It made me wonder about serving members of the American military. The ambitious program envisioned by the Obama administration can only be accomplished through coercion — even extreme coercion, depending on how severe the financial crisis becomes. When push comes to shove, the president may have to call on the armed forces to suppress any resistance to his Brave New World.Members of the United States Military form one of the few remaining bastions of support for traditional constitutional governance in this country. How will they respond when their orders require them to rip down what remains of the Constitution and tread it underfoot?
It’s reassuring to learn that not all of them plan to obey without question any order that might be given to them. An organization known as Oath Keepers has been formed to remind veterans and serving members of the military that their oath is to the Constitution, and not to the President, the SecDef, the Pentagon, or any other person or organization.
The motto of Oath Keepers is “Not on Our Watch!” Here’s part of their explanation for what they are doing:
Our oath is to the Constitution, not to the politicians, and not to any political party. In the long-standing tradition of the U.S. military, we are apolitical. We don’t care if unlawful orders come from a Democrat or a Republican, or if the violation is bi-partisan. We will not obey unconstitutional (and thus unlawful) and immoral orders, such as orders to disarm the American people or to place them under martial law. We won’t “just follow orders.” Our motto: “Not on Our Watch!” or to put it even more succinctly, in the words of 101st Airborne Commander General Anthony McAuliffe at the Battle of the Bulge, “NUTS!”
There is at this time a debate within the ranks of the military regarding their oath. Some mistakenly believe they must follow any order the President issues. But many others do understand that their loyalty is to the Constitution and to the people, and understand what that means.
The mission of Oath Keepers is to vastly increase their numbers.
We are in a battle for the hearts and minds of our own troops.
Help us win it.
Below is a list of ten orders which the Oath Keepers will under all circumstances refuse to obey:
Declaration Of Orders We Will Not Obey- - - - - - - - -
Below is our declaration of orders we will NOT obey because we will consider them unconstitutional (and thus unlawful) and immoral violations of the natural rights of the people. Such orders would be acts of war against the American people by their own government, and thus acts of treason. We will not make war against our own people. We will not commit treason. We will defend the Republic.
Recognizing that we each swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and affirming that we are guardians of the Republic, of the principles in our Declaration of Independence, and of the rights of our people, we affirm and declare the following:
1. We will NOT obey any order to disarm the American people. 2. We will NOT obey any order to conduct warrantless searches of the American people, their homes, vehicles, papers, or effects — such as warrantless house-to house searches for weapons or persons. 3. We will NOT obey any order to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to trial by military tribunal. 4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state, or to enter with force into a state, without the express consent and invitation of that state’s legislature and governor. 5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty and declares the national government to be in violation of the compact by which that state entered the Union.
6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps. 7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext. 8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control” during any emergency, or under any other pretext. We will consider such use of foreign troops against our people to be an invasion and an act of war. 9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies, under any emergency pretext whatsoever. 10. We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.
There is a lengthy rationale for each of these ten points at the Oath Keepers site, and I recommend reading the whole thing.
And if you have friends or family on active duty or in the reserves, I suggest that you pass the link on to them. Our soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen may have to start thinking about these things sooner than they had planned.
Hat tip: M. Simon.
16 comments:
It is heartening in the extreme to see such a clear shot-across-the-bow for Obama and his minions. The disarming and enfeeblement of America's people will not proceed apace.
I encourage everyone to visit the Oath Keepers web site. Most disturbing of all is the coverage they use from the hurricane Katrina disaster. In light of the subsequent malfeasance that occurred, Bush's appointment of his incompetent crony, Michael Brown, as head of FEMA was criminally actionable. Unfortunately, as I no longer watch television, I was largely unaware of just how bad the violation of civil rights had been during that crisis.
Even more worrisome is that such unconstitutional acts occured during a Republican presidency. I dread to think what excesses the self-appointed Messiah will consider himself entitled to.
This is something I have been thinking about quite a lot recently. Especially after the town hall protesters have been referred to as "a mob" or "phony astroturf". When you look at what Obama has done in a scant six months, you really wonder about the next three years.
That being said, I have been wondering if he goes too far, what would be the possibility of a military coup? As mentioned, the military is mostly a conservative, traditional organization. I normally am a level headed guy, but when you consider how truly radical this current government is it doesnt seem like to much of a stretch.
For now, we remain a conglomerate of disorganized citizens. I would like to see an organized movement take hold. As far as how far will this administration be allowed to corrupt our government, Honduras offers a ray of hope.
On another note, the corruption of language by this administration must be fought much more fiercely. If people begin to think, speak, and write clearly, obama will be stopped.
The latest DHS definitions of threats to the country. The rhetoric of the administration. The rhetoric of persons in leadership positions in Congress. The vile demonetization of protesters against Obama's agendas. ACORN and SEIU among others. These are all treats to our nation.
Perhaps, all truly patriotic citizen should subscribe to this oath, or a civilian equivalent. I took the oath to defend and protect THE CONSTITUTION when I enlisted in the armed forces many years ago. I do not know that having been honorably discharged from military service invalidates that oath. As I recall there is/was nothing in that oath that limits its duration periods of military service.
This post Internment/Resettlement Camps, linked from by 8/8/09 newsfeeds, also needs to be read and considered part of this discussion.
Thank you for posting that link, IgnorantInfidel. Just as Europe is criminalizing Free Speech, so are Liberal elements in America working hard to criminalize legitimate political dissent. Just as they seek a one-world government, they also desire a political monoculture akin to that of the Soviet Union. Through their acquiesence and nearly unanimous inaction, Republicans are almost equally complicit in this desecration of America's Constitution.
As Ex-Dissident noted, the corruption of our language with Politically Correct jargon is the first step in limiting and restricting not just Free Speech but Free Thought. Hate Speech laws are the thin end of this wedge and its widest point will see the modern day equivalent of Thought Crime.
II & spackle -
When I was mustered out there was never a mention of the oath being now null and void. I understand that it is a lifetime oath, to The Constitution - To preserve and protect.....
Also, spackle, if you want to read how the modern military or other coup could occur see Orson Scott Cards "Empire". In "Empire" the Progressives stage the coup.
In his afterword, OSC notes that the polarization has never been worse in this country and may only match the polarization prior to The War of Northern Aggression. I think that is true. While both 'sides' can claim some responsibility, it seems the vehemence is worst coming from the modern Left or Progressives.
My 2cents.
I think the above posters have put their finger on what has to be done right now to put the brakes on this runaway Obama Socialism Express.
Take back control of LANGUAGE. Do not let conservatives and Republicans (not synonymous) be defined by the Left as we get all the bad words and they take all the good ones.
Mobs and Astroturf instead of concerned citizens and grassroots is what the Left calls us!!! Actually, they've called us worse, potential terrorists as the Secretary of Homeland Defense Napolitano did before she was forced to apologize (but undoubtedly she still believes it).
The entire Obama administration and Democrat Congress have a hate on for what they think is a mere third of the population (all productive, whose slave labor is required to pay for Dem profligacy). Hard core liberals leftists make up another third and a third are the ignorant cattle they are confident of herding and turning into real mobs as required (stampeded by the media, jacketed union thugs, Black Panthers, Acorn activists etc.)
Conservatives have never been good at the propaganda war. We need punchy slogans, not the drawn out droning analysis that "intellectual conservatives" favor. That's like taking a book to a street fight and reading from it while bullets and switchblades whiz by.
e.g. Bringing Government Medicare standards to YOUR health care!
Laine --
I agree, we need punchy slogans. I wouldn't mind writing a few myself, but my favorite remains Patrick Henry:
If this be Treason, make the most of it!
laine: Conservatives have never been good at the propaganda war.
Why is this? It would be overly simplistic to say that proper conservative doctrine contains too many, for want of any better term, "self evident" truths.
Quite cleary they are no longer self evident nor are they even being held as obvious truths. Again, I defer to the Baron's own observations over in the "Darwin at Work" thread. To wit:
The obvious explanation is that pacifism — like all the other destructive ideologies of the Left — is nurtured under the roof of Western military might. Pacifists are free to dispense their noxious fumes because they are hothouse flowers, and would be unable to survive as a political movement in the cold world outside.
What is it that a clearly inadequate and dysfunctional ideology like pacifism, socialism or communism is able to gain such traction in an otherwise intelligent modern world?
Moreover, how is it that the custodians of rational thought are unable to convey that content to one of the most educated and (supposedly), well-informed civilian populations in all history?
Yes, our academic institutions are polluted with adherents of irrationality. Yes, our media is permeated by Magical Thinking™. Still, I refuse to believe that so large a population can willingly abandon the embrace of reason.
Little good did it do all of us that the previous Republican administration so thoroughly espoused moronic disinformation like Islam supposedly being the "Religion of Peace". [spit]
Still, it seems as though simple Common Sense is becoming increasingly less common.
Other discussions of this same topic at different venues have identified the lack of schooling in critical analysis and independent thought as a culprit with respect to this current dilemma.
Having been raised in an albeit Liberal household but one that, albeit marginally, still encouraged empirical analysis and constructive criticism, it remains difficult in the extreme to comprehend how so much of Western civilization has managed to reject or even dismiss outright these critical analytic tools.
It is easy to suppose that such challenging mental gymnastics are unappealing to the bulk of modern society. If so, what other functional tools are available? It is difficult to imagine that any other constructs, aside from rationality and logic, could ever prevail over an enduring civilization. If not, I dread to see what awaits those who completely reject the tools that were painstakingly handed down to us amidst so much blood, sweat and tears.
The reason why conservatives are incapable at mass cult following like the suicidal regimes of Leftist throughout history is because conservatives have a pacifist virus from Christian theology.
Pacifism lends way to militancy as seen time and time again. Once we stop pretending that we can "spread the good word" of conservatism and, instead, bring it thus forcefully, then will we have a shot.
Until then, we are like sheep for the Marxist slaughter.
No, the reason that conservatives are incapable of this mass cult crap is because conservatives are concerned with the individual rather than the group. In fact the more concerned conservatism has become with "the group", attempting to establish cult-like followings, the less capable it has become of reproducing itself.
Taking the darwinian approach, the individual member of a species is concerned only with its own survive, not that of the group. In promoting its own survive it promotes the de-facto survival of the group simply by existing and breeding.
The nature of conservative principles mean that that would be destroyed in a groupthink setting because that isn't their origin. They aren't about groupthink, or cults or the strong man. Any apparent group activity that comes from conservative thought is an emergent behaviour, whereas the cult-like group thought of leftism isn't emergent at all. It's programmed from the top down. It appears successful because it is able to muster lots of people who behave in exactly the same way but that's only appearance. It falls over when faced with angry conservatives.
WE don't need groupthink to become angry. Look at America right now. The right is livid and they're making their voices heard very loud. They aren't subscribing to your paradigm of cultish behaviour, they're standing up for their individual rights, their individual existence in the face of the leftist cult.
Once again, alas, I fear that we Brits are in the lead on this matter. In just the same way as your Chosen One is following the Socialist path of Tony Blair in Change (ie destruction of the nation that we once knew), so also is he following in his path on the destruction of the military.
It is my seriously held opinion that the British forces previously in Iraq, and now in Afghastlystan are being denied the correct equipment for a purpose, and one purpose only, to be destroyed. The British forces have loyalty to the Sovereign written through them like a stick of Blackpool rock. It will come as natural to them to challenge orders that are not legitimately given. Therefore they must be destroyed as a necessary precursor to the implementation of the integrated nation state that is to be Europe. So the incompetence of the Ministry of Defence will not be resolved, it is necessary. Our troops must die or be demoralised and defeated on the battlefield. That way they will have no stomach for fighting for the preservation of the UK.
Just watch what happens to the US military budgets when your Chosen One is forced to face up to having spent more than the nation can ever afford. Watch where the budget cuts fall. The stronger the US forces object to the illegal acts noted in the post, the tougher will be the budget cuts. They MUST be brought to (the Chosen One's) heel.
I took an oath to defend the Constitution in the early 1970s, but, considering that the Constitution has been a dead letter since 1933, I'm not sure how much importance I should attach to said oath.
I'd love to restore the Constitution, but that would require discontinuing subsidies to myriad dependents of the government. Making the restoration stick would require disenfranchising a large part of the population. (In a republic, only taxpayers vote.) Needless to say, a war of words is inadequate to these tasks. Restoring the Constitution would require considerable force and violence.
So while it's comforting that the Oath Keepers (all six of them), will refuse to disarm us or confine us in concentration camps, I doubt that they or anyone else will restore the Constitution any time soon.
I was not suggesting a counter cult. I was saying that the mushy third in the middle, the cattle too complacent to do their homework, chewing their entertainment cud yet capable of being stampeded over various cliffs by leftist rhetoric is not going to be talked out of it by the long version of conservative thought.
We need good communicators and communications in lengths that fit the modern (short) attention span to SELL the product conservative thought. It is not just untaught in public schools. There is a strong prejudice against it installed 180 days of the year in young minds by public schools reinforced by the media 24/7.
This is what needs to be overcome and the high minded prosing of purist conservatives is not doing the job, is it? Conservatism is on the run. Look at the shabby tattered version the Republicans carry, chewed past recognition with concessions to the Left. It's hardly an inspiring standard and they are afraid to raise it anyway.
"Individual thinkers" just doing their thing and looking after their families no longer automatically results in a healthy society when the critical mass of those individualists falls below some number that is surely higher than a third.
You have to recruit from the mushy middle, distasteful as it is to a purist.
In fact, studying global governance, conservative thought is presumably less natural to humans than what seems to be an almost universal desire to be looked after by a nanny state/dictator even at the cost of totalitarian control.
The United States Republic was a shining exception to the largely socialistic condition the rest of the world has chosen. It was man standing erect, at his most free, evolved from the swamps of tribalism and socialism.
This level of evolution is rare and needs constant maintenance. Letting the swamp creatures take over education and the media while us "individuals" tended our fields and families has landed us in a right fine mess now. We are outnumbered and no one is following our sterling example.
"Facts are a conservative's friends" as Margaret Thatcher once said but facts are not getting out to the public through the leftist poisonous disinformation network that rules mass communication.
Look at the tea parties. Does anyone recognize anything factual in the smears the media churned out after first trying the silent treatment? If an event is not accurately reported to the larger community, it has no chance of influencing a wider circle than the participants. The Left actually tried to twist it AGAINST the organizers with demonization,ridicule and sexual innuendo.
Anyway, another great piece by the Baron who really should publish a collection of these cogent analyses.
Whoops. My postscript praise was meant for the analytical piece by the Baron just above "Darwin at Work" though this thread is the usual great reportage.
Thanks!
It is an honor to be of service.
All - do what you can to help Oath Keepers go viral.
Simon
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