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Apologists for the standing armies our former republic maintains at home and in more than 150 sovereign nations assert, like trained parrots, that those uniformed legions are, join with me please, "Protecting our freedoms," or, "Fighting for our freedoms." Below please find an incomplete compilation of the rights rescinded by decree and the freedoms forgone by the citizens of this former land of the free. Where was the military while these losses occurred? With protectors like them, who needs enemies? Do not be distracted by bogeymen said to be plotting in caves in Central Asia. Those who would take (and have already taken) your freedoms are here, in the halls of Congress, in state legislatures, and in the numerous courts and seats of local government. WARNING!
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Freedoms Lost Where was the US military when the U.S. Supreme Court evolved from its limited role of being supreme ONLY over the federal courts, to becoming the final arbiter of all laws and judge of everyone? Where was the US military when the Alien and Sedition Acts were enacted into law? Where was the US military when the right to own real property ceased to be absolute and unconditional? Where was the US military when a railroad lawyer from Illinois arbitrarily suspended the freedom of the press, shutting down newspapers and jailing their publishers? Where was the US military when a railroad lawyer from Illinois forced a US Congressman from Ohio into exile in Canada? Where was the US military when a railroad lawyer from Illinois asked the U.S. Marshals to arrest Roger Brooke Taney, the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court? Where was the US military when parents lost the freedom to direct the education of their children as schools ceased to be local and useful and became consolidated and worthless? Where was the US military when the 14th Amendment lost its original intent and the Incorporation Doctrine was concocted. Oh, that Barron v. Baltimore 7 Pet. (32 U.S.) 243 (1833) still prevailed! Where was the US military when the Federal Reserve was established in 1913 and began the process of destroying the value of the paper dollar? By 2010, under the stewardship of that banking cartel, the paper dollar had lost 97% of its value. Where was the US military when vices began to be criminalized, infringing on property rights, and the U.S. started the process that would see it incarcerate more of its citizens than any other nation? Where was the US military when the right of Jury Nullification ceased to be taught and juries forget it existed, depriving many of their freedom? Where was the US military when we lost the right (for about four decades) to own more than a trivial amount of gold coins or gold bullion? Where was the US military when the Commerce Clause was enlarged far beyond the scope of the enumerated powers and Congress trampled our inalienable rights? Where was the US military when the so-called police powers of states, counties and municipalities were enlarged to our detriment, with ever more intrusive regulations, infringing on our most basic freedoms? Where was the US military when the direct election of federal Senators came into being, diminishing the role of the States and their unique interests in setting the course of the nation? Where was the US military when the entire 2nd Amendment and especially the phrase, a well-regulated militia, was blatantly misinterpreted to our detriment, depriving us of that absolute right? Where was the US military when we lost the right to buy any type of medication without a prescription? The people of Mexico have that right. Where was the US military when the U.S. joined the United Nations in an unconventional manner and began to erode our national sovereignty? Where was the US military when we lost the freedom to engage in a lawful trade or occupation without having to obtain permits and licenses? Where was the US military when our troops were sent to fight wars, not with the required Congressional declaration of war, but upon the decision of a President? Where was the US military when our right to banking privacy was lost? Where was the US military when highly-contrived trade agreements, sold as, free trade agreements, were enacted, depriving many of gainful employment? Where was the US military when we lost the protection from double jeopardy, as civil asset forfeiture proceedings, essentially a type of government-sanctioned theft, spread through the land? Where was the US military when plea bargaining, delegating judicial power to the executive branch, came to replace a trial by a jury of one's peers, depriving us of a fundamental right? Where was the US military when we lost the freedom to possess, or travel with, large amounts of cash? Where was the US military when "free speech zones" became the only venues for exercising our 1st Amendment rights to assemble and demonstrate peacefully? Where was the US military when we lost the right to privacy on the roads, with high-resolution cameras recording everything? Where was the US military when we lost the right to board an airplane anonymously? Remember when one could sell an un-needed airline ticket to friends or though classified ads, and the buyer could board that flight without interference? Where was
the US military when the Transportation Security Administration (T.S.A.)
was created by a Republican administration, and immediately suspended the
4th Amendment protections concerning searches
and seizures? If you do not believe me, print this & attach
it to the front & back of all
checked
bags Where was the US military when we lost the right to privacy for all telephonic conversations as well as e-mails? Where was the US military when the freedom of U.S. citizens to exit the country anonymously, by driving to Canada or Mexico, was suspended? Where was the US military when Congress and the President devalued all our dollar-denominated savings to protect the biggest banks from the consequences of their frauds and gambles? Where was the US military when the Federal Reserve devalued all our dollar-denominated savings to protect the biggest banks from the consequences of their frauds and gambles? Where was the US military when the people lost the freedom to demand that all Presidents be natural born citizens? Where was the US military when U.S. citizens lost the right to decide to buy or not to buy health insurance? Where was the US military when, under a Democratic administration, the Transportation Security Administration (T.S.A.) installed the "naked" scanners at U.S. airports and instituted punitive "enhanced pat down" procedures to discourage fliers from opting out of those irradiating scanners? By the way, the so-called "enhanced pat down" is actually what law enforcement personnel call a "custody search" or "pre-custodial search." Will cavity searches come next? If you wish to remind me that much has changed since 11 September 2001 and that we live in a different world, please don't bother. Instead, first read the entire text of the U.S. Constitution, and statements A, B and C below: A - "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin B - Abolishing the C.I.A. and removing all U.S. military and mercenaries (security contractors) from Islamic nations would remove the raison d'être of most terrorism. Learn what "blowback" is. Find out which organization is the world's largest consumer of fuels derived from petroleum. Hint: their headquarters is pentagonal. What is the connection between their consumption of petroleum, need to secure future sources of petroleum, and their presence in the Middle East and Central Asia? C - There is a difference between loving one's country and loving one's government. The former is called patriotism, the other makes one a useful idiot for the regime. . ---------- This work is not a call for the military to intervene in the political affairs of this nation, rather, it seeks to point out a common misconception. Selected Quotes to Ponder "All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." Voltaire "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." Samuel Adams, speech at Philadelphia State House, 1 August 1776. "The tree of
liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots
and tyrants. It is its natural manure."
"God who gave us life -- gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever." Thomas Jefferson “Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” George Washington "All the perplexities, confusions and distresses in America arise not from defects in the constitution or confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, as much from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation." John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.” James Madison "In a government of law, the existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. . Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy." Justice Louis Brandeis in, Olmstead v. U.S., 277 US 438, 1928 "I spent 33 years and four months in active military service, and during that period I spent most of my time as a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico, and especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested." Smedley Darlington Butler, 1935 “The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States, whatever the pretensions of politicians, pedagogues, and other such mountebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else…. Their purpose, in brief, is to make docile and patriotic citizens, to pile up majorities, and to make John Doe and Richard Doe as nearly alike, in their everyday reactions and ways of thinking, as possible.” H. L. Mencken "War is the health of the State. It automatically sets in motion throughout society those irresistible forces for uniformity, for passionate cooperation with the Government in coercing into obedience the minority groups and individuals which lack the larger herd sense. The machinery of government sets and enforces the drastic penalties; the minorities are either intimidated into silence, or brought slowly around by a subtle process of persuasion which may seem to them really to be converting them." Randolph Bourne "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." George Orwell "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." Aldous Huxley, Brave New World “The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.” Gustave LeBon "Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime." Ernest Hemingway "I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity." Dwight D. Eisenhower “We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security.” Dwight D. Eisenhower “if they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers.” Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow "Worse than thieves, murderers, or cannibals those who offer compromise slow you and sap your vitality while pretending to be your friends. Compromisers are the enemy of all humanity, the enemies of life itself. Compromisers are the enemies of everything important, sacred and true." L. Neil Smith “We have become
a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world, a nation of bullies
and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not
just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in
our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge
us…No redeeming social value. Just whores. Get out of our way,
or we’ll kill you.” Hunter S. Thompson
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