Posted on 07/07/2015 1:59:00 PM PDT by Taxman
Is it Time for Civil Disobedience?
“Is this the act of a government worthy of our respect?”
When the government rules by illegitimate means, is it legitimate to peacefully stand in defiance and disobey? The answer to this question is a reluctant “yes.”
I have thought about this question for a long time and, as a former police officer and federal agent who pledged his life to upholding and enforcing the law, I take this call to action very seriously.
In a piece (http://www.bornfreeamericanwoman.com/blog/) out yesterday by Becky Gerritson of the Wetumpka Tea Party, a group victimized by the IRS targeting scandal, she summarizes the despicable behavior of IRS officials since the inception of the congressional inquiry into the targeting scandal. Did you know that the IRS destroyed the backup tapes containing emails written by Lois Lerner and others, seven months AFTER the order to preserve the tapes was given? My life is political activism but, after the torrent of news emanating from the Supreme Court and from the overseas terror attacks, I nearly missed this stunning piece of information. Is this the act of a government worthy of our respect?
Combine this outrageous development in the IRS scandal with the recent Supreme Court rulings declaring that the Court has the power to unilaterally rewrite and reinterpret laws to further a destructive political agenda, (https://www.conservativereview.com/Commentary/2015/06/no-it-is-not-the-law-of-the-land) and we now have a government free from any constitutional restraint, and American citizens living under the yoke of it. Although none of this happened overnight, the pace by which the liberty train is speeding away from the station is rapidly accelerating.
Fighting back strictly through the political process has proven to be effective only in delaying the day of reckoning and it is now clear that we must take from the new political aristocracy what they crave most: legitimacy and acceptance. We must pursue parallel tracks for change to restrain this out-of-control government both through the formal political process and public action.
“It is time to fully embrace an Article V Convention of the States to reestablish the powers of the states and re-impose clear limits on the growing federal monolith.”
If the far Left and their political overseers deem it appropriate to weaponize the IRS to assault their political opponents – to attack Christians for the sincere exercise of their religious beliefs, to use the machine of government to force free American citizens, against their will, to spend their limited financial resources to purchase government sanctioned health insurance at the expense of the health of themselves and their families, and to bankrupt the nation through a mathematically certain tax-and-spend formula for misery – then it’s time to consider open defiance to take back what has been lost.
It is time to fully embrace an Article V Convention of the States to reestablish the powers of the states and re-impose clear limits on the growing federal monolith. Former Reagan administration official, conservative activist, and popular radio show host Mark Levin has been passionately advocating for this approach since the release of his bestselling book The Liberty Amendments. (http://www.amazon.com/Liberty-Amendments-Restoring-American-Republic/dp/1451606273/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417817257&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Liberty+Amendments)
The far Left worships at the altar of inescapable federal power because they fully understand that when states act as separate incubators of policy, that Americans will choose economic, healthcare, religious, and educational freedom. And the resulting exodus from deep blue states anchored to an anti-liberty approach will discredit their agenda and destroy the patina of a public imprimatur and their false air of legitimacy. Federal power prevents an easy escape from the far Left agenda and subjects all Americans to their destructive agenda, regardless of how much they resist. And, while I appreciate the passionate advocacy opposing a convention on the grounds that it could result in a “runaway convention,” I counter by asserting that we are already living with a government engaging in a de facto ongoing constitutional convention by ignoring the plain language of the law and the Constitution to impose an increasingly liberal agenda which is dissolving individual liberty and freedom.
“History has proven, without question, that when government by discretion, rather than by law is allowed to continue unchallenged, that the result is a dangerous concentration of power in a zero sum battle for freedom.”
Secondly, the likelihood of 38 states ratifying a radical amendment is low given the current political power of the Republican Party. As the Supreme Court made clear with their recent rulings (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/05/19/the_gop_is_the_strongest_its_been_in_decades_126633.html) on Obamacare, marriage, and housing, the country is already free from its constitutional moorings and is charting a dangerous new course towards rule by men, not law. History has proven, without question, that when government by discretion, rather than by law is allowed to continue unchallenged, that the result is a dangerous concentration of power in a zero sum battle for freedom.
In the short-run, now is the time for peaceful and responsible civil disobedience. The Obama administration has been engaging in non-civil, and constitutional disobedience for many years now through their usurpation of power and their weaponizing of the tools of government. And, with a largely feckless response from a frightened and shell-shocked Republican Congress, it is up to conservatives to blaze the trail forward. If our elected Republican leadership refuses to lead, then we will demonstrate to their timid souls what bravery and sacrifice look like.
“Pastors and spiritual leaders need to stand in defiance of the ongoing attacks on people of faith and speak boldly and proudly.”
It is now incumbent upon conservatives to take every opportunity to respectfully and peacefully protest the attacks on our liberty and freedom. When told to sit down at town hall meetings, refuse to do so until your questions are answered. Continue to boldly question the politicians supporting this new post-constitutional path forward even as you are dragged out in protest.
As a Secret Service agent I witnessed firsthand the power of a small group, unafraid of the legal consequences, to influence and change policy by refusing to be silenced. Pastors and spiritual leaders need to stand in defiance of the ongoing attacks on people of faith and speak boldly and proudly. Let the government further discredit itself by asking an already discredited IRS to silence the millions of American voices of faith crying out to be left alone by the power-hungry, Washington DC cocktail party crowd.
When I walked away from a position I loved as a special agent with the United States Secret Service I left behind a lifetime of financial security to fight back by running for office. I didn’t prevail but I never gave up that fight and when my wife and I, as a result of our decision to walk away, came across difficult financial times we knew the sacrifice was worth it.
Faith teaches us that sacrifice is the only ticket to the second creation and we are all going to have to sacrifice something. Small acts of disobedience in the face of the existential threats we face to our constitutional republic are a small price to pay to defend the most blessed and prosperous country in mankind’s history. We were gifted this country by prior generations who sacrificed their lives, limbs and treasures to ensure we remain that shining light on the hill. It’s up to us to ensure that the light never dims.
Dan Bongino is a former Secret Service agent and candidate for Congress. Follow him on Twitter @dbongino.
I'm afraid that you are correct. There can be disobedience, but in most cases it will be violent. Peaceful protesters will be villified; shots will be fired into or from the crowd; the police will step in and arrest everyone in sight, like the bikers in that restaurant. Eventually the most active protesters will be punished enough to stop fighting - or they will be unable to fight.
There are only two obvious possibilities here. First, the protesters must make themselves safe enough to fight tomorrow and day after tomorrow. This requires either a weak police or a strong group of protesters. Second, the numbers of protesters can be very high; then the government cannot arrest enough to suppress the protests.
From the Declaration of Independence:
” That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. “
An article 5 convention should also include a mechanism for a Nuremburg style court to prosecute all of those who have violated the constitution and committed treasonous acts.
That’s the sad truth. War is coming. The federal government is completely and totally out of control and NOBODY in Washington DC is going to fix it.
I just hope I’m around when the fudge hits the fan
uh. given the millions of pages of unnecessary and mostly unconstitutional law that you are already subject to (unless of course you’re an illegal alien), you are already practicing civil disobedience. the question is whether or not you want to practice it voluntarily and morally on your own terms or involuntarily and immorally on theirs.
It is well past time for civil disobedience, and I am starting to wonder how civil we should be in that disobedience. FedGov has lost all legitimacy. Obedience, if any, should be determined by self-interest, not by any respect for federal institutions.
I posted something last week and I think its something to soberly reflect upon, not act rashly upon.
The political system is a joke. Our political parties are run by elites as in corporate business elites and they fake people out with Left and Right leaning speeches and propaganda spread by sympathetic media that end disinforming and misleading the public.
My post: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3305590/posts
“...Is it Time for Civil Disobedience?...”
“...What say you?...”
-
I have been, and continue to be an ardent supporter of an Article V Convention of the States.
I do not consider my support of an Article V Convention of the States
to be Civil Disobedience; it is, instead, Civil Obedience at its finest.
Most of the public folderol over the recent decisions from the supreme court
seems to be about the gay marriage decision, which was just another mile-marker
in the “long train of abuses and usurpations” of the federal government.
It was less ominous to me than the affordable care act decision, which was an out-and-out lie.
On the one hand,
the court made yet another poor interpretation of the nebulous
and poorly written language of the 14th amendment.
An amendment to the Constitution could fix that.
On the other hand,
the court determined that plain words in black-and-white on paper actually have an opposite meaning.
Based on that, the courts could determine that where the words on paper say:
“Congress shall make no law” it actually means “Congress shall make a law”.
How can you fix that kind of idiocracy, unless you also amend the Constitution to provide
for a method either for Congress to override the supreme court, or for the States to ignore them?
An Article V Convention of the States is the last chance for the nation to survive intact.
It does not need to be violent if enough people participate. The orange revolution in Ukraine is a fine example. Large groups of people who sit in agreement and simply refuse to obey any instructions are a huge problem for anyone except a totalitarian government like the Chinese in Tiannamen Square, or the Iranians a few years ago.
If the idea goes viral, and huge numbers of people reject the legitimacy of a government, and everything is right out there in broad daylight, government falls into paralysis.
Guns and insurrection is what government lives for, they can justify all kinds of actions when that happens.
<>An Article V Convention of the States is the last chance for the nation to survive intact.<>
There is no alternative.
“like the bikers in that restaurant.”
Criminal gangs in a brawl at a bar, over turf and childish clothing emblems are about as far away from civil disobedience as can be imagined. He isn’t talking those turds, he is talking normal non gang members in large numbers simply refusing to obey as Charleton Heston suggested.
This will not elicit shots from the police.
You may not have long to wait
It was time under the Clintons.
I go along with ya. Still in the talking stages.
Here’s how it works. Civil disobedience by the left (occupy Wall Street) will not be prosecuted. Civil disobedience by normal people will incur the wrath of the federal establishment.
Law is enforced unfairly in the USA.
This is men’s work. There are so many good/ excellent thoughts here already. We really have nothing to lose with an Article V, but we know that the Congress and the courts are acting outside the law as it is, so be prepared.. LEOs- esp sheriffs, our military, and patriots still employed- or retired, and our military- active and retired, are essential allies. Violence only with the greatest discretion. …just one mean old gal’s humble opinion.
We have three branches of a federal government that no longer follow the Constitution. Why would they follow an amended Constitution?
You completely misunderstand the process. Amendments coming out of an Article V convention would go to the states for ratification in exactly the same way that amendments proposed by Congress do. Congress would have exactly no say in the ratification of those Article-V-convention-proposed amendments.
‘They’ have divided us into so many groups, (blue red, purple, green, conservative, moderate, liberal, progressive, left, right etc... etc... etc)
It aint gonna happen by design
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.