I am often asked what people can do on an individual level to restore Liberty in this country. My recommendation doesn’t cost any money, however it is very difficult for some people to do. My advice is to start thinking for yourself. Stop asking the government for permission to do everything in your life.
We have been programmed all of our lives to be submissive to authority. As children we are “well behaved” when we do what our parents tell us to do. Often the only justification we are given is “because I’m the Mommy, that’s why!” When we’re old enough to attend school, we are instructed to sit quietly; ask for permission to visit the bathroom; and walk quietly down the hall in single file. When we’re old enough to drive we must follow the police officer’s instructions. We learn very quickly that questioning his or her authority always results in negative consequences. We graduate from college and begin our first real job. The department manager assumes vast control over our daytime lives, giving us tasks to accomplish, demanding reports on our progress, and evaluating our performance from time to time. Our financial status is directly related to how well we take orders from authority. We even have to grovel in order to take time off from work, especially if it is unexpected.
It is little wonder therefore, that our politicians and legislators automatically assume the authority to control our lives in countless ways. And it is little wonder that we automatically comply with their demands without question. We take it for granted that we have to get a drivers license, a marriage license, a concealed carry permit, or a building permit. To paraphrase a popular movie, “We don’t need no stinkin’ permits!”
Within the patriot community, this appeal to authority usually manifests itself by looking for proper authority in a piece of paper. The Constitution says this. The Bill of Rights says that. The Fourteenth Amendment says something else, whereas the United States code or some obscure Supreme Court decision contradicts everything. SO WHAT?! Americans need to learn to make decisions for themselves. 23,000 gun laws in this country are unconstitutional. Who says? MICHAEL BADNARIK SAYS! The Second Amendment doesn’t GIVE me that right, it merely enumerates that right. It is completely up to me to understand it – and enforce it. Nobody is going to deprive me of my gun without a bloody fight. I don’t care what some piece of paper says to the contrary.
If you really want to help restore Liberty in this country, you can start by changing your attitude and the way that you think. Don’t just “question authority”… CHALLENGE authority! This may be easier said than done for most people. Familiar excuses I’ve heard are “I’ll pay a big fine if I don’t have a drivers license.” “I’ll go to jail if I don’t have a concealed carry permit.” “Stop paying my taxes?! Are you CRAZY?!” No one ever said Liberty was going to be easy, and freedom (as you know) is not free.
I’ve heard it said that life is like high school all over again. I agree that even adults are unduly influenced by peer pressure, except we call it political correctness, or keeping up with the Joneses. Too many people are worried about what the neighbors will think. To hell with what anyone else thinks! Make up your own mind. Your parents taught you the difference between right and wrong. You’ve had plenty of time to establish a code of ethics. Live up to that code. John Wayne never played hero characters that avoided confrontation by going with the flow. His characters never took a poll to see what course of action was popular. No! His characters are heros because they always did the right thing IN SPITE of what people thought, or what someone else claimed was an overriding authority.
I’m not asking you to start packing a pistol simply because you have the right to do that. (I will save that for a future newsletter.) I am asking you to stop reacting reflexively to assertions of authority. If you’re not brave enough to challenge the government by yourself, then you need to start participating in, or even organizing, rallies that promote Liberty and challenge conventional authority. I highly recommend that you download and read the Articles of Freedom (AoF) that were written last November by the Continetal Congress 2009. You can find one version (there are several) at www.ArticlesOfFreedom.us. I will also have one available on my website very soon. The AoF contains instructions to the federal government, instructions to the state governments, and recommended “civic actions” that individuals can to help restore our Constitutional republic.
We are hoping to organize huge rallies of over a million people at each of the state capitols on April 19th, 2010. This is the anniversary of “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” that was fired at Lexington green in 1775, a full year before the Declaration of Independence was written. The Articles of Freedom will be hand delivered to the state legislators with what we hope will be unprecedented numbers of people supporting us on the capitol grounds. Please be prepared to join your fellow patriots as we prepare to challenge the presumed authority of an entrenched oligarchy.
Lighting the Fires of Liberty, one heart at a time!
Michael Badnarik
– Stepfather of the Constitution
– President of Continental Congress 2009
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