The wheels of injustice creak along slowly.

Indicted in October last year, the Oklahoma Three — Rick Carpenter, Susan Johnson, and I — have still not had a full preliminary hearing. That first step has now been pushed back to next February.

Our alleged crime? Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Drew Edmondson, argues that we conspired to hire non-residents to gather signatures on a petition.

Never mind that state officials said the campaign’s hiring practices were perfectly legal. Never mind that the law itself is under constitutional challenge, with similar laws in Arizona and Ohio having been struck down earlier this year.

The real goal? Frighten and intimidate those who would dare petition to do things like cap runaway government spending, provide protection from government’s abuse of eminent domain, or limit the terms of politicians — like, say, Mr. Edmondson.

Opponents of the petition that triggered this prosecution amounted to a who’s who of wealthy, powerful Oklahomans, including entrenched political interests such as the teachers’ and public employees’ unions.

Recently I sent out a news release with a statement declaring our innocence and attacking this politically-motivated prosecution. Next thing I know, the Citizens in Charge website gets shut down. An email from the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority complained to our hosting service that the news release was spam.

The website was restored, but I tell you: “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

That’s Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

The political establishment resists reform. Voters have had to take their favorite causes - like term limits and tax limits - over the heads of politicians, directly to fellow voters.

And politicians don’t much like us voters having all that say-so.

That’s why they’ve tried to legislate the initiative process out of existence.

And that’s why three of us - Rick Carpenter, Susan Johnson, and I - are facing what the Wall Street Journal has called a “bizarre” criminal prosecution by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson.

Edmondson is trying to lock us up for ten years for supposedly violating the state’s residency law, even though those working on the petition followed the rules as explained to them by state officials . . . and even though the constitutionality of the law is currently being challenged in federal court.

Why the strange prosecution? To frighten folks from doing initiatives. Recently the state’s largest paper, The Oklahoman, decried how difficult the process has become, with the people getting to vote on only two of the 23 initiatives filed this decade.

We, the Oklahoma Three, face a preliminary hearing - and the wrath of a rogue attorney general - July 23rd. Scary? Yes. But we’ll prevail. And perhaps inspire more people to defend the initiative against its most insatiable enemy, the politicians.

And hey: Already a new group, Oklahomans for Initiative Rights, has launched its own citizen task force to study reforming the state’s initiative process.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Last October, two colleagues and I were indicted by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. Our crime? Helping a petition drive to limit the growth of government spending.

Supposedly, we three willfully violated an arbitrary residency requirement for signature gatherers.

As I’ve explained at the freepauljacob.com website, we acted in good faith to comply with Oklahoma’s unconstitutional regulation. If the prosecution succeeds - if we do get jailed for ten years - it would be a chilling precedent. And sadly, that’s the point: to intimidate citizens from making any future petitions of government that might inconvenience the political establishment.

That’s why a Steve Forbes editorial asked, “Has North Korea Annexed Oklahoma?” and termed Edmondson’s actions “thuggish.” A Wall Street Journal editorial called the AG’s prosecution “bizarre,” expressing fear it would make citizens “think twice before challenging political elites.”

Several Oklahoma legislators have called the prosecution wrong-headed and politically-motivated.

So, Edmondson has begun - you guessed it - a PR offensive. In an opinion piece for a local paper, he wrote, “The Oklahoma Supreme Court and the multicounty grand jury both independently found these defendants to be in substantial violation of Oklahoma law.”

But wait a second. Neither a court, nor the grand jury, have found us guilty of anything. As an attorney and the highest law enforcement officer in the state, Edmondson must know this.We get our day in court. See you there.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Fair warning: I’m about to use that over-used phrase, “full disclosure.”

I often talk about folks who are unfairly targeted by government. That’s also today’s topic: the so-called Oklahoma Three, three persons who helped organize an initiative drive out in Oklahoma. This was a Taxpayer Bill of Rights or TABOR, a measure to impose limits on the growth of state spending.

The political establishment blocked the TABOR measure from reaching the ballot.

But they didn’t stop there. Now the Oklahoma attorney general, a fellow named Drew Edmondson, has indicted three people for conspiracy against the state. The OK 3 face up to ten years in prison for this alleged crime.

Ten years.

No time right now to give you all the background. But the Oklahoma Three did comply with the state’s residency requirement for circulators, as state officials explained it . . . a requirement now being challenged in federal court for unconstitutionally interfering with the right of citizen initiative. And here’s where the full disclosure comes in: as you may already know, I’m one of the Oklahoma Three. The others are Susan Johnson and Rick Carpenter.

We would rather not go to prison for ten years for supporting democracy.

So I’m asking for your help. Go to FreePaulJacob.com. Learn more about the case. Sign up for the email updates. Spread the word. Write letters to the editor. Post on political blogs. Call radio shows. Stand up for my rights . . . and your rights, too.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

My car just died. It needs a new motor. Unfortunately, that costs more than the car is worth. But I don’t really even care.

You see, as bad news goes, that’s nothing. I’m much more focused on my felony indictment in Oklahoma - threatened with a ten-year prison term for that oh-so-violent crime of helping others petition their government.

Two years ago, I helped advise Rick Carpenter of Tulsa on a petition drive to cap state government spending. The petition company was experienced in the state. Moreover, the company checked with state officials on the rules for who could circulate a petition, and followed those rules.

But after the fact, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled differently: that even people living in the state for months were not considered residents unless they planned to live in Oklahoma permanently.

Now even longer after the fact, the state’s controversial Attorney General Drew Edmondson has moved to prosecute those of us working on the effort for criminal conspiracy. But we didn’t conspire to break the law, just to understand and follow it.

The goal of this prosecution seems to be to scare, to intimidate, to silence those who seek to use the voter initiative process to pass needed reforms on government. Well, it is scary. But we’ll not allow our rights to be bullied away.

Maybe it’s time for all Americans - conservative, liberal, populist, libertarian - to “conspire” together to take back our political system from the gutter. Before it’s too late.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.