FREEDOM IS NOT FREE!
by Leon Howard
We’ve heard that saying so many times but how many really know what it means? “That’s why we have the military; they fight for our freedom and the price for the freedom can mean their very lives!” Yes, that is one meaning; one we are all too familiar with but it isn’t inclusive enough – It leaves everybody but our warriors out of the equation.
“Freedom is not free!” means so much more than the statement implies and it is time for all of us to realize our freedom, our liberty, depends on all of us; not just our military! Our military is our last resort for our freedom and we must take the responsibility back and take it to heart because we are on the verge of losing everything good America stands for!
Thomas Jefferson said it best: "The man that expects to remain ignorant and free, expects what never was and never will be."
Mr. Jefferson is probably the most quoted of our founding fathers and there is a reason for that: He understood completely how precious freedom is and knew it took an informed, educated, and moral People to maintain liberty. The preceding quote has special meaning to me and should spark interest in every Patriot! Friends and family accuse me of being “too political” and ask how I can be so-o-o interested in politics.
The truth be known – I hate politics and despise most politicians but I love my liberty and freedom this nation has afforded my family since my first relatives arrived in Virginia before 1648. We are the “real deal” – Part Native American (Cherokee), part English, German, Scottish, Irish, French – I am a mongrel; a cur – This nation was truly a ‘melting pot’ long before the phrase was coined – Virtually every European nation and religion (except Islam) came to America for opportunity and freedom of religion – Here they could realize their potential; great fortunes and world-changing technologies were created here because creativity was rewarded!
Much of what our founders built has been destroyed, from within, because we took our eyes off the government and allowed it to grow into the leviathan we fight with today! Why? A 3-letter word but a very powerful question!
The answer cannot be answered in a 3-letter word; in fact, to answer it adequately, requires an answer to fill a tome! But I do not have the time to write that book so I will cover some the most important errors we, as a people, allowed the politicians to do to bring us to the brink of destruction, financially, and loss of our freedoms, our liberties granted by God. After all, “hindsight is always 20-20” and we can see what happened over time.
To begin with, it was not one political party nor was it just one branch of government that failed to protect us. Remember, our founding fathers created a Republican form of government; not a democracy! We are seeing the fear of our founders come to pass; “mobocracy”, as Thomas Jefferson called it, has become the ‘battle-cry’ of both political parties, dragging us to a one-world government! Please do not confuse the Republican form of government to the Republican Party because there is no similarity!
When the Constitution was written, only white landowners could vote and they could only vote for their U.S. Representative. The U.S. Senators were nominated by the Governors and approved by the States Legislatures and the President was selected by the Electoral College and, if there wasn’t a clear majority decided there, then the U.S. House of Representatives decided who was president and vice-president – Does that sound like a ‘democracy’ to you? Obviously, not! To see what has happened on voting “fairness”, go to: http://www.infoplease.com/timelines/voting.html.
The first direct assault to our Republic government was foisted on the nation by the newly-formed Republican Party, under the presidency of Abraham Lincoln – I am not going to take the time to evaluate the “noble cause” the Republican Party said was behind this assault; there have been enough “history” books written touting the nobility of the War Between the States, I am giving a brief overview of the demise of our Republic. The “radical Republican Congress” (their description, not mine) passed unconstitutional export taxes on Southern cotton, trying to force the Southern States to sell their cotton for cheaper prices to the Northern cotton mills, instead of to Europe, where their cotton brought a better price!
Misusing the Commerce Clause, the Congress attempted to force the cotton producers of southern states to make a lesser profit by taxing them out of the European markets! We all know the results of this legislation; the North refers to it as the “Civil War” and the South refers to it as “the War Between the States”! Yes, there was more to it than unconstitutional taxation but most of that, although well documented, remains in obscurity to most publicly taught citizens.” (Remember: The victor writes, or rewrites, history after all. It is easy to see that history determines the present and the present the future; therefore whomever controls the past controls the future.) – The Congress would have probably repealed the taxes had the South agreed to ending slavery then. Even after seceding, President Jefferson Davis, CS of A, met with Lincoln in the Oval Office, 2 weeks before the attack on Fort Sumter, and offered that the South would return to the Union if Lincoln would suspend the taxes and Lincoln was quoted as saying, “You will return under my conditions; not yours!” Doesn’t sound very conciliatory.
But this was the single biggest erosion of States Rights or States Sovereignty in the nation’s history and a black mark on the Republic! The States ratified the Constitution, establishing the federal government and this government was restrained to a very defined and restricted authority and set of rules. We were designed as the individual being the sovereign, granting our power to the State government, and in turn, the federal government being the least powerful and least sovereign of all.
Then came the 16th and 17th Amendments to the Constitution to further erode our Republic and begin stealing our liberties! Woodrow Wilson was the President when both were ratified in 1913, but they were both passed out of the Congress before that! The 16th Amendment was passed in 1909, with the Republicans the majority party in both houses of Congress; the 17th Amendment was passed in 1912, with the Republicans the majority in the Senate and the Democrats the majority in the House! Both parties must be credited with the demise of the Republic because they are both complicit!
Also in 1912, Teddy Roosevelt, a ‘progressive’ who despised the Constitution and his crony Republicans, broke from the Republican Party and formed the “Progressive” or “Bull Moose” Party, which allowed Wilson to be elected! Wilson shared many ideals with Roosevelt, including their dislike of the Constitution; they differed in their vision of America’s role in the world: Teddy Roosevelt was an Imperialist, feeling America should become a world Empire; whereas, Wilson wanted a one-world government. America wouldn’t buy into either vision! At the end of WWI, Wilson helped design the League of Nations and the U.S. Senate would not ratify the treaty!
That would have to wait until the more socialist President, FDR, formed an alliance with one of the most brutal dictators in history, Joseph Stalin, during WWII, beginning the formulation of the United Nations, which the U.S. Senate was dumb enough to pass at the end of WWII!
Every President since FDR has hastened to deploy our military for “peace keeping” missions and to fight “police actions”, as dictated and called upon by and for the U.N.! WWI and WWII were brought to us! We did not start them; we were attacked by the enemy – Congress, at the request of the President, Declared War – We fought the wars with every weapon at our disposal, wrecking havoc on our enemy until they unconditionally surrendered – Then we came home!
Now we are in 135 nations with our military bases, fighting undeclared “wars” in three (3) countries, bankrupting our nation, and have allowed the federal government to steal our God-given liberties!
When we see what has happened to our Republic, you must also evaluate the Judicial Branch – They have about destroyed the Constitution through their misinterpretations of the meaning of the Constitution and further destruction of the 10th Amendment (States Rights). I will not spend a mountain of time on the egregious federal courts but to say, that, especially since FDR, the presidents have appointed ‘activist judges’ who, if they aren’t destroying the judicial system, are committed to protecting and assisting the federal government in it’s over-reaching power of the People! The only justice I can place any faith in is Justice Clarence Thomas, who still uses “original intent” as the basis of his decisions.
Considering a good deal of the Constitution is devoted to the power structure of the Republic and 1/5th of the Bill of Rights devoted to State supremacy and sovereignty (the 9th and 10th Amendments), we are a far cry from that today with the centralization of control in Washington, D.C. and, now, the United Nations!
As to “social engineering”, both parties have been complicit here also. The first social engineering I have come across was in 1879, when the Democrat Party, which controlled both houses, passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act because many Mormons in Utah practiced polygamy and the territory was petitioning for Statehood; the “moral outrage” from the Congress was to make bigamy a crime so Utah would end the practice to become a state. Now, we are having activists throughout the nation trying to have “marriage” redefined to “same-sex”! Thank you, Democrats!
I know I haven’t covered everything; as I said, I don’t have time to write a book and that is what it would take – A very thick tome or several of them! This is just the tip but I hope enough to allow you to see how far down the ladder we have slipped, through ignorance and apathy, and see that it is not going to be easy to climb out of this hole, if we can before we run out of time … Time is our biggest enemy!
There is much we can do to change direction:
· Educate ourselves on the issues and candidates – Stop looking at the letter behind the name because both parties are without moral guidance! We can no longer remain ignorant and expect freedom!
· We must understand the intent of our founding documents: the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution – If the government derives it’s just power from the governed (we, the people), then all we have to ask about a “law” is this: “Can I legally do this myself?” If you cannot, the government cannot do it either; they are exceeding their power! Example: “Can I take your money, without your permission, and keep it for myself because I have none or give it to somebody else I know who has none?” The obvious answer is: “NO! That is called theft or robbery!” So the ‘redistribution of wealth’ is illegal and not within the power of the federal, state, county, or municipal governments! The Fair Tax is the answer to financing government and taking away their ability to borrow money!
· We have got to start writing, calling, and sending our ‘representatives’ a FAX every time an issue arises where they are exceeding their power and vote them out or recall them if they refuse to follow the Constitution! You must search within yourself and see if you are willing to run for office to put honor back into our government – It is sorely lacking today! If you cannot see yourself as a candidate, find a good candidate; convince them to run; and support them through the election!
· Attend city council meetings, county commissioners meetings, and your local and county planning commission meetings – Let them know you are watching what they do! Become informed!
· If you are called for jury duty, go as a fully informed juror; realizing, no matter what the judge’s “instructions” are, your responsibilities include judging the law (for Constitutionality – Is the law protecting an individual’s God-given right?), judge the law’s application to the defendant, as well as the defendant’s guilt or innocence! Even if you convince none of the other jurors to your side – Remember, a hung jury is as effective as a jury nullification if it keeps an innocent person from going to jail! Enough “hung juries” on a particular law is as effective as a repeal because they stop trying to prosecute it.
It is still our country and we can restore it to it’s former greatness just by asserting our will over our servants!
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