Posted on 06/27/2010 10:44:39 AM PDT by Twotone
The 912 Project sponsored Sheriff Richard Mack, speaking at Tualatin High School last night. It was a terrific talk which started out with the Sheriff telling the tale of his ‘conversion’ from your everyday cop happily writing tickets, to a man with an understanding and deep appreciation for the Constitution.
Sheriff Mack’s father was an FBI agent and he started out pursuing an FBI career. He went to college in Utah, working as a ‘meter maid’ to put himself through school. The FBI didn’t pan out for him and he went on to become a policeman. The basic mentality of the force was to prove how much you were doing by the number of tickets you wrote every day and he was gung-ho to be the best cop on the force. In other words, writing the most tickets.
After a period of time he was asked to go undercover on a drug case. This was a very stressful episode on his family as he had young children at the time. He was unable to spend much time with his family as he had to maintain his cover. He could only visit infrequently and had to be careful not to be seen. His wife, of course, had not signed on to be a single mother and wasn’t happy with the situation. This assignment lasted about a year and he finally returned to regular duty. But the assignment left him with a jaundiced view of our War on Drugs.
About a year later there was an incident that changed his life. He was parked near an intersection when a woman blew through a stop sign. She realized what she’d done, looked around and saw him sitting there, pulled over and threw up her hands as if to say “What else could go wrong!” He walked to the car and the woman, without looking at him or saying anything, handed him her license and registration. He began to write the ticket. As he did so, he took in her situation: several squalling kids (she’d been trying to control them which had resulted in her running the stop sign), a vehicle that was in poor shape and a general feeling of depression and hopelessness from the woman. As he signed the ticket he suddenly asked himself what good would be served by giving this woman a ticket. It was obviously inadvertent and no one had been near the intersection at the time. Would anyone be safer for giving the ticket? Was there any honor in it? With those thoughts he handed the woman her license and registration and walked back to his vehicle, tearing up the ticket.
The next day he went to the county clerk’s office without really thinking what he was doing. When he got there he asked a question: did I take an oath for this job? He’s not sure why he did this as it really hadn’t been on his mind. The clerk said yes and pulled his file, showing him the statement he signed vowing to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Utah. He decided that he could no longer do the job the way it was required of him and headed to his boss’s office to hand in his gun and badge. Along the way he had a mental conversation with his wife and realized it wouldn’t benefit anyone to walk away. Instead he intended to change the way he approached police work. Shortly thereafter he was given the chance to attend a workshop, “The Constitution and the Cop” presented by W. Cleon Skousen. From that point forward he kept a copy of the Constitution with him and studied it at every opportunity.
After 15 years in Utah, his in-laws asked him to come back to AZ to run for Sheriff. Their first, second and third answers were ‘no,’ but they soon found themselves packing up and moving. He won the race and became the sheriff of Graham County. During his tenure, the Brady Bill was passed and signed by Bill Clinton. He and every AZ sheriff were summoned to a meeting with three FBI agents where they handed out compliance guidelines for enforcing the Brady Bill. (This was undoubtedly done across the country.) They would now be required to do background checks of every person purchasing a gun, maintain the purchase records and forward information on anyone attempting to purchase a gun illegally. And if they did not, the sheriffs could be fined and imprisoned. There was much complaining among the sheriffs, but the consensus was ‘you couldn’t fight city hall.’ They would have to do what they were told.
Sheriff Mack decided he couldn’t do this, but wasn’t sure what he could do. One of his deputies suggested he talk to the NRA. When he called them they said they “were waiting for him to call,” as they were preparing a case against the Brady Bill. The NRA couldn’t bring the case for lack of standing. But a sheriff would have standing. The case would be on 10th Amendment grounds, as the federal government could not compel the States to enact or administer a federal regulatory program. Only one other sheriff, Jay Printz of Ravalli County, Montana signed on to the case. They were able to get an injunction preventing the program from going into effect, and finally won the case before the Supreme Court.
From his personal story, Sheriff Mack went on to talk about how the Constitution limits the federal government, allows not only the States, but our local counties and cities to INTERPOSE themselves between the citizen and the government. All they need is the will to do so. The feds buy off the states by bribing them with funding. As we work to get new people elected to office, we need to push them to refuse to accept federal funds and the rules that come with it.
Today Sheriff Mack travels America on his “No Sheriff Left Behind” campaign. He is trying to convince the 3,000 Sheriffs in this country that the Constitution is the Supreme Law of America, and that it is the only thing that state constitutions are 'subordinate' to. The Constitution defines the limits of Government's authority, and in ALL other matters the states' authorities supersedes the Government's. As Sheriff Mack puts it, the states created the Government. As its creator, they can 'un-create' it. There is no way the Government can have authority of states' governments, or the officials of those governments, except through the provisions specifically spelled out in the Constitution.
Sheriffs should refuse to enforce unconstitutional laws by interposing themselves between the government and the citizens. The only individuals a Sheriff answers to are We the People – the ones who vote him into office.
Be sure to check out his website:
http://www.sheriffmack.com/
If you have a chance to hear Sheriff Mack speak, please don’t miss it. He is an excellent speaker with a compelling story, and so much information that we all need to hear.
Darn, sounds like I missed a good one...bump.
Read here if interested:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2539285/posts
Thanks. I read his book (short but compelling).
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