Posted on 04/22/2005 8:44:18 PM PDT by CHARLITE
In The Arizona Minutemen II, I mentioned that Arizona’s Minuteman Project is restoring the concept of Militia in its proper light, and that the mission of any Militia is that – made up of everyday constituents – Militias of everyday constituents have always been the first line of defense.
Adding power to this concept is the resonant idea of putting more cops on the street, the official equivalent to constituent-manned Militia. Sheer numbers with legal authority both have.
President Clinton enunciated this policy when he promised 100,000 new officers on the street, though it never became a reality, even as of this writing.
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton makes it work by putting more cops on the street, cops who are also, incidentally, more aggressive, reportedly, according to a January 19th, 2004 article in TIME.
President Bush has already signed a resolution into law to become Public Law authorizing former police officers nationwide right to carry. This was The Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2003, which in 2004 became Public Law 108-277. This is important, since these individuals are no longer police officers, but private citizens now. In essence, President Bush didn’t sign a bill to put more officers on the street – he signed a bill that put more armed private citizens on the street. In this same spirit, constituents have the right to such immediate self-defense, too. And it works across the country.
Today, more than two-thirds of the states of the Union advocate the carrying of concealed weapons for individuals who pass background checks and training requirements. There, too, crime is faced down. More armed citizens.
The FBI and economist professor John Lott, Jr. in his book More Guns, Less Crime agree that though 47,000 or so people are shot or killed by guns each year, more than two million crimes of violence are thwarted by the use of a gun in that same annual polling period: yearly. That’s more than 40:1 in favor of the would-have-been-victim who refuses to be a victim.
Attorney and Author Richard W. Stevens furnishes a scholarly piece in his book Dial 911 and Die - The Shocking Truth About The Police Protection Myth. In his book, Stevens researches 54 jurisdictions and cites cases where rulings consistently hold against the plaintiff and explain that police are not liable for their failure to protect the victim. This is not something you hold against officers – it’s something simply not practical nor workable.
A December, 2004 release from the U.S. Department of Justice answered an interrogatory from the U.S. Attorney General to report that research from U.S. Court cases and legislation concludes that the Second Amendment is not a collective right, but an individual right. (Thanks, fellas!)
What each of these shares is the concept that the individual is the first line of defense.
The Arizona Minuteman Project is no different.
In this column as on my website, I invite comments; police officers – and others – write to remind me that police have no mandate to protect individuals, and they get downright blunt when they add that we’re on our own. Blunt is okay.
Let me be blunt, too: officials who oppose the Project's goals and individuals who denigrate the efforts of the individuals who make up the Minuteman Project forget who the true authority is. These conscienceless objectors (that’s right; conscience-less) defy authority only until they can summon it, and in between, they harangue and obstruct the mission.
An April 19th, 2005 article appears on World Net Daily that reports the Project’s ACLU tag-alongs as smoking dope while on assignment. Once a hippie, always a hippie. Time for another work break. (I have my own theory on why liberals oppose self-reliance.)
As I’ve mentioned – from police chases to choke-holds to rubber flashlights – law enforcement mentions that they respond only to the laws the People write, and that the People as constituents add or delete directives to officials. I urge and encourage the People to exercise that rightful authority. Believe me when I say that it will probably have the support of good law enforcement officers everywhere.
The Militia is made up of neighbors of yours and mine who share common values, such as secure neighborhoods, rule of law, respect for hard work and the fruits of one’s labor, and family life. The difference between the Project Volunteers and the people who mock them is that the Volunteers treasure their homes and families in quiet enjoyment while the mocking side likes to pick fights they run from and treasure more than the icons and institutions they like to attack.
But they’re up against the People. Every Volunteer is an Everyman, and the Left succeeds only in separating themselves from the rest of the Nation. They're widening that gap more every hour.
Let 'em do it.
The secret to the Project’s success will be simple: 1) its membership is made up of people who can be trusted to behave professionally and honestly unsupervised as they would supervised; in smoking dope or stealing archival documents, liberals cannot match the right for integrity.
2) The Project will succeed because supporters identify with those values in reality, in spirit and in courage;
3) The Project will succeed because it is overdue. It will be cloned and it will get legs.
As always, American values and morality do not need continuous change, but ask only to be left alone, to protect the sovereignty of the individual from the adversity and threat that comes from interference, intrusion and wrongful, unwelcome course corrections of distorted reality and values.
The message to send worldwide is that this Project is of the Everyman, because every person is the first line of defense.
It is, in fact, the Ultimate Homeland Security.
I don't think its anything from that cesspool to our south, but what I think drives this is that America at this point in time suffers from cheap labor decadence as the Romans did as they grew into empire. The employers I talk to speak of illegals as a commodity, example, "I gotta get some Mexicans." And we have to admit that a large amount of Americans seem addicted to cheap services such as lawnmowing, nannies, car washes, fast food, ect., ect.. We will pay because their is a bill coming due.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Be Ever Vigilant!
Minutemen Patriots ~ Bump!
Please, let's not use the enemy's language here. No one has ever been shot BY a gun. People are shot BY other people WITH a gun.
Moreover, that 47,000 includes criminals shot by cops and by people defending themselves.
I realize, CHARLITE, you're just posting something and the language isn't yours, but it's important we speak and write correctly.
OC Register ran an article today: "More Brazilians arrested in Texas." Says US authorities arrested nearly 150 Brazilians who got into Texas illegally from Mexico this week. It says the arrests "brought the number of Brazilians caught crossing fom Mexico to 15,428 since the start of the fiscal year Oct. 1, up from 8,629 in the whole of fiscal 2004."
Article doesn't state where or how they were arrested.
I'm getting really sick of reading this cr@pola in the newspaper. Gotta put it down. :(
Thanks for the pings..gotta get caught up on the news here.
Great article BTW.
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