A sheriff without a pistol and without a badge. He has no big belt and no legitimacy to ensure the law is respected. Armed solely with his indignation. He is the citizen that each day and each night sees or suffers a small or large abuse of power. His anger is fuelled by the evidence, by the impudence of the crime, by the uncivilised behaviour happening in broad daylight, with the silent assent of those who should be insisting on the application of the law, from the local health service, to the town police to the cabinet members of the town council, to the Presidents of the Region. Between the indifference of a big chunk of Italians who are scrupulously minding their own business, true amoebas of democracy, the gristle of a body in the process of decomposition.
The polluted river of the company that you know the address of and their sales tax identification code, the cars, often belonging to the so-called authorities who stop to get a coffee while parking on the ramps for those with disabilities, under-age people who offer themselves as prostitutes on the city streets at all hours, drugs on sale outside the schools, hunters shooting at a few metres from houses, the destruction of the territory, that in your case is the meadow in front of your window, with an unauthorised shed, the slender youngsters who don’t stand up to offer a seat to an old lady on the public transport, respiratory illnesses due to air pollution because of the local authorities, the protection money taken from shopkeepers. It’s an ordinary injection of bile that relates to all that surrounds us. The citizen sheriff that can no longer hold it in, reacts, raises his voice, denounces, gets angry, does the job that he pays four million public employees to do. He risks everything. It’s he who is the pain in the arse, not the others. Isolated, insulted, sometimes beaten up, denounced, taken to court for libel. If he has something to object to in relation to the ordinary daily shit that is poured over him, he can turn to the authorities … But eight million eyes that he pays for, with his work, should they not see themselves in his position, intervene instead of him, get the civil code and the criminal code applied instead of him, and if necessary with weapons in their hands? And so?
The sheriff is not in the city nor are the other authorities. The citizen sheriff, like Gary Cooper in “High Noon” is alone. Anyone who should be in his place has closed themselves in their houses for fear of retaliation or just for a quiet life. The improvised sheriff is considered with annoyance by the family and friends. That’s what Cooper’s wife said to the person who criticised her for wanting to leave her husband: “But what type of woman are you? How can you leave him like that? Is the sound of gunshot so frightening for you?“ “No, I’m used to it. My dad and my brother were killed in a shoot out. They were in the right, but that’s no use when they start shooting.”

P.S. Meetings for the creation of 5 Star Civic Lists have been organised in the following towns:
Abano Terme, Anzio, Arezzo, Arquata Scrivia, Arzergrande, Chivasso, Crotone, Este, Montignoso, Montefiascone, Nettuno, Ospedaletto Euganeo, Rocca Priora, Sennori, Vasto, Vimercate
Suggest a meeting in your own town.