been actively
involved with the Roaring Fork Valley for decades.

We will then hear from Andrew Bailey who will moderate the panel. Andrew has been a pro se litigant –
self-represented in court for a year challenging the banks’ right to foreclose. He will speak on the Crime
of the Millenium that has been hidden from the people by a justice system that has turned a deaf ear to big
bank fraud.

Stephen A. Brunette, economic justice attorney with the Gasper Law Group in Colorado Springs
specializes in real property and commercial litigation, focusing on effects of securitized mortgages on
land titles in Colorado in the context of foreclosure and quiet title litigation. Steve will propose changes
in Colorado foreclosure legislation designed to preserve the integrity of real property titles in Colorado,
and protect all real property owners from the fallout of failed securitization schemes.

Tara M. Sheahan co-founder of Conscious Global Leadership Institute with husband Casey Sheahan,
CEO of Patagonia, Inc will talk about the profitability of conscious business practices vs bottom-line
thinking as evidenced by Patagonia’s three record years employing the principles of
inspired, collaborative and conflict-free decision-making. The CGLI trains business,
government and civic leaders in body/mind/spirit integration through meditation,
symposia, workshops and retreats.

Dr. William Wesson, long-time Aspen homeowner and veteran pro-se litigant will present a philosophical
look at the courage and commitment it takes for an individual to stand up for justice in today’s world.

All the panelists here tonight have chosen the high road in the evolution of consciousness for humanity.
Please open your hearts and minds and listen for clues on how to take charge of your life and shift your
reality to experience the life you have dreamed. No one can do it but you.

It is our belief that there is only love, and free will. We have come to the place in humanity’s
evolutionary upward spiral where we are presented with the choice – do we choose life? All of creation is
awaiting our answer.

To view a playlist of this panel go to YouTube http://bit.ly/e5FrEs