Liberty is a gift – Defending it is our duty
Thinking about the “how” of reclaiming our birthright – our constitutional republic and limited government is something I find rather daunting. Why? In a word… liberty.
To be true to liberty one must accept the idea that your concept of liberty does not necessarily agree with mine. I am good with this but things get really messy as the numbers of citizens expand. You’ve been in a large room full of people all talking at once. This is your snapshot of what liberty would sound like if it could talk. Yeah. That’s it. Messy.
So how do we reconcile all of this? How do we make a coherent whole from an incoherent cacophony of voices? First and foremost we have to agree on one thing: our constitution rules. It is the law of the land. If we forget this again, we will lose – lose our nation and lose ourselves. Second, we need to embrace the idea of our republic. As a republic we elect representatives who are then charged with consolidating the will of all those represented. We must realize we will not always agree with the individual decisions made by our representative. This is where accountability comes in. We must keep tabs on our representatives and make them account for their actions on a regular basis. Finally we need to stay diligent about limiting government. Pandora must stay in her box. We need to throw that key away. We cannot, must not ever allow government to again expand beyond the constitutional framework. We’ve seen the disastrous results of this. As of now we are on the verge of losing our nation to a cabal of controllers. We cannot be fooled again.
If you are one of those neatniks, you are not going to like this at all. We need to decentralize. Home rule should be our new buzzword, er, phrase. This means we can no longer accept “mandates” from state or federal governments. It is not the place of the state or federal government to dictate to us. Again, the constitution is the law of the land. The term “Federal Law” should never again be held up as the “be all and end all” or the last word on anything. Home rule should override everything but the constitution. Hence our state constitutions cannot conflict with the federal. Should such a case come up, the state in question would have two choices – either conform to the federal constitution or leave the union. Yes. Leave the Union. No more should the “Union” be considered mandatory. This is the root of the problems we see today.
Of course things are already a mess. Our nation is a train wreck. Our representatives has spent us into oblivion – leaving us in a ocean of debt. 
We are buried under mountains of liberty-stealing laws and regulations. Rogue agents are everywhere, literally stealing from citizens under the guise of “asset forfeiture” and other means, spying on us, hauling us off to who knows where and likewise disrupting our peaceful lives. Meanwhile criminals run rampant in urban areas. Thousands of homeless gather in tent cities – or just make do with whatever in the streets. Often, efforts to help any of these homeless results in charges against the good Samaritans. Other good people are hauled into courts and/or off to jail for “crimes” as insignificant as using the wrong pronoun or refusing to submit to the demands of “customer”. Need I go on? Have we had enough of state and federal meddling yet?
Eventually things will calm down but for now, getting a handle on this mess is likely to look more like chaos. We all want different things and have different ideas on how to reach what goals we can agree on. The important thing is getting started. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. A body in motion tends to stay in motion. We need to move, to act. As citizens we have rested far too long.
Here in Virginia, we are off to a good start. The attack on our 2A rights galvanized us into action, but things are just getting started here. The controllers seem bent on moving forward with their plans to strip us of our liberty. All signals from the ground level indicate we will not back down. My own hope is we citizens not only force a retreat but use our momentum to further restore long longs liberties. Why stop at our Second Amendment rights? The controllers certainly drew no such line. They want it all. Well guess what? So don’t we. The difference is our liberty belongs to us. It is ours to claim.
Yes, reclaiming our liberty and our birthright will be messy. It is not likely to be worse than what we see now. Either way, we own it so we might as well take possession.
Stark and hard-hitting – this article pulls no punches. The toughest question asked: are we citizens complicit? Yes and no, I’d say. The controllers deceive us to. I spent most of my life living the lie. “This is a free country. America is great because it is good.” Deep down this is true but the controllers have corrupted our nation and corrupted us with it. They made one very serious error: They touted our freedom and our liberty while stealing it away. They fed us an ideal… an ideal I will never surrender. America IS great because America IS good! Let us reclaim our birthright!
Read the indictment below:
Another article with valid points. My own take on this is these controllers derive both their money AND their power from us citizens. We can stop the flow of money – our money when we reclaim our birthright and restore limited government.
Who Can NOW Say America Hasn’t Become a Mega-Corporate Dictatorship?
In essence he gives SEVEN reasons we citizens MUST reclaim our birthright now.
For my money, this is a must read article from the venerable Mises Institute. Here is the “Executive Summary”: If we want to effect real change we need to look to decentralization.
It should be no secret I wholeheartedly agree. Decentralization is the only way we can reclaim our birthright as citizens. More on this in a future essay.
For now, consider Mr. Jose Nino’s perspective:
What’s Next for the Virginia Sanctuary Movement?
Grab some popcorn as this essay is going to tick off a lot of people. Mostly it will be liberals. Why? The title is accurate 
but guaranteed to be misread so I’ll explain it right off.
Today I saw a couple of related posts of interest. They got me thinking on this topic. The first post concerned how the NFL wouldn’t allow Pro-Life or Pro-2A ads because “they would be too offensive.” The next post talks about Bloomberg’s gun grabbing ad that DID play… on the Super Bowl broadcast. Hmmm. Well there’s some logic for you right at the start and the total lack of logic on the NFL. Not only their actions were illogical but also their bottom line so-called “logic”. Just whom to they think pays big money to watch what can certainly be described as modern gladiating? While all this got me to thinking, the failed logic and hypocrisy of the NFL isn’t exactly my point but their actions demonstrates it beautifully.
Why is right not always right? What I am saying here is it often does no good at all to use try to logically convince the left of the error of their ways. To paraphrase something attributed to AOC “Facts don’t apply to what I believe.” Time and time again, the globalist controllers tell us “Facts don’t matter.” Are we listening? I don’t think so.
In the Bloomberg post above, the author takes Mayor Shorty’s argument and dismantles it piece by piece until even the scraps would be ignored by the hungriest vulture. It will do no good. Get this: Liberals don’t do logic. They just don’t. For example: how many times has this been asked:?
What part of “Shall Not Be Infringed” don’t you understand?
My teen daughter asked me what “infringed” means. Good question! Instead of shooting from the hip, I looked up the dictionary definition. I’m glad I did. There were two but this one rings so true:
infringe: act so as to limit or undermine (something); encroach on
This word alone smashes any supposed justification for taxing, banning, requiring permits or otherwise limiting the right to keep and bear arms. Notice the word is “arms” NOT “firearms”. The word “arms” is a military term – short for armaments – meaning weapons. Thus “firearms” are included in this group but the term “arms” is far more expansive. Does this include “automatic machine guns? I would say “yes”. Personally I’d also say this includes battleships and fighter jets also, but lets not go there. Such is a fruitless discussion. Can you imagine the emotional argument “Well, you’re saying my neighbor could part an F-15 in his backyard.” Yeah, right, and compost dung from his pet Elephant to produce homemade jet fuel too. Logical hint here folks: most people cannot afford to shoot as much as they like, much less feed a belt-driven machine gun for any period of time. Only governments have that kind of money to burn. By the way… have you priced an F-15 lately?
The next “logical argument” the controllers bring up is the “well-regulated militia”. They seize upon this phrase with an “Ah HA! Got YA!” saying this means government oversight. Uh, well, no, it does not. First lets use some real logic. If one wants to know the meaning of these terms, one needs to understand them in the usage at that time. (infringe meant “infringe” then too.) To be “well-regulated” in 1789 meant… drum roll please… well supplied. Oops! That’s right you controlling fools. Drop your preconceived notions and face the facts. Now… about that word militia.
Let’s stay right here in Virginia. What better example can we get than the Virginian 1789 era concept of the militia? Simply put, the militia was comprised of every able-bodied man. They did state an age range but I expect such would be ignored in perilous times. Today, I’ve no doubt we would not automatically exclude women so it is safe to say that, in 1789 terms, we, the people are the militia. The point was the founders did not want a standing army, controlled by the limited government, hence the concept of the militia.
So now, when we put the entire 2nd Amendment together it states in modern terms:
A well-supplied militia, consisting of all able-bodied citizens, being necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall 
not be infringed.
Notice the only clarification I offered was in terms of the militia. I only did this because of the goofy idea that somehow the first clause overrules the rest of the statement and opens the door for the infringement specifically denied in the latter part. Logic.
The problem with all this is logic is lost on the emotional appeals to “keep our children safe”. Irrational visions of dead children everywhere mists the eyes so much they cannot see the truth. Granted a picture of any person shot to death is powerful imagery. Have you noticed how rarely, if ever, one sees a photo of a teen who died in a car accident attributed to texting? Considering the facts, why doesn’t “Moms Demand Action” take a stand against texting and driving? The answer is simple. Logic has no part in this. They like cars. They don’t like guns. End of story. Well… almost.
We all know far more people die in automobiles then from firearms. Why, then, do these get a pass? The answer, again, is emotional – subtle but emotional. Most Americans drive cars. We know cars. We like cars. Sure we know they can be dangerous but we’ve been around them all our lives and we know how to handle them safely. Thus the perceived danger is mitigated. The same cannot be said about firearms. Several anti-gun people have changed their minds after being taught how to shoot and handle guns safely. Others who have been thrust into the “gun culture” suddenly find themselves surrounded by sane, safe people who are generally decent and nice. A line in an old Dwight Yokum song, “The Streets of Bakersfield” said it perfectly…”you don’t know me but you don’t like me”.
So what do we do? In a word… punt! Actually, we need to step away not only from logic but from arguing altogether. It gets us nowhere. It accomplishes nothing. We also need to get a grip on where our own emotional buttons are. For some it is gun control. For others is is abortion. I could go on but you get this. When everything comes to a point the real battle is for the hearts and minds of us citizens. Deep down, we all want the same thing. Okay… most of us want the same thing. Those who want to be handed everything, I think, are anomalies. I am also convinced even those few have some sense of wanting to earn what they have. Those that don’t we will always have with us.
Instead of trying to “win over” the masses with endless arguments – logical or emotional, why don’t we look for common ground and build on that? Do we not all want to be treated like adults? Does a “nanny state” fulfill this desire? Do we like paying more and getting less? Who likes taxes? Who believes “that” person should get stuff for free while we have to pay for the same thing?
My personal feeling is we all want liberty. We all want freedom. More government always means less freedom – not more. Until we begin to limit government, our freedoms will shrink rather than expand as a general rule. Let’s roll with that. We do not need to “win” on gun control. We need to win on the principle of less government control. Set aside the distracting issues for now. Focus on things both sides can agree on.
If our goal is to reclaim our birthright – our constructional republic and a limited government – we need to keep our eyes on the prize. No matter how sane and logical our arguments are – they will fall on deaf ears. We do not need a whopping majority to win. All we need is enough citizens in agreement with the general principle to claim what is already ours. I am convinced we already have the numbers to reach this goal. All we need to follow through and insist on what rightfully belongs to us.
God bless,
Andy
(Note: This essay was written over several days so references to dates refers to the day it was written, not published.)
For those who may not remember – it was June in 2016 when the people of England voted to leave the European Union. Now known as Brexit for “British Exit” the battle raged on until January 31, 2020. Some wars experienced shorter durations.
Most of the problems associated with Brexit were political. The politicians in control did not want to leave control of the EU. The Brits endured all sorts of threats and predictions of dire consequences. They persevered and eventually won their freedom. In the end the solution was also political. The people voted out the politicians who were dragging their feet. The doors no sooner hit their collective asses when the Brexit finally happened.
In other words, things went at a snails pace and then BOOM! They’re out. In a word… inspiring. Unlike the United States in 1861, the Brits were able to leave the European Union peacefully. Nobody needed to take up arms. It is a good thing too because it may present a problem to come up with a single working firearm and two rounds of ammunition between all the citizens of that nation. Sad and not quite true but more accurate than makes one comfortable. The good news is no one needed to fire any shots. There was no civil war, no armed conflict. For that we all can take note with a sigh of relief.
So it’s all good right? Well, no, probably not. I doubt very much if the EU will refrain from attempts to punish the Brits. This does, after all, set a bad example. For goodness sakes what IF Britain thrives? It could be the beginning of the end for the EU! There will be other problems as well, I am sure.
Even with a successful Brexit there are plenty of issues to deal with. Not the least of which is the nation is very much a “nanny state” that has all but put the lid on liberty. Yes, the people have spoken and yes they were heard, but they are still enslaved by their own government.
We say a lot about our loss of liberty in this nation. Surely I am quite vocal about it myself, though not nearly as vocal as I’d like to be. That said, we are still in far better shape than Great Britain. Even so, we only need to look across the pond to see where our nation is headed. At this point I’d say the greater lesson to be learned is what can be accomplished with a determined population i.e. Brexit.
With all the shackles hindering them, they were still able to accomplish what we here in the South failed at – leaving a union. Yes, things are different. Times are different but even so, they did it! Bravo!
As for our nation, I cannot see such a thing happening with comparative ease. Indeed there would be a great deal of resistance. I do not see it coming to open warfare again but it wouldn’t be pretty. And if you think the British and EU politicians can drag ass, there are plenty here who would say “Hold my beer.” If US politicians are expert at anything it is doing nothing – unless, of course, “something” involves spending our money.
The lesson we patriots should take from Brexit is we can accomplish anything we want if we focus our efforts, stick together and push the issue. We are at a turning point now. We can either accept the dominance of the controllers or claim our birthright.
God bless,
Andy
This is a tough one. It was tough in 
the last presidential election cycle and it is tough now. Once again, it is about Bernie Sanders.
For those of you who slept through the last election and maybe still sleeping… “The Burn” as his fans call him is so far left – as in communist to the extreme – even the Democrats hold his at arm’s length. From my perspective, this is not because they disagree with Bernie but because they don’t want their public to think they agree with him.
I’m not at all sure I get this, but I’m no political analyst. I just watch and think. The I extrapolate. My greatest epiphanies seem to come when I pray. In any case, I’m trying to logic this one out.
We all know the Burn is so far left he’ll almost touch the right side if he reaches out. Stalin would look conservative next to him. Well, okay, maybe not but it is a tough call for me. Either way if Bernie Sanders isn’t the Poster Child for the Communist, ur, Socialist cause who is? Okay, I’ll give you the Cortez factor but, really, she is just learning the basics of the dialectic. The Burn has this stuff down pat. Not that the refrain is all that hard to learn. After all – “more government” is the communist answer to everything. This is exactly why I think Burnie Baby should be the darling of the Democratic party. More government is exactly their answer to everything. But he is not their darling. Why?
One consideration may be the Dems do not want to make the Virginia faux pas – they dumped all us Pepes into that boiling pot and got themselves surrounded by frogs.
Side note: apparently someone has actually tested the “boiling frog theory”. The result? They found even a frog has enough sense to get the heck out when things gets too hot!
I think deep down the controllers know they can only go so far at once. There is another idea – this one is actually proven to work on capturing live feral hogs. In case you don’t know – hogs are very smart animals and not easy to fool. The trick use is to feed them while gradually building a pen around their food source. The hogs learn to ignore the gradual entrapment as they focus on easy eats. Then they find themselves penned with no way out. It works on the hogs and this same principle is working on us, but the controllers surely know they can’t rush things. If they didn’t we Virginians may have given them some pause for thought.
Do not get me wrong – it is not over here in Virginia. The controllers seem determined to move ahead with their plans to turn the commonwealth into a model for control. We will all have to wait to see whether they ease back on the throttle or push it to full speed ahead. They’ve been warned – the latter will not bode well. For us, this may well be the trumpet call we need to finally take a stand.
Back to the national scene and The Burn – the latest news suggests the Democratic party bosses will once again try to deprive Sanders of the nomination by whatever means necessary – just as they did in 2016. Back then I saw numerous polls that predicted B S would win even against the Donald. And yet the bosses were determined to plug HRC. As far as I’m concerned they failed to plug the right spot, but they wanted her in office for whatever reason.
Now they are at it again. Do they not see they do not have a truly viable prospect right now? Are they that blind? Yes, the opposition against Trump is vile and vocal but are they enough to stop him? For whatever reason they do not want Sanders and this is the point of this essay.
It does not matter what the voters want. All that matters is what the controllers want. For all I know they want Trump to win in 2020. I do not care. It is all politics and politics is an inherently evil lust for power. Power is the ONLY thing politicians care about. One could say they care about position, wealth and notoriety but power, pure political power encompasses all of this. They can have all of the other things but without power they are just another also-ran. If you don’t believe me, look at Hillary Clinton.
She was the First Lady and then rose to Secretary of State – position. She has more money than she can ever spend. Few people do not recognize her name. What is missing? The power of the Presidency of the United States – control of the Empire. Even now the fact she missed this brass ring eats at her. She almost had the power. She did everything, stopped at nothing to get it… and was denied.
You will never convince me she or any other of her power-hungry cohorts only want to serve the citizens of this nation. We all know those of us she considers “deplorable” are beneath her and well should be. What could well shock her admirers is the revelation she cares no more for them than for us. Personally I take her disdain with honor. I would cringe at her favor. My tendency would be to run from her presence… screaming. In my heart and mind, this woman embodies the evil of politics.
Bernie is no better. He may well be worse. None of this matters. The entire world of politics is a seething cesspool of corruption. This latest story is just another example. All of this has been going on for a very long time. If you don’t believe me, pick up the movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”. It was released in 1939. What you will see there appears almost innocent compared to today. I’ll say this again…
Politics is the problem – NOT the answer. The answer is within us, the citizens, The answer IS us! WE need to come together and rid ourselves of the controllers – all of them. They need to be replaced by men and women who will represent us citizens and who can and will be held accountable.
God bless,
Andy
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