Posted on 11/16/2001 1:22:57 PM PST by shuckmaster
H. L. Mencken once observed that "The average man doesn’t want to be free. He wants to be safe." To be "safe" these days, one must keep his mouth shut and avoid criticism of Washington’s handling of the present crisis. However, there are those who apparently value their First Amendment right to speak truth to power enough to risk being branded a "domestic terrorist" by the imperial regime. Among those few who have dared question the federal government’s actions since 11 September, there have developed at least two schools of thought. First, there is the line that says the government had prior knowledge of the terrorist attacks and allowed them to happen in order to emasculate the Constitution and Bill of Rights. This group subscribes to Frederic Bastiat’s (a nineteenth-century French political economist) belief that governments seek to increase their power by "creating the poison and the antidote in the same laboratory;" thus, government either creates or exacerbates problems which then require statist "solutions." The U. S. government’s ultimate objective, according to this line of thought, is to use "terrorism" to disarm the citizenry and to empower the New World Order at the expense of American national sovereignty.
Second, there is the school that posits that the government’s actions since 9-11 reveal that the Empire, beset all around by fear and confusion, is actually crumbling before our eyes. All that it does in response to the crisis is done in a desperate attempt to hold on to its dwindling power.
I do not know which—if either—of these scenarios is accurate. However, one thing is beyond doubt, and that is the imperial regime in Washington has taken advantage of the situation to assume powers that the Founders never intended for it to possess. By forcing through Congress H. R. 3162 (the misnamed U. S. A. Patriot Act of 2001), sight unseen before the vote by our esteemed Solons, according to Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) and others, the Feds have put in place a blueprint for a police state. And remember, these folks don’t bother to pass laws that they don’t intend to enforce against someone.
All the while, the lapdog national media have provided propaganda cover for the regime’s power-grab. The great majority of the American people—including many Southerners—have succumbed to a mania of blind "patriotism" (i.e. "nationalism") as is evidenced by the millions of federal flags now adorning their vehicles and domiciles. Little do they realize that our blood-bought liberty is being sacrificed in the name of liberty’s defense.
As Southerners who advocate the rule of law, how are we to respond to this latest (and perhaps most serious) federal usurpation of our Constitutional rights? In my opinion, we must start by using our State governments (the lesser magistrates), as corrupt and supine as they are, to impose a barrier between the imperial regime’s tyrannical acts and their own citizens. To do this, we must insist that our governors, legislatures, and attorneys general employ the doctrines of Nullification and Interposition. We should demand that they fulfill their oaths of office and act immediately to adopt ordinances nullifying the operation and execution of H. R. 3162 within the borders of our sovereign States. Moreover, we must insist that our State officials resist all federal attempts to enforce its provisions via the arrest of federal agents.
We must also demand that the chief law enforcement officers in our States file suit against the federal government, challenging the unconstitutional provisions of H. R. 3162 and other usurpations of our rights. Any State officials who ignore our redress of grievances and refuse to protect their citizens against this encroaching tyranny should be subjected to recall and/or hounded mercilessly in every public venue open to us.
The Beast on the Potomac is finally revealing its true nature. We thus live in extremely dangerous times. Therefore, we can act as sheep and blindly follow the dictates of our "leaders," or we can be lions in defense of our God-given liberties. As for The League of the South, we choose to follow the latter course. We will, with God’s help, live as free men and women and will never consent to wear the chains of servitude that the illicit regime in Washington is now forging for us. As our ancestors were wont to say, "Sic Semper Tyrannis!"
Michael Hill
President
The League of the South
Boonie Rat
MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-'66
Sorry,I'm not with this.
I believe this was originally a call for vengance against Lincoln.
Can't agree with that,but thanks for the ping.
Joking aside, this person is correct that the powers that be in D.C. are assuming roles that they are not entitled to assume, under the pretext of war, which has not been formally declared by Congress.
Law and Order types need to stop sniffing the ink of the Legalist and start paying attention. Their chants of "law and order" mean nothing as the law is now officially an @ss.
Either Congress needs to declare war, now, or these powers that the monsters on the Hill are assuming are invalid and illegal. Heck, even in time of war most (but not all) of the things they are doing now would be illegal and un Constitutional. Without that declaration, they are plain criminal.
Move to where you have no ties to bind... be free as the wind blows... go buy and island... start a revolution... create your own tyrany or anarchy, whichever best suits you... or just post on the internet.
Boonie Rat
MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-'66
To the author, and fellow handwringers....So let's see. If all comes to pass that is requested by the FedGov, and there is no sign that anything will be thwarted, the following items will transpire or are already authorized to transpire.
National ID cards.
Secret searches of private residences without notifying the occupent of the premisis to be searched.
Judges being forced by law to rubber stamp any request for a warrant that the police demand.
Indiscriminant blanket wiretapping without a warrant.
Internet tracking of individuals without a warrant.
Secret courts where the defense is not allowed to see the evidence against the accused.
The A.G. being able to declare any person or group as "terrorist" without the slightest shred of evidence, thus erasing that person/groups rights to a trial by jury or even a trial.
Face scanning cameras on every street corner.
Individuals being declared as terrorists for questioning the authority of government (check out the FBI pamphlet which was released in Arizona and quickly covered up detailing that "super patriots", aka most people on this site, are suspected "terrorists" for speaking out against the government or citing the Constitution).
Congress being given bills to pass without being given the details of the bill (see Ron Paul's complaint on this issue), and expected to rubber stamp the legislation.
And don't even get me started about the nice little designs the Feds are trying to push on the local State govs, in the form of plans to confiscate private property, commandeer Nurses and Doctors and force relocation to stadiums to receive mandatory, untested and potentially dangerous immunizations.
And this is only the start. But yeah, sure, we're handwringers. Either Congress needs to officially declare war and get on with its business or we need to seriously evaluate what is going on in this nation and not turn a "non critical" cheek to these actions just because we happen to like the current occupent of the Oval Office.
I was born in New Jersey, but raised in Florida (since I was two).
I went to FSU, located in Tallahassee, FL, the only Southern capital not to fall to the invaders in the War of Northern Aggression.
I have always considered myself Yankee by birth, Southerner by the Grace of G-d.
Just don't shoot me...
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