Remembering The Alamo

Dr. Chuck Baldwin

March 6 marks the anniversary of the fall of the Alamo back in 1836. For more than 13 days, 186 brave and determined patriots withstood Santa Anna’s seasoned army of over 4,000 troops. To a man, the defenders of that mission fort knew they would never leave those ramparts alive. They had several opportunities to leave and live. Yet, they chose to fight and die. How foolish they must look to this generation of spoiled Americans.

It is difficult to recall that stouthearted men such as Davy Crockett (a nationally known frontiersman and former congressman), Will Travis (only 23 years old with a little baby at home), and Jim Bowie (a wealthy landowner with properties on both sides of the Rio Grande) really existed. These were real men with real dreams and real desires. Real blood flowed through their veins. They loved their families and enjoyed life as much as any of us do. There was something different about them, however. They possessed a commitment to liberty that transcended personal safety and comfort.

Liberty is an easy word to say, but it is a hard word to live up to. Freedom has little to do with financial gain or personal pleasure. Accompanying Freedom is her constant and unattractive companion, Responsibility. Neither is she an only child. Patriotism and Morality are her sisters. They are inseparable: destroy one and all will die...[Full Article]

America Is In A Societal Meltdown

by Dr. Chuck Baldwin

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” So said Founding Father and America’s second President John Adams. And he was absolutely right. And that is what is absolutely wrong with our country today: America is in a complete moral, societal, and cultural meltdown.

Founding Father and America’s first US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay correctly summarized the reason our new nation (and the fight for its liberty and independence) was successful. He wrote in Federalist 2, “With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice that Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people–a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established general liberty and independence.”

In other words, a united constitutional republic can only exist within the framework of certain rather narrow and finite conditions. Remove those conditions and the framework for liberty and limited government falls apart. And the above statements by Adams and Jay succinctly summarize the conditions necessary for freedom’s framework...

[Full Article]

Hutaree Update

By Chuck Baldwin
May 14, 2010
NewsWithViews.com

With much media fanfare, 9 members of a Michigan militia were arrested last March and charged with "seditious conspiracy"--specifically, plotting to murder law enforcement officers. Ostensibly, this was supposed to precipitate some kind of wholesale revolt against the government. Question: Have any of you heard anyone from the propaganda press corps (national news media) tell you what has been happening with this case? No? Did you not wonder why? Well, I'll tell you why: the case has fallen apart.

The first indication of the Feds' case going bad was a local report in the Toledo (Ohio) Blade, dated April 28, 2010. "An FBI agent who led the investigation of nine Michigan militia members charged with trying to launch war against the federal government couldn't recall many details of the two-year probe yesterday during questioning by defense lawyers.

"Even the judge who must decide whether to release the nine until trial was puzzled.

"'I share the frustrations of the defense team . . . that she doesn't know anything,' U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said after agent Leslie Larsen confessed she hadn't reviewed her notes recently and couldn't remember specific details of the case."

See the report here...

[Full Article]

The Hutaree Militia Raid

By Chuck Baldwin
April 6, 2010
NewsWithViews.com

Once in a while, someone writes a column that leaves me enviously exclaiming, "Darn! I wish I had written that!" Candidly, I do not often find myself saying that, but I sure did when I read William Norman Grigg's excellent column entitled "Casus Belli" (Latin for "Case for War") on Monday, March 29, 2010. Read his column here (even if you don't read the rest of mine).

I want to try and expound on Grigg's outstanding analysis of the Hutaree militia raid. In doing so, I am going to also expand upon Grigg's reference to James Madison's trenchant treatise in Federalist 46.

Referring to the federal indictment against the Hutaree militia, that alleged members were making preparations for potential armed conflict against law enforcement officers as a "seditious conspiracy," Grigg astutely noted, "If they were acquiring weapons and developing appropriate skills in anticipation of defending themselves against government aggression, their actions--while possibly conspiratorial in nature--don't amount to a crime. This is particularly true in light of our cultural history, in which sedition--agitation to change the existing political order--is our proudest civic tradition."

Grigg then rightly observes, "Government is nothing more than the rationalization and exercise of violence. Everything done by government contains at least the implicit threat of lethal coercion. Thus the indictment's description of Hutaree as 'an anti-government extremist organization which advocates violence against local, state and Federal law enforcement' is a product of rhetorical onanism [from Genesis 38:9--a great analogy, Will]."

As a general rule, government is the most violent force on the planet. If one wants to get a true perspective on the historical record regarding who or what routinely produces the most violence and death, one should pick up a copy of R. J. Rummel's book, "Death By Government." Since the end of World War II, Communist China and Red Russia lead the pack when it comes to death and brutality; however, the US government has inflicted its share of carnage as well. For example, in Iraq and Afghanistan alone, the government in Washington, D.C., has killed over 800,000 civilians (and this figure is a conservative estimate noting the most credible resources possible).

See here and also here.

Plus, does anyone remember the violence that our federal government enacted upon the Branch Davidians outside Waco, Texas? Does anyone remember the mother shot in the head while innocently holding her little baby in her own home by a federal sniper near Ruby Ridge, Idaho (after her small son was shot in the back by federal agents)? In fact, the list of civilians who have been killed by federal law enforcement agents over the years is a very long one. Granted, many of these killings were done in lawful self-defense; but others amounted to nothing less than old-fashioned murder (and never was the federal agent who committed the murder ever brought to justice).

If one wants to indict an "organization which advocates violence," then surely the central government in Washington, D.C., should be indicted!...

Is America Becoming A Police State?

by Chuck Baldwin
February 26, 2010

There is a classic story about how no one had been able to capture a herd of wild hogs that was rooting up crops from numerous farms. It got so bad that rewards had been posted for anyone clever enough to corral the critters. But even this resulted in only limited success.

One day a stranger (who was a wily old trapper) came into town and--entering the general store--ordered a truckload of fence posts and fencing, along with some feed. When asked what he was going to use it for, he said, "I'm going to get those wild hogs y'all are having trouble with." Of course, everyone in the store laughed at the overconfident stranger. A few weeks later, however, the stranger rode into town with the back of his truck tightly packed with the smelly swine.

When asked how he was able to accomplish what no one else had been able to do, the old trapper replied, "Simple. I started putting the feed out in a small clearing and the hogs began freely eating the feed. It didn't take long and they were there every day. Then I put up the fence posts, but with no fencing. At first the hogs were a little skittish, but it wasn't long and they ignored the posts. Then I began putting the fence up, but I left the gate off. Again, the hogs were skittish at first, but soon realized they could come and go freely, and before long, they were devouring the free food with a vengeance. Then, one day when the hogs were aggressively consuming the vittles, I slammed the gate closed."

Ladies and gentlemen, I submit that what the old trapper did to the wild hogs is exactly what our soon-to-be oppressors are doing to us! What is worse, most Americans seem about as oblivious to the whole thing as that bunch of pigs. For anyone who is paying attention, however, the signs of growing enslavement are everywhere.

Inside my web site is a link page that is constantly updated with pertinent information relating to how America is quickly being turned into Huxley's Brave New World. I invite readers to regularly visit this page. It is entitled "The Emerging Police State."

See the web page at:

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/patriotact.html

Here is a sampling of just this year's relevant headlines to date:

"Police Push For Warrantless Searches Of Cell Phones" (CNET News)

"During The Olympics, The Feds Will Be Reading Your Tweets--And The Blotter"
(ABC News)

"Feds Push For Tracking Cell Phones" (CNET News)

"Troops Randomly Patrol Streets In Pittsburgh, Respond To 'Domestic Disputes'" (PrisonPlanet.com)

"Residents Fumed Over Weekend Alcohol, Firearm Ban" (WXII-12 TV News, Winston-Salem, North Carolina)

"Ron Paul Warns Of Social Unrest And Martial Law" (Texas Congressman Ron Paul)

"FBI Broke Law For Years In Phone Record Searches" (The Washington Post)

"Top Obama Czar: Infiltrate All 'Conspiracy Theorists'" (World Net Daily)

"President Gives Foreign Cops Power Over Americans" (Retired lawman Jim Kouri)

Those are just some of the headlines from 2010 so far. Check out the headlines from 2009 and backward to discover that the list of relevant news stories is extensive. And as you peruse those news stories, keep reminding yourself about what you are actually seeing: you are watching the old trapper put the fence around the hog feed.

Again, the web page address is:

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/patriotact.html

Only a blind or deliberately naïve man cannot see that America--the once-proud "land of the free"--is being systematically turned into a twenty-first century police state. Good grief! The Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom notes that America is not even listed among the "free" countries of the earth. We are ranked in the second tier, of "mostly free" countries. Beyond that, the Heritage index ranks the US as only the 8th freest nation on the planet.

And both the Republican and Democrat parties in Washington, D.C., are equally culpable for America's slide into socialism and oppression. And so are many local and State leaders--including political, business, and law enforcement leaders. Suffice it to say that most big city governments have become almost totalitarian. Government buildings--even local ones--are sealed fortresses, not unlike the old palace-forts of antiquity. In big and not-so-big cities, cameras monitor virtually everything we do. Even here in my hometown of Pensacola, Florida, a nearby city (Gulf Breeze) has recently installed traffic cameras, which issue automated tickets for red light runners. (How unconstitutional can one get? Surely someone will aggressively challenge the legality of these cameras in court!) What is worse is that many residents and local authorities see nothing wrong with it. These people are behaving just like those wild hogs that nonchalantly ate their food while the fence was being built all around them.

In the name of "security" or "safety" or "protection," Americans are surrendering their liberties. Ladies and gentlemen, face it: freedom is risky business! If our Founding Fathers had wanted security or safety, they would have stayed in Europe--or at least remained a compliant colony of the Crown. So, if one wants government enslavement in twenty-first century America, one should move back to Europe--or better yet, to Red China or North Korea!

Instead of demanding that government take care of us, we should be demanding that government get out of our wallets and off our backs, and let us live free, as our Creator intended we live! But how can we do that when we constantly clamor for more and more government handouts and benefits? By demanding welfare checks, food stamps, government-assisted housing and medicine, etc., Americans are putting the shackles around their own throats. Even churches and religious institutions are gorging themselves at the government teat. America doesn't need to worry about terrorist attacks from Baghdad or Tehran as much as we should worry about the terrorism from Big Brother--brought about with our own approbation--right here at home.

When will we say, "That's enough"? When will we truly rise up against this out-of-control federal monstrosity? When will we demand that government once again be our servant and not our master? When will we begin to see through these Big Government politicians from both major parties that are selling our posterity into tyranny for their own selfish pursuits? When will we wake up to what both Big Business and Big Religion are doing to us? Why do we have to shop at the "Super Center"? Why do we have to worship at the "Mega-Church"? Why do we have to believe everything ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN--and yes, FOX News--tell us? Why do we have to keep reelecting these career politicians? And when we do replace them, why do we have to replace one dirty, rotten scoundrel with another dirty, rotten scoundrel?

When will we recognize that the Department of Homeland Security would be more properly named the Department of Homeland Enslavement? When are we going to wake up to the fact that the Patriot Act is nothing but a tool of the federal government to usurp constitutionally protected liberties? When are we going to realize that the federal "war on drugs" inflicts more damage on the Bill of Rights than it does any major drug dealer? When will we get fed up with these random police checkpoints (manned by agents from virtually any and every police agency, including federal agents) going up everywhere? When will we tire of our local policemen and sheriff's deputies more resembling military commandos than peace officers? When will we demand that our State and local officials stop begging the federal government for "stimulus" money? In other words, when are we going to decide that we want to live in FREEDOM?

Until we Americans get serious about answering the questions above, we are only fooling ourselves when we talk about the United States being a free country. We are not free, and we are getting less free by the day. We are as those wild hogs that were first fed by--and then enslaved by--a wily trapper. When will we see it?

*If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Use this link:

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/donate.php

© Chuck Baldwin

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