Do you see what is happening in Syria, Egypt and the Sudan right now as the "people" try to protest against government abuses? They are mowed down like lambs to the slaughter by the military. Then there is mid twentieth century Germany and Russia who annihilated or starved their people to death by the tens of millions. It is estimated that Chairman Mao killed 70,000,000 of his own people with heavy weapons and starvation. In America's un-civil war in 1861 to 1865, 600,000 soldiers and civilians died in a bloody conflict, unparalleled in brutality and savagery at the time.
Let's take it down a notch. Did you see what Attorney General Janet Reno did to the Branch Davidian at Waco, TX and the Ruby Ridge fiasco in Idaho in 1992 and 1993? Janet Reno's ATF turned heavy weapons on the Branch Davidian Compound, including an armored tank, against people with sticks, pitchforks and maybe a couple of rifles. 76 men, women and children died needlessly in the fire set by the U. S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agency (ATF) that was engaged in a brutal, violent siege of the compound.
A year before Attorney General Janet Reno's FBI, ATF and the U. S. Marshall's Service took on Randy Weaver and his family at their Cabin in Idaho. Randy's son and wife were killed by government agents in the raid.
"At the subsequent federal criminal trial of Weaver and Harris, Weaver's attorney Gerry Spence made accusations of "criminal wrongdoing" against every agency involved in the incident: the FBI, USMS, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) for Idaho. At the completion of the trial, the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility formed a Ruby Ridge Task Force to investigate Spence's charges. The 1994 Task Force report was released in redacted form by Lexis Counsel Connect and raised questions about the conduct and policy of all the agencies."
Remember what President Lincoln did to "preserve" the Union, from which one of the bloodiest of all American battles erupted? He pitted the people of the North against the people of the South. He financed the war by creating his own currency, the "Green Back". He imprisoned people who spoke out against the war. He suspended Habeas Corpus, one of the pillars of the Constitution and freedom. He preserved the Union, but at what cost to liberty?
The prevailing theme here is that the government will bring whatever weapons to bear that will overwhelm those in opposition to the edicts of government, even here in America. If government doesn't have big enough weapons, they invent them.
Even a million-man march on Washington DC would not stop the government if they unilaterally decided to blunt the protest with heavy weapons. Hundreds of thousands would die in one single day of battle between a million people and the government's heavy weapons. Government's power to kill its own people knows no bounds except the bounds of the U. S. Constitution, that is if government decides to honor the document. The only thing that stands between the American people and absolute tyranny and bloodshed beyond anyone's wildest imagination, is what lies on those few pages, but only the people have the power to keep the government within those bounds. Eventually, even the power of the people will not stop a government that is hell bent on putting the people in chains, visible or invisible. Government's absolute power can come about by law, or implemented at the point of a gun ..... a very big gun.
The government's propensity to break the bounds of the Constitution grows literally by the day. President Obama has become King Obama and exercises his unconstitutional authority on a whim, while he thumbs his ever-growing nose at Congress. The Congress and the U. S. Supreme Court either stand by and watch, or aid and abet Obama's increasing power, as the high court did in rendering Obama Care constitutional.
The so-called conservative opposition to Obama makes milk toast a powerful word. Making nice is always a losing negotiating strategy, in a war of guns, or a war of ideologies.
Now you say, " .... but this is America, government violence on the people can't happen here." If you are a student of history, you will see that it can happen anywhere at any time. If the people will not comply with the growing power of government, in the end violent force is used and people die. Once violent force is used, the preponderance of the people capitulate, leaving any redress or the preservation of freedom to the few who will surrender their lives in freedom's pursuit. If you don't believe it can happen here, ask why the Department of Homeland Security has purchased over 1.5 Billion rounds of ammunition, most of it the deadly hollow point kind?
Ask the survivors of the tragedy that was the Waco Siege? Ask Randy Weaver who lost his wife and son at the attack at Ruby Ridge? Ask rural landowners that come under fire from draconian land use and environmental laws? Ask the natural milk farmers that were raided by the U. S. Government? Ask the owners of Gibson Guitars that were raided by U. S. government agents for having illegal wood on the premises, while their competitor Martin Guitars was untouched and had the same wood on its premises? Oh, did you know the owners of Martin Guitars are huge Obama supporters, but the owners of Gibson Guitars supported conservatives?
Did you know under Obama Care, government agents can come into your home for an inspection without a warrant, under the "Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visits Program?" Are you going to stop them and claim violation of the 4th Amendment against unreasonable search and seizures? Probably not!
Did you know that government no longer requires a 4th Amendment criminal warrant signed by a judge, requiring probable cause to search your home? Government can now get a civil administrative or inspection warrant, served by the sheriff, to get into your home if they want to. The sheriff carries a gun. Your legal defenses ..... none? Your right to privacy ..... none?
When the 4th Amendment is gone, what will happen to the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd, the 5th, the 8th, 9th and 10th? What will stop the government from repealing the entire Bill of Rights at any time they so choose? Are you going to stop them? They have heavy weapons at their disposal. What do you have ..... a rifle, a pistol?
From one of our previous articles:
"The only hope for America, short of revolution, is the rise of "A Culture of Resistance" that ripples like a tidal wave through the fabric of society, a resistance that vigorously but peacefully challenges the prevailing wisdom or the brainwashed mindset of obedience, compliance and loyalty to authority. This brainwashed mindset is called socialism or communism and has happened many times throughout human history, advocated by governments seeking greater control over the people. It happened in Germany twice in the 20th Century with unimaginably tragic consequences. It is happening in all of Europe now and has been happening for decades. Central and South America have been consumed by dictators and despots for centuries, with a few exceptions. It has never stopped happening in Russia and China. But far worse, this mindset is now happening in America, once the land of the free."
This "Culture of Resistance" must be manifested in massive and peaceful disobedience to authority that has grown well beyond its constitutional powers, at all levels of government.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is plain to see that once the government decides that the only way to control the people is by force of deadly heavy weapons, peaceful means to reclaim and preserve freedom will no longer be an option and we will find ourselves in that situation described by Prime Minister Winston Churchill as a time when:
"You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."
© 2013 Ron Ewart - All Rights Reserved
Ron Ewart, a nationally known author and speaker on freedom and property issues and author of his weekly column, "In Defense of Rural America", is the President of the National Association of Rural Landowners, (NARLO) a non-profit corporation headquartered in Washington State and dedicated to restoring, maintaining and defending property rights for urban and rural landowners. Mr. Ewart can be reached by e-mail for comment at ron@narlo.org, or by 'phone at 1 800 682-7848.
Website: www.narlo.org
E-Mail: ron@narlo.org