America On this Memorial Day it is fitting and right that we should pause to remember and thank the millions of servicemen and women who have sacrificed, many ultimately, for the freedoms we enjoy. In honor to them, I want to share with you some quotes and thought development from author Alexander Boot, a Russian who came to America only to discover that the "free" country he had heard about no longer existed. His book, How the West Was Lost, was his attempt to explain what happened. I would highly recommend it for anyone interested in freedom and its resurrection.

 

Boot "The rule of law presupposes a set of constitutional guarantees that are equally binding for the state and for the individual."
 
"Citizens no longer venerate laws because they know the state does not."
 
"And why should a servant of the state be concerned about private property if his master is in the business of extorting it?"
 
"Governments are no longer there to protect society and the individuals within it. They are out to protect the sacred cow of statism. . . . "
 
"While failing to protect us, [our modern government] laws also deny us the right to self-defense."
 
"In our time, the state has to have monopoly on violence [and power], so armed citizenry is off limits."
 
"That is why it is useless to quote reams of evidence, demonstrating that places that do not restrict gun ownership enjoy lower crime rates than those that do.  Washington DC and New York City, where guns are outlawed, have two of the highest murder rates in the USA; Vermont and New Hampshire, with the highest gun ownership in the country, two of the lowest. Burglaries are almost unheard of in those places where most households are armed. Switzerland, with the heaviest-armed population in the world, has practically no crime, while Britain and Holland, with their strict gun laws, are crime-ridden. And in the first two years after a complete ban on handguns was introduced in Britain, gun crime went up by 50 percent and it is still growing."

 

I have long been confused how those who think guns are so dangerous and should be outlawed to protect people are the same pundits who think it's okay to kill babies on one end of life's spectrum and euthanize old folks at the other. Boot has answered the conundrum for me: the state doesn't care about life, it cares about control. Guns are the biggest, and the last-ditch barrier a population holds against total tyranny by its government.

 
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12 responses to “Remembering Freedom and the Fallen”

  1. Cathy Avatar
    Cathy

    Chris,
    With every new truck he acquired, my father faithfully contacted the National Rifle Association (NRA), through the privelages of his life membership, to obtain yet another new version of the same bumper sticker. It always read, “If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” My younger brother, a Gulf War veteran, now drives his last one, with the last sticker.
    The right to keep and bear arms is an essential freedom founded in the American Constitution. It was considered so essential, so purely basic a right, it was among the first ammendments approved when the Constitution itself was first ratified.
    And now revisionist historians and socialist politicians are trying to tell the American people that what our Founding Fathers “really meant to say” was that only the State should have the right to keep and bear arms?!?!? Beware of any who try to tell you what people of history “really meant to say.” They are only trying to re-write history to suit their needs and viewpoints.
    If the State were the only one to have the right to keep and bear arms, the history of this land would have been far different. The colonists would never have been able to resist the British at Lexington and Concord. For those were militias, made up of citizen-soldiers, men who left their daily lives to take up the cause of freedom. The same is true of the Continental Army. Most of these men came with their own home weapons. If the State had been the only one to keep and bear arms, none of them would have had any, and the Revolution would have been a war of words, over before it started, and little more than a footnote in the history books.
    In opposition to government control, I offer these:
    “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty – power is ever stealing from the many to the few.” ~ Wendell Phillips, 1852
    “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” ~ President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburgh Address
    Thank you to the veterans and their families!

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  2. Skipper Avatar
    Skipper

    Howdy Chris. Sounds like we had better take advantage of that free sign up with the NRA. I find it extremely interesting that those countries wih the least gun control have the lowest crime rate.
    A Vietnam Vet

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  3. steve Avatar
    steve

    The question I have is what do we do? Our nation has forsaken the Constitution and has corrupted the electoral system to the point we can not fix this with just votes. There is no recognition of “rights” by the govt. anymore and the populace at large believes “rights” are granted by the Constitution rather than recognized by it. This confusion of rights vs privilege has been sinking our nation.
    I believe proper education could fix this except any talk of implementing our Constitution leads to accusations of being a radical and citizens thinking we are crazy. Society has been brainwashed to the point that peer pressure is pushing us to abdicate our rights. Historically no corrupt government has been corrected without violent revolution – is that where we are headed? I hope not – if we can fight court battles based on the Constitution we may be able to regain some freedoms – owning property, ability to work, self defense, privacy and so many others. If the courts continue to rule against the Constitution I don’t know what to do. There are no new frontiers!

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  4. Ted Avatar
    Ted

    You are right, the state would love to have our guns, I pray they never do…

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  5. Phyllis Hoff Avatar
    Phyllis Hoff

    I received an e-mail today that stated the following:
    We truly take a lot for granted. Forget the football ‘heroes’ and movie ‘stars’.
    Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you,
    Jesus Christ and the American Soldier
    One died for your soul; the other for your freedom.

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  6. g.a.b. Avatar
    g.a.b.

    I have written this before, but never so seriously: the solution lies in Gospels or Guns;
    Winning souls & taking back the spirit of our country, or…

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  7. John Dickinson - Team One Purpose! Avatar
    John Dickinson – Team One Purpose!

    Chris,
    Fortunately, the “state” is not an individual. The “state” is made up of individuals like yourself and myself. There is hope for all when we can educate individuals in the “state” and help them “think” via liber principles. Or, liber educated and “thinking” individuals can replace the current individuals in the “state”.
    Thanks for the book recommend!
    John

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  8. John Avatar
    John

    Hi Chris,
    I agree that we live in a country that is no longer the one that our founding fathers sacrificed for. Gun ownership is just the tip of the iceberg in that attack that is attempting to take down our Constitution of the United States and the beliefs that make up the foundation of that great move in history.
    The terrorists are attacking from within and it is their statist agenda that tip-toes into the homes and families by the people that allow the mainstream media to influence their thinking.
    I pray more people make the decision to turn away from the popular media and find truth and begin to think for themselves again. A resurrection of servant leaders of truth is in full swing.
    Thanks for all you do.

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  9. Andrew Woodcox Avatar
    Andrew Woodcox

    John,
    I find it interesting that you call the attackers from within “terrorists.” It is a very apt title; so many politicians and popular figures are nothing more than peddlers of terror. Every year we have a new pandemic that will annihilate humanity, “climate change” that will destroy the earth, and we constantly hear of the crimes that threaten us. It seems that many in our own country are the most effective terrorists, spreading fear wherever they go.
    It reminds me of an Orwellian picture of a nation constantly at war, constantly afraid, but never entirely sure what it is afraid of.
    It’s time we put a stop to the fear-mongering and gave this country a good shove in the right direction!

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  10. WENDY Avatar
    WENDY

    Chris,
    Just another perspective on guns. And shall we set all politics asside and look at the human element.
    We have had guns in our home all our lives. Our children were taught safe gun handling rules,
    knew they were not toys, and did not play with them. We used what we thought were safe gun actions, kept trigger locks on all of the guns…
    One day – 28 May 04 – yes exactly 5 years ago today, we came home to find our 20 year old son had died by suicide. He had shot himself between the eyes with his fathers 12 gauge shot gun. Being the oldest, he knew where the keys were, he regularily help prepare the guns for hunting and target practice. He was trustworthy and honest, we never dreamed he would take his own life. We had never seen any signs of suicide, no depression, nothing. Later, much later, we understood the horrible secrets he had hidden from us, his pain, his self doubts, his unbearble shame at what he thought made him less than a human being. We do not to this day understand how he could not have known that his father and I loved him beyond anything he could have been or done. We would have stood beside him NO MATTER WHAT. This child of ours was our joy and passion, we loved him so much, we still do beyond eternity.
    Guns kill. Period. It could be in self defense, it could be just an annual hunting trip, it could be something stupid in anger. Guns kill. No silly slogan that guns don’t kill people do – guns kill….
    If we advocate the rights to have guns, then we MUST advocate the RIGHT way to store, use, obtain and protect ourselves. I’m not against having guns. We still do. But now, we have a gun safe, that no one but my husband and his attorney have the combination to. It is such a horrifying fact that we had to learn this lesson by loosing our son. I would not wish this lesson on ANYONE.
    Please visit Caleb and light a candle in his name.
    Wendy McIntosh

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  11. Miguel Avatar
    Miguel

    Thanks for another great article!
    What is your thoughts on the Bilderberg Group?
    I thought this was a great video with a lot of really good quotes and nuggets!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG_HuFtP8w8&feature=related

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