SinnFéinM1911
01-22-09, 14:19
This was written by a good friend of mine.... Please take your time and read. WELL WORTH IT !
Friends and family,
It is with grave disappointment in the decisions that our government has forced upon us that I send this letter. As we have been many times in the past, Americans are facing issues that threaten the way of life that we are fortunate enough to live as citizens of this great nation. However, unlike previous historical examples, we are not faced with a single, identifiable foe such as the spread of Communism, World War, or even the threat of nuclear holocaust. Rather, we are faced with several smaller stressors to the stability of our nation that may have a dangerous cumulative effect on America. Specifically, I am referring to a presidential election that has brought on unprecedented division within the country, the government’s decision to respond to a struggling economy by flooding the marked with $700 billion dollars of funny-money, nearly unanimous citizen dissatisfaction with government’s internal and foreign policy (including war), and most importantly, the government’s never-ending endeavor to strip its citizens of the very rights that are guaranteed to us by the foundation of our great nation, the Constitution.
With mere days to go before the 2008 presidential election comes to an end, I find myself overwhelmingly compelled to contact each of you in hopes that you will review the quotes, ideas, and questions that I have put together in an effort to slay the beast of complacency that Americans have submitted to for too long. All that I ask is you read what I say with an open mind, consider the quotes that I employ and ask yourself what the great men and women that authored them would think about the state of our great nation. Should you feel so inclined, please share this letter with those whom you care for and trust.
Our founding fathers endeavored to protect us from oppressive control of the citizenry by government. Through the Declaration of Independence the states told the world that we would stand up a country based on liberty and justice. Soon after, the Federal United States of America was created via our Constitution. The creation of the federal government did not come without opposition. Many of the men involved in its creation feared that centralized federal power would infringe on individuality and freedom. By demanding the Constitution contain a Bill of Rights our Founding Fathers tried to shield each and every citizen under a veil of liberty and robe of justice. These garments were tailored very carefully by men who had experienced, first hand, the tyranny of an oppressive government. They knew that government “by the people, for the people” could only be successful if our elected representatives had the citizens’ best interests in mind, understood that ultimate power was found in the people (not the government), and that each citizen had inalienable rights that no government could take away.
Doomsday preachers have long claimed that the very fabric of these protective garments will be torn by some grand event. What we are faced with now, however, is the removal of the stitches that hold the pieces together, one by one, that the entire garment will soon come apart at the seams without anyone being able to identify the singular event that led to each of us being disrobed.
For those of you that believe “it can’t happen here in America”, remember that no one believed that we would fall into the Great Depression, no German believed a madman could be democratically elected to power in Germany and start the Holocaust, and no one believed they would see the fall of Rome (or the British Empire, or South Africa, or Argentina…). None of these examples marked by a singular magnificent kickoff, but rather a “slow creep” of events that seem so clear to us in hindsight, but were all but transparent to the masses that observed their happening.
“We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.”
Hillary Clinton, June 28, 2004
“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.”
George Bernard Shaw
Consider the election that is upon us. The very people who receive our hard-earned dollars through welfare are being permitted to vote. Their vote for the candidate that assures them an increase in welfare is as sure as the sun rising every morning. Welfare is not good for society. Allowing people on welfare (or in prison) to vote is not good for society. We are encouraging people to not be contributing members and then allowing them to vote for the person supporting their leeching habits! If one does not contribute to society, one should not be allowed to vote as a member of society, for they are certain to vote for the candidate that rewards their laziness! Socialism does not work. The Eastern Block was a veritable shit-hole because there was no personal ownership, and therefore no pride in ownership. Do we want all of America to look like government owned public welfare housing? I surely don’t.
Barack Obama’s association with less than honorable people such as Ayers, Rezko, and Wright is particularly interesting. If Obama were applying to be a member of the Secret Service (or to be commissioned as any run-of-the-mill Military officer, for that matter), these relationships would be exposed and he would be denied the required security clearance. Not a TS clearance, just a standard Secret clearance. Is the magnitude of what I just said sinking in? His history is questionable enough that he could not fill the position of his own bodyguard! This is the man some want to elect as the leader of the free world?!?
“This country was founded by religious nuts with guns.”
P. J. O’Rourke
Barrack Hussein Obama has labeled small town Americans as people who are “bitter against government and cling to guns and religion”. You are damn right I am! Take office and encourage the federal government to continue taking away my livelihood and my freedoms, and you’ll see what happens when you back an armed man with faith that he is doing the right thing into a corner! I have drawn my line(s) in the sand. Cross one and I will stand and fight for what I believe in. As an officer in the armed forces, I have sworn to “support and defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” I signed my name on the line because I don’t mind fighting to the death for the ideals that make this country strong. Politicians have the audacity to send American citizens who have volunteered to protect our country away to fight tyranny in far off lands, all the while increasing oppression of the very people whom we are sworn to protect in our absence! I have volunteered to make the ultimate sacrifice to fight tyranny abroad, and I have just as much conviction to fight tyranny in my front yard if necessary!
Ask yourself; if you were given a chance to vote “None of the Above” at the voting booth on the 4th of November, knowing that it would mean we would be provided two new alternates to start new campaigns, would you? Bill Clinton won the Presidency in 1996 with less than 50% of the popular vote!!! The majority of Americans wanted someone other than him to be President and he still won! Why should we be forced to decide between a bipartisan worse and worser? Is this really the best we can do? Further, are the candidates really all that different? Regardless of who wins we will surely see a continued movement toward the U.S. succumbing to a global government, a larger federal government and the increased spending it requires, and more encroachment of our individual rights justified by the next terrorist threat or (my favorite) “state of emergency” a.k.a. “big storm”.
“We can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans.”
Bill Clinton
“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face. It’s just a Goddamn piece of paper!”
George W. Bush
Our founding fathers established a government that was to be run “by the people, for the people”. Ted Kennedy is not our people. Condoleezza Rice is not our people. Big money Republicans are not our people, nor are socialist Democrats. There was a day when both Democrats and Republicans were “conservative”, in that they all supported family values, living within your means, and reward for hard work. Nowadays, neither side’s actions indicate that they support those values. Why must we be so polarized? One side favors gun control, social security, and gay marriage, the other opposes it. Here’s the real kicker- none of that stuff is the governments business anyway! Let Jim figure out for himself if he wants to own a gun, invest in a government pension, or have the pastor of Man-Love United wed him to Ricardo (just don’t force my church to do it!). God himself has granted each and every one of us free will, so how can any government justify robbing us of that free will (as long as our actions do not harm others)?
“The view of the party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything.”
George Orwell, 1984
What matters to me is that if a Republican or Democrat is in office 50% of the American public is going to be disappointed as the Left or Right imposes their rules and regulations upon us. You want your approval ratings to go up Mr. Politician? Just be a good leader, protect me from foreign threats without taking away my rights, and stay the hell out of my way! I don’t care what your beliefs are so long as you don’t use them to create more legislation that imposes on me or any other American. Are you listening Washington? You praise America for its diversity to our face then vote to impose regulation on us that strives to make us all the same in your never ending battle to shape America in your party’s vision. Shame.
“If ever this cast country is brought under a single government (or party!), it will be one of the most extensive corruption, indifferent, and incapable of wholesome care over so wide spread a surface. This will not be borne, and you will have to choose between reformation and revolution.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1822
“Liberalism is a philosophy to console the West while it commits suicide.”
James Burnham
We are faced with the possibility of a Democratic supermajority come January 2008. We can all be assured that this will be an unstoppable force of similar-minded individuals that will immediately set out to shape America and Americans to their likeness. Checks and balances will come to an immediate halt. They will cleverly try to deceive everyone by changing the justification of the sacrifice of our rights from our current administration’s “it’s for your own safety” to one of “we’re doing this for the good of the people”. We will all be faced with an attack on guns, Christianity, and the American dream of being free to make it on your own. The successful will be punished and the lazy will be labeled as underprivileged and coddled beyond belief. Do not let this sneak up on you. Prepare now. Think about what is important to you and set your limits, for they will surely be tested in the near future.
"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That 'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.' To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition. The incorporation of a bank, and the powers assumed by this bill, have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States, by the Constitution."
Thomas Jefferson
“To be controlled in our economic pursuits means to be controlled in everything.”
Frederick August von Hayek
I am very distressed by America’s slow and deliberate move toward a completely nationalized bank. Movement away from the gold standard, the federal deficit, and now government control of our mortgages and small business loans are all evidence of our government’s (perhaps unintentional) move towards a central, federalized banking system. Do you want the government that issued you the lien on your home to someday surreptitiously decide to re-distribute the wealth your home contains to the “needy”? Don’t think it will happen? I’ll bet the 19th century American never believed that a portion of his dollar would someday be redistributed to non-workers or used to pay for abortions, gay marriages, mosques in Iraq, or whatever else the Fed saw fit (that’s right, each of us are paying for those things through the Fed’s use of our tax dollars). That 19th century American probably also never thought that he would be banned from collecting gold or using anything other than federal notes as payment for goods and services. The slow creep is ever advancing on our freedoms. Wake up!
“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.
Abraham Lincoln, 1861
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
Thomas Jefferson
Once put into office are our elected officials no longer representatives of the people? When Congressman Shays (R-CT) was asked why he voted for the “Bailout” when his constituents opposed it 30 to 1, he stated that he has been a Congressman for “umpteen” years, and he knows that sometimes the people he represents don’t know what’s best for themselves. Rest assured that the people who wish to disarm you will *soon* justify their actions using the same reasoning. That’s right, when the jackboots kick in your door on an unannounced raid because you have a semiautomatic .22 squirrel-gun, mow you down as you try to defend your family against the ninja-suit clad operators and their MP5 submachine guns, and charge your family with resisting arrest in your absence (due to death), they are only doing it because it is what is best for you. Don’t believe me? Check out the videos on the internet of citizen disarmament after Katrina. I ask this: Why is Joe the local-yocal cop doing in an unlabeled black uniform and a face mask anyway? How can stopping non-criminal citizens from defending themselves from raiding marauders possibly be considered for their own good?
• When the police and military conducted a 100% disarmament effort in the days following Katrina, how many shots were fired by the individuals being disarmed? Not one.
• When Canada made it illegal for its citizens to own the majority of their firearms they banded together and marched to Parliament with UNLOADED weapons. They might as well have been carrying toy swords! Britain’s disarmament also went off without a hitch.
• The organization and phraseology of the US’s Gun Control Act of 1968 make it a virtual clone of Hitler’s 1938 gun control act. Senator Dodd used the Nazi legislation to draft his own version and Congress passed it a few months later. Don’t believe me? Take ten minutes to look it up for yourself.
• In a recent Supreme Court case, only 5 out of 9 justices ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right! That means four of our masters of constitutional interpretation had the audacity to vote in a manner that is in direct conflict with the words that are plainly written in black and white to protect us from them!
“Let us hope our weapons are never needed - but do not forget what the common people knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny. If guns are outlawed only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government – and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws.”
Edward Abbey
Let us clear the air once and for all. When the Bill of Rights was conceived, its authors had just finished fending off a tyrannical government that had previously prosecuted them when they assembled to voice their dissatisfaction with their rulers then attempted to disarm them prior to the point in which their dissatisfaction surmounted in rebellion. The first and second amendments are the First Amendment and Second Amendment for a reason! The First Amendment was written primarily to ensure we can speak up against tyranny. Freedom of religion and the press were second to this primary reason, as without tyranny the masses would be free to practice both. The Second Amendment was written to ensure that a militia (of common citizens, as the term was used in the day) could form and stand armed to face tyrannical oppression from the government if it was necessary.
“To say that a government that serves the people is allowed to disarm the people is a simple contradiction in terms and legal impossibility.”
Donald M. Smith
How many Americans actually want gun control? Seriously… ask around. Most will respond that they want guns out of the hands of criminals, but not for law abiding citizens. Yet the people that we put into office see fit to continue to threaten us with the loss of that liberty. Firearms are freedom’s teeth. The Americans who understand the importance of the First Amendment and Second Amendment may appear to be overly concerned about their right to keep and bear arms. I assure you that it is only because out of our two most important amendments the Second is the one that, until recently, has been attacked most effectively by our government. I have always maintained that if our elected officials were more interested in silencing us than taking away our right to protect ourselves, we would be more passionate about the First, rather than the Second Amendment. Go to the local bookstore and check out how many books there are about the infringement of our First and Fourth Amendment rights since 9/11. Engaged, knowledgeable citizens have shifted their focus from defending the Second Amendment to defending the First and Fourth, as they understand that the latter two are currently the most threatened.
“The 1775 Revolution was largely a revolt against growing arbitrary power. The [revolutionaries] looked at the liberties they were loosing, while modern Americans focus myopically on the [few] freedoms they still retain.
James Bovard; Lost Rights
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
William Pitt
“To stop terrorism and organized crime, the American people must give up some of their personal freedom and privacy.”
Janet Reno
“Restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and associations; and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications and warrants for house searches, order for confiscations as well as restrictions on property (guns) are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.”
Adolf Hitler, 1933 speech for an “Enabling Act”
For the “protection of the People and the State”
Every American citizen should be marching in the streets and writing our government demanding that they immediately cease and desist all infringement on the rights we are guaranteed in the constitution. Ironically, most of the infringements are conducted in the name of ensuring the safety of our citizens, all the while the infringements themselves are what detract the most from our individual safety! We are on the verge of becoming a police state and no one seems to care. Our need to fight radical terrorism is very real and certainly justified, but it need not come at the expense of our freedom and privacy. The Fed is conducting unlimited data collection to support data mining of each of our personalities, buying habits, and medical conditions. Huge databases are capturing your e-mails, online purchases, and calling records. NYPD is conducting unwarranted random searches of bags on the subway. Challenged in court as a violation of the 4th Amendment, bag searches were upheld all the way to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, who claimed it upheld the “special needs exception”. Immigration officers and police are stopping vehicles without any just cause or reasonable suspicion all over our southern states, justified by the fact that they are searching for illegal aliens. Even DUI checkpoints, as beneficial as they might be, are unconstitutional. Our Founding Fathers would look at each one of these violations of our privacy with despair and would ask us why we have not tarred and feathered the lawmakers that allowed these encroachments on our rights long before we got to this point.
“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”
Patrick Henry
“Liberty is not a thing for the great masses of men. It is the exclusive possession of a small and disreputable minority, like knowledge, courage, and honor. It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty – and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies.”
H.L. Mencken, 1923 Baltimore Evening Sun
Little by little America is becoming a police state, and we are each allowing it to happen. Fingerprint scanners at Disneyworld, retinal scanners in the airport, and mandatory DNA sampling for anyone arrested (not conviction) by any federal law enforcement agency, including the FBI, the TSA, and the IRS. New York City is taking pictures of every license plate that crosses into and out of the city! The Patriot Act enables an intelligence agent from a federal agency to write a search warrant, called a National Security Letter (NSL), for himself!!! An individual agent can draft his own search warrant demanding Amazon, Hotmail, and your HMO surrender your records, or to be able to monitor your every phone call! To make it worse, the NSL forbids the companies from telling you that they were forced to submit your information!
“Instead of declaring a war against al-Qaeda, the admitted perpetrator of the September 11th attacks, the government came up with a new and ominous enemy. An enemy not bound by geography, ideology, or state authority. An enemy that could be lurking around every corner, in every subway station, aboard every airplane, mowing your lawn, pumping your gas, teaching your children.”
“[Armed] Bomb squads were dispatched to full time posts at the bridges and tunnels of major cities. Fatigue-clad officers with machine guns patrolled train terminals, subways, and airports.”
Judge A.P. Napolitano, A Nation of Sheep
Section 213 of the Patriot act allows government officials to search your home of office without notifying you until after the search is complete. Section 215 enables the government to “decide” that you, a U.S. Citizen, are a terrorist, thereby enabling them to take you away to a secret prison, torture you, and hold you indefinitely without telling you what you are being charged with. “Not me!” you say, “How could they label me as a terrorist?!?” Turns out that Section 215 states that probable cause is not required. Further, it goes on to allow officials to issue a gag order so that you may not tell anyone of the violations that the government brought upon you. You need not be concerned that you will be mistaken as a terrorist, but rather that this is an open invitation for abuse of the law by any official who you upset, who is looking for a promotion, or who is simply bored!
Section 216 of the Patriot act grants the government the authority to monitor all forms of Internet activity (look up the tracking system “Carnivore”). Section 218 allows wiretaps and physical searches if the purpose of the wiretap is to gather foreign intelligence, regardless of whether or not you have committed a crime. Section 805 broadens support of the definition of material support of terrorism to include “expert assistance and advice”, thereby allowing them to search and prosecute an individual without showing that you had any intent or knowledge of your assistance being used in terrorist activities. Was a quote from your e-mail regarding the loss of freedom in America used by al-Qaeda in their last video? Your next! “The government can now lawfully prosecute those whose speech and ideas it hates and fears.” Judge A.P. Napolitano, A Nation of Sheep.
“There are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
James Madison
“Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty or Safety.”
Attributed to Benjamin Franklin
Where will you draw the line in the sand? How far will you allow yourself to be pushed? Those who govern us will continue to chip away at our armor until only the soft, fleshy parts are exposed for the pecking. Make no mistake people. We are being pushed little by little toward total submission by our rulers. Are you intimidated by the peace officers whose salaries you pay? Do you believe that politicians are untouchable by the law? Do you feel you are being taxed without true representation? Do you worry that the government will force you from your home if they declare a state of emergency or decide to build a highway through your yard? Are you afraid of the IRS? Are you scared that someone may find out that you have read this letter?!? How far will you be pushed by the government before you decide enough is enough?
“Whoever lays a hand on me to govern me is a usurper and a tyrant, and I declare him my enemy.”
P. J. Proudhon
“America is at an awkward stage: It’s too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.”
Claire Wolfe
“If you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.”
Jesus Christ, condoning the use of the sword for defensive purposes. Other verses in the Bible reveal that he condemns the use of the sword for propagating his (or any other) kingdom.
I have established my boundaries. I seek no harm to others but I will do what I feel is right and control what I can control despite what others may try to impose upon me. America is the greatest nation in the world and quite possibly the finest civilization ever created, but it is not without fault. Is the true patriot one who insists that our nation revert back to the principles that made us great or one who blissfully floats along, going wherever the political river takes him without wondering where it may be leading us? I say that I am the true patriot, for I am the people and I will fight to preserve our nation rather than remain blindly obedient to those who are destroying it.
“When law and morality contradict each other the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his sense of morality or losing his respect of the law.”
Frederic Bastiat
“One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the great struggle for independence.”
Charles A. Beard
(...for example) “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Thomas Jefferson
I support “Law and Order”, but not to the extent that “laws and orders” infringe on my personal freedom. Our nation would have never been freed or founded if it weren’t for those who questioned authority. Oppressive laws that take away my safety in an effort to protect me from myself or others is an appalling contradiction in and of itself. Our Founding Fathers knew this. The transition from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution of the United States was not the blissful, feel-good event that most of believe it to be. There were those who fought it tooth and nail, and those Anti-Federalists predicted with extraordinary accuracy the state that we would be in today. It was not meant to be like this. Our nation was not established so that a couple hundred people in Washington could mold us into a right-down-the-middle, homogeneous blob of people with no individuality, no freedom, and no ability to affect the course of the federal government. I am constantly frustrated by the men in Washington who believe that we are the sheep and they are the shepherds, protecting us from both the wolf and from our own stupidity. The United States of America is the best place in the world to live, but it is far time that we trim back the federal vine that is strangling the tree of liberty. We must do it soon, lest the tree require the regular feeding referred to by Jefferson.
“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.”
George Bernard Shaw
“As long as Americans keep sucking at the great pacifier nipple of TV, there’s little hope.”
T. H. Metzger
America is asleep at the wheel and headed for a crash. Turn off the TV and take the batteries out of the remote. I promise, it will only hurt for a little while. Educate yourself. You would be amazed at what you can find in print, on the internet, or by simply talking with people about issues more important than professional sports. I do not believe that the government is using television for mind control- they don’t have to because we are voluntarily doing it to ourselves by using the soothing, numbing effect of 42 inches of plasma HD to forget about the real issues we face. How convenient for our elected leaders that we are too busy watching Dancing with the Stars to take 10 minutes to read the Bill of Rights or investigate just how awful the (un)Patriot(ic) Act really is. America is at war people! Young Americans are dying and all we care about is the price of gas and who will be our next American Idol. And just so it is said: for those of you that are getting self-righteous right now because you watch CNN or Fox news every night: they are in it for ONE thing in the long run: money. Unplug the TV and read a book or ten. You will thank yourself for it when you start to wake up to the fact that the Republic needs mending.
“If you love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating consent of freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”
Samuel Adams
“There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire.”
John Witherspoon
I am fortunate to have found a calling that suits me; I am a patriot and willing to fight for the preservation of our nation. Many of you have also found your calling, whether it is spreading the word of God, being involved in your community, or volunteering. Perhaps your calling is to simply be lazy and sit waste your life watching TV. I am not asking you to dramatically change the way you spend your time by focusing all of it on restoring our liberty. Rather, I am asking you to spend ten percent of it fighting for liberty in America so that you are free to build faith, be involved, volunteer, or to sit around and be lazy! Without freedom you will not be able to do the things that you feel devoted or compelled to do. Even the peace-loving hippie should be willing to stand up and fight for his freedom to be a peace-loving hippie!
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
Thomas Paine
“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality.”
Dante
I have spent several years educating myself about the issues that I have discussed, but each of my readings has left me very frustrated. Nearly all of the authors, videos, discussions, and thought that I have encountered have done an excellent job to anger me, scare me, and leave me up late at night staring at the ceiling. Few, however, have left me with constructive approaches to try to rid ourselves of the oppression of our government. I wish to peacefully restore our great nation to its intended state where individuality is accepted, personal freedoms are not encroached upon, and hard work is rewarded. I will try to absolve you of the same torment by sharing with you some peaceful actions that we can all take to try to gain a footing.
“We have castrated society through fear and intimidation... the populace has become docile and easily ruled… their thoughts… only with present toil and the next meal. You have become addicted to our medicine through with we have become your absolute masters.”
Harold W. Rosenthal
“If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you haven’t been in bed with a mosquito.
Anita Roddick
I am convinced that the biggest problem today is complacency. An innocent man is beaten on the street by a mugger (or a peace officer), and the public stands and watches with morbid fascination rather than help the victim. Stand up and fight. We’ve been taught to surrender anything and everything a criminal wants when it is demanded of us, thus teaching him that his actions are without consequence. Stand up and fight. We believe that contacting our elected officials or voting won’t have any effect. Stand up and fight. Get educated about the issues, get involved if by nothing but conversation, and Get angry! Go into our future with your eyes wide open rather than let it sneak up on you. Prepare yourself. Is America to be the only nation in history to indefinitely stand the test of time? Not if you had asked someone in 1865! “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” -George Santayana
“Americans—wake up! Every Patriot I know is carrying the load of ten people because the rest of the country is sitting on its fat duff. If you’re not spending as many hours a day working to reestablish Liberty in America as you do watching TV, then don’t whine to me about how harsh I am. We have so much work to do. Pick one issue and make some noise. Oh, you’re just one individual?... Pick one issue and make some noise! You’ve overslept, so get moving! Even if you think the Machine is unbeatable, throw sand in its gears—or at least give aid to those who do. You owe the rest of us, and your children, at least that. Let us all live virtuously and courageously in order to write a virtuous, courageous history!”
Kenneth W. Royce, Hologram of Liberty
The second biggest problem we face is laziness. We all work hard, and reading material like this only adds to our level of stress. I ask you this: which is more stressful; reading a book about societal problems for an hour every day or living under a socialist, tyrannical government for the rest of your life? Turn off the television and get online to research what is happening or just read a book. When you are done share it with a friend, and then talk about the book’s contents. Spread the knowledge. Many of you may think that you can make it alone if our way of life falls apart. Nonsense. If and when we ever face true turmoil within our borders I assure you that running off into the woods alone and unafraid is not going to make things better. Establish friendships and understandings now so that you can always count on other’s strengths to make up for your weaknesses.
“The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it.”
John Hay
“The second American civil war will be fought over that little strip of ground in your front yard between the sidewalk and the street.”
L. Neil Smith; Pallas
“It can never be too often repeated that the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1782
I send this out *not* as a call to arms, but rather a call to attention. I ask that you simply take a look at the veil of liberty and the robe of freedom. Look at the stitches that have already been cut and decide right now what stitches you believe are worth fighting for. Decide now. Get active and spread the word. Prepare. Comfort has made America soft and the people need to plan for a world of tomorrow that may not be the same as the world today (I assure you that the government is doing so). I pray that a great political shift will help us to mend our tattered garb (if it is still capable of being mended). For those of you who consider this a laughable matter conveyed to you by a man who is simply looking for something to get excited about: My hope is that history may prove my concerns unjustified. My fear is that I may someday be telling too many people “I told you so.” I am a peaceful man and wish to live a peaceful life, but I have drawn my line(s) in the sand. Have you?
Friends and family,
It is with grave disappointment in the decisions that our government has forced upon us that I send this letter. As we have been many times in the past, Americans are facing issues that threaten the way of life that we are fortunate enough to live as citizens of this great nation. However, unlike previous historical examples, we are not faced with a single, identifiable foe such as the spread of Communism, World War, or even the threat of nuclear holocaust. Rather, we are faced with several smaller stressors to the stability of our nation that may have a dangerous cumulative effect on America. Specifically, I am referring to a presidential election that has brought on unprecedented division within the country, the government’s decision to respond to a struggling economy by flooding the marked with $700 billion dollars of funny-money, nearly unanimous citizen dissatisfaction with government’s internal and foreign policy (including war), and most importantly, the government’s never-ending endeavor to strip its citizens of the very rights that are guaranteed to us by the foundation of our great nation, the Constitution.
With mere days to go before the 2008 presidential election comes to an end, I find myself overwhelmingly compelled to contact each of you in hopes that you will review the quotes, ideas, and questions that I have put together in an effort to slay the beast of complacency that Americans have submitted to for too long. All that I ask is you read what I say with an open mind, consider the quotes that I employ and ask yourself what the great men and women that authored them would think about the state of our great nation. Should you feel so inclined, please share this letter with those whom you care for and trust.
Our founding fathers endeavored to protect us from oppressive control of the citizenry by government. Through the Declaration of Independence the states told the world that we would stand up a country based on liberty and justice. Soon after, the Federal United States of America was created via our Constitution. The creation of the federal government did not come without opposition. Many of the men involved in its creation feared that centralized federal power would infringe on individuality and freedom. By demanding the Constitution contain a Bill of Rights our Founding Fathers tried to shield each and every citizen under a veil of liberty and robe of justice. These garments were tailored very carefully by men who had experienced, first hand, the tyranny of an oppressive government. They knew that government “by the people, for the people” could only be successful if our elected representatives had the citizens’ best interests in mind, understood that ultimate power was found in the people (not the government), and that each citizen had inalienable rights that no government could take away.
Doomsday preachers have long claimed that the very fabric of these protective garments will be torn by some grand event. What we are faced with now, however, is the removal of the stitches that hold the pieces together, one by one, that the entire garment will soon come apart at the seams without anyone being able to identify the singular event that led to each of us being disrobed.
For those of you that believe “it can’t happen here in America”, remember that no one believed that we would fall into the Great Depression, no German believed a madman could be democratically elected to power in Germany and start the Holocaust, and no one believed they would see the fall of Rome (or the British Empire, or South Africa, or Argentina…). None of these examples marked by a singular magnificent kickoff, but rather a “slow creep” of events that seem so clear to us in hindsight, but were all but transparent to the masses that observed their happening.
“We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.”
Hillary Clinton, June 28, 2004
“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.”
George Bernard Shaw
Consider the election that is upon us. The very people who receive our hard-earned dollars through welfare are being permitted to vote. Their vote for the candidate that assures them an increase in welfare is as sure as the sun rising every morning. Welfare is not good for society. Allowing people on welfare (or in prison) to vote is not good for society. We are encouraging people to not be contributing members and then allowing them to vote for the person supporting their leeching habits! If one does not contribute to society, one should not be allowed to vote as a member of society, for they are certain to vote for the candidate that rewards their laziness! Socialism does not work. The Eastern Block was a veritable shit-hole because there was no personal ownership, and therefore no pride in ownership. Do we want all of America to look like government owned public welfare housing? I surely don’t.
Barack Obama’s association with less than honorable people such as Ayers, Rezko, and Wright is particularly interesting. If Obama were applying to be a member of the Secret Service (or to be commissioned as any run-of-the-mill Military officer, for that matter), these relationships would be exposed and he would be denied the required security clearance. Not a TS clearance, just a standard Secret clearance. Is the magnitude of what I just said sinking in? His history is questionable enough that he could not fill the position of his own bodyguard! This is the man some want to elect as the leader of the free world?!?
“This country was founded by religious nuts with guns.”
P. J. O’Rourke
Barrack Hussein Obama has labeled small town Americans as people who are “bitter against government and cling to guns and religion”. You are damn right I am! Take office and encourage the federal government to continue taking away my livelihood and my freedoms, and you’ll see what happens when you back an armed man with faith that he is doing the right thing into a corner! I have drawn my line(s) in the sand. Cross one and I will stand and fight for what I believe in. As an officer in the armed forces, I have sworn to “support and defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” I signed my name on the line because I don’t mind fighting to the death for the ideals that make this country strong. Politicians have the audacity to send American citizens who have volunteered to protect our country away to fight tyranny in far off lands, all the while increasing oppression of the very people whom we are sworn to protect in our absence! I have volunteered to make the ultimate sacrifice to fight tyranny abroad, and I have just as much conviction to fight tyranny in my front yard if necessary!
Ask yourself; if you were given a chance to vote “None of the Above” at the voting booth on the 4th of November, knowing that it would mean we would be provided two new alternates to start new campaigns, would you? Bill Clinton won the Presidency in 1996 with less than 50% of the popular vote!!! The majority of Americans wanted someone other than him to be President and he still won! Why should we be forced to decide between a bipartisan worse and worser? Is this really the best we can do? Further, are the candidates really all that different? Regardless of who wins we will surely see a continued movement toward the U.S. succumbing to a global government, a larger federal government and the increased spending it requires, and more encroachment of our individual rights justified by the next terrorist threat or (my favorite) “state of emergency” a.k.a. “big storm”.
“We can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans.”
Bill Clinton
“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face. It’s just a Goddamn piece of paper!”
George W. Bush
Our founding fathers established a government that was to be run “by the people, for the people”. Ted Kennedy is not our people. Condoleezza Rice is not our people. Big money Republicans are not our people, nor are socialist Democrats. There was a day when both Democrats and Republicans were “conservative”, in that they all supported family values, living within your means, and reward for hard work. Nowadays, neither side’s actions indicate that they support those values. Why must we be so polarized? One side favors gun control, social security, and gay marriage, the other opposes it. Here’s the real kicker- none of that stuff is the governments business anyway! Let Jim figure out for himself if he wants to own a gun, invest in a government pension, or have the pastor of Man-Love United wed him to Ricardo (just don’t force my church to do it!). God himself has granted each and every one of us free will, so how can any government justify robbing us of that free will (as long as our actions do not harm others)?
“The view of the party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything.”
George Orwell, 1984
What matters to me is that if a Republican or Democrat is in office 50% of the American public is going to be disappointed as the Left or Right imposes their rules and regulations upon us. You want your approval ratings to go up Mr. Politician? Just be a good leader, protect me from foreign threats without taking away my rights, and stay the hell out of my way! I don’t care what your beliefs are so long as you don’t use them to create more legislation that imposes on me or any other American. Are you listening Washington? You praise America for its diversity to our face then vote to impose regulation on us that strives to make us all the same in your never ending battle to shape America in your party’s vision. Shame.
“If ever this cast country is brought under a single government (or party!), it will be one of the most extensive corruption, indifferent, and incapable of wholesome care over so wide spread a surface. This will not be borne, and you will have to choose between reformation and revolution.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1822
“Liberalism is a philosophy to console the West while it commits suicide.”
James Burnham
We are faced with the possibility of a Democratic supermajority come January 2008. We can all be assured that this will be an unstoppable force of similar-minded individuals that will immediately set out to shape America and Americans to their likeness. Checks and balances will come to an immediate halt. They will cleverly try to deceive everyone by changing the justification of the sacrifice of our rights from our current administration’s “it’s for your own safety” to one of “we’re doing this for the good of the people”. We will all be faced with an attack on guns, Christianity, and the American dream of being free to make it on your own. The successful will be punished and the lazy will be labeled as underprivileged and coddled beyond belief. Do not let this sneak up on you. Prepare now. Think about what is important to you and set your limits, for they will surely be tested in the near future.
"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That 'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.' To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition. The incorporation of a bank, and the powers assumed by this bill, have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States, by the Constitution."
Thomas Jefferson
“To be controlled in our economic pursuits means to be controlled in everything.”
Frederick August von Hayek
I am very distressed by America’s slow and deliberate move toward a completely nationalized bank. Movement away from the gold standard, the federal deficit, and now government control of our mortgages and small business loans are all evidence of our government’s (perhaps unintentional) move towards a central, federalized banking system. Do you want the government that issued you the lien on your home to someday surreptitiously decide to re-distribute the wealth your home contains to the “needy”? Don’t think it will happen? I’ll bet the 19th century American never believed that a portion of his dollar would someday be redistributed to non-workers or used to pay for abortions, gay marriages, mosques in Iraq, or whatever else the Fed saw fit (that’s right, each of us are paying for those things through the Fed’s use of our tax dollars). That 19th century American probably also never thought that he would be banned from collecting gold or using anything other than federal notes as payment for goods and services. The slow creep is ever advancing on our freedoms. Wake up!
“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.
Abraham Lincoln, 1861
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
Thomas Jefferson
Once put into office are our elected officials no longer representatives of the people? When Congressman Shays (R-CT) was asked why he voted for the “Bailout” when his constituents opposed it 30 to 1, he stated that he has been a Congressman for “umpteen” years, and he knows that sometimes the people he represents don’t know what’s best for themselves. Rest assured that the people who wish to disarm you will *soon* justify their actions using the same reasoning. That’s right, when the jackboots kick in your door on an unannounced raid because you have a semiautomatic .22 squirrel-gun, mow you down as you try to defend your family against the ninja-suit clad operators and their MP5 submachine guns, and charge your family with resisting arrest in your absence (due to death), they are only doing it because it is what is best for you. Don’t believe me? Check out the videos on the internet of citizen disarmament after Katrina. I ask this: Why is Joe the local-yocal cop doing in an unlabeled black uniform and a face mask anyway? How can stopping non-criminal citizens from defending themselves from raiding marauders possibly be considered for their own good?
• When the police and military conducted a 100% disarmament effort in the days following Katrina, how many shots were fired by the individuals being disarmed? Not one.
• When Canada made it illegal for its citizens to own the majority of their firearms they banded together and marched to Parliament with UNLOADED weapons. They might as well have been carrying toy swords! Britain’s disarmament also went off without a hitch.
• The organization and phraseology of the US’s Gun Control Act of 1968 make it a virtual clone of Hitler’s 1938 gun control act. Senator Dodd used the Nazi legislation to draft his own version and Congress passed it a few months later. Don’t believe me? Take ten minutes to look it up for yourself.
• In a recent Supreme Court case, only 5 out of 9 justices ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right! That means four of our masters of constitutional interpretation had the audacity to vote in a manner that is in direct conflict with the words that are plainly written in black and white to protect us from them!
“Let us hope our weapons are never needed - but do not forget what the common people knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny. If guns are outlawed only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government – and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws.”
Edward Abbey
Let us clear the air once and for all. When the Bill of Rights was conceived, its authors had just finished fending off a tyrannical government that had previously prosecuted them when they assembled to voice their dissatisfaction with their rulers then attempted to disarm them prior to the point in which their dissatisfaction surmounted in rebellion. The first and second amendments are the First Amendment and Second Amendment for a reason! The First Amendment was written primarily to ensure we can speak up against tyranny. Freedom of religion and the press were second to this primary reason, as without tyranny the masses would be free to practice both. The Second Amendment was written to ensure that a militia (of common citizens, as the term was used in the day) could form and stand armed to face tyrannical oppression from the government if it was necessary.
“To say that a government that serves the people is allowed to disarm the people is a simple contradiction in terms and legal impossibility.”
Donald M. Smith
How many Americans actually want gun control? Seriously… ask around. Most will respond that they want guns out of the hands of criminals, but not for law abiding citizens. Yet the people that we put into office see fit to continue to threaten us with the loss of that liberty. Firearms are freedom’s teeth. The Americans who understand the importance of the First Amendment and Second Amendment may appear to be overly concerned about their right to keep and bear arms. I assure you that it is only because out of our two most important amendments the Second is the one that, until recently, has been attacked most effectively by our government. I have always maintained that if our elected officials were more interested in silencing us than taking away our right to protect ourselves, we would be more passionate about the First, rather than the Second Amendment. Go to the local bookstore and check out how many books there are about the infringement of our First and Fourth Amendment rights since 9/11. Engaged, knowledgeable citizens have shifted their focus from defending the Second Amendment to defending the First and Fourth, as they understand that the latter two are currently the most threatened.
“The 1775 Revolution was largely a revolt against growing arbitrary power. The [revolutionaries] looked at the liberties they were loosing, while modern Americans focus myopically on the [few] freedoms they still retain.
James Bovard; Lost Rights
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
William Pitt
“To stop terrorism and organized crime, the American people must give up some of their personal freedom and privacy.”
Janet Reno
“Restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and associations; and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications and warrants for house searches, order for confiscations as well as restrictions on property (guns) are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.”
Adolf Hitler, 1933 speech for an “Enabling Act”
For the “protection of the People and the State”
Every American citizen should be marching in the streets and writing our government demanding that they immediately cease and desist all infringement on the rights we are guaranteed in the constitution. Ironically, most of the infringements are conducted in the name of ensuring the safety of our citizens, all the while the infringements themselves are what detract the most from our individual safety! We are on the verge of becoming a police state and no one seems to care. Our need to fight radical terrorism is very real and certainly justified, but it need not come at the expense of our freedom and privacy. The Fed is conducting unlimited data collection to support data mining of each of our personalities, buying habits, and medical conditions. Huge databases are capturing your e-mails, online purchases, and calling records. NYPD is conducting unwarranted random searches of bags on the subway. Challenged in court as a violation of the 4th Amendment, bag searches were upheld all the way to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, who claimed it upheld the “special needs exception”. Immigration officers and police are stopping vehicles without any just cause or reasonable suspicion all over our southern states, justified by the fact that they are searching for illegal aliens. Even DUI checkpoints, as beneficial as they might be, are unconstitutional. Our Founding Fathers would look at each one of these violations of our privacy with despair and would ask us why we have not tarred and feathered the lawmakers that allowed these encroachments on our rights long before we got to this point.
“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”
Patrick Henry
“Liberty is not a thing for the great masses of men. It is the exclusive possession of a small and disreputable minority, like knowledge, courage, and honor. It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty – and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies.”
H.L. Mencken, 1923 Baltimore Evening Sun
Little by little America is becoming a police state, and we are each allowing it to happen. Fingerprint scanners at Disneyworld, retinal scanners in the airport, and mandatory DNA sampling for anyone arrested (not conviction) by any federal law enforcement agency, including the FBI, the TSA, and the IRS. New York City is taking pictures of every license plate that crosses into and out of the city! The Patriot Act enables an intelligence agent from a federal agency to write a search warrant, called a National Security Letter (NSL), for himself!!! An individual agent can draft his own search warrant demanding Amazon, Hotmail, and your HMO surrender your records, or to be able to monitor your every phone call! To make it worse, the NSL forbids the companies from telling you that they were forced to submit your information!
“Instead of declaring a war against al-Qaeda, the admitted perpetrator of the September 11th attacks, the government came up with a new and ominous enemy. An enemy not bound by geography, ideology, or state authority. An enemy that could be lurking around every corner, in every subway station, aboard every airplane, mowing your lawn, pumping your gas, teaching your children.”
“[Armed] Bomb squads were dispatched to full time posts at the bridges and tunnels of major cities. Fatigue-clad officers with machine guns patrolled train terminals, subways, and airports.”
Judge A.P. Napolitano, A Nation of Sheep
Section 213 of the Patriot act allows government officials to search your home of office without notifying you until after the search is complete. Section 215 enables the government to “decide” that you, a U.S. Citizen, are a terrorist, thereby enabling them to take you away to a secret prison, torture you, and hold you indefinitely without telling you what you are being charged with. “Not me!” you say, “How could they label me as a terrorist?!?” Turns out that Section 215 states that probable cause is not required. Further, it goes on to allow officials to issue a gag order so that you may not tell anyone of the violations that the government brought upon you. You need not be concerned that you will be mistaken as a terrorist, but rather that this is an open invitation for abuse of the law by any official who you upset, who is looking for a promotion, or who is simply bored!
Section 216 of the Patriot act grants the government the authority to monitor all forms of Internet activity (look up the tracking system “Carnivore”). Section 218 allows wiretaps and physical searches if the purpose of the wiretap is to gather foreign intelligence, regardless of whether or not you have committed a crime. Section 805 broadens support of the definition of material support of terrorism to include “expert assistance and advice”, thereby allowing them to search and prosecute an individual without showing that you had any intent or knowledge of your assistance being used in terrorist activities. Was a quote from your e-mail regarding the loss of freedom in America used by al-Qaeda in their last video? Your next! “The government can now lawfully prosecute those whose speech and ideas it hates and fears.” Judge A.P. Napolitano, A Nation of Sheep.
“There are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
James Madison
“Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty or Safety.”
Attributed to Benjamin Franklin
Where will you draw the line in the sand? How far will you allow yourself to be pushed? Those who govern us will continue to chip away at our armor until only the soft, fleshy parts are exposed for the pecking. Make no mistake people. We are being pushed little by little toward total submission by our rulers. Are you intimidated by the peace officers whose salaries you pay? Do you believe that politicians are untouchable by the law? Do you feel you are being taxed without true representation? Do you worry that the government will force you from your home if they declare a state of emergency or decide to build a highway through your yard? Are you afraid of the IRS? Are you scared that someone may find out that you have read this letter?!? How far will you be pushed by the government before you decide enough is enough?
“Whoever lays a hand on me to govern me is a usurper and a tyrant, and I declare him my enemy.”
P. J. Proudhon
“America is at an awkward stage: It’s too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.”
Claire Wolfe
“If you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.”
Jesus Christ, condoning the use of the sword for defensive purposes. Other verses in the Bible reveal that he condemns the use of the sword for propagating his (or any other) kingdom.
I have established my boundaries. I seek no harm to others but I will do what I feel is right and control what I can control despite what others may try to impose upon me. America is the greatest nation in the world and quite possibly the finest civilization ever created, but it is not without fault. Is the true patriot one who insists that our nation revert back to the principles that made us great or one who blissfully floats along, going wherever the political river takes him without wondering where it may be leading us? I say that I am the true patriot, for I am the people and I will fight to preserve our nation rather than remain blindly obedient to those who are destroying it.
“When law and morality contradict each other the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his sense of morality or losing his respect of the law.”
Frederic Bastiat
“One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the great struggle for independence.”
Charles A. Beard
(...for example) “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Thomas Jefferson
I support “Law and Order”, but not to the extent that “laws and orders” infringe on my personal freedom. Our nation would have never been freed or founded if it weren’t for those who questioned authority. Oppressive laws that take away my safety in an effort to protect me from myself or others is an appalling contradiction in and of itself. Our Founding Fathers knew this. The transition from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution of the United States was not the blissful, feel-good event that most of believe it to be. There were those who fought it tooth and nail, and those Anti-Federalists predicted with extraordinary accuracy the state that we would be in today. It was not meant to be like this. Our nation was not established so that a couple hundred people in Washington could mold us into a right-down-the-middle, homogeneous blob of people with no individuality, no freedom, and no ability to affect the course of the federal government. I am constantly frustrated by the men in Washington who believe that we are the sheep and they are the shepherds, protecting us from both the wolf and from our own stupidity. The United States of America is the best place in the world to live, but it is far time that we trim back the federal vine that is strangling the tree of liberty. We must do it soon, lest the tree require the regular feeding referred to by Jefferson.
“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.”
George Bernard Shaw
“As long as Americans keep sucking at the great pacifier nipple of TV, there’s little hope.”
T. H. Metzger
America is asleep at the wheel and headed for a crash. Turn off the TV and take the batteries out of the remote. I promise, it will only hurt for a little while. Educate yourself. You would be amazed at what you can find in print, on the internet, or by simply talking with people about issues more important than professional sports. I do not believe that the government is using television for mind control- they don’t have to because we are voluntarily doing it to ourselves by using the soothing, numbing effect of 42 inches of plasma HD to forget about the real issues we face. How convenient for our elected leaders that we are too busy watching Dancing with the Stars to take 10 minutes to read the Bill of Rights or investigate just how awful the (un)Patriot(ic) Act really is. America is at war people! Young Americans are dying and all we care about is the price of gas and who will be our next American Idol. And just so it is said: for those of you that are getting self-righteous right now because you watch CNN or Fox news every night: they are in it for ONE thing in the long run: money. Unplug the TV and read a book or ten. You will thank yourself for it when you start to wake up to the fact that the Republic needs mending.
“If you love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating consent of freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”
Samuel Adams
“There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire.”
John Witherspoon
I am fortunate to have found a calling that suits me; I am a patriot and willing to fight for the preservation of our nation. Many of you have also found your calling, whether it is spreading the word of God, being involved in your community, or volunteering. Perhaps your calling is to simply be lazy and sit waste your life watching TV. I am not asking you to dramatically change the way you spend your time by focusing all of it on restoring our liberty. Rather, I am asking you to spend ten percent of it fighting for liberty in America so that you are free to build faith, be involved, volunteer, or to sit around and be lazy! Without freedom you will not be able to do the things that you feel devoted or compelled to do. Even the peace-loving hippie should be willing to stand up and fight for his freedom to be a peace-loving hippie!
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
Thomas Paine
“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality.”
Dante
I have spent several years educating myself about the issues that I have discussed, but each of my readings has left me very frustrated. Nearly all of the authors, videos, discussions, and thought that I have encountered have done an excellent job to anger me, scare me, and leave me up late at night staring at the ceiling. Few, however, have left me with constructive approaches to try to rid ourselves of the oppression of our government. I wish to peacefully restore our great nation to its intended state where individuality is accepted, personal freedoms are not encroached upon, and hard work is rewarded. I will try to absolve you of the same torment by sharing with you some peaceful actions that we can all take to try to gain a footing.
“We have castrated society through fear and intimidation... the populace has become docile and easily ruled… their thoughts… only with present toil and the next meal. You have become addicted to our medicine through with we have become your absolute masters.”
Harold W. Rosenthal
“If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you haven’t been in bed with a mosquito.
Anita Roddick
I am convinced that the biggest problem today is complacency. An innocent man is beaten on the street by a mugger (or a peace officer), and the public stands and watches with morbid fascination rather than help the victim. Stand up and fight. We’ve been taught to surrender anything and everything a criminal wants when it is demanded of us, thus teaching him that his actions are without consequence. Stand up and fight. We believe that contacting our elected officials or voting won’t have any effect. Stand up and fight. Get educated about the issues, get involved if by nothing but conversation, and Get angry! Go into our future with your eyes wide open rather than let it sneak up on you. Prepare yourself. Is America to be the only nation in history to indefinitely stand the test of time? Not if you had asked someone in 1865! “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” -George Santayana
“Americans—wake up! Every Patriot I know is carrying the load of ten people because the rest of the country is sitting on its fat duff. If you’re not spending as many hours a day working to reestablish Liberty in America as you do watching TV, then don’t whine to me about how harsh I am. We have so much work to do. Pick one issue and make some noise. Oh, you’re just one individual?... Pick one issue and make some noise! You’ve overslept, so get moving! Even if you think the Machine is unbeatable, throw sand in its gears—or at least give aid to those who do. You owe the rest of us, and your children, at least that. Let us all live virtuously and courageously in order to write a virtuous, courageous history!”
Kenneth W. Royce, Hologram of Liberty
The second biggest problem we face is laziness. We all work hard, and reading material like this only adds to our level of stress. I ask you this: which is more stressful; reading a book about societal problems for an hour every day or living under a socialist, tyrannical government for the rest of your life? Turn off the television and get online to research what is happening or just read a book. When you are done share it with a friend, and then talk about the book’s contents. Spread the knowledge. Many of you may think that you can make it alone if our way of life falls apart. Nonsense. If and when we ever face true turmoil within our borders I assure you that running off into the woods alone and unafraid is not going to make things better. Establish friendships and understandings now so that you can always count on other’s strengths to make up for your weaknesses.
“The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it.”
John Hay
“The second American civil war will be fought over that little strip of ground in your front yard between the sidewalk and the street.”
L. Neil Smith; Pallas
“It can never be too often repeated that the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1782
I send this out *not* as a call to arms, but rather a call to attention. I ask that you simply take a look at the veil of liberty and the robe of freedom. Look at the stitches that have already been cut and decide right now what stitches you believe are worth fighting for. Decide now. Get active and spread the word. Prepare. Comfort has made America soft and the people need to plan for a world of tomorrow that may not be the same as the world today (I assure you that the government is doing so). I pray that a great political shift will help us to mend our tattered garb (if it is still capable of being mended). For those of you who consider this a laughable matter conveyed to you by a man who is simply looking for something to get excited about: My hope is that history may prove my concerns unjustified. My fear is that I may someday be telling too many people “I told you so.” I am a peaceful man and wish to live a peaceful life, but I have drawn my line(s) in the sand. Have you?