Paul Rosenfeld: Criminally Sane

Posted on February 15, 2020 by Yoram Gat

Paul Rosenfeld, a sortition activist who had been jailed for actions related to his activism, has written a book which is a combination of a memoir and a political manifesto. I find that Rosenfeld writes very eloquently. The manifesto part is also available at sortitionnow.org.

In his autobiographical snippet on amazon.com, Rosenfeld writes:

I guess we all have our issues. I imagine I have the power to save the world and that my book, “Criminally Sane”, will somehow facilitate said miracle. Excluding this glaring pathology I guess I’m otherwise reasonably normal. I have a long suffering spouse, two adorable poodles and a modest home in the suburbs of NY. If you wish to diagnose me fully you need to read my book, this memoir will tell you everything you could possibly want to know and then some. When you’re finished maybe you can even talk me down from my delusion.

Filed under: Books, meta, Sortition |

3 Responses

Roger Knights, on February 15, 2020 at 10:29 am said:

“The truth will set you free, but it may also drive you mad.”

My version (imagine it with all lines centered):

Ye shall know the truth
And the truth shall
Make you
Free
k

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pronfeld, on February 15, 2020 at 2:37 pm said:

Thank You Yoram for posting this. I don’t wish to dwell too much on the events of 2018 but I would like to say, for the record, that you should never take the newspaper (and the government spokespersons) too seriously. There was NO bomb, only a carefully designed pyrotechnic, and there was NO suicide plan (at the time of my arrest). The plan had evolved. I was intending to extort the New York Times into printing my manifesto as a supplement to the Sunday edition. So long as they complied with my request I had no intention of ending my life.

No doubt I’m a little deranged, but still not nearly so crazy as the media portrayal would suggest. Just very determined and quite frustrated that ten years of less dramatic efforts had no effect whatsoever. “By any means necessary”??? I’m a quiet, sober citizen but every man has his breaking point. I don’t see my grandchildren having much of a life unless our generation can effect some serious change in our dysfunctional political structures.

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Sortition in 2020 | Equality by lot, on December 18, 2020 at 3:38 pm said:

[…] sortition activist Paul Rosenfeld. In stark contrast to the OECD publication, Rosenfeld’s book, a combination of an autobiography and a sortition manifesto, makes for an easy and entertaining […]

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