From the Radio Free Michigan archives ftp://141.209.3.26/pub/patriot If you have any other files you'd like to contribute, e-mail them to bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu. ------------------------------------------------ PROCLAMATION To all citizens of the United States and its Territories: April 19 of this and each year hereafter is declared to be Militia Day. All able-bodied citizens are to assemble with their arms to celebrate their right to keep and bear arms and to assemble as militias in defense of the Republic, as recognized in the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Leaders designated in each county or municipality are to announce a place for members of the militia to form, beginning at 6:00 AM of April 19. It is suggested that this place be a large field on the outskirts of every major city, and especially those cities having federal courts and offices. The order of the day shall be to sign up the members, organize them into squads of approximately 20 persons each, and spend the morning in training in the military arts and the safe and effective handling of arms, and instruction in their rights and duties under the U.S. and state Constitutions. This should include learning to recite at least the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Tenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution from memory. Each such squad shall elect a Sergeant-At-Arms who shall conduct the training and report to Militia commanders. He should be a person of good character who has the skills to lead in military march and drill. Throughout the day, all weapons are to be kept unloaded, and the Sergeant At-Arms shall make it his or her duty to inspect all weapons for compliance. Ammunition may accompany the formation, to be carried by someone designated for that duty, but ammunition is not to be issued to militia members unless or until it is needed to defend against a threat to their lives or those of other militia members or innocent persons. The order of march shall be to begin after lunch to march two abreast across the city to a site on the opposite side, where speeches shall be given and the militia dismissed. The path of march shall be along sidewalks, respecting private property, traffic signals and other rules of pedestrian movement. In no case shall the march be conducted in a way that would require a parade permit, nor shall such permit be sought or accepted. The path of march should be past any federal courthouse or offices, and past local government offices, homes of elected officials, and through any neighborhoods which have been subjected to high rates of crime and violence. Each squad shall carry the flags of the United States and of the State. When opposite government buildings, each squad shall be ordered to halt, face the building, present arms, and recite the First, Second, and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, followed by the oath: "I swear/affirm that I will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic". If the government whose buildings they face is deemed to have violated the Constitution of the United States, then, depending on whether it is a federal or a state building, the U.S. or state flag shall be inverted as a protest, and not inverted back to its proper attitude until the squad shall have resumed the march. During the march, martial music may be played, but it is suggested that, in honor of the militiamen at the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the instruments be drums and fifes, or something similar. Each squad should be equipped with one video camera, to record the events and any resistance to them which may be encountered. Each squad should have a plan to secure the video tapes and have copies of them made and distributed before they can be seized by any hostile parties. The press should be kept informed and encouraged to provide coverage of the event prior and during its occurrence. Militiamen shall be permitted to carry protest signs, but shall be asked not to carry any which are not relevant to the occasion or which are too inflammatory. It is suggested that they include the following: (1) Exhortations to remember events: "Remember Lexington and Concord", "Remember the Warsaw Ghetto", "Remember the Alamo", "Remember Ruby Ridge", "Remember Mount Carmel", and others such. (2) Declarations of constitutional violations: "Title 26 USC Sec. 5861 is a violation of the Tenth Amendment", "Title 18 USC Sec. 922 is a violation of the Second and Tenth Amendments", "Title 18 USC has jurisdiction only in federal territories or the high seas", "The Firearms Acts of 1934,1968, 1986 are unconstitutional", or others such. (3) The oath: "I swear/affirm that I will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic". (4) Militia identification: "Militia of the County/City of ..." Women and children are urged to participate, as are citizens of all races, creeds, and religions. It is suggested that children hold the protest signs. If arrested by law enforcement agents, militia members are not to resist, but when questioned, are to give only their name, county or town, their militia rank (private by default), and to recite the First, Second, and Tenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. At this stage in the Militia Movement, it is best not to be seen as provoking violence, and martyrs will serve the Movement better than victors. Persons not having or wishing to carry actual firearms are encouraged to carry other kinds of arms, such as swords, bows, knives, or, if nothing else, a wooden or plastic facsimile of a weapon. It should be remembered that "arms" are not just firearms. Members of youth "gangs" shall not be excluded if they agree to participate under militia discipline, in mixed units, and swear to uphold constitutional laws and the Constitution. They should be encouraged to renounce their allegiance to gang leaders and affirm their allegiance to the community as a whole. Committees of Correspondence are to be established by state, county, and congressional district. Secure means of communication shall be established to call out the militia on short notice to deal with any emergency. In no case are such Committees of Correspondence or any militia to receive tax funds or to be subject to govermental authority at any level. They shall be private, voluntary associations that fund themselves and make their own rules. These may unite under a National Militia Association, National Militia Coordinating Committee, or some such. Militias must avoid allowing any persons to become indispensible leaders, so that the Militia Movement could be suppressed by attacking its leaders. The Militia must be, to the extent possible, "leaderless" and spontaneous. Local militias are to conduct regular meetings for training and discussion on at least a monthly basis, and to plan events for future Militia Day celebrations. We must also work together to get April 19 declared a national holiday, Militia Day. Not a "right to keep and bear arms" day, because every day is a right to keep and bear arms day. Militia Day shall be a day on which all able-bodied citizens will be called up for formations of their local militias, for training and discussion. Copies of this proclamation are to be made and distributed everywhere, together with the name and phone number of a local coordinator, and a map of the formation sites and the routes of march. For information contact: Texas Militia Correspondence Committee, 6900 San Pedro #147-230, San Antonio, TX 78216, 210/224-2868 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!msc.edu!apctrc!paperboy.amoco.com!swiss.ans.net!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!newsfeed.pitt.edu!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: Legal Theory of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (TMP02) Date: 23 Jan 1995 10:39:32 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 299 Message-ID: <3g0114$heq@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108499 alt.politics.libertarian:61981 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13789 alt.politics.reform:17960 LEGAL THEORY OF THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS Copyright (C) 1994 Constitution Society Permission is hereby granted to copy with attribution for noncommercial purposes There is considerable confusion about the legal theory underlying the "right to keep and bear arms". This is a brief outline for a clarification of the discussion of this issue. (1) The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not establish the right to keep and bear arms. None of the provisions of the Constitution establish any "natural" rights. They recognize such rights, but the repeal of such provisions would not end such rights. Such rights were considered by many of the Framers as obvious or "self-evident", but they were immersed in the prevailing republican thought of the day, as expressed in the writings of Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Madison, Hamilton, and others, which discussed "natural rights" in some detail. Others argued that at least some of the rights needed to be made explicit in the Bill of Rights to avoid having future generations with less understanding of republican theory weaken in their defense of those rights. That has turned out to have been a good idea. (2) The right to keep and bear arms is a natural right of individuals under the theory of democratic government. This was clearly the understanding and intent of the Framers of the U.S. Constitution and was a long-established principle of English common law at the time the Constitution was adopted, which is considered to be a part of constitutional law for purposes of interpreting the written Constitution. (3) What the Second Amendment also does is recognize the right, power, and duty of able-bodied persons (originally males, but now females also) to organize into militias and defend the state. It effectively recognizes that all citizens have military and police powers, and the "able-bodied" ones -- the militia -- also have military and police duties, whether exercised in an organized manner or individually in a crisis. "Able-bodied" is a term of art established by English common law at the time the Constitution was adopted, and is the only qualification besides citizenship on what constitutes the "militia". While not well defined in modern terms, it is somewhat broader than just able-"bodied": implicit is also "able-minded" and "virtuous". In other words, persons might be excluded who were physically able to bear arms but who were mentally or morally defective. Defense of the "state" includes self- defense and defense of one's family and friends who are, after all, part of the state, but by establishing the defense of the state as primary a basis is laid for requiring a citizen to risk or sacrifice his life in defense of the state and is thus a qualification on the implicit right of self-defense, which is considered to prevail in situations in which self-sacrifice is not called for. (4) The U.S. Constitution does not adequately define "arms". When it was adopted, "arms" included muzzle-loaded muskets and pistols, swords, knives, bows with arrows, and spears. However, a common-law definition would be "light infantry weapons which can be carried and used, together with ammunition, by a single militiaman, functionally equivalent to those commonly used by infantrymen in land warfare." That certainly includes modern rifles and handguns, full-auto machine guns and shotguns, grenade and grenade launchers, flares, smoke, tear gas, incendiary rounds, and anti-tank weapons, but not heavy artillery, rockets, or bombs, or lethal chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Somewhere in between we need to draw the line. The standard has to be that "arms" includes weapons which would enable citizens to effectively resist government tyranny, but the precise line will be drawn politically rather than constitutionally. The rule should be that "arms" includes all light infantry weapons that do not cause mass destruction. If we follow the rule that personal rights should be interpreted broadly and governmental powers narrowly, which was the intention of the Framers, instead of the reverse, then "arms" must be interpreted broadly. (5) The right to keep and bear arms does indeed extend to the states. As do the other rights recognized by other Amendments, and as reinforced by the Fourteenth Amendment. It is not just a restriction on the powers of the central government. On the other hand, the citizens of a state can adopt a constitution that might restrict the exercise of such rights by delegating the power to do so to the state government. However, if the restriction of natural rights is unduly burdensome on those rights, then such a provision would be incompatible with the U.S. Constitution, its guarantee of the rights, and its guarantee that all states have a "republican" form of government - which such restrictions would compromise. (6) The legal basis for a government not infringing on the right to keep and bear arms is not constitutional provisions like the Second Amendment, but that the power to do so is not one of the enumerated powers delegated to the government, whether Union or State. That delegation must be explicit as pertains to arms. They can't be regulated on the basis of general powers to tax or to regulate commerce. Arms have a special status under constitutional law. Some State constitutions may delegate such powers to the State government. The U.S. Constitution does not delegate such powers to the Union government. No powers are delegated to government by the preamble to a constitution, which is only a statement of purpose, only by provisions in the body of the document and its amendments. (7) The legal basis on which the states can regulate arms is in those situations in which they conflict with property rights. It is a fundamental principal in law that the owners or managers of real property have the power to regulate who may enter their premises, and to set conditions upon their entry. That includes public property. Citizens have a right to keep and bear arms -- on their own property or property they control -- but not on someone else's property without his permission. (8) In other words, citizens have a right to keep and bear arms in those places and situations where they have a right to be, unless such rights are disabled by due process of law. Fundamental natural rights can never be lost, as contractual rights can be, only the exercise of those rights restricted or "disabled", to use the legal term. The distinction is very important. Natural rights are those which the individual brings with him when he enters into the social contract, and reclaims if the social contract is broken. The right to keep and bear arms is such a natural right, as is the right of free speech, religious belief, and privacy. The alternative is a contractual right created by a contract, such as the social contract. The right to vote or to be judged by a jury of one's peers are examples of rights created by the social contract, albeit important ones that are also constitutionally protected. Because they are constitutionally protected, it is only proper to speak of them as disabled, rather than lost, so long as the subject remains a citizen or natural person, depending on whether it is a right of citizenship or personhood. (9) It is unconstitutional to "disable" any rights by statute except one set: the rights of majority. The disabilities of minority do not need to be established by a court trial or hearing. However, they can be removed sooner than they would be removed by constitution or statute, by reaching a certain age. This means it is unconstitutional to disable the right to keep and bear arms to a class of persons by statute, including those, such as felons, who have been the subject of due process on another issue, except through a proceeding in which the court is explicitly petitioned to disable them, the subject has an opportunity to argue to the contrary, the petitioner has the burden of proof that the subject if armed would be a threat to himself or others, and the court grants that petition. Merely being convicted of a crime, or declared mentally incompetent, is not sufficient if the language of the judgement does not also explicitly disable the right to keep and bear arms, or set restrictions on such right. (10) "General police powers" is not a constitutional basis for states or localities to regulate arms. "General police powers" are the powers to use the means necessary and sufficient to stop someone who threatens to commit a major crime, or to arrest someone who has done so. All citizens have such power. They differ from regular, professional police only in that the regular police also have "special police powers" in matters such as minor offenses, and in that they outrank civilians. Since citizens have general police powers, they also have the right to such means as they require to exercise such powers in situations in which they may be called upon to do so. That includes arms. (11) To be constitutional, state laws restricting the bearing of arms must distinguish between public property, private commercial property which serves the public and which therefore confers certain rights to the public, and other private property with no public access rights. It is reasonable and constitutional to prohibit persons from bearing arms onto purely private property without notifying the owner or manager and obtaining his or her permission, except over public easements, such as sidewalks or the walkway from the street to the front door. On the other hand, it would be an undue burden on the right to bear arms to forbid persons from traveling between places where they have a right to be, and to bear arms while they do so, along public pathways or private easements, and using their own or a public means of transportation. It may not, however, be an undue burden to prohibit the bearing of arms onto certain public property where persons do not have unrestricted access, such as office buildings and sports fields, provided that authorities guarantee the safety of persons who enter unarmed. Owners of commercial property serving the public which confers some rights of access to the public may prohibit the bearing of arms by posting or giving a notice to that effect, but lacking such notice, bearing arms onto the premises would be permitted. The rule must be that laws must not burden the right to bear arms except to the extent that they would impose a greater burden on the right of property owners to exclude persons bearing arms. (12) The law must presume that places of business that cater to arms, such as gun shops and shooting ranges, and events such as gun shows, offer presumptive permission to bear arms and that therefore it is not illegal to bear them there or to travel to and from them. (13) A carry permit system essentially is a removal of restrictions against bearing arms on public and private property unless there is an express prohibition against doing so, either in the form of a posted sign or a directive from the owner or his agent. The rationale for issuing such permits is to equip persons of good character to more effectively function as militiamen or police in situations in which regular police are not available or insufficient. That also includes self-protection, but the key factor is the duty to perform police duties as necessary. There also needs to be explicit statutory protection of the state or other permit issuing authority against criminal or civil liability for any acts done by the permit holder. One kind of carry permit is that which is one of the "special police powers" of regular law-enforcement officers, which allows them to carry anywhere, even against the express wishes of a property owner. (14) With the high levels of crime we now endure, the only effective way to extend police protection to a level that might deter crime is to recruit a substantial proportion of the public to go armed, by issuing them carry permits, offering them police training, and organizing them into a network of militia units closely coordinated with regular law enforcement agencies. It is likely that as many as 25% of the adult public could serve in this way on a regular basis, and another 25% on an occasional basis, and that if they did, we might expect it to have a significant positive impact on crime. Some such citizens might even be granted higher police rank, and perform regular police duties on a part-time basis. Such involvement of the public in law enforcement would also have other benefits: breaking down the social and psychological barriers that now separate the regular police from civilians, and deterring some of the abuses of authority that police have sometimes fallen into. (15) That the militia should be "well-regulated" is not a basis for restricting the keeping or bearing of arms. The term originally meant "self-regulated" and militias could be independent of state or national authority if not called up by such authority. Militia members may be required to carry certain standard arms during formations, but they cannot be forbidden from carrying additional arms of their own unless doing so would impair normal militia operations. State-appointed officers may direct when, where and in what manner members of the militia are to train and perform their duties, but may not forbid them to meet on their own. (16) The Union government has the power, under the U.S. Constitution, to regulate imports and interstate commerce in arms, but the Framers would not agree with how the "interstate commerce" clause (Art. 1, Sec. 8) of the Constitution has been broadly interpreted to include regulation of manufacture, possession, and local sales and use of items. A strict constitutional interpretation requires that the Union government has authority only over transactions that cross state lines, and not over actions or transactions that occur within state borders, even if they involve items that may someday cross state borders or may have once done so. If we want the Union government to have such authority, and a good case can be made for that, then the U.S. Constitution needs to be amended to delegate that authority to it. (17) The Union government also has excise taxing power, but since arms have special status under the Constitution, no tax may be levied that imposes an undue burden on the right to keep and bear arms. Rights are more fundamental than taxing powers, particularly since the right to keep and bear arms is recognized in an amendment which supersedes any prior provisions that conflict with it, which includes all taxing powers except the income tax (which does not provide a basis for taxing arms). Arms may be taxed as general merchandise is, such as with a sales tax, but any tax law which specifies arms for special taxes, other than reasonable use fees for public services related to them, must be considered unconstitu- tional. That would include taxes on ammunition and the ingredients to make it. The analogy is to taxes on newsprint, which may be taxed like other merchandise, but not in a way that would impose an undue burden on the right of a free press. (18) This means that no government has the power, unless that power is specifically granted to it under its constitution, to prohibit any person from manufacturing or possessing any gun or ammunition for it on his own premises or where he has a right to be, or against using it in a safe and responsible manner, or against selling or giving it to another person within the borders of a state. (19) Since the common law prevailing at the time the Constitution was adopted defined "militia" to consist of "able-bodied" citizens, including persons younger than the usual age of majority, any law restricting the possession, sale or gift of guns or ammunition to persons under the age of majority or any other particular age, or to minors (since persons under the age of majority may have their disabilities of minority removed by a court), is also unconstitutional, unless the constitution explicitly includes a disability of the right to keep and bear arms among the disabilities of minority. The proper test for being "able-bodied" must involve meeting certain standards that are independent of age, such as skill, judgement, and level of maturity. It is possible for persons to be "able-bodied" at quite a young age, and the law must recognize that competence where it exists. All citizens above the age of majority would have to be presumed able-bodied unless they or the state petitioned a court to rule otherwise and it granted the petition. However, it would be constitutional to require a reasonable test of competence to citizens below the age of majority, and to issue credentials to those qualifying which they would be required to show when answering calls of the militia or, if the right to keep and bear arms were included among the rights disabled by minority, when bearing arms. Early removal of the disabilities of minority would then also remove the disabilities of the right to keep and bear arms. (20) The "full faith and credit" clause of the U.S. Constitution requires that persons issued a carry permit by one state must have that permit recognized in other states. This suggests a uniform standard for qualifying persons for issuance. REFERENCE: Stephen P. Halbrook, That Every Man be Armed, available from The Independent Institute, 134 98th Av, Oakland, CA 94603, 510/568-6047. Constitution Society, 6900 San Pedro #147-230, San Antonio, TX 78216, 210/224-2868 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!winternet.com!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: Summary of Const Rights, Powers & Duties (TMP03) Date: 23 Jan 1995 10:58:34 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 574 Message-ID: <3g024q$jut@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108516 alt.politics.libertarian:61989 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13791 alt.politics.reform:17962 SUMMARY OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, POWERS AND DUTIES Discussions of rights are sometimes confused concerning what are and are not rights of the people or powers of government or the duties of each. This is an attempt to summarize the rights, powers, and duties recognized or established in the U.S. Constitution, in Common Law as it existed at the time the U.S. Constitution was adopted, or as implied therein. Not included are certain "internal" rights and powers that pertain to the various elements of government within each level with respect to each other. Personhood:[1] "Persons" are one of the two main classes which are the subject of rights, powers, and duties, the other being "citizens". Persons may be "natural" or "corporate". "Citizens" are a subclass of "natural persons". Only persons have standing as parties under due process. Each government has the power to define what is and is not a "person" within its jurisdiction, subject to certain restrictions of Common Law and the Constitution, the 15th Amendment to which requires that it not exclude anyone based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Under Common Law existing at the time of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, "personhood" was considered to begin at natural birth and end with the cessation of the heartbeat. But technology has created a new situation, opening the way for statute or court decision to extend this definition and set the conditions under which personhood begins and ends. Each government may also establish, within its jurisdiction, "corporate persons" such as governmental entities, associations, corporations, or partnerships, in addition to the Common Law "natural" persons, but the "personhood" of such corporate entities is not created by the government. Its corporate personhood derives from the personhood of its members. Corporate persons must be aggregates of natural persons. Under Common Law, natural persons include only human beings, but provides a basis for inclusion of entities that are sufficiently like human beings in their behavior to be indistinguishable for legal purposes, such as aliens, androids, or genetically enhanced animals, which have interests, an ability to reason, and an ability to communicate. This would exclude, however, establishment of other things as persons, such as inanimate objects, which have no ability to represent themselves under due process. Inclusion of such inanimate objects as parties to civil due process, in effect making them "persons", has found its way into the U.S. legal system, unconstitutionally, through recent seizure/forfeiture statutes. Although not a well-developed area, there is also a basis for excluding entities which, although they are born to human beings, lack attributes which would enable them to be functionally human, such as some minimal level of cognitive capacity, but such beings must be considered natural persons as the default unless proven otherwise through due process. Citizenship: Citizenship is the attribute of persons who, as members of the polity, have certain privileges and duties in addition to those they have as persons. Citizens include those born on U.S. or State territory or naturalized according to law. Natural Rights: The classic definition of "natural rights" are "life, liberty, and property", but these need to be expanded somewhat. They are rights of "personhood", not "citizenship". These rights are not all equally basic, but form a hierarchy of derivation, with those listed later being generally derived from those listed earlier. Personal Security (Life): (1) Not to be killed. (2) Not to be injured or abused. Personal Liberty: (3) To move freely. (4) To assemble peaceably. (5) To keep and bear arms.[18] (6) To assemble in an independent well-disciplined[13] militia. (7) To communicate with the world. (8) To express or publish one's opinions or those of others. (9) To practice one's religion. (10) To be secure in one's person, house, papers, vehicle[15], and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures. (11) To enjoy privacy in all matters in which the rights of others are not violated.[7] Private Property: (12) To acquire, have and use the means necessary to exercise the above natural rights and pursue happiness, specifically including: (1) A private residence, from which others may be excluded. (2) Tools needed for one's livelihood. (3) Personal property, which others may be denied the use of. (4) Arms suitable for personal and community defense. Non-natural rights of personhood, created by social contract: (1) To enter into contracts, and thereby acquire contractual rights, to secure the means to exercise the above natural rights.[1][15] (2) To enjoy equally the rights, privileges and protections of personhood as established by law. (3) To petition an official for redress of grievances and get action thereon in accordance with law, subject to the resources available thereto. (4) To petition a legislator and get consideration thereof, subject to resources available thereto. (5) To petition a court for redress of grievances and get a decision thereon, subject to resources available thereto. (6) Not to have one's natural rights individually disabled except through due process of law, which includes: (a) In criminal prosecutions: (1) Not to be charged for a major crime but by indictment by a Grand Jury, except while serving in the military, or while serving in the Militia during time of war or public danger. (2) Not to be charged more than once for the same offense. (3) Not to be compelled to testify against oneself. (4) Not to have excessive bail required. (5) To be tried by an impartial jury from the state and district in which the events took place. (6) To have a jury of at least six for a misdemeanor, and at least twelve for a felony.[1] (6) To a speedy trial. (7) To a public trial. (8) To have the assistence of an attorney of one's choice. (9) To be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation. (10) To be confronted with the witnesses against one. (11) To have compulsory process for obtaining favorable witnesses. (12) To have each charge proved beyond a reasonable doubt.[1] (13) To have a verdict by a unanimous vote of the jury, which shall not be held to account for its verdict.[1] (14) To have the jury decide on both the facts of the case and the constitutionality, jurisdiction, and applicability of the law.[1] (15) Upon conviction, to have each disablement separately and explicitly proven as justified and necessary based on the facts and verdict.[1] (16) To have a sentence which explicitly states all disablements, and is final in that once rendered no further disablements may be imposed for the same offense.[1] (17) Not to have a cruel or unusual punishment inflicted upon oneself. (b) In civil cases: (1) To trial by an impartial jury from the state and district in which the events took place [1] where the issue in question is either a natural right [1] or property worth more than $20. (2) In taking of one's property for public use, to be given just compensation therefor. (3) To have compulsory process for obtaining favorable witnesses.[1] (c) In all cases: (1) To have process only upon legal persons able to defend themselves, either natural persons or corporate persons that are represented by a natural person as agent, and who are present, competent, and duly notified, except, in cases of disappearance or abandonment, after public notice and a reasonable period of time.[1] (2) Not to be ordered to give testimony or produce evidence beyond what is necessary to the proper conduct of the process.[1] Non-natural rights or citizenship, created by social contract: (1) To enjoy equally the rights and privileges of citizenship as established by law. (2) To vote in elections that are conducted fairly and honestly, by secret ballot. (3) To exercise general police powers to defend the community and enforce the laws, subject to legal orders of higher-ranking officials.[17] (4) To receive militia training.[7] Disabilities of minority:[1] Certain of the above rights are restricted, or "disabled", for minors, but the definition of who is a minor and the extent to which each of these rights are disabled for minors, is limited to the jurisdiction over which each government has general legislative authority, which for the U.S. government, is "federal ground" (see below). Minors are the only class of persons whose rights may be disabled without a need to justify the disablement as arising from the need to resolve a conflict with the rights of others, either through statute or due process. The disablement consists of the assignment of a power to supervise the exercise of the rights under the headings of "liberty" and "property" listed above to a guardian, by default the parents, who acts as agent of the State for the purpose of nurturing the minor. The disability is normally removed by statute providing for removal when a certain age, such as 18, or condition, such as marriage, is attained. The disabilities of minority can also be removed earlier by court order or, if statute allows, extended beyond the usual statutory expiration by court order in cases of incompetence. The right to vote is not included among the disabilities of minority, but is defined separately by law, so that removal of the disabilities of minority does not in itself affect having the right to vote. Constitutional duties of persons under U.S. or State jurisdiction:[7] (1) To obey laws that are constitutional and applied within their proper jurisdiction and according to their intent. (2) To comply with the terms of legal contracts to which one is a party. (3) To tell the truth under oath. Constitutional duties of citizens under U.S. or State jurisdiction:[7] (1) To preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.[6] (2) To help enforce laws and practices that are constitutional and applied within their proper jurisdiction and according to their intent, and to resist those which are not. (3) To serve on juries, and to render verdicts according to the constitutionality, jurisdiction, and applicability of statute and common law, and the facts of the case. Constitutional duties of able-bodied citizens under U.S. or State jurisdiction:[7] (1) To defend the U.S. or State, individually and through service in the Militia. (2) To keep and bear arms.[18] (3) To exercise general police powers to defend the community and enforce the laws, subject to legal orders of higher-ranking officials when present.[17] Powers delegated to U.S. (Federal) Government: (1) Exclusive powers (1) To lay and collect import duties.[8] (2) To pay the debts of the U.S. Government. (3) To regulate commerce with foreign nations and Indian Tribes. (4) To regulate commerce among the States.[2] (5) To regulate immigration.[7] (6) To establish a uniform rule of naturalization. (7) To establish uniform laws on bankruptcy throughout the United States. (8) To coin money and regulate its value and that of foreign coin, and to issue bills of credit. (9) To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States.[3] (10) To fix the standard of weights and measures. (11) To provide and regulate postal services. (12) To establish protection for intellectual property, including patent, copyright, and trademark rights. (13) To constitute lower federal courts. (14) To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the laws of nations.[3] (15) To declare war, authorize warlike activities by other than the armed forces, and make rules concerning captures. (16) To raise, support and regulate the armed forces. (17) To govern what part of the Militia shall be employed in the service of the United States. (18) To exercise general Legislation[9] over federal ground, which is limited to federal territories and districts, land purchased from states with the consent of their legislatures, U.S. flag vessels on the high seas, and the grounds of U.S. embassies abroad. (19) To guarantee a republican form[12] of government to the States. [3] (20) To enter into a treaty, alliance, or confederation with a foreign state. (21) To declare the punishment for treason.[3] (22) To prescribe the manner in which the acts, records, and judicial proceedings of each state shall be proved to other states and what should be done about them. (23) To admit new states into the Union. (24) To make laws necessary and proper for executing the powers delegated to the U.S. government. (2) Pre-emptive but non-exclusive powers (1) To provide for the common defense and general welfare. (2) To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the laws, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions.[16] (3) To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia. (4) To prescribe the times, places and manner of holding elections for members of Congress, except the places for electing senators. (5) To conduct a census every ten years. (3) Non-pre-emptive non-exclusive powers (1) To lay and collect excise taxes on commerce or income taxes on persons.[8] (2) To borrow money. Restrictions of the powers of the Federal Government: (1) No exercise of powers not delegated to it by the Constitution. (2) No payment from the Treasury except under appropriations made by law. (3) Excises and duties must be uniform throughout the United States. (4) Shall pass no tax or duty on articles exported from any state.[5] (5) No appointment of a senator or representative to any civil office which was created while he was a member of Congress or for which the amount of compensation was increased during that period. (6) No preferences to the ports of one state over another in regulation or tax collection. (7) No titles of nobility shall be granted by the U.S. government, or permitted to be granted to government officials by foreign states. (8) May not protect a State against domestic violence without the request of its legislature, unless it cannot be convened, in which case, without the consent of its executive. (9) U.S. courts do not have jurisdiction over suits against a state by citizens of another state or foreign country. Powers delegated to State Governments: (1) Exclusive powers (1) To appoint persons to fill vacancies in the U.S. Congress from that state and to hold special elections to replace them. State executive may make temporary appointments if state legislature in recess and until they reconvene, when they shall appoint a temporary replacement. (2) To appoint the officers of its Militia.[11] (3) To conduct the training of its Militia.[12] (2) Non-exclusive powers[4] (1) To prescribe the times, places and manner of holding elections for members of Congress.[10] Restrictions of the powers of the State Governments: (1) State constitutions and laws may not conflict with any provision of the U.S. Constitution or U.S. laws pursuant to it.[7] (2) May not exercise powers not delegated to the State government by the State Constitution.[7] (3) May not make anything but gold or silver coin a tender in payment of debts. (4) May not pass a law impairing the obligation of contracts. (5) May not grant a title of nobility. (6) May not collect imposts or duties on imports or exports without consent of Congress, except fees necessary to cover the costs of inspections and paid to the U.S. Treasury.[8] (7) May not lay a duty on tonnage. (8) May not keep troops or ships of war in time of peace or make war without the consent of Congress, unless actually invaded and in imminent danger that does not admit of delay. (9) May not make a compact or agreement with another state of the U.S. or with a foreign state without the consent of Congress. Duties of the State Governments: (1) Must provide a republican form[12] of government to their citizens.[7] (2) Must conduct honest and fair elections, by secret ballot.[7] (3) Must give full faith and credit to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state, and recognize the privileges and immunities granted thereby. (4) Must extradict a person charged with a crime in another state to that state. (5) Must organize and train their militias.[7] Restrictions of the powers of all Governments: (1) Shall not disable any natural or constitutional right without due process of law, and then only to the extent necessary to avoid infringing the rights of others. (2) Shall not deny any person within its jurisdiction equal protection of the laws. (3) Shall not suspend habeas corpus, except in case of rebellion of invasion and the public safety may require it. (4) Shall not issue a search warrant but on probably cause, supported by an oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized. (5) Shall not arrest members of Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace, while their house is in session. (6) Shall not question a member of Congress on anything he says during a speech or debate in his house. (7) Shall not pass any bill of attainder or ex post facto law. (8) Shall allow no slavery or involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime of which the party shall have been duly convicted. (9) Shall not deny or abridge the right to vote to any person on account of race, color, previous condition of servitude, sex, for failure to pay any tax, or on account of age if older than 18. Some arguably needed federal powers: (1) To regulate the manufacture, distribution, operation, and disposition of aircraft and spacecraft, the regulation of their crews, and the definition and punishment of crimes committed on U.S. registered aircraft or spacecraft or on aircraft or spacecraft operating in U.S. airspace. (2) To regulate cabled or wireless communications beyond a distance of 1 kilometer. (3) To regulate the production, distribution, and use of nuclear energy, and electric energy transmitted more than 1 kilometer. (4) To limit tort liability on commerce and commercial articles subject to U.S. regulation of their manufacture. (5) To pre-emptively pass and enforce laws needed to conserve wildlife and natural resources, to protect the climate and natural environment, to prevent an excess of population, and to regulate public health and workplace safety. (6) To provide for the punishment of abuses of power by any official, agent, or employee of, or contractor for, any institution of government, and specifically any violations of the Constitution and laws pursuant thereto. (7) To provide for the punishment of abuses of the natural rights of persons by other persons, in the event that those abuses, if the occurred on state ground, are not prosecuted by a State government. (8) To define "due process" to include the elements given above which are not now explicit in the U.S. Constitution. (9) To define the arms to which persons have a right to keep and bear as including "all those weapons which may be carried by one person and which might be useful or necessary to defend oneself or the community, except weapons of mass destruction such as bombs, heavy missiles or artillery, or biological, chemical, or nuclear agents which may cause lasting injury or death." (10) To make explicit that only natural persons or corporate persons composed of natural persons may be the subject of due process in any civil or criminal proceeding. NOTES: [1] This is established in Common Law at the time the U.S. Constitution was adopted, but is not explicit in the U.S. Constitution. [2] Originally, "commerce" meant only transfers of goods or services for a valuable consideration, so that "interstate" commerce would not include interstate migration, carrying across a state border of one's own possessions that one intends to keep, the sending across a state border of a gift or inheritance, nor include articles which had not yet crossed a state border, or articles which had "come to rest" with the completion of the transfer. It would not include manufacturing, local sales, or things that are "part of an aggregate" of interstate commerce, or things that might "affect" interstate commerce. Note also that the power to regulate does not include the power to criminally prosecute violations of regulations, but only to seize property through civil process. [3] These are the only provisions that allow federal criminal laws jurisdiction outside federal ground. [4] These powers, if not exercised by the State, revert to the people. [5] This provision would seem to forbid taxes on interstate commerce if export to another state of the U.S. is included, leaving only intrastate commerce or commerce on federal ground subject to excise taxes or duties, although interstate commerce can otherwise be regulated. [6] This means obeying constitutional laws and practices, and resisting unconstitutional ones. [7] This is not clearly stated, but implied. [8] The power to tax is not the power to regulate or license, and vice versa. That is why the powers to tax and to regulate are separately specified. With one exception, which is never used (in Art. 1 Sec. 10), no allowance is made for the charging of fees to cover the costs of regulation, even though this has become a common practice, in violation of the Constitution. [9] This use of the word "Legislation" is a term of art which grants general powers within its jurisdiction, including powers of criminal and civil law that a State might exercise within its jurisdiction, but unlike a State in that a State would be restricted by a state consti- tution granting it only certain powers. This is a major gap in the Constitution. Although it applies only to federal ground, it also does not make clear what are the limitations on such legislative power, other than the natural and constitutional rights of persons, and so has been interpreted to allow anything that does not violate those rights. There is a need for a federal sub-constitution, similar to a typical state constitution, that applies to federal ground. [10] The wording suggests that the States have the power, but allows the Congress to pre-empt it. [11] But this implies that if the State fails to appoint such officers, local militias are left to elect their own, which was the established Common Law practice at the time the U.S. Constitution was adopted. [11] But "according to the discipline prescribed by Congress". This means Congress can direct, but not forbid it, and implies that, in the absence of any training conducted by the State, local militias are left to organize and train themselves, which was the established Common Law practice established at the time the U.S. Constitution was adopted. [12] The term used is "form" of government, but the Framers seem to have meant substance as well, and that is reasonably implied. [13] The original term was "well-regulated", but this is what was meant. Militias were originally local and independent of official authority, and it was intended that although they be subject to official authority when called into service by such authority, that they also be able to convene and operate independently when not. [14] "Vehicle" was not explicitly included, but implied as an "effect". [15] This is needed to allow persons not only to have rights but the means to exercise them, and also to acquire those means if they do not already have them, without which the right would be unduly burdened. However, beyond this right, the community has the general power to restrict contracts for reasons of public policy and not just to avoid conflicts with the rights of others, so that there is not a general "right" of contract, but a "default privilege" of doing so, subject to law, for contracts that do not involve securing the means to exercise their natural rights. [16] This is worded as "to execute the Laws of the Union", thus allowing States to also call forth their Militias to execute their own laws. [17] The exercise of general police powers is both a right of citizens, and a duty of able-bodied ones. All citizens are policemen, although ordinary citizens may be outranked by professional police officers when such officers are present in a law enforcement situation. [18] Likewise, the keeping and bearing of arms, while a right of persons, is also a duty of able-bodied citizens. FURTHER COMMENT: Note that there is no right to marry or bear children included among any of the rights listed above. It is not a "natural" right, because natural rights are only rights of individuals, and exercise of a "right" to marry, without the consent of the other, would be an assault. Since consent is required, it is a matter of contract, and contractual rights are created by the community, even if it is a "community" of only two persons. Since the community is normally a larger polity, and since all legal contracts are agreements not only between the contracting parties, but also with the entire community, therefore the community has the power to regulate marriage and childbirth, and has exercised that power since time immemorial, for the benefit of the community. Note also that the fundamental unit of the social contract is the local community or village. These may aggregate into a larger "state" or "federal union", but the basis is agreement among those who are in direct contact with one another. It is sometimes thought that "the Constitution" consists only of the written document. This is not so. The title "The Constitution of the United States" was added after the document was adopted, but "constitution" meant the "basic legal order", and the Constitution consists of both the written document and the common law at the time the document was adopted, which is here referred to as the Common Law in caps. Now, the written document does supersede the Common Law where they might be in conflict, but it does not replace it, and courts must refer to the Common Law for guidance where the written document is silent or ambiguous. In addition to the written document and the Common Law, the Constitution also includes Treaties, which, although they are valid only insofar as they are not in conflict with the written Constitution, are superior to both the Common Law and to State constitutions and laws, to the extent that those might be in conflict with the Treaties. Thus, some of the Treaties that have been adopted extend and clarify some of the rights, powers, and duties provided in the written Constitution. For example, that is how "federal ground" is extended to include coastal waters out to a certain distance from shore, and the grounds of U.S. embassies abroad, and how the rights of the people are amplified by the Charter of the United Nations and by various bilateral and multilateral Treaties that extend civil and commercial rights to U.S. citizens abroad. The following diagram can help clarify the relationship among the various elements of law in the U.S. legal system. Each element is superior to the one below it, although state constitutions are derived from their people, not from the U.S. Constitution. Although not shown, each box also includes the body of writings and recorded speeches of the legislators, diplomats, and judges who wrote the constitutions, treaties, laws, and court decisions, which clarify their intent, and which must be accepted as the basis of interpreting the words when there is confusion or dispute over their meaning. +--------THE U.S. CONSTITUTION---------+ | +------------------------------+ | | | Written Constitution | | | +------------------------------+ | | | | | +------------------------------+ | | | Treaties | | | +------------------------------+ | | | | | +------------------------------+ | | | Common Law | | | +------------------------------+ | +--------------------------------------+ | +------------------V-------------------+ | Laws Pursuant to U.S. Constitution | +--------------------------------------+ | +--------------------------------------+ | common law since adoption | +--------------------------------------+ +----------STATE CONSTITUTION----------+ | +------------------------------+ | | | Written Constitution | | | +------------------------------+ | | | | | +------------------------------+ | | | Compacts With Other States | | | +------------------------------+ | | | | | +------------------------------+ | | | Common Law | | | +------------------------------+ | +--------------------------------------+ | +------------------V-------------------+ | Laws Pursuant to State Constitution | +--------------------------------------+ | +--------------------------------------+ | common law since adoption | +--------------------------------------+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!winternet.com!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: Constitutionalists Organize (TMP07) Date: 23 Jan 1995 11:00:42 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 131 Message-ID: <3g028q$jut@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108517 alt.politics.libertarian:61990 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13792 alt.politics.reform:17963 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE INFO: JON ROLAND 210/224-2868 CONSTITUTIONALISTS ORGANIZE SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, APRIL 2, 1994 -- A number of persons dedicated to the strict enforcement of the U.S. and State Constitutions has formed three new organizations. The first two are the Constitution Society and the Constitution Foundation. The purposes of the Constitution Foundation, which will seek tax- deductible status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, are: 1. To practice the secular religion variously known as constitutionalism, republicanism, liberal humanism, or democratic libertarianism, being the body of political belief which embraces the principles on which the Constitution of the United States was founded. 2. To conduct research and public education on how to interpret these principles and apply them to the development and administration of law and the operations of government, and to ordinary life, whether in the United States of America, or in any other country whose political institutions are organized on similar principles. 3. To cultivate and practice the skills of republican self- government, including parliamentary procedure, legal due process, executive administration, political campaigning, investigative reporting, militia operations, law enforcement, disaster management, and community organization. 4. To promote skill in the use of, and proper respect for, the principal articles of devotion in this secular religion, namely the arms suitable for defense of the community, the individual, and the Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic. 5. To formulate, but not advocate, amendments to the Constitution of the United States, and to the constitutions or charters of other nations, which meet the needs of changing circumstances while preserving the principles and protecting the natural rights which are the basis for any well-written constitution. The Constitution Society has the same purposes, plus three others: 6. To resist and oppose any laws, administrative practices, executive actions, court decisions, or political or social customs, which violate constitutional principles in the United States or any other country, and in particular the Constitution of the United States as it was intended by its Framers. 7. To offer support for any persons who may be the victims of tyranny or political oppression, and to seek justice for them and for their causes. 8. To promote and support the celebration of April 19 of each year as Militia Day, in commemoration of those brave patriots who have served in their militias in defense of freedom and the principles of constitutional law. However, such purposes shall not include advocacy of any particular social or economic policy, other than adherence to constitutional principles. The founders of these organizations felt that although there are other organizations dedicated to the restoration of constitutional governance, most of them had other economic or social agendas which distracted them from the primary mission. In the words of one of the founders, Jon Roland, "We want a set of organizations where people of all political persuasions can feel comfortable, not just libertarians and conservatives, but also liberals and environmentalists. The only thing they need agree on is that if there is some power that government needs to solve some problem, then the Constitution needs to be amended first to give it that power, and amended in a way that does not infringe on our natural rights. For the past 60 years it has been a great temptation, when faced with difficult problems, and when advocates of solutions to those problems could muster only enough support to pass laws but not enough to adopt constitutional amendments, to simply go ahead and pass the laws, then count on compliant judges to ignore the Constitution and allow those laws to stand. The result is a legal mess. It is time to go back and clean up the mess." One of the projects of the Constitution Foundation and Constitution Society, Roland said, will be to systematically review the entire United States Code, identifying all those sections and clauses that violate the Constitution as it was intended by the Framers, regardless of whether we may agree with them or not. Also formed at the same time is the Texas Militia Correspondence Committee. It's purposes are: 1. When the Texas Militia is not called to duty by the President of the United States or the Governor of Texas, to coordinate the activities of independent local militia units throughout the State of Texas with one another and with military, law enforcement, disaster control, and other public service organizations, and with similar coordinating organizations in other states. 2. When the Texas Militia is called to duty by the President of the United States or the Governor of Texas, to assist in the coordination of Militia activities in accordance with laws of the United States Congress, and under the direction of officers appointed by the Governor of Texas, under the authority of Article I Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States, and in accordance with any laws of the Texas Legislature, under the authority of provisions of the Constitution of the State of Texas governing the Texas Militia. 3. In the absence of the organization, arming, and disciplining of the Militia as provided in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States, to do such of that as is feasible to voluntary efforts by patriotic citizens. In explaining the Texas Militia Correspondence Committee, Roland said, "The only federal law on the Militia is 10 USC 311, which defines it but does not mandate the States to carry out the organization and training provided for in Article I Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, nor require able-bodied citizens to keep and bear arms as did the Militia Act of 1792, which required each able-bodied male citizen to keep a musket or firelock. That Act needs to be brought up to date. In the absence of federal or state leadership, it is up to citizens to organize and train themselves in each local community." Roland went on to explain that the Framers of the Constitution envisioned the maintenance of a Militia system something like that of Switzerland. "Such a Militia system," said Roland, "serves not only to prepare the people to resist invasion or cope with disasters, but to bind the people together into communities for all kinds of civic activities. In this age in which too many people don't know their own next door neighbors, it is time to break down the barriers of anonymity and rebuild the community spirit on which our society depends. Able-bodied citizens should be expected to perform regular civic duties in much the way the perform jury duty. The Constitutional framework for doing that is the Militia." Roland explained that he hoped that similar correspondence committees would be set up in other states. These organizations will be sponsoring Militia Day, to be celebrated on April 19 of each year in commemoration of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, in which local militias resisted an attempt by British troops to disarm them, and thereby started the American Revolution. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!winternet.com!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: '94 Militia Day Brochure (TMP08) Date: 23 Jan 1995 11:02:43 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 146 Message-ID: <3g02cj$jut@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108518 alt.politics.libertarian:61991 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13793 alt.politics.reform:17964 Alamo Area Militia Day Leadership Conference April 19, 1994 What: A meeting of all citizens of the counties surrounding and including Bexar County with an interest in organizing and training local militia units in their areas. Under the U.S. Constitution, the Militia are all citizens able to carry arms in defense of the State, who may be called to duty by the President or the Governor of the State, together with such other citizens as may wish to participate. Each member of the Militia is expected to provide his or her own weapon and ammunition for it, and other equipment. During this century, the implementation of the provisions of the U.S. Constitution which call for Militia training have been neglected, and our purpose will be to revive this tradition and fulfill the intent of the Framers. Where: The present plan is to meet in San Antonio on the median of the unfinished portion of Hwy 151 south of Westover Hills Road, near the entrance to Sea World, on the southwest side of San Antonio. From there we may go to the Bullet Hole, a shooting range. To get there take US 90 past Loop 1604. Take the first right turn, which is Grosenbacher Road, and go about 2 miles. It has a $5.00 charge. We will not be meeting in a city park as previously planned. These sites are subject to change, however, so be alert to late announcements or call the phone number shown below. When: Beginning at 6:00 AM and continuing through late afternoon. Try not to be later than 8:00 AM. If you have to work and can't stay all day, at least be there from 6:00 to 8:00 AM. Why April 19: On April 19, 1775, the American Revolution began with the battle of Lexington and Concord, when local militias resisted the attempt by British soldiers to seize their stocks of weapons. It is also the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during World War II, and of the final assault on Mount Carmel. It is also close to the anniversary of the battle of San Jacinto, where on April 21, 1836, the Texas Militia defeated the Army of Mexico. We commemorate these events, and seek to establish April 19 of each year as a national holiday for persons reporting for militia duty. Where to park: Along the roadway, clear of the pavement. If the ground is wet, check it first to avoid getting stuck. What to bring: One rifle or shotgun, with ammunition, but unloaded. No handguns or other weapons than short knives, except for those used in training demonstrations. Comfortable footwear and headgear. Knapsack to carry lunch and gear, and to carry out trash. Canteen. U.S. and Texas flags. Relevant books and training manuals. There will be no latrines, so plan accordingly. Training topics: The morning will be devoted to organizing participants into groups who will take turns studying and discussing various topics: home and community defense, disaster prevention and recovery, safe use and storage of weapons, weapons laws, constitutional law, jury rights and duties, organizing local militia units, assistance to law enforcement, crime prevention, citizen arrest powers and procedures, resistance to illegal authority, field medicine, neighborhood patrols, neighborhood alert systems and communications, working with troubled youth, investigating crime, uncovering official corruption and election fraud, military drill and manual of arms, march music. Especially needed: We have invited the Texas National Guard, Texas Rangers, Bexar County Sheriff, and San Antonio Police to provide instructors in some of the above areas, but they are busy during this period, so we need persons with special expertise to lead the seminars and discussion groups and provide training. We could use experts in constitutional law and history, militia history, electronics and communications, surveillance technology, public information, CPR and first aid, field medicine, improvised munitions, and ballistics. Extras needed: Portable public address system with batteries, musical instruments suitable for marching (such as fife and drum), video cameras with extra batteries and tapes, signs and signmaking materials, banners, voting precinct maps, portable CB radios, ham radio equipment, portable computers, sample election materials. Things to read: U.S. and Texas Constitutions, Halbrook: That Every Man Be Armed, Norval: The Militia in the 20th Century, Collier & Collier: Votescam, Ayoob: The Truth About Self- Protection, In the Gravest Extreme, StressFire, Gottlieb: The Rights of Gun Owners, U.S. Army Manual of Drill and Manual of Arms. We will expect everyone to be able to memorize the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 10th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the relevant provisions of Article I Section 8. Also, bring any other relevant books, manuals, or articles that you think would contribute to this event. Discipline: All participants will be subject to Militia Discipline. There is to be no alcohol and no littering. Participants are discouraged from displaying paramilitary trappings where they may be seen by news media. Persons who take any action that may endanger anyone or that may tend to discredit this gathering will be ejected and in extreme cases may be subject to arrest. Spread the word: Make copies of this announcement and try to get as many people to come as you can. Try to get people of all kinds, from every neighborhood and walk of life. Notify your local media. If you can, begin in advance to organize a local militia and get them to come as a unit. We would especially like to see women, older children, and members of minority groups. Political Action: For those who wish to do so, the afternoon will be devoted to political protests of violations of the U.S. and State Constitutions, including visits to public officials and a march to demonstrate our commitment. For information: This event is being called by the Texas Militia Correspondence Committee and the Constitution Society, both at 6900 San Pedro #147-230, San Antonio, TX 78216, 210/224-2868. About the Constitution Society: It is a non-profit action organization dedicated to making government conform to constitutional principles, as embodied in the Constitution of the United States according to the original intent of its Framers, and their writings and speeches. It is not limited to the United States, but seeks to establish or restore constitutional principles everywhere. It has no social or economic agenda, and is not for or against any law or government program or activity except insofar as it conforms to the Constitution of the nation and state. Dues are $50.00 per year. About the Texas Militia Correspondence Committee: It is to coordinate local independent militias throughout the State of Texas and assist them in meeting and training, in the absence of legislation and direction at the state or national level. If the Governor or President were to call up the Militia, it would assist in complying with the callup. It also serves as a point of contact with correspondence committees in other states. At present, members are self-appointed, but it is planned that it will eventually be elected by county militia commanders, who will in turn be elected by precinct militia commanders. Remember: The Militia consists of all able-bodied citizens, together with such others as wish to participate. It is not a private association or some select subset of the people. The Militia has the constitutional right to assemble bearing arms. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!winternet.com!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: '94 Militia Day Letter (TMP09) Date: 23 Jan 1995 11:04:04 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 121 Message-ID: <3g02f4$jut@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108521 alt.politics.libertarian:61996 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13794 alt.politics.reform:17965 Texas Militia Correspondence Committee 6900 San Pedro #147-230 San Antonio, TX 78216 210/224-2868 94/04/12 Fellow Patriot: The past year has been an eventful one, but it is only the prelude to events to come. We are at the turning point in a historic course, and must make a choice. We call upon you to join with us and assemble on April 19 as a militia. Not just a rally of enthusiasts or protesters, or of some select group of leaders, but of such of the Militia as we can get to come, conscious of ourselves being the Militia, and met with the purpose to fulfill the intent of the Framers of the Constitution that the Militia should be kept organized and trained. Let us pause for a moment to consider the significance of that. Local militias meet now, in private places, away from public attention. We will be meeting in the heart of a major metropolitan area, in full view of the world. We don't have to do anything. Merely meeting as the Militia, peacefully and openly, will send a message: The American Revolution began with an attempt by the government to disarm the people. It could happen again. During the past year we have explored the available bulwarks against tyranny. Some have bemoaned how the people, seduced by promises of security, seem unwilling to elect officials who will enforce the Constitution as it was intended to be enforced by its Framers. We have worked to elect better candidates. But now we find that even if they voted otherwise, the election is likely to be rigged to elect candidates chosen not by the people but by an oligarchy of powerful interests. We have vested hope in juries to refuse to render verdicts that enforce unconstitutional or misapplied laws, but have seen how juries can be controlled to suit the purposes of those in power. We look around us to try to find institutions we can trust, but everywhere we turn, we find that those institutions are controlled by people in key positions that are accountable not to the people or to their shareholders or to the law, but to a chain of command that leads to persons unknown. All of our constitutional rights are threatened by a relentless subversion of that rule of law without which there can be no security, no justice, and finally, no peace. But in special peril the very week we propose to celebrate Militia Day is our right to keep and bear arms and our right to assemble peacefully as a Militia. Bills before Congress are scheduled then for a vote that would finally confront thousands, perhaps millions, of American citizens with being made outlaws by the stroke of a pen, confronted with the decision to either surrender our arms or resist against overwhelming force. On April 19 of last year, more than 80 persons died in the kind of confrontation that may be faced by hundreds of thousands of patriot groups, mostly single families. Standing alone, with no one to come to their aid, to avenge them, or even in many cases to bear witness to their fate, they stand little chance. Unless the Militia organizes. That is what the Powers That Be fear most. It's not crime, or public health. It's all about power. As long as we have the possibility of uniting and resisting them, they remain threatened, and they foresee events that will reveal them and shake the foundations of public order on which their control depends. They are preparing for those events, and so must we. It is time for the Militia to awaken. To organize. To train. And in so doing, to make it unnecessary to have a confrontation. By our numbers and our discipline, by our invulnerability to control by any key people among us, and by the sympathy we will gain from people throughout the fabric of government, the military, law enforcement, and the media, we will position ourselves for a stalemate on the field of force. They will know that we cannot be divided or attacked a few at a time, and that in a general confrontation they could not prevail. By thus establishing a balance of power, we win. For their power depends on growth. When they cannot gather more power to themselves, their power will falter and break up into factions that will no longer be able to act in concert against the people. Therefore, it is important that every one of you attend. This letter is being sent to more than 500 persons. If each of you can bring 5 others, we can get the attention of the world. If you love your country and its Constitution, it is time for you to act. We propose to you an oath or affirmation: "I swear/affirm that I will preserve, protect, and defend the Earth, the Nation and its Constitution, the State and its Constitution, and the Community, against all enemies, foreign or domestic; and that I will make an independent determination of the constitutionality and applicability of all laws and official acts with which I may become involved, without being unduly influenced by any official or superior, and that I will obey or assist in the enforcement of those which are constitutional and applicable, and resist those that are not, regardless of personal consequences." By dawn's early light have patriots ever met to defend their liberties. Now is the time. Do not fail, or in times to come you will regret that you were not there, when history was made. Jon Roland Member, Texas Militia Correspondence Committee When you come bring information about yourself on a sheet of paper, or send it before you come to the above address. We need your name, address, phone, weapon of choice, skills, resources, and what you feel you can contribute. There could be a last minute change of meeting site. Call the above phone number before you come. It will have an announcement of any changes. If we do there will be a sign or person at the site to redirect you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!winternet.com!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: Fed Actions Against '94 Militia Day (TMP10) Date: 23 Jan 1995 11:06:01 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 156 Message-ID: <3g02ip$jut@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108522 alt.politics.libertarian:61997 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13795 alt.politics.reform:17966 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE INFO: JON ROLAND 210/224-2868 CONSTITUTIONAL MILITIA MEETS. FEDS GO BALLISTIC SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, APRIL 17, 1994 -- A callup of the constitutional militia for Bexar and surrounding counties has been set for Hwy 151 at the entrance to Sea World at 6:00 AM on April 19, 1994. According to Jon Roland, one of the people who issued the callup under the aegis of the Texas Militia Correspondence Committee, "April 19 is the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, when, in 1775, British troops sent to confiscate colonial arms were met by the colonial militia, who fired the 'shot heard 'round the world' that started the American War of Independence." "The Framers of the U.S. Constitution envisioned that the militia, which consists of all able-bodied citizens, plus any other citizens who wish to volunteer, would be the mainstay of defense of the nation, much as it is in Switzerland, which has a very small army but where everyone receives military training and is organized to respond to emergencies of all kinds", said Roland. "The Framers also wanted the militia kept ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution against abuses by government officials, as one of the checks on excessive governmental power, and as a bulwark against tyranny." "Unfortunately," said Roland, "the militia has been allowed to fall in disuse, and power has become concentrated in the national government and in a huge defense establishment, which now threatens the liberties of the people in ways they were once threatened by foreign countries." "It is time to revive the constitutional militia," said Roland. "To do that, since there is no initiative coming from state government, we have decided to have the militia start calling up itself. It can do that in the absence of a callup by the Governor or the President. Obviously, without official backing, we won't get everyone to come to the muster, but even if we only get a few, this thing can grow from year to year as public awareness grows." "It is important to realize," Roland said, "that the National Guard is not the militia. It is organized as part of the Army, and as such, while being part of the militia, as all able- bodied citizens are, it is not the whole of it. It is the rest of it that needs to be organized, for such purposes as civil defense, disaster control, crime control, and other civic purposes." "Unfortunately," added Roland, "Federal authorities have decided to oppose this effort, and are doing everything they can to prevent us from meeting." Roland explained that he and other organizers made every effort to reach out to local, state and National Guard officials to join in helping make this effort succeed, by providing speakers and instructors. "At first they seemed supportive of the idea, but then suddenly the support was cut off and turned to opposition", Roland said. The meeting was first planned to meet in Olmos Park, but then organizers were told that the area selected "was not an area that could be reserved, and therefore meeting there would not be permitted." When the plan was changed to meet in San Pedro Park, which was founded under a charter that does not allow restrictions on access, the City of San Antonio invoked its Ordinance 79328, which was motivated by youth gang violence and forbids the carrying of firearms in public parks, and told the organizers that they would be arrested if they met with their firearms. Roland commented, "Well, if they are going to arrest anyone carrying a firearm in a public park, they aren't doing their jobs, because scores of people carry firearms in Olmos Park every day at the San Antonio Gun Club, which is on park grounds. What we are doing has a lot more civic value than guys shooting skeet. This is selective enforcement." "We then decided to move the meeting site to Hwy 151, at the entrance to Sea World," said Roland, "because we need a large open area on public land. This unfinished expressway makes a good place to train. It has a gravel surface that won't get soggy if it rains." When asked to cite examples of how this effort is being opposed by federal authorities, Roland said, "On Monday, April 11, a male voice called the office where I was working in the Tower Life Building, and asked the receptionist in which office I work. She told him. Two days later, someone entered the office in the middle of the night and stole my computer. They knew exactly which one it was. It was not an ordinary burglary. There were plenty of other things in that and other offices that could have been taken that were more valuable. It shows the classic M.O. of a federal 'black bag' operation. It also shows their incompetence. They failed to take the power supply. They don't seem to know that computers need electricity to run." Roland went on, "On Friday, members of the San Antonio Police Department visited the office to 'look for explosives'. It was not a real search. Clearly just harassment. They mentioned that they had received an 'intelligence briefing' on Roland which portrayed him as some kind of 'mad bomber'." "Clearly," Roland said, "they have begun the classic pattern of trying to demonize and discredit a leader of a dissident group by spreading disinformation about him". Roland added, "I am really upset that they couldn't come up with something more original. No one who knows anything about me is going to believe nonsense like that. The last time I had anything to do with explosives was when I was ten years old and set off some firecrackers under a can." "Now, if they had claimed that I am some kind of space alien, they might have gotten somewhere. A few of my friends could believe that," he chuckled. "If they're going to tell lies about me," Roland said, "at least let's have some that are entertaining and imaginative." Roland went on to mention that this is not the first such effort. "Militia units have assembled before here in Texas. They march in holiday parades, stage historical reinactments, and do other useful things. This is just one more effort of the same kind." When asked what might have prompted federal authorities to try to orchestrate this kind of opposition, Roland said, "Well, we have done several things lately that might have gotten their attention. First, we're not just doing this locally. I put out a call over the Internet to the entire United States to do this kind of thing everywhere, to make Militia Day a national holiday. Apparently, there are groups all over the country doing similar things, independently, but in concert." The second thing he did that might have aroused their attention, Roland said, was to post and email excerpts of a book called _Votescam: The Stealing of America_, by James and Kenneth Collier, to people and news organizations all around the world, over the Internet. The excerpts indicate that most computerized elections in the United States can be rigged whenever the Powers That Be wish to do so, and that Attorney General Janet Reno participated in the coverup of one such rigged election in Florida. The third thing he did, Roland said, was to spread the word over the Internet about a federal agent who disclosed in an overheard conversation that the massacre of the Branch Davidians at Mount Carmel on April 19, 1993, was intentional. "The reasons were budgetary, according to this agent," said Roland. "The siege was becoming too costly for them, so they decided to cut their costs by cutting off the lives of the Davidians." Roland added, "this source indicated, though not clearly, that federal agents lied to Attorney General Janet Reno about the plan they intended to carry out. The plan they presented to her was not the real plan." "So the question is," Roland said, "why is she now participating in the coverup?" "I have been a very bad boy", chuckled Roland. "They probably wanted my computer to try to find out where I'm getting my information. When they discover it's not on the computer, I expect them to bring it back." Roland said that he has long been functioning as a freelance investigative journalist, and this kind of thing is not unusual. "It is sad," he said, "that we now live in a police state and not in a constitutional republic. If we are going to solve our common problems, it is going to take all of us working together. Members of the Shadow Government can't survive unless they return to constitutional governance and engage the people in common action." "We're not trying to start a revolution," Roland concluded. "We're trying to prevent one. The only way to do that is to make it unnecessary. This nation can't afford a revolution. There is too much at stake." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!winternet.com!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: Prototype Militia By-Laws, Etc. (TMP11) Date: 23 Jan 1995 11:07:38 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 372 Message-ID: <3g02lq$jut@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108523 alt.politics.libertarian:61998 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13796 alt.politics.reform:17967 Texas Constitutional Militia Bexar County, Unit 1 By-Laws 1. Legal Foundation Pursuant to the Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 8, and the First, Second and Ninth Amendments thereto, and to the intent of the Framers thereof, and to the Constitution of the State of Texas, this unit of the Texas Militia is established, to be governed in accordance with constitutional laws and these By-Laws. 2. Geographic Area The geographic area designated for this Unit shall consist of that contiguous area defined by agreement of the members with one another and with those of other Militia Units in the same county. If this is the only Unit in the county, the geographic area shall consist of the entire county. If more than one Unit is formed in the county, the boundaries of the area for each Unit shall ordinarily coincide with established political or geographic subdivisions, such as city limits, precincts, or neighborhoods. Except by the authority of the President or request of the Militia of another State, the Unit shall not conduct operations other than organizing and training outside the boundaries of the State of Texas, and except by the authority of the Governor or request of the Militia of another County, the Unit shall not conduct operations other than organizing and training outside of the boundaries of the County or immediately neighboring counties. 3. Membership The members of this Militia unit shall consist of the following two classes, which together shall be referred to as the ready militia: (1) Persons who are subject to militia duty under Texas Government Code Section 431.081, as it may be amended, and not exempt under Texas or U.S. law, and who are residents of the County and geographic area designated for this Unit number, which members shall be referred to as the obligatory militia. (2) Persons not subject to militia duty under (1) above who are residents of the State of Texas who volunteer to serve in this unit except as provided in Section 8 below, which members shall be referred to as the voluntary militia. 4. Officers The Unit Commander shall initially be chosen by 3/4 vote of the members present at any call-up of the Unit, and shall serve until the next meeting or call-up of the Unit, when he or she shall be subject to re-election as the first order of business. Other officers to be elected include a Deputy Commander, a Treasurer, and a Secretary, each of whom shall assume in that order the duties of the Unit Commander if he or she shall be unable to perform them. Additional officers shall be appointed by the Unit Commander. The members present may also elect representatives to any regional correspondence committees, who shall coordinate activities of the various Militia units in the region. 5. Authority for Call-up The following persons may issue a call-up of the Unit, in descending order of authority: (1) The President of the United States. (2) The Governor of the State of Texas. (3) An officer designated by the Governor of the State of Texas for this Unit. (4) The Chief Executive, Chief Law Enforcement Officer, or Chief Judge of the area designated for this Unit. (5) The Unit Commander. (6) An established Correspondence Committee for the area of the Unit. (7) Any person offering a credible justification for the call-up. Any such authority shall have command authority over the Unit only if it calls up the Unit. Thus, if called up by a local sheriff, the sheriff would have the default command authority and not the Governor or the President, if they did not issue the call-up. 6. Notices and Regular Meetings Notices of special meetings should normally be by public notice in a newspaper of record or by posting notices on public notice bulletin boards, at least ten days prior to the meeting, except in case of emergency, in which case notice shall be by the established rapid-alert system. Persons who contribute to the costs shall also be notified by mail or phone if time permits. In addition to call-ups, the Unit shall meet at such dates, time, and places as its members present at any meeting or call-up shall determine by majority vote. This shall ordinarily be at some regular place on some regular day of the week or month. All meetings shall be conducted in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order, Revised. 7. Purpose of Assemblies The Unit shall assemble only for one or more of the following purposes: (1) To organize and train. (2) To repel a foreign invasion. (3) To suppress an insurrection. (4) To execute constitutional laws. (5) To perform righteous services to the community, state, and nation, including disaster relief and defense of persons from crime or official abuse. Such purposes do not include service outside the jurisdiction of the United States, which is the exclusive province of the armed forces. 8. Exclusion from Participation Persons who otherwise qualify for membership may be excluded from participation in activities of the Unit by the Commander or by a 3/4 vote of the members present on one or more of the following grounds, and none other: (1) A history of criminal, violent, disruptive, or impulsive behavior. (2) A history of mental disorder or incapacity. (3) Inability to play a constructive role in the activity, such that participation would result in reduced effectiveness of the Unit in that activity. This may include not having suitable equipment for the activity, such as arms. (4) Refusal to take or comply with the oath below. (5) Refusal to obey a lawful order of a superior. No person shall be excluded on the basis of ethnicity, religion, national origin, political opinions, gender, or age. However, minors shall require the written consent or presence of a parent or guardian. 9. Oath Required of Participants Participants in any activity shall be required to take the following oath: "I swear/affirm that I will preserve, protect, and defend the Earth, the Nation and its Constitution, the State and its Constitution, the Community, against all enemies, foreign or domestic; and that I will make an independent determination of the constitutionality and applicability of all laws and official acts with which I may become involved, without being unduly influenced by any officer or superior, and that I will obey or assist in the enforcement of those which are constitutional and applicable, and resist those that are not, regardless of personal consequences." 10. Finances Dues shall not be required as a condition for membership or attendance at meetings or call-ups, but may be required, upon a 2/3 vote of members present, for individual notices or for participation in activities that involve costs. Contributions of funds and other things of value may be accepted provided that no such acceptance shall create any obligation on the part of the Unit or its members or participants. No member shall accept any compensation for participation in any activity of the Unit, but may accept reimbursement for expenses incurred or recompense for losses sustained. The Unit shall not accept funding from any organ of government or public authority except in connection with a general call-up by an authority having power to compel attendance. No property shall be used by the Unit without written consent of the lawful owner or his agent. At no time will the Unit go into debt or impose any debt on its members. 11. Regulations The Unit shall, by a vote of the majority of members present and with the consent of the Unit Commander, adopt such regulations as it deems appropriate to govern its operations. 12. Militia Discipline Upon assembly, all participants shall be under Militia Discipline, which shall be applied in accordance with applicable provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. 13. Enforcement The Unit Commander shall be responsible for enforcing these By-Laws and the Regulations adopted by the Unit. 14. Adoption and Amendment These By-Laws shall be adopted or amended by a 3/4 vote of the members present at any call-up or meeting in which such adoption or amendment shall be announced in the notice thereof at least 10 days prior to the meeting. Texas Constitutional Militia Bexar County, Unit 1 Regulations 1. Rapid-alert System The Unit shall establish and regularly test a rapid-alert system for getting the members to respond to emergency situations. This system shall consist of the following elements: (1) An emergency deployment plan. This consists of places and persons to report to and things to do in the event of some emergency situation, such as a natural disaster, which members could be expected to be made aware of by its effects and by the regular media. (2) A telephone tree. Each member would have a list of others to call, such that a few calls could activate almost everyone reachable by phone. (3) A radio network. This would make use of various amateur and CB radios, perhaps using encrypted packet methods, to notify members in the event that the phone system is unavailable or insecure. (4) Broadcast media. Co-operation from radio and TV stations to broadcast notices should be achieved and maintained. (5) Neighborhood alerts. Members should be designated to ride through neighborhoods alerting people in the area, perhaps using a mobile PA system. 2. Arms and Ammunition Each participant in an armed activity shall furnish one modern rifle or shotgun of a caliber suitable for combat applications, and at least 50 rounds of ammunition for it. During all assemblies such arms shall be kept unloaded at all times except by command of the Unit Commander or if members of the Unit fall under imminent peril. 3. Ammunition standards Members are encouraged to standardize on 5.56 and 7.63 ammunition for rifles, 12 guage for shotguns, and .357 magnum, 9mm, or .45 ACP for handguns. 4. Appearance and Grooming Each member who participates in any activity of the Unit in a public place shall present a neat, well-groomed appearance. 5. Uniforms and Insignia No uniforms shall be required of members or participants. However, on public occasions participants may be required to wear jackets or armbands with the words "Texas Militia" or "Bexar County Militia". The Commander may designate such insignia as he may see fit, to be worn by those he shall designate. 6. Roll-call At any muster of the Unit, participants shall declare their names, addresses, phone numbers, and arms of choice, but any roll of participants shall be kept confidential and is to be used only for issuing notices of meetings and other activities. 7. Co-operation with authorities Members will make every effort to co-operate with lawful authorities, unless doing so would impair the ability of the Militia to exercise its constitutional rights and perform its constitutional duties, including the investigation of official corruption and abuse. 8. Community defense against abuse All members are obliged to take immediate action to defend any person against violation of his or her constitutional rights from official abuse, especially the rights to keep and bear arms and to assemble as independent constitutional militias, without waiting for a call-up of the unit. However, any member taking such action shall notify the other members of the Unit as soon as possible. Texas Constitutional Militia Bexar County, Unit 1 Guidelines 1. Unit Size The Unit size should ordinarily be between 50 and 200 members. Larger units should normally be divided into smaller ones, and smaller ones may be augmented by participants from neighboring areas. 2. Avoidance of Association Status Every effort must be made to avoid giving the Unit the aspect of being a voluntary association, which would be subject to legal action as an association, something that can be avoided if the members are considered to be all citizens of the area. 3. Questioning of Authority Issuing Call-up While any of several authorities may issue a call-up, this does not automatically give such authority command over the unit, which must be debated and voted on before commencing with any command therefrom. Ordinarily, such orders must be obeyed unless they are unconstitutional. 4. Avoidance of Policy Issues Every effort must be made to avoid allowing the Unit to act upon, or even debate extensively, issues of social or economic policy. The Unit may resist a tax on grounds that it is unconsitutional, but not because the rate is too high. It must not act on issues on which honest persons may disagree, such as the constitutionality of abortion. 5. Avoidance of Alarming the Public To the extent possible, if appearing in public with arms, the Unit should alert the public in the area to the peaceful character of the activity, with publicity, warning signs, and conversations with persons present. 6. Proclmations of Faith Many if not most members will have some kind of religious faith that they will want to bear witness to during assemblies of the Militia, and religious speech, like political speech, is a valid part of the discussion that will take place in such assemblies. However, in deference to those who are non-believers, such expression should not be conducted in a way that would make non-belivers feel pressured to appear to join in with a religious observance, such as praying together in assembly, as distinct from just listening to someone pray in the same way the members might listen to someone speaking on any other subject. The only "religion" that may be properly proclaimed jointly is the "civic religion" of constitutionalism, which is the one thing all citizens should share. 7. Safety Committee A Safety Committee will normally consist of the elected officers of the previous muster and will be the entity that calls successive musters of the unit. It is the only membership group that has continuing existence from one muster to the next. Those who participate in musters must never be referred to as "the militia", since that term must always refer to the entire citizenry of the county or other jurisdiction. 8. Correspondence Committees Correspondence committees should ordinarily consist of the commanders or secretaries of each unit in an area covered by 10- 20 units, or of representatives of lower-level correspondence committees. For security reasons, member rolls should ordinarily be kept only at the local level, and not shared with neighboring units or with higher-level correspondence committees. However, backup copies of member lists may be kept in escrow by neighboring units with the consent of the unit commander, for security purposes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!winternet.com!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: Reviving the Ready Militia (TMP13) Date: 23 Jan 1995 11:11:15 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 265 Message-ID: <3g02sj$jut@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108525 alt.politics.libertarian:62000 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13798 alt.politics.reform:17969 Reviving the Ready Militia Copyright (C) 1994 Constitution Society Permission is hereby granted to copy with attribution for noncommercial purposes Components of the Militia When asked what the Militia was, George Mason, one of the Framers of the U.S. Constitution, said, "Who are the Militia? They consist now of the whole people, except for a few public officers." Yet we also see statutes like 10 USC 311, which defines it as "all able- bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 13 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States." Some state statutes define it as "able-bodied males" of different age ranges, such as 16 through 59. These statutes also divide the Militia into various classes, such as "organized" or "unorganized", in the case of 10 USC 311, or "active" and "reserve", as many states do, with "active" being considered the National or State Guards, but not the national armed forces. To understand how these definitions have arisen, one must first understand what the Framers of the U.S. Constitution had in mind for the new Republic they had created. They allowed for a standing national army, but insisted that it be kept small, and although it might be the first force to be called out, and the only force to be sent abroad, the primary defense of the country was to be the duty of ordinary citizens, who would be kept in a state of military readiness while leading their normal lives, and who would be called up to "repel invasions, suppress insurrections, or execute the laws", for limited periods of time. At the time the Constitution was adopted in 1789, the well-established tradition was for local militia units to be kept in a state of readiness in each and every community. Such units were organized and trained locally, perhaps led by the local town or county officials, but otherwise independent of official control when not actually called up for service. When lawmakers tried to define the "militia" by statute to consist of less than the entire body of citizens, they were defining those citizens who would be required to be kept in a state of readiness, as was done in the Militia Act of 1792, which required able-bodied males age 17 through 44 to keep a "musket or firelock". However, persons younger than 18 and older than 45 regularly responded to call-ups of the Militia and were accepted as part of it. There were even some women who participated. The Framers also insisted on a distinction between the "genuine" Militia and a "select" militia, which they viewed as a danger, just as much a danger as a standing army. They did not want a militia whose members might consist of anything less than the entire people, or at least able-bodied ones in a certain age range, because if selected on any other basis, they might be used to oppress other parts of the population. Actually, George Mason provided the best definition. It only needs to be broken out into various classes, representing the order in which persons would be called out for military service. Qualifications like "able-bodied" or "male" or "age 18-44" only establish who would be first called to service, with the expectation that they would be adequate for almost any situation, but it allows for calling up other persons if needed. This suggests a hierarchy of classes: (1) National Army. (1) Full-time. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard. (2) Part-time. Reserves, National Guard. (2) State and Local Select Militia. But these are not "general" militias. They are paid and equipped by the State or by local governments. (1) Full-time. State and local law enforcement officers. (2) Part-time. State Guard. (3) Obligatory Militia. Able-bodied male citizens of a certain age range, who are required to be kept organized and trained, but at their own expense. Age range is 18-44 for federal purposes, but states may establish other age ranges. (4) Volunteer Militia. Citizens not part of obligatory militia who voluntarily participate in activities of the obligatory militia, again at their own expense. (5) Ready Militia. The combination of (3) and (4) above, who would be called up after the armed forces and the regular militia, but who are also those likely to be first on the scene in emergency situations. It is not a "select"" militia. (6) Reserve Militia. All other citizens, including children, the elderly, the less-able, and women, and perhaps foreign visitors as well, who might be called up after the ready militia, if needed. What is missing from the current picture is the ready militia. Most states now lump it in with what we are here calling the reserve militia, and in fact often call it that. The ready militia is what the Framers meant when they used the term "militia". It is also what the Swiss mean by the term, and it was the Swiss model that the Framers had in mind for the United States. The ready militia was to serve as a counterbalance to the armed forces and regular state (select) militias. It should be noted that the obligatory militia is usually defined to exempt certain public officials, and perhaps persons with certain occupations, whose usual duties are considered essential. Choice of words can be indicative. 10 USC 311 lumps the ready and reserve militias into what it calls the "unorganized" militia, with the implication that it is to remain unorganized, since no provisions for organizing and training the ready militia are given, contrary to the intent of the Framers. Militias are local and independent Often heard are arguments about whether militias are state or national, but the militia, like citizenship, is fundamentally local. We are first and foremost citizens of our local community. The word "citizen" has the same root as the word "city". Although people may also be concurrently citizens of larger political entities, such as states or the nation, and although those entities may be considered to be composed of their citizens, they are essentially composed of localities, and it is the local community that is the basis for the social contract, although it may be considered to include a certain amount of surrounding territory. Today we would usually identify the locality with the county. Just as militias are essentially local, so also are they essentially independent of established authorities, since the militia may have to challenge or bypass those authorities if they abuse their authority or fail to perform their lawful duties. The legal basis for assemblies of militias are two natural rights: the right to assemble and the right to keep and bear arms. Combined, they are the right to assemble bearing arms. The Framers considered it obvious that rights which could be exercised separately could be exercised in combination, and would have thought present attempts to outlaw independent assemblies of militia units as absurd. The term "well-regulated" used in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution did not mean "regulated by some official". It meant "well-trained and disciplined". A militia can and should be self-regulated. The U.S. Constitution, in Article I Section 8, does provide for States to organize and train their militias according to standards established by the U.S. Congress, and to appoint the officers, but it was not the intention of that clause to authorize states to forbid local organization and training of militia units, but to require that they be organized and trained. If the state fails to do so, people have not only the right but the duty to organize and train themselves locally, using their own arms. Just as they have the right and duty, failing action on the state level, to conduct elections, enforce the laws, establish courts, and so forth. Of course, a militia unit that is not called up by any official, but by its own members, does not have the authority to compel participation through some kind of sanction, such as the imposition of a fine. Therefore it will be composed of volunteers, who may not represent a cross-section of the general population. In this situation, the militia members must make a special effort to avoid having the militia unit take on the attributes of a private association, such as by always calling up the militia using public notices, and allowing any responsible citizen to participate. It must also avoid any suggestion of partisan or sectarian bias, and limit itself to constitutional actions. To do this, a militia unit should always refer to itself as the "[state/county] militia" and not adopt a name that would suggest some kind of private association, something that would expose its members to legal action against it as a legal "person" or as a "conspiracy". There can't be a conspiracy of the entire population of an area, and a court can't serve the entire population with process, even if not all of them are present at meetings. Organizing strategy Militia units of 50-200 members should be organized at the local level, by going house by house, covering entire neighborhoods, towns, and counties. This will initially be easier to do in rural areas, where people are already more receptive to the patriotic message. In urban areas, it may work better to start by organizing "neighborhood associations", then educating the members gradually until it can be converted into a self-conscious militia unit. Co-ordination among local units should be done using correspondence committees, which is the traditional method. These committees do not attempt to act as regional,, state, or national organizations, but only to facilitate communications among local units, the sharing of literature, and the building of a consensus for action. Some units might try to publish newsletters or other documents, but in most cases, it will be better to publish through established magazines and various alternative media, and distribute extra copies. Members may agree to subscribe to media that co-operate in publishing supporting materials. Dealing with official resistance For some time now the Establishment has discouraged the formation of armed groups, including independent constitutional militias. They don't want the "unorganized" militia to become organized. Besides legal and illegal harassment, militia leaders must prepare participants to deal with attempts to infiltrate militia units. This can take three main forms: Moles. Agents who pretend to be trustworthy but who are mainly focused on obtaining information about militia members and their activities. Provocators. Agents who pretend to be responsible members, then, when least expected, do something which seeks to discredit the militia and perhaps provoke official action against it. Dissipators. Agents who pretend commitment until they can assume positions of influence within the group, then use it to divert them into ineffective or unproductive activities, such as endless debate, socializing, and divisive disputes, or to reduce morale and resolve. The best protection against infiltration is to teach members to be vigilant to it and to have a large number of small units and many leaders, none of whom is critical. There should be little or no leadership on the state or national level, other than a network of correspondence committees that facilitate communications. It is also important to try to establish good relations with local and state officials, to the extent possible. Work with them to help them solve the problems of the community, and encourage them to ask the militia to assist them. Resistance from such officials should be countered by getting better ones elected or appointed. Subjects for action One of the most important subjects for action by local militia units is investigation of election fraud and other kinds of official corruption. It will do little good to try to elect better officials if elections are rigged, and if they are, the militia may become the only way for citizens to secure their rights. If such fraud is found, it will also help to build public support for further militia action and for greater participation. Another key subject is to inform citizens of their right and duty, when serving as jurors in cases in which the government is a party, to judge the law and not just the facts in the case. No matter how despicable the defendant in a criminal case or how heinous the offense, the jury must find the defendant not guilty if the law under which he is charged is unconstitutional or misapplied. It is unconstitutional if it violates a constitutional right, is not based on a power delegated to government, or is so vague that honest people may disagree on how to obey or enforce it. It is misapplied if it is applied to acts outside its proper jurisdiction, such as a federal criminal law applied to acts committed on state territory, or to acts not intended to be included by the lawmakers. One of the most important subjects for action will be to establish an alert system for warning of abuses of citizens by organs of the government, and mobilizing to defend them. It must be emphasized that it is not enough for citizens to defend their rights in isolation. Only if they band together can their rights be protected. Education in constitutional law must also be a priority. Every citizen must be trained to interpret the constitutionality of laws and official acts, and taught that doing so is the responsibility of each individual, that it cannot be delegated to others, such as judges or superiors. That is the Lesson of Nuremberg. Special attention needs to be given to educating lawyers, judges, officials, and college and high school students. Militia members need to make sure that every public library contains suitable books and magazines that provide education on these subjects. References: Morgan Norval, ed., The Militia in 20th Century America: A Symposium, 1985, available from Gun Owners Foundation, 5881 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041. Stephen P. Halbrook, That Every Man Be Armed, 1984, available from the Independent Institute, 134 98th Ave, Oakland, CA 94603. James M. & Kenneth F. Collier, Votescam: The Stealing of America, 1992, available from Victoria House Press, 67 Wall St #2411, New York, NY 10005. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!winternet.com!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: The Shadow Government (TMP14) Date: 23 Jan 1995 11:12:51 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 533 Message-ID: <3g02vj$jut@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108526 alt.politics.libertarian:62001 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13799 alt.politics.reform:17970 The Shadow Government Copyright (C) 1994 Constitution Society. Permission is hereby granted to copy for noncommercial use. Secret Rule It is becoming increasingly apparent to American citizens that government is no longer being conducted in accordance with the U.S. Constitution, or, within states, according to state constitutions. While people have recognized for more than 150 years that the rich and powerful often corrupt individual officials, or exert undue influence to get legislation passed that favors their interests, most Americans still cling to the naive belief that such corruption is exceptional, and that most of the institutions of society, the courts, the press, and law enforcement agencies, still largely comply with the Constitution and the law in important matters. They expect that these corrupting forces are disunited and in competition with one another, so that they tend to balance one another. Mounting evidence makes it clear that the situation is far worse than most people think, that during the last several decades the U.S. Constitution has been effectively overthrown, and that it is now observed only as a facade to deceive and placate the masses. What has replaced it is what many call the Shadow Government. It still, for the most part, operates in secret, because its control is not secure. The exposure of this regime and its operations must now become a primary duty of citizens who still believe in the Rule of Law and in the freedoms which this country is supposed to represent.[1] Transition to Oligarchy It is difficult to identify a single date or event that marks the overthrow, but we can identify some critical steps. The first was the Dick Act of 1903, which repealed the Militia Act of 1792 and tried to relegate the Constitutional Militia to the National Guard, under control of what is now the U.S. Defense Department. The second was the Federal Reserve Act, which established a central bank only nominally under the control of the government. Further erosion of constitutional governance was motivated by several challenges which the powerful felt required them to put aside their differences and unite. The first was the Great Depression of 1933-1941. The second was World War II and the threat from fascism, followed by the Cold War and the threat from Soviet imperialism and from communism. The third defies credibility, but cannot be avoided. UFOs and aliens. Despite the lack of hard evidence accessible to ordinary citizens, there is enough testimonial evidence to compel a reasonable person to conclude three things: UFOs exist, they are intelligently directed, and they are not ours.[2] Even if that were all that the government knew about them, minds already paranoid from the Cold War could hardly help but perceive such things as a significant potential threat, one that required secrecy, preparation, and disregard for provisions of a Constitution that were inconvenient. There are, however, enough leaks from government officials to indicate that the government knows a great deal about them that it is concealing from the public. The fourth is the eco-crisis, which combines both the ecological and economic crises. Many leaders have recognized for a long time that we are headed for disaster, not a kind of cyclical downturn like the Great Depression, but an irreversible decline brought about by a combination of resource depletion, environmental degradation, and overpopulation, playing out in an anarchic international system of disparate nation-states, national currencies, national banks, and multinational corporations, exacerbated by traditional tribal rivalries, class conflict, and different languages and religions.[3] Confronted with the political fact that to deal with the problems faced in the last half of the 20th century, it was difficult enough to pass legislation thought to be needed, without having to also adopt the amendments to the U.S. Constitution necessary to make such legislation constitutional, it became too easy to just adopt more and more legislation without worrying about its constitutionality, and depend on compliant officials and judges to go along with it, which for the most part, they have done. This was facilitated by the lack of sufficiently strong protests from the people, many of whom, ignorant of constitutional rights and limitations on governmental powers, and focused on the problems to be solved, supported much of the legislation.[4] We can also identify several insidious developments which seemed necessary and harmless at the time, but which led to the present situation. One was the rise of military and civilian intelligence organs during World War II. The need to prevent leaks of military secrets brought a censorship apparatus that gained substantial control over the flow of information through the press, the broadcast media, telephonic and telegraphic communications, and the mail. However, instead of dismantling that apparatus when the war was over, we immediately transitioned to the Cold War, and the information control apparatus only went underground and became somewhat less obtrusive. This led to the present situation in which the intelligence apparatus maintains effective control over the major media, can tap anyone's phone without a court order, reads people's mail, monitors their finances, and gathers information on citizens and their activities that threatens their privacy and liberties. 1947 was a critical year. It was the year in which UFOs became a matter of public concern, and in which it appears we recovered at least one crashed vehicle and perhaps at least one of its occupants. It is also the year that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was established, ostensibly to bring together the disparate intelligence agencies that had often been operating at cross-purposes. It was also the beginning of the use of "black budgets" for government programs, the existence of which was kept secret from both the public and most if not all members of Congress. This led later to the establishment of more agencies, such as the National Security Agency, whose entire budget was black, thus preventing effective oversight. The situation had evolved to the extent that, at the end of President Eisenhower's second term, he warned in a speech of the potential danger to our freedoms from a "military-industrial complex". In fact, by that time, it had become a "intelligence- military-industrial-financial-political-media-criminal" complex, which reached into almost every institution in this country, and into many around the world. What had developed was beginning to look more and more like the system of political control that prevailed in the Soviet Union, in which real decisions of government were made not by the official organs of government, but by the parallel structure of the Communist Party, backed by the KGB. In competing with the Soviets, we had taken on their methods and attributes of political control. But this apparatus did not seem to function as an effective Shadow Government, able to make and enforce decisions apart from the official government, until it came together to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. That was the watershed event. After that, too many people had too much to hide to allow the situation to return to governance as usual. Since then, the Shadow Government has grown and tried to strengthen its grip on every sector of the society, motivated in part by honest concern about the very real threats we have faced, and in part by venality and greed, which brought increasing corruption and the effective incorporation of organized crime into the mainstream of government. It appears that 1963 is also the year in which the Establishment Media sector of the Shadow Government was given effective control over computerized voting in the United States, through its National Election Service, as part of a deal in which they went along with the coverup of the Kennedy Assassination through the Warren Commission. While campaign money continued to buy influence over elected officials, if it was not sufficient, the Shadow Government had other options. It put officials in compromising situations, then used its evidence to blackmail them into compliance. Failing that, it could easily select the winner of any election, and suppress the support which third-party candidates might attain. Structure and Decisionmaking A key question about the Shadow Government is how does it make decisions and carry them out. Where is the center? Some think it lies in a few major financial institutions. Others that it lies in the intelligence apparatus. Still others that it has no permanent center, but operates by consensus, with shifting factions that confer through various mechanisms. Some think that those mechanisms are reflected in public associations such as the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Tri-lateral Commission, the Bilderbergers, the Federal Reserve, the World Bank, or the International Monetary Fund.[5] That the key personalities in every major institution should associate and confer through various associations is not in itself a matter of concern, if all that was involved was the development of a consensus. But there is evidence that a centralized decisionmaking process exists, because too much is done that could not otherwise occur, and that the process is contemptuous of the Constitution and increasingly willing to violate it. That suggests a permanent apparatus, a bureaucracy, and that points to the intelligence and financial bureaucracies. Therefore, the real decisions may be made not by public figures, but by faceless persons operating in secret. Most available evidence indicates that the center is in the intelligence apparatus, and that it largely controls all the other components of the system, including the financial. However, it also appears that the control is imperfect, subject to resistance if it tries to go too far. It also appears that there are some distinct factions involved, the two major contenders being those more highly motivated persons concerned about meeting the challenges we face, the other being the more corrupt ones trying to expand their power and wealth. The alliance between these factions appears to be increasingly strained as growing corruption begins to impair the effectiveness of the institutions of society to meet the perceived challenges. An analogy might be to a sinking ship, in which some want to build and equip lifeboats and others who want to make sure they are the ones who get to go in them. Each needs the other, for the time being, but the latter are beginning to threaten the production and seaworthiness of the lifeboats. What we have is in many ways a classic oligarchy, with multiple components in an uneasy alliance with one another. No one individual is paramount, and anyone can be replaced if he gets too far out of line, by some combination of the others, each of whom derives his power from the institutions and assets under his influence. Of course, the ones who get trampled under this regime are the ordinary people, who receive just enough under the deal to keep them quiet. The Powers That Be fear above all that the people might rise up and overthrow them, something that the people could still do if they could ever act in concert. Social control therefore becomes a matter of keeping them placated, divided, and misinformed. Unfortunately for their scheme, they face the same problem the Roman Empire did. To keep the people placated, they are forced to pay them off, and meet increasing demands for such payoffs, while growth of the productive sector falters, or even shrinks relative to the population. Economic growth and the solutions to our social problems are being impaired by the depredations of the corrupt elements of the Shadow Government, who are concentrating assets in a way and at a rate that threaten the viability of the economy. The Romans solved the problem of keeping their citizens supplied with bread and circuses by predation of outlying provinces. Modern capitalist nations tried the same thing, but that imperial order is breaking down, and the only thing left is economic growth. If that growth falters, the welfare state fails, and with it the social stability on which the Established Order depends. Shadow Finance Some of the best indications that the Shadow Government is not centered in the financial sector are the things it has to do to finance itself. Shadow Government is expensive. We can identify the main sources of its revenue: (1) Black budgets. This is the core of its operations, but is not enough to secure its control over the country and the world. (2) Drug trade. It has seized control of the major part of the illegal traffic in addictive substances, in part by using the organs of law enforcement to eliminate competition, and by gaining control of the money and the ways it gets re-introduced into the economy. (3) Raiding financial institutions. This is what was done with the S&Ls, and is being done, more slowly, with the banks. It involves several aspects: diversion of the funds, seizure of smaller institutions by a few large ones under Shadow Government control, with the seizure financed by the taxpayers, and acquisition under distressed prices of the assets of those institutions, many of which are well-positioned business enterprises that give the Shadow Government both control of the key enterprises in most business sectors and sources of revenue. The Savings & Loan raid was used to finance a major expansion of the Shadow Government. However, it is not a method that can be repeated. (4) Public authorities. These are quasi-governmental enterprises that control substantial assets, often taxpayer-subsidized, without effective accountability. They include housing, port, energy, water, transportation, and educational authorities.[6] To this might also be added various utilities, and both public and publicly-regulated private monopolies, like local telephone and cable companies. They are also a major source of government contracts. (5) Government contracts. Major source of diverted funds, but must often be shared with others involved. (6) Arms trade. Another major source of funds, both direct and diverted. But requires payoffs to local officials. Shadow Control The problem with secret government is that to remain secret, it cannot involve too many people who are aware of the situation. The more that become involved, the greater the chance that some of them who retain some sense of honor might defect. An occasional defector can be disabled, killed or discredited, but a flood of them could be disastrous. That is what brought down the Bolshevik regime in the Soviet Union. Shadow control therefore consists largely of the placement of shadow agents in key positions in all of the institutions that are to be controlled. Since they cannot reveal their true role, they are also somewhat constrained in the actions they can take. What they do has to fit their jobs and not conflict in an obvious way with the mission of the organization, even if they head it. Some of the main targeted institutions are the following: (1) Top and key lower positions in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Key judges, especially presiding judges who assign cases. (2) Staff positions under the top positions, such as the congressional staff members who really run Congress. (3) Intelligence agencies. The CIA[7], NSA and various military intelligence divisions. Among their functions are death squads that eliminate troublesome persons, although they usually avoid doing that to more prominent ones. They also have developed mind control techniques that can be used to mess up the minds of people they want to discredit or disable.[8] Actually, almost every department of government has an intelligence function, and that function is the Shadow Government's main point of control of the department. (4) Military organizations, law enforcement, and taxing agencies, especially the IRS. Not only federal, but also state and local, at least in the major cities. The IRS and other agencies are used to harass persons considered troublesome, and sometimes to prosecute them on trumped up charges, in which evidence is planted or manufactured and government witnesses perjure themselves. (5) Major banks, insurance companies, pension funds, holding companies, utilities, public authorities, contractors, manufacturers, distributors, transport firms, security services, credit reporting services. Forbidden by law from maintaining dossiers on citizens not the subject of criminal investigation, the agencies get around the restriction by using contractors to maintain the data for them, and have amazingly detailed data on almost everyone. When you hire one of the major security services, you are turning over the keys to your premises to the shadow government. (6) Major media. Newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations. Together, they control the National Election Service, which in turn controls the outcome of computerized elections.[9] They suppress coverage of certain subjects, and are the channel for the Shadow Government's propaganda and disinformation campaigns. A major part of the budget of the CIA is for film and video production. They aren't making training films. (7) Communications networks. Telephone, telegraph, cable and satellite. The Shadow Government can bug any communication they wish, without bothering with a court order, and they regularly monitor dissidents and other key figures. Major holes in their control here are the Internet and public-key encryption, which the Shadow Government is trying to suppress. Although the Internet can be monitored, it cannot be effectively controlled, and it is emerging as a major threat to Shadow control. (8) Organized crime. Despite occasional convictions, they are now mostly treated as a profit center and as the executors of the dirty jobs. They are also the providers of vices for the corrupt members of government, which vices are also used to blackmail and control people. (9) Education. Universities and public education. Universities are the least effectively controlled components, but still important, largely for recruitment. Main aim here is to divert student activists into unproductive channels, or to get students so involved in careerism that they ignore the important issues. (10) Civic, political, and labor organizations. The two major political parties. Political action committees. League of Women Voters. Trade and professional associations, such as the American Bar Association and the American Medical Association. Labor unions. (11) International organizations. The United Nations, NATO, the IMF. Multinational corporations. (12) Governmental and nongovernmental institutions of other countries. We are doing many of the same things there that are being done in the United States, especially in the more advanced countries. Concentration of Power A major aim of Shadow Government control has been to bring most of the assets and revenues of the economy under the control of fewer and fewer people. Part of this is causing the failure of smaller organizations and the absorption of them by a few large chains. This is being done with banks and other financial institutions, newspapers and magazines, television and radio stations, agriculture and mining producers, distributors and retailers, computer manufacturers, energy and chemical companies, medical providers, and pharmaceutical companies. Anti-trust enforcement has been weak, used only in a few sectors, and then only after major concentrations of economic power has already been achieved. The process goes beyond normal tendencies toward monopoly or restraint of trade, or the economies of scale that support the old adage that "the rich get richer". It is an attempt to consolidate political control. The result has been for a smaller and smaller proportion of the population to control a larger and larger proportion of the assets and revenues of the economy, while the middle class shrinks. We are moving away from the original model of the universal middle class, and toward a third-world model of a small upper class and a large poor class, with a small middle class that mainly serve as minions of the rich. The Shadow Plan The Shadow Government appears to be operating according to some plan. Many commentators have dubbed this plan the "New World Order", suggested by the use of that phrase in a speech by George Bush, referring to the state of affairs following the end of the Cold War. Actually, that phrase goes back to the beginning of the Republic, and appears on the Great Seal of the United States as the motto, Novus Ordo Seclorum. What the Shadow Government itself calls the plan is uncertain, however, some of its elements are now emerging. One element is the disarming of the people.[10] There are serious plans and preparations for a general warrantless sweep of every location in the country to confiscate weapons. Information about these plans comes from military and intelligence personnel who are involved in preparing to carry them out. Such an action would mean seizing more than 300 million firearms from more than 70 million citizens. Obviously, after such a sweep there would be so much public outrage that there could not be another election. Therefore, it would also be the formal overthrow of the Constitution. There are indications that after things settled down, the Shadow Government would allow the establishment of a parliamentary system that would provide a facade of democracy, just as it does in other countries that have such a system, without effective limits on the powers of government, where "rights" endure only as long as there is a sufficiently strong constituency that defends them. Such a system is not a republican form of government, based on the Rule of Law, or a representative democracy, but merely a tool for control by an oligarchy. There is also suspicious circumstantial evidence that part of the plan is the release of diseases, of which HIV/AIDS is one, to reduce the world population, selectively. A key part of the plan seems to involve the development and use of mind control technologies, both electronic and chemical, which allow the elite to disable or discredit dissidents and keep the people compliant and productive. The experimentation that has been done on this is one of the great coverups and abuses of human rights of our time, far exceeding that of the radiation experiments that are now coming to light.[11] Restoring Constitutional Governance The restoration of constitutional governance need not require a violent revolution, and we should avoid violence if possible. It can be brought about in much the way it happened in the Soviet Union. This involves several elements: (1) Exposure ("glasnost"). The Shadow Government, even more than the old Soviet regime, depends on secrecy. Uncover it and it loses most of its power. We need to end black budgets, require the declassification of most classified documents, especially those pertaining to UFOs and aliens, and adopt and enforce sunshine laws to require full disclosure of not just meetings and agreements among officials, but also among major organizations of all kinds which may exercise an undue influence on political decisions. We must also require independent audits of all such organizations. (2) Restructuring ("perestroika"). We need to enforce strengthened anti-trust laws to break up large enterprises into many competing firms, not just two or three, and forbid interlocking directorates, beginning with the broadcast media and the press. Intelligence and law enforcement agencies need to be broken up into several competing ones, which can serve as effective checks on abuses by one another. (2) Infiltration and defection. We need to get patriots inside key organizations and encourage insiders to become patriots. The most important are military and law enforcement organizations, whose members must be conditioned to come over to the side of the people if there is a confrontation. We must also provide effective protection for whistleblowers. (3) Harassment. Lawsuits. Liens. Freedom of Information Act requests. Surveillance of principals. Local prosecution of federal agents. (4) Local organization and publicity. Revive the constitutional Militia on the Swiss model[12], set up independent investigation teams, alternative newspapers, talk radio, alert networks. We need to inform the public on what is happening, and to reach those who now are all too willing to trust the government to protect them. (5) Civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance. Protest demonstrations. Tax protests. Defiance of unconstitutional laws. Refusal of juries to convict.[13] (6) Armed resistance. This must involve non-provocative, but firm, defense of persons from illegal abuses, and exclusion of illegal governmental actions from local areas, county by county, state by state, with insistence on constitutional compliance. (7) Transition plan. The oligarchy cannot be expected to come up with a plan for an orderly return to constitutional governance. The process must be conducted carefully, to avoid a disastrous collapse.[14] We will need some constitutional amendments, to make legal some of the things the national government can do best. The government needs to end budget deficits and acquire the stock of the Federal Reserve.[15] Conclusion The myth is that World War II ended with the defeat of fascism, but what really happened is that fascism got a grip on those fighting it, and is becoming increasingly pervasive and powerful. As it grows, it will induce a reaction, the outcome of which will be a final confrontation. We can all hope that the confrontation will not be a bloody one, and that it will be resolved while we still have time to solve our other pressing problems. [1] See Reed & Cummings, Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA, 1994, Shapolsky Publishers Inc, 136 W 22nd St, New York, NY 10011, 212/633-2022. Also see Bartlett & Steele, America: What Went Wrong?, 1992, Andrews & McMeel, 4900 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64112; and Walter Karp, Liberty Under Siege, New York: Franklin Square, 1993. [2] See Timothy Good, Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-up, New York: W. Morrow, 1988; Alien Contact: Top-Secret UFO Files Revealed, New York: W. Morrow, 1993. [3] For a fairly comprehensive treatment of such views, see Albert Gore, Jr., Earth in the Balance, New York: Houghton-Mifflin, 1992. Also see Paul Ehrlich, Population/ Resources/ Environment, San Francisco: Freeman, 1972. [4] For one treatment of American history that goes into this, see Clarence B. Carson, Basic American Government, 1993, American Textbook Committee, Route 1, Box 13, Wadley, AL 36276. [5] There is abundant literature on this theme, most of it lacking hard evidence. An example is Gary H. Kah, Enroute to Global Occupation, 1992, Huntington House Publishers, POB 53788, Lafayette, LA 70505. [6] One author has identified such public authorities as the Shadow Government, but it seems more likely that they are just a part of it. See Donald Axelrod, Shadow Government: the hidden world of public authorities and how they control $1 trillion dollars of your money, New York: Wiley, 1992. [7] For a couple of sanitized depictions of this agency, see Loch K. Johnson, America's Secret Power: the CIA in a democratic society, New York: Oxford, 1989; Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, The CIA and American Democracy, New Haven: Yale, 1989. [8] This is discussed in a paper by Martin Cannon, The Controllers: A New Hypothesis of Alien Abductions, 1990, 8211 Owensmouth Av #206, Canoga Park, CA 91304. $6.00. [9] This is documented in Collier & Collier, Votescam: the Stealing of America, 1992, Victoria House Press, 67 Wall St #2411, New York, NY 10005. $10.00. [10] One discussion of this is William R. Tonso, The Gun Culture and its Enemies, 1990, Second Amendment Foundation, James Madison Building, 12500 N.E. Tenth Place, Bellevue, WA 98005. [11] This is documented in a paper by Julianne McKinney, Microwave Harassment & Mind-Control Experimentation, Electronic Surveillance Project, Association of National Security Alumni, PO Box 13625, Silver Spring, MD 20911-3625, 301/608-0143. $5.00. [12] For a general discussion of this, see Morgan Norval, The Militia in 20th Century America: A Symposium, 1985, Gun Owners Foundation, 5881 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041. Also see Stephen P. Halbrook, That Every Man Be Armed, 1984, Independent Institute, 134 98th Av, Oakland, CA 94603. [13] For a comprehensive treatment of constitutional history and law, see Bernard Schwartz, The Roots of the Bill of Rights, New York: Chelsea House, 1980. [14] The ways this might occur are discussed in Joseph A. Taintes, The Collapse of Complex Societies, New York: Cambridge, 1988. [15] For some views on needed reforms, see Martin Gross, A Call for Revolution, New York: Ballantine, 1993. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!winternet.com!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: Militia Agenda (checklist) (TMP15) Date: 23 Jan 1995 11:14:11 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 155 Message-ID: <3g0323$jut@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108527 alt.politics.libertarian:62002 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13800 alt.politics.reform:17971 Militia Agenda The following are some items that should be a part of the program of independent local militia units. Legal and Financial [] Charter for state correspondence committee [] By-laws for local militia unit [] Regulations and guidelines for local unit [] Copies of applicable laws and court cases [] Brief on applicable laws [] Assumed/fictitious name filing [] Bank account Facilities [] Regular meeting site, at a shooting range [] Office with address and phone [] Site on public property for demonstrations [] A computer with database and word processor [] Printing, copying and fax equipment [] Internet access for email and news Activities [] Newsletter [] Telephone tree [] Ham or CB radio alert network [] Regular meetings [] Organizing units in other areas [] Investigating official corruption [] Investigating election fraud Information and Publicity [] Mailing lists of supporters [] Press lists, fax numbers, email addresses [] Press releases on all major events [] Handouts, brochures [] Lists of relevant organizations, persons [] Subscriptions to relevant magazines, newspapers [] Placement of supporters in key media Security [] Key personnel [] Likely targets for abuse [] Offices and equipment, computers [] Information, PGP encryption [] Firearms [] Infiltration of key government organizations [] Infiltration of opposing private organizations Training [] Combat shooting [] Unit combat training [] Home and community defense [] Disaster prevention and recovery [] Safe use and storage of weapons [] Weapons laws [] Constitutional law and history [] Jury rights and duties [] Organizing local militia units [] Assistance to law enforcement [] Crime prevention [] Citizen arrest powers and procedures [] Resistance to illegal authority [] Field medicine [] Neighborhood patrols [] Neighborhood alert systems and communications [] Working with troubled youth [] Investigating crime [] Uncovering official corruption and election fraud [] Military drill and manual of arms [] March music [] Militia history [] Electronics and communications [] Surveillance technology [] Public information [] CPR and first aid [] Improvised munitions [] Ballistics Contact to be maintained [] Military organizations [] National and State Guard [] State elected officials [] State Police [] County elected officials [] County Sheriff [] City elected officials [] City Police [] Police Reserve Neighborhood Organization [] Neighborhood militia or association [] Home and vehicle security systems [] Alert systems [] Defense plans [] Surveillance and patrols Extras needed [] Portable public address system with batteries [] Musical instruments suitable for marching [] Video cameras with extra batteries and tapes [] Signs and signmaking materials [] Banners [] Voting precinct maps [] Portable CB radios [] Ham radio equipment [] Portable computers [] Sample election materials Things to read [] U.S. and State Constitutions [] Halbrook: That Every Man Be Armed [] Norval: The Militia in the 20th Century [] Collier & Collier: Votescam [] Ayoob: The Truth About Self-Protection, In the Gravest Extreme, StressFire [] Gottlieb: The Rights of Gun Owners [] U.S. Army Manual of Drill and Manual of Arms Milestones [] Muster with arms on public property inside major area city [] Get key local officials to speak at unit meetings [] Get key state officials to speak at unit meetings [] Get congressmen to speak at unit meetings [] Get area congressmen to commit to militia cause [] Celebrate Militia Day each April 19 [] March militia units in area July 4 parades [] Fully-informed jury laws, state and federal [] Replace area voting machines with paper ballots [] Get area newspapers of record to accept militia callup notices [] Get local TV coverage of militia musters [] Get local city or county officials to call up militia for organization and training [] Conduct campaign tour across country [] Get active militia units in every county in state [] Get active militia units in every state [] Establish statewide alert network [] Establish nationwide alert network [] Form National Militia Association [] Hold National Militia Conference [] Pass State concealed carry permit law [] Repeal State weapons control laws [] Repeal Federal weapons control laws [] Repeal unconstitutional Federal criminal laws [] Pass Federal, State Militia Acts to set up Swiss-style militia system [] Establish Swiss-style militia systems in other countries around the world For information contact: Constitution Society, 6900 San Pedro #147-230, San Antonio, TX 78216, 210/224-2868 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!winternet.com!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: Militia Q&A (TMP19) Date: 23 Jan 1995 11:19:08 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 423 Message-ID: <3g03bc$jut@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108528 alt.politics.libertarian:62003 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13801 alt.politics.reform:17972 Militia Q&A Copyright (c) 1994 Constitution Society. Permission is granted to copy with attribution for noncommercial purposes. Q: What is the Militia? A: It was best defined by George Mason, one of the Framers of the U.S. Constitution, who said, "Who are the Militia? They consist now of the whole people, except for a few public officers." Q: If they're the whole people, why do we need a special word like "militia" to refer to them? A: The Militia is the people in a certain capacity, as defenders of the community and enforcers of the law. In that capacity, they are expected to have and use the tools needed to perform that role: personal weapons, and particularly firearms. Q: Isn't that what we have the military and police for? A: Yes, we do hire some of us to perform these duties on a full- time, paid basis. But that does not relieve us of the power or the duty to perform those duties when the situation calls for it. Q: Power? Don't the military and police have powers ordinary civilians don't have? A: Yes, the police have special powers to enforce certain regulations, like traffic regulations, that civilians don't have. And the military can engage in combat operations on foreign soil representing the United States. But all citizens have general powers to repel invasions, suppress insurrections, and enforce the laws, the three duties of the Militia, just like the military and police. They just don't do it on a full-time, paid basis. Q: Come on. If I tried to go out and enforce some law, wouldn't I be subject to arrest for something? Like impersonating an officer, or maybe obstructing justice? A: Not if you only tried to enforce the laws that civilians have the power to enforce, which are laws against felonies and more serious misdemeanors, and didn't misrepresent yourself as an officer, who outranks most civilians, and who therefore is authorized to issue orders to civilians in situations where he is present and is himself acting in accordance with law. As for obstructing justice, anyone, including a law enforcement officer, can do that. Everyone involved is expected to cooperate with one another in enforcing the law and not jeopardize one another's legitimate efforts. That applies to everybody, officers and civilians alike. When there is disagreement about how best to do that, the dispute is ordinarily resolved by deferring to the officer with the highest rank, but he may be out of line. Ultimately, it is up to the courts to decide who is obstructing whom. Q: So don't federal law enforcement officials outrank state officials, who outrank local? A: No, each can investigate and apprehend under all the same laws, just as any citizen can. The problem arises with the attempts by the federal government to extend its authority to act against "crimes" that it does not have the constitutional power to prosecute, and to try such cases in federal courts. The Constitution delegates only very limited criminal prosecution powers to the federal government for acts committed on State territory: treason, counterfeiting, and crimes on the high seas and against the laws of nations (that is, war crimes). It has broad legislative authority on federal territory, which includes State land ceded to the federal government by a State Legislature, but there is very little of that left since Hawaii and Alaska joined the Union. It does not include land that is merely owned by the federal government, nor does it include land on which some activity is conducted that is regulated by the federal government. The federal criminal laws which have been enacted which are not on the above list are ostensibly based on the constitutional power of the federal government to "regulate" interstate commerce, but it was never the intent of the Framers that the power to regulate was the power to prosecute criminally, nor was "interstate commerce" intended to include everything that ever crossed a state border, or might cross a state border, or is done by a party that operates across a state border, or that might "affect" interstate commerce. This "interpretation" of the interstate commerce clause is clearly unconstitutional, and amounts to amending the Constitution by statute instead of by the amendment procedure the Constitution prescribes. Q: That may be the way things once were, back when this country was founded and during the frontier era, but does the concept of the Militia have any relevance for today? A: As much as it ever did. This country still faces threats from foreign enemies. Maybe not invasions on the ground from a foreign army, but terrorists, guerrillas, and criminal gangs, either foreign or domestic, are a growing threat. Urban riots are always possible, and looters are a potential threat following natural or manmade disasters. The police can't be everywhere, and rising crime means that everyone must be prepared to act on his own or in cooperation with other citizens to enforce the laws until the professionals can assume control of the situation. Everyone must also be prepared to perform emergency services until emergency professionals can take over, sometimes under circumstances in which they must also be prepared to use armed force. Q: Come on! I'm not trained or equipped to act as a policeman, a fireman, or a paramedic. How can I be expected to do that? A: Because you are an American citizen, and it goes with being a citizen, whether you like it or not. What you need to do is get trained and get equipped. Q: Come on! It takes those guys years to learn those skills. Wouldn't I just be doing more harm than good if I tried to get involved? A: No one is expecting you to jump into a raging river to save someone from drowning if you don't know how to swim, but what you should do is learn swimming and lifesaving. Likewise, you can learn other skills that may be needed, and keep some of the tools you might need. For a reasonable investment of time and money, most citizens can prepare themselves to function effectively in most such situations, sometimes even better than the professionals. For example, statistics show that in shootouts against criminals, law enforcement professionals are five times more likely to hit innocent bystanders than armed civilians are. Part of this may be due to the civilians being on the scene first, and therefore knowing who the bad guys are and are not, but it also indicates that civilians are more careful, and often more skilled. Many civilians are also skilled in the unarmed martial arts, skills that many law enforcement departments actually forbid their members from learning and using, fearing lawsuits. Q: Are you really saying we should all carry guns all the time? A: Most of the time, yes. It's not that difficult. After a while, you barely notice it. Q: Wouldn't there be a lot more deaths and injuries from firearms if everyone carried them all the time? A: Well, we don't say everyone should always carry one. Obviously, some people shouldn't. But they are exceptional. Most people will carry them safely and responsibly, with a little training. Of course there will be some additional incidents if most people carry most of the time. Professional police and military have accidents and incidents, but we don't disarm them, because on balance we are better off if they carry most of the time. Same with most other civilians. On balance most of us will be better off if most people carry most of the time, after receiving training, and with regular practice. In a large population of people, there will always be a certain number of injuries resulting from the possession and use of any common implement. But firearms, with proper use, are remarkably safe. Statistics show that injuries are more likely to be caused by common appliances like toasters and vacuum cleaners than by firearms. Q: You are talking about handguns, but what about military- style semiautomatic rifles, such as those banned under the recent Crime Act? Are they really good for anything but killing people? A: In a sense, all functional firearms are for causing potentially deadly injury to their targets, but their primary purpose is to provide a credible deterrent against criminal attack. In a tactical situation in which both parties are armed with semi-automatic or full-automatic weapons, such weapons shift the balance in favor of the defender, and partially offset the advantage of surprise enjoyed by the attacker. It is not practical to carry them everywhere, but in many situations, like defense of a fixed position, such as one's home or workplace, they can provide the margin of survival. It should also be pointed out that military-style rifles, whether semi- or full-automatic, are the primary weapons for use in performing militia duties, and therefore bans against such weapons are in violation of the provisions of the U.S. Constitution, such as Art. I, Section 8, and the Second Amendment, which provide for the Militia and recognize the right to keep and bear arms. Q: What does the U.S. Constitution say about Militias? A: Art. I, Section 8, provides that the U.S. Congress can adopt regulations for organizing and training of the Militia, but that the organizing and training of the Militia, and the appointment of its officers, shall be done by the States. The Second Amendment mentions the Militia as an important reason why the people have a right to keep and bear arms. Q: So, what do federal laws say about how the states should organize and train their Militias? A: Not much. They define who may be required to respond to a call-up of the Militia by the President. In 10 USC 311, what we might call the obligatory militia is defined as "all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 13 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States." But they don't say anything about how the States should organize and train their Militias. The States are left to do so on their own. Q: So, what do State constitutions and laws say about organizing and training their Militias? A: Again, not much. They define what most of them call the reserve militia, usually as "able-bodied males" of age ranges that vary from one state to the next, typically as 16 through 59. Some of them also provide for a State Guard, which is a full- or part-time organization which is what the Framers of the Constitution called a select militia. Not the full Militia. Q: What about the National Guard? Aren't they the Militia? A: A part of it, yes, as we all are. But although they are available to the State for certain purposes, they are organized and funded under the constitutional authority to raise armies, not the authority to call up the Militia. As such, they are part of the federal military, not what the Framers meant by the term Militia. Q: Wait a minute. You first defined the Militia as the entire population, except for a few officials. Now we have these laws that define it as "able-bodied males" within a certain age range. Which is right? A: Although everyone is in principle subject to being called to Militia duty, it has long been felt that few situations are likely to arise in which absolutely everyone would need to be called up. Therefore, the law tries to identify a subset of the entire Militia that may be required to keep arms and to be kept in a state of readiness. In the event of an actual call-up, these would also be joined by volunteers who, while not falling within the definition of who may be required to be thus prepared and to respond to a call-up, would respond anyway and who would be an asset. We call the first group of those who may be required to stay ready and to assemble the obligatory militia. We call the volunteers the voluntary militia. The combination of the obligatory militia and the voluntary militia is the ready militia. That is what the Framers of the Constitution had in mind when they used the term Militia. They envisioned a militia system like that of Switzerland. Q: Well, if neither federal or state laws call for the organizing and training of the ready militia, does that mean they are prohibited? A: No. A few state laws prohibit armed groups, but the legislative history of such laws shows that they were directed at criminal gangs , not at the organizing and training of the Militia by local leaders or officials. Any such laws would be unconstitutional if interpreted in that way. Q: So, who has the authority to call up the Militia? A: Anyone can call up the Militia. Anyone at all. Historically, the call-ups have usually been issued by local officials, such as sheriffs or mayors, but in the absence of action by such officials, the people can assemble on their own initiative, called up by anyone who offers a credible reason to assemble. Q: Wow! You mean I could call up the Militia in my area? A: That's right. Indeed, if you are aware of some situation that requires the Militia to be called up, then you are obliged to issue a call-up if you can't get some official to do so. Q: Wouldn't it cause some alarm to a lot of people if we did that? A: It might. That is why it is a good idea not to wait until an emergency occurs before you do it. The Militia should be kept in a state of readiness between emergencies. That way people will not see the call-up as something unusual and alarming. Q: Aren't there laws against alarming people that could be used against any unofficial assemblies like that? A: Longstanding constitutional precedent is that one has to actually direct arms against an innocent person and specifically threaten him for it to qualify as "alarming the public". And the person has to be innocent. If one has reasonable grounds to believe that he has or is about to commit a crime, then an armed threat may be appropriate. Q: Wouldn't such armed assemblies of the Militia, or at least such part of it as responds to the call-up, be vigilantes if they tried to do that? A: No, vigilantism is the improper assumption of the role of judge, jury, and executioner, not the role of investigator or apprehender. Q: What about the rights of the accused? Where do they come in here? A: The Militia is obliged to treat the accused the same way the police are expected to treat them. That means informing them they have a right to remain silent and to be represented by an attorney. They must use no more force than is necessary to prevent them from either escaping or committing a crime. Q: All this is fine in theory, but when was the last time the Militia was actually called up officially? A: The President last called up the Militia on the West Coast in 1942. Q: What about unofficially? A: Depends on what you would consider a call-up, but a notable example occurred in Athens, Tennessee, in 1946, when a group of returning veterans discovered that the sheriff was stealing the local election. They issued a call-up, and laid siege to the court house. Despite a great deal of gunfire on both sides, no one was injured. The sheriff surrendered, and the Militia provided for an honest count of the votes. Dealing with vote fraud is a proper Militia role. Q: Was that really necessary? Couldn't they or others in a similar situation use peaceful, legal methods to enforce voting laws? A: Not necessarily. There may be no one to enforce the law except the Militia. The crime may be a conspiracy of local, state, and federal officials who can effectively block any official enforcement action. There is evidence that most computerized elections are subject to being rigged at any time, and that they are rigged with some regularity, at the direction of parties on the national level that control official law enforcement agencies at all levels. Of course, the rigging is very subtle. It can be done right under the noses of pollwatchers. Investigating such rigging is a somewhat involved operation, but it can be done, and should be before resorting to Militia action. The same situation may occur with other kinds of official corruption or abuse. The Militia may be the only honest law enforcement activity remaining. Q: Are you saying that the main purpose for reviving the Militia tradition is to fight official abuse and corruption? Have things really come to that? A: Sadly, yes. Most people are blissfully unaware of how bad things have become, or prefer not to see it or think about it. But it is approaching the point where more and more of them will be unable to sustain their state of ignorance or denial. It would be better to act now before things get much worse. The longer we wait, the more likely that there will be violent conflict, and we really don't need another civil war. Q: Can you provide evidence of any of this? A: There is plenty of evidence. It is readily available for those who want to make a little effort to find it. The sponsors of this document can direct you to much of it. After you read some of it, and talk to government insiders who are providing information to patriotic citizens about what is going on, you will readily understand why it is now time to activate the Militia across the country. Q: My god! This sounds like you are proposing to overthrow the government. What do you hope to accomplish by doing this? A: There is reason to believe that the U.S. Constitution has already been effectively overthrown by a conspiracy centered in the intelligence and military establishments, with ties to the financial, industrial, media, and criminal establishments. We seek to restore constitutional governance, hopefully by balancing the power of this cabal with armed militia units in every state and linked together across the country. That, and exposing their operations to public view, will hopefully bring reform without the need to resort to violence, just as it happened in the former Soviet Union. Q: The Constitution already overthrown? C'mon. Who's going to believe that? Maybe there is more and more corruption and abuse, but everything seems normal, for the most part. A: Yes, the conspiracy is secret and subtle. It tries to avoid abusing too many people or people who are too prominent, but just try to expose it or raise these issues, and you will soon discover that you live in a police state and not in a constitutional republic. Q: Maybe it is better to just not try to expose it or raise these issues, but keep a low profile and hope this conspiracy will overlook me? A: Well, leaving aside the fact that to do so is to betray what generations of Americans have fought and died for, and that such a position is dishonorable and cowardly, we have evidence that whoever you are, a low profile won't help you. Sooner or later, you will have to face it. Better now than later. Now we can prevail. Later it may be too late. Q: Look, it's not just me. I have a family to think about. Maybe I should just join this conspiracy you talk about? A: Join a conspiracy that depends on secrecy to survive? You don't join them. They recruit you. If they don't, there's no way in. And no protection for you even if you do join them. They are not noted for protecting their own people. Deals with them are Faustian bargains, long on promises and short on delivery. That is one reason we are getting more and more defectors, despite the personal dangers. You have to ask what kind of country and world you want your children and grandchildren to live in. Q: It all seems so incredible. What could these people want that would cause them to overthrow the Constitution? What more could they get that they don't already have? A: They may be driven by fears of losing what they have, or they may foresee some crisis they feel will require them to have more power than they already have. What did the Nazis want? Or the Italian fascists? Or the Japanese in WWII? Or Stalin? To us these fascists, for that is what they are, collectively, seem irrational. But they were not strong on reason or wisdom. The allies may have won WWII and the Cold War, but fascism is alive and well and running Western countries, including our own. References: Morgan Norval, ed., The Militia in 20th Century America: A Symposium, 1985, available from Gun Owners Foundation, 5881 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041. Stephen P. Halbrook, That Every Man Be Armed, 1984, available from the Independent Institute, 134 98th Ave, Oakland, CA 94603. James M. & Kenneth F. Collier, Votescam: The Stealing of America, 1992, available from Victoria House Press, 67 Wall St #2411, New York, NY 10005. For more information contact: Constitution Society 6900 San Pedro #147-230, San Antonio, TX 78216, 210/224-2868 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!winternet.com!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: The Cost of Corruption and Abuse (TMP20) Date: 23 Jan 1995 11:21:13 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 139 Message-ID: <3g03f9$jut@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108529 alt.politics.libertarian:62004 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13802 alt.politics.reform:17973 The Cost of Corruption and Abuse Copyright (C) 1994 Constitution Society. Permission is granted to copy with attribution for noncommercial purposes. The Measure of Corruption During the past several decades, American citizens have become increasingly aware of corruption and abuse in this society, both official and corporate. Many by being the victims of it, or by personally knowing its victims. Others through the many exposes that have been written. However, most of these provide only anecdotal evidence. What is missing are estimates of the extent of this corruption, and the costs of it to our country. Such estimates must of necessity be very rough, as reliable statistics are generally not accessible if they exist at all, but we can come up with working numbers until better ones become available, based on both public and insider information. - Market Corruption. This covers all those commercial transactions made not on the basis of price or merit but as the result of bribes, kickbacks, or extortion. It includes rigged bids on construction contracts, excessive prices on items sold, labor padding, and bribes paid to secure peace with labor. It also includes the excess costs of red tape intended to prevent such abuses, which would not be necessary if the threat were not as great, although such measures seldom prevent waste or abuse and often serve more to cover up the abuse than reduce it. In many jurisdictions, such corruption is endemic, and few if any areas avoid it. It has been variously estimated that such corruption adds between 5 and 15 percent to the cost of all goods and services. The latter figure is probably closer, and it may even be higher. A general excess cost of 15 percent is the equivalent of a tax to the average worker, with a median annual income of $23000, of $3450 per year. If made available for productive purposes, that could be expected to increase the number of jobs by about 10 percent, or about 12 million jobs, which would be more than enough to absorb the entire unemployed population of the U.S., estimated to be about 10 million, and could also be expected to raise average income by about 10 percent, and add about .5 percent to the average annual growth of the GDP. - Narcotics. Illegal drugs are estimated to drain about $200-300 billion from the economy each year, which amounts to about 4-5 percent of the GDP. Contrary to disinformation about a "war on drugs", that volume of trafficking is made possible only by official protection or participation, probably at least 80 percent of it. It is estimated that about 40 percent of all cocaine and heroin is smuggled in directly by such federal agencies as the CIA, DEA, and FBI, especially the CIA. The "war on drugs" is only to keep prices high, limit competition, and deceive the public. Some of the money is used to finance covert or illegal government operations, but much of it is used to enrich officials, international bankers, and to acquire assets. The results of that acquisition is to bring an increasing proportion of the economy under the control of criminals, and with it increasing political power. To the direct costs of the drugs must be added the costs in increased crime, law enforcement to deal with that crime, and the cost in lost lives, health, and property. Taken together, we can estimate that the aggregate cost amounts to about 12 percent of the GDP, 80 percent of which is attributable to official corruption, equivalent to a tax of about $2300 per year for the average worker. It can be estimated that more than half of that money is not returned to the economy as consumption or new investment, but is used to acquire existing assets without creating any new value, resulting in a loss to the economy of about 8 million jobs, or almost as many as the number of unemployed. It also makes a major contribution to the balance of payments deficit, perhaps as much as $40 billion a year, since most of the money is removed from the U.S. and only returns from abroad to acquire assets or purchase U.S. government bonds, the interest on which is then repatriated abroad. This balance of payments deficit increases the cost of imports to U.S. consumers, especially oil, which is the major product imported, which in turn contributes to increased costs for everything. At the same time it increases the capital available for creating jobs abroad that compete with U.S. workers, further contributing to unemployment, far more than the effects of reduced tariffs. - Raiding. This covers a variety of attacks on productive assets, including financial institutions, businesses, and individuals, by corrupt parties, including several agencies of the U.S. government. The largest category of this raiding was the contrived collapse of the savings and loan industry, mainly under the direction of the CIA and Justice Department. Thrift institutions were induced to make bad loans to members of the conspiracy, then taken over, looted, and seized, their owners wiped out, and their assets sold to the conspirators at firesale prices, paid for with the same money obtained by the bad loans. This process placated the public during the 1980s by stimulating a real estate boom, which created a brief period of prosperity, but led to the recession of the 1990s when the real estate boom failed. It is estimated that the collapse of the thrifts diverted about $1 trillion from productive use, about half of which went into the offshore coffers of the CIA and other corrupt interests. It resulted in an increase in the national debt which may cost the average worker about $2000 a year for the next 50 years, and will cost the economy about 8 million jobs a year over that period. Lesser but still important forms of raiding include bankruptcy fraud, not just the kind in which the bankrupt commits fraud, but the kind in which parties who file for Chapter 11 protection have corrupt judges and trustees contrive to cause them to lose all their assets, which are then bought up by cronies of the judges and trustees for pennies on the dollar. Again, the CIA has played a prominent role in orchestrating this kind of raiding. Another approach to raiding is done by having subsidized government- owned businesses called proprietaries compete with ordinary businesses, forcing them into financial distress, then manipulating their financing sources to force them to liquidate or sell. Once the agencies gain control of the businesses, they either loot them of their assets and cover their tracks by putting the business into bankruptcy, or else continue to operate it and to bring strategic sectors of the economy under agency control. Again, the CIA has been one of the major agencies doing this. It is estimated that this approach is costing the economy more than $100 billion a year, or about 1 percent of GDP. It also results in increased unemployment as looted or sold businesses lay off workers, and although many of them get other jobs elsewhere, there is a net loss during the period they are unemployed, and a loss in reduced wages after they do get other work. - Legal abuse. This is essentially a conspiracy of most of the legal profession against the public, resulting in an excess of legal costs over what they should be of about 80 percent, which in turn increases the costs of goods and services by about 2 percent, on the average. In some cases, by much more. For example, about 70 percent of the cost of a new aircraft is due to the cost of liability insurance, which is the indirect result of this legal conspiracy. It also takes other forms. Attorneys often sell out their clients to the opposition, resulting in their clients losing their cases. They also often conspire to defraud the heirs in probate, manipulating appraisals and diverting the assets to themselves or their cronies. More than half of all judges are compromised, and pervert the judicial process to serve the interests of the Power Elite. - Vote fraud. Most computerized elections can be rigged whenever the Shadow Government chooses to do so. It goes through the motions of influencing elections with large contributions and manipulation of the mainstream media, but if those methods fail, the voting machines give the result that was predetermined. This results in a terrible cost of a loss of public confidence in the political process and the legitimacy of the established institutions of society, a loss of morale and confidence, and reduced cooperation and compliance with voluntary taxation. - Rodney Stich, Defrauding America, 1994, available from Diablo Western Press, Inc., PO Box 5, Alamo, CA 94507, 800-247-7389, $27.25. - James M. & Kenneth F. Collier, Votescam: The Stealing of America, 1992, available from Victoria House Press, 67 Wall St #2411, New York, NY 10005, $10.00. For more information contact: Constitution Society, 6900 San Pedro #147-230, San Antonio, TX 78216, 210/224-2868 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!winternet.com!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: Jefferson of the Limits on Federal Criminal Powers (TMP21) Date: 23 Jan 1995 11:23:24 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 50 Message-ID: <3g03jc$jut@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108535 alt.politics.libertarian:62006 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13804 alt.politics.reform:17974 Thomas Jefferson, in the Draft of the Kentucky Resolution, 1798: "... the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations, and no other crimes whatsoever; and it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that 'the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,' therefore the act of Congress, passed on the 14th day of July, 1798, and intituled 'An Act in addition to the act intituled An Act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States,' as also the act passed by them on the -- day of June, 1798, intituled 'An Act to punish frauds committed on the bank of the United States,' (and all their other acts which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution,) are altogether void, and of no force; and that the power to create, define, and punish such other crimes is reserved, and, of right, appertains solely and exclusively to the respective States, each within its own territory." This is the classic Jefferson quote in which he succinctly states the constitutional limits on the powers of the central government to prosecute persons under criminal law for acts committed on state territory. He does not get into the "general legislative powers" of Congress over federal territories, which have been interpreted to allow broad criminal jurisdiction, but the Constitution clearly states that such jurisdiction extends only to territory not the territory of any state. The only other exception is a power to discipline military personnel, including for acts they might commit while on state territory. Federal "territory" does not include property owned in fee simple by the federal government that lies within state territory, nor property on which activities are otherwise subject to regulation as interstate commerce or for excise or import taxation, neither of which create "federal territory" unless the land has been ceded to the federal government by the state legislature, nor do the powers to regulate or tax provide authority for criminal penalties (deprivation of life or liberty), only for civil penalties (deprivation of property). Apply this standard to most of the statutes passed during the last 60 years or to the federal agencies and regulations established during that period, and it is clear why constitutionalists see a conspiracy to incrementally overthrow the Constitution. Constitution is not spelled C-A-F-E-T-E-R-I-A. The constitutional guarantees of civil rights are worthless if the restrictions of governmental powers are not strictly enforced. --Jon Roland, Constitution Society ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: mr.net!winternet.com!uunet!earth.usa.net!earth!jdr From: jdr@earth (Jon Roland) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.politics.usa.constitution,alt.politics.reform Subject: Readings on Corruption, Conspiracy, ... (TMP22) Date: 23 Jan 1995 11:25:09 GMT Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) Lines: 142 Message-ID: <3g03ml$jut@earth.usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.usa.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: mr.net talk.politics.guns:108536 alt.politics.libertarian:62007 alt.politics.usa.constitution:13805 alt.politics.reform:17975 Reading on Corruption, Conspiracy, and Constitutional Principles Compiled by Jon Roland Inclusion in this list does not constitute endorsement of everything they have to say, only that they contain some useful points. Corruption and Political Dysfunction Rodney Stich, Defrauding America, 1994, available from Diablo Western Press, Inc., PO Box 5, Alamo, CA 94507, 800-247-7389, $27.25 Ppd. Insider exposes massive federal corruption, including corporate raiding, looting of savings and loans, drug smuggling, bankruptcy fraud, coverups of safety violations, and JFK assassination, particularly involving the CIA and Justice Department. Reed & Cummings, Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA, 1994, Shapolsky Publishers Inc, 136 W 22nd St, New York, NY 10011, 212/633-2022. Details of corruption involving the CIA, Bush and Clinton. William Greider, Who Will Tell the People: The Betrayal of American Democracy, 1992, Simon & Schuster. Describes the faltering of the political process. Bartlett & Steele, America: What Went Wrong?, 1992, Andrews & McMeel, 4900 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64112. Superficial, but hits some useful points. Gary H. Kah, Enroute to Global Occupation, 1992, Huntington House Publishers, POB 53788, Lafayette, LA 70505. Superficial, but hits some points on the global level. Abuses of Constitution, Civil Rights Walter Karp, Liberty Under Siege, New York: Franklin Square, 1993. Survey of some of the more obvious erosions of constitutional rights, but superficial treatment of the causes. Martin Cannon, The Controllers: A New Hypothesis of Alien Abductions, 1990, 8211 Owensmouth Av #206, Canoga Park, CA 91304. $6.00. Survey of mind-control experimentation by U.S. Government. Julianne McKinney, Microwave Harassment & Mind-Control Experimentation, Electronic Surveillance Project, Association of National Security Alumni, PO Box 13625, Silver Spring, MD 20911- 3625, 301/608-0143. $5.00. ExposÐ of mind-control experimentation by insider. Collier & Collier, Votescam: the Stealing of America, 1992, Victoria House Press, 67 Wall St #2411, New York, NY 10005. $10.00. Report of investigations of how computerized elections are rigged. Can be used as manual for investigating vote fraud. Coverups and Secret Government Anthony C. Sutton, America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones, 1986, Liberty House Press, 2027 Iris, Billings, MT 59102. Traces historical roots of major members of U.S. branch of Shadow Government, but doesn't cover decision-making structure. John Coleman, Conspirators' Hierarchy: The Story of the Committee of 300, 1992, America West Publishers, PO Box 2208, Carson City, NV 89702. Introduces major players in global Shadow Government, but lacks substantiation and may have misread the roles of some of them. Makes case that rule is by 300 major families, a third of them British. Traces their control of almost every sector of society, and shows that much of their money comes from control of drug market, going back to China opium trade. Doesn't cover present executive structure, other than to indicate it may be MI6. Burton Hersh, The Old Boys: The American Elite and the Origins of the CIA, 1992, Scribners, New York. Traces the emergence of the CIA as executor of objectives of the ruling elite and examines their deficiencies. Loch K. Johnson, America's Secret Power: the CIA in a democratic society, New York: Oxford, 1989; Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, The CIA and American Democracy, New Haven: Yale, 1989. A couple of sanitized depictions of this agency. L. Fletcher Prouty, JFK, the CIA, Vietnam and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy, 1992, Birch Lane, New York; The Secret Team, Institute for Historical Review. Gaeton Fonz, The Last Investigation, 1993, Thunder's Mouth, New York. JFK assassination as government plot. Bill Moyers, The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis, 1988, Seven Locks Press, PO Box 27, Cabin John, MD 20818, 310/320-2130. Discusses what came out of the Watergate and Iran- Contra scandals. Eloquent indictment, but no new revelations. William Greider, Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country, 1987, Simon & Schuster. Describes the consequences of 1980 financial deregulation, which lays the basis for what is discussed by Rodney Stich. Gary Sick, October Surprise, 1991, I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 110 Gloucester Av, London NW18JA. Exposes deal to give Iran arms to keep hostages and defeat Carter in 1980 election. Donald Axelrod, Shadow Government: the hidden world of public authorities and how they control $1 trillion dollars of your money, New York: Wiley, 1992. Identifies such public authorities as the Shadow Government, but they are just a part of it. Timothy Good, Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-up, New York: W. Morrow, 1988; Alien Contact: Top-Secret UFO Files Revealed, New York: W. Morrow, 1993. Raises important question: If these things are real, how are they affecting government: both visible and invisible. Constitutional Principles William R. Tonso, The Gun Culture and its Enemies, 1990, Second Amendment Foundation, James Madison Building, 12500 N.E. Tenth Place, Bellevue, WA 98005. Stephen P. Halbrook, That Every Man Be Armed, 1984, Independent Institute, 134 98th Av, Oakland, CA 94603. Traces legal foundations of right to keep and bear arms and shows how it is fundamental to all other rights. Bernard Schwartz, The Roots of the Bill of Rights, New York: Chelsea House, 1980. Includes much of debate needed to interpret Framers' intent. Solutions Morgan Norval, The Militia in 20th Century America: A Symposium, 1985, Gun Owners Foundation, 5881 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041. Discusses the major factor missing from the political order that might make a difference. Martin Gross, A Call for Revolution, New York: Ballantine, 1993. Superficial, and misses much that is needed, but hits some useful points. Constitution Society, 6900 San Pedro #147-230, San Antonio, TX 78216, 210/224-2868. ------------------------------------------------ (This file was found elsewhere on the Internet and uploaded to the Radio Free Michigan archives by the archive maintainer. All files are ZIP archives for fast download. E-mail bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu)