User:Jon Roland
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Jon Roland is most noted as the founder and president of the Constitution Society, which he launched with two friends on April 1, 1994, and created its website September 15, 1995. Organization is directed by self-appointing Board of Trustees, without dues-paying members, with the by-laws provision that a sufficient number of members attending a sufficient number of state conventions within a single month can elect additional members to the Board. It engages in organizing, public education, litigation, and lobbying, but does not support or oppose candidates or parties.
He grew up in the town of Seguin, Texas, graduating high-ranking male student, went on to college on a National Merit Scholarship, and received a BS in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1967, then served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force until receiving an honorable discharge in 1970. From then until 1972 he lived in Washington, DC, lobbying for various causes, such as environmental protection and Atlantic Union.
In 1972 he returned to his home in Seguin, Texas, to join his mother in the real estate investment and brokerage business, and first ran as a write-in for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972, then on the ballot for the nomination of the Democratic Party in the May 6, 1974, primary for the 23rd Congressional District (since redrawn), in which he received about 37% of the vote. (There was no Republican Primary, so the Democratic Primary was tantamount to the election.)
Under assault from his corrupt political adversaries, who attempted to destroy him financially, and kept him tied up in court for years, he started the first computer store in San Antonio, Texas, in 1976, just before the death of his mother. He sold out his interest in that business and started his own computer store and consulting business, MicroMart, under which he continued to do business until 1985.
Computer consulting practice:
- In 1989 he moved his computer consulting practice to Redwood City, California, where he maintained an office until 1996, although he traveled to work on software development contracts in other locations.
- 1991-92: San Antonio, Texas
- 1994: San Antonio, Texas
- 1995: Muscatine, Iowa; Agawam, Massachusetts
- 1996-2001: Sacramento, California
- 2001-present: Austin, Texas
Publications. See Scholarly CV.
He has been involved as at least a campaigner in every election since 1960.
Electoral candidacies:
- 1974: U.S. House of Representatives, 23rd Cong, Dist., Democratic primary.
- 2002: Nominee of the Texas Libertarian Party for Texas Attorney General.
- 2006: Nominee of the Texas Libertarian Party for Texas Attorney General.
Other websites:
He's had the same static IP 75.44.30.166 for about 3 years.
Evidence of notabiity: (reverse chronological order)
- Speaker at We the People Congress conference in Alexandria, Virginia, March 31, 2007. Speech title: Common Constitutional Errors.
- Organizer of the Coalition for Non-Partisan Redistricting, intervenor in 2003 and 2006 in what became LULAC v. Perry, the Texas redistricting case.
- Accepted by a court in Williamson County, Texas in 2005 as a expert witness on constitutional and legal history.
- Interviewed by Stone Philips for on-air appearance on Dateline NBC, aired April 25, 1995, on the constitutional militia movement.
- Discussed in Jonathan Karl, The Right to Bear Arms: The Rise of America's New Militias, HarperCollins, New York (1995) ISBN 0061010154.
Other notable civic activities
- In 2002 and 2003 provided testimony on his investigation of errors in textbooks to the Texas State Board of Education, which resulted in some major revisions to remove errors, especially in textbooks on American government.
- In 2001 esurrected the Lancasterian Society, which encourages the use of the Lancasterian Monitorial System of Education.
[edit] Sandboxes
Policy, guidelines & essays:
Militia:
Constitutional militia movement:
Militia clause:
